And still they rise… courageous Black women
15th February 2023 · 0 Comments
President Joseph R. Biden’s initial campaign theme, “Fighting for the Soul of America,” encapsulates the battle Black Women have waged since the founding of the United States of America.
The unspoken fact is that Black women continue to be the soul and consciousness of America. Being on the front lines of living while Black is not easy for any person of color. Yet, when Black women wake up each day, they know their lives and those of their family members and children are on the line.
Still, imbued by the privilege of life, they put on their armor and fight to protect their children from harm, including killer cops; they fight to maintain their dignity on jobs where they may face discrimination; while earning less than others; they fight to ensure their children get good educations.
Black women who endure America’s unequal playing field and the slings and arrows of institutional racism must be uplifted and recognized.
During Black History Month 2023, The Louisiana Weekly pays homage to courageous Black women who have put their lives on the line for the causes of freedom and equality.
American history is filled with a legacy of Black women risking their lives for freedom and equality. We’ve often heard of the courage displayed by Harriet Tubman, who shepherded many enslaved people to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
We’ve read about Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a suffragette, publisher, author, and journalist whose newspaper office was bombed. Well-Barnett was a co-founder of the NAACP who waged an anti-lynching campaign across the U.S.
We know about Josephine Baker, the dancer who fled a racist America to live and perform in France. But Baker was much more than an entertainer. She became a WWII spy for France in the battle against Hitler’s Germany.
Many Black women risked their lives during the Civil Rights Movement, including Oretha Castle Haley and sister Doris Castle, Doratha “Dodie” Smith-Simmons, and others who put their lives on the line to desegregate New Orleans. Even six-year-olds Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost’s lives were at risk when they were the first to integrate into New Orleans’ public schools.
There is not enough space in this newspaper or any media that can adequately pay homage to the contributions of thousands of Black women in America, recognized and the unsung, who rose to fight for freedom, justice, and equality during 248 years of U.S. history.
Now in the 21st Century, we see new generations of Black women putting their lives on the line for equality and justice. Last week, we saw Vice President Kamala Harris and Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the State of the Union Address. That event marked the first time two Black women who had reached the pinnacle of their careers gathered to hear President Joe Biden deliver the State of the Union Address.
In 2021, a former Florida nurse who recorded a video telling Vice President Kamala Harris, “you are going to die,” pleaded guilty to threatening Harris’ life. Last June, CBS reported that replies to tweets from Vice President Kamala Harris included using the n-word, manipulated graphic images, and death threats. Georgia’s Fulton County DA Fani Willis has also received death threats over her election fraud investigation of former President Donald J. Trump Sr. She said one suspect provided instructions about how people who want to harm her can use publicly-available information to find her house. As a result of these threats, Willis told the media that security details are “required for me to stay alive.”
Indeed, New York Attorney General Letitia James has received death threats; like many who have sued Donald J. Trump Sr. James dared to sue, indict, and prosecute Donald Trump and his business for potential fraud last September. According to a press release, a court ruled in favor of Attorney General James and ordered Donald Trump and the Trump Organization to stop engaging in financial fraud in November 2022 immediately.
During her gubernatorial campaign against Brian Kemp, Stacey Abrams, an attorney, voting rights advocate, and institution-builder, received death threats from white nationalists. One of them was James Stachowiak, a multiple felon, who posted online videos calling for Black people to be shot on sight.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) consistently gets death threats and calls for her to return to where she came from. The Somali-born naturalized citizen is undaunted. In 2021, she played a harrowing death threat left on her voicemail. Omar was recently kicked off the Foreign Affairs committee by Republicans for alleged anti-semitic comments she made in 2021.
“We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” she tweeted in June 2021 and included a video of herself questioning Blinken during a House hearing, CNN reported.
Harris, Jackson, James, Omar, Abrams, and other Black women continue to receive death threats for speaking truth to power and taking action to secure justice and equality.
These women and all Black women and mothers continue to be the saving grace and soul of this nation…and still, they rise.
We are grateful for their unmatched courage in the face of death threats and physical harm.
This article originally published in the February 13, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
