Medium: Prof. Gómez Offers Insights on Black Activism, Academia & Intersectionality in New Book by BU Scholars
Prof. Jennifer M. Gómez from BU School of Social Work reflects on her contributions to the recently published book ‘This Era of Black Activism’ in an interview with BU Experts’s Medium. The book, which includes a 20-year-long review of how Black activism has evolved and changed, features sections from scholars, researchers, and activists from across Boston University. Also pulling from the themes of her other book, “The Cultural Betrayal of Black Women & Girls: A Black Feminist Approach to Healing from Sexual Abuse,” Gómez describes the intersection of #MeToo and healing within the Black community.
Excerpt from “From the Streets to Social Media: Authors Explore the Evolution of Black Activism” by Katherine Gianni and Joela Goga, originally posted in Medium:
Founder of the Me Too Movement, Tarana Burke, forged the power of saying ‘Me Too’ among Black women and girls who have been sexually abused. Given how intersectional inequalities function, however, the #MeToo movement was re-focused by and for rich, powerful, and oftentimes White, women. Reclaiming the Me Too movement as something that was created for us and thus belongs to us, as Black women, can promote healing within the Black community.
Pulling from Black feminism and the psychological framework for radical healing, critical consciousness and radical self-definition are central in understanding the systems of oppression that impact us, while psychologically and emotionally distancing ourselves from the lenses of how those systems negatively stereotype and dehumanize us. In other words, critical consciousness gives us the tools to identify the systems of oppression. Radical self-definition promotes our own agency in defining who we are in ways that are markedly distinct from whatever oppression and violence we experience. As such, radical healing in action can happen now. We need not wait for societal permission to be ourselves or to heal ourselves and each other. In protecting our souls from the oppressive forces that bind, we are able to forge a way forward that is filled with life, love, connection, and joy.”