The video “The Urgency of Intersectionality” by Kimberlé Crenshaw talks about the phenomenon when someone is caught in the middle of multiple types of discrimination. She talks about the effects and the lack of justice that befalls those who find themselves in the middle of these issues. She says that this is a big problem and that this could have massive side effects. The first exercise that she does in the beginning, in my opinion, has a big impact on the viewer, as it helps to demonstrate just how extreme the effects of this phenomenon are. The exercise consists of people standing up and sitting back down when the name of the person is unknown to them. She starts out by naming the male victims of police brutality. After that, most of the crowd is still standing and then she moves on to the female victims and when she finishes, all but 4 people are still standing. When I saw this it made me realize what a huge problem this was, as I couldn’t name them either.
Next, she talks about why this issue is relevant and what causes this. She argues that the reason this type of phenomenon happens is because there lacks a frame of reference for these types of cases as they are prone to getting dismissed and forgotten. For this, she points to an example of this phenomenon when someone she knew didn’t get hired and that woman blamed it on race. However, the judge dismissed it because the company both employed women and black people and that based on this, she had no basis for the case. Furthermore, Crenshaw argues that while the company did hire black people and women, that the women that were hired were usually white and the black people that were usually hired were males and that the combination of these discriminations were very powerful in that decision.

In the article, the author talks about Beyonce’s visual album “Lemonade” and what she sees in it after analyzing it. What the author sees is a product made for the world of business making that focuses on and idolizes black bodies and women of all color. She goes on to provide examples to her analysis, like how the exhibit places black female bodies at the center of the action which, in her words, makes them the “norm” and how it puts these regular black women in front of beautiful and lavish backdrops that contrast with the everyday women taking up their forefront. She also credits the exhibit with displaying and representing a sense of black sisterhood that remains indivisible and outspoken, like when she points to how it radically changes our view of black women. To me, I also see what the author states, as I can see the themes that she references in her articles in the piece. I can see the idolization of everyday black women and the strength within black sisterhood that she talks about. What I also see are very powerful images that speak to the everyday women about life and how one should take the world by the reigns and charge forward full of confidence and power. What I also notice is the symbolism contained in the exhibit, like for example how the women are put in front of elegant backgrounds to represent how special and unique they are, no matter race, color or socio economic background and that while they might think they aren’t as powerful, in reality they are extremely powerful and a force to be reckoned with.

In the article ‘Black Panther’ Is Not the Movie We Deserve’, the author discusses the movie Black Panther and gives his own take on the ideals in the movie and connects the movie to the African american experience in america. In the article, he discusses how the movie at first looks like a movie supporting black power and the rights for African Americans, but he argues that when you dig deeper, the movie in actuality vilifies African Americans and portrays them as villains.

However, what I find interesting are two points that he brings up. One was that he criticizes the role of the white CIA agent in the movie and the other point was when he talked about killmonger being treated unfairly by the movie compared to others like the CIA agent. To the first point, I completely disagree because the CIA agent was more of a side-kick to the main cast and only had two heroic scenes in the movie, which was taking a bullet for Zuri and shooting down the gunships before they left Wakanda. Additionally, he wasn’t really central to the main story line of the conflict between T’challa and Killmongerer and if the issue is that the CIA agent is white, that is very discriminatory. To the second point, the vilification of Killmongerer makes perfect sense, as he not only killed many innocents along the way to his rise to the Wakandan throne, but he additionally wanted to kill millions and millions of people in a race war as a way to “liberate blacks from suffering around the world”, which is very much a bad thing. Additionally, his death in the end makes perfect sense when it comes to his character, as throughout his life, he was radicalized by his father’s ideas and opinions on the “colonizers” and throughout his life, he was so blinded by hate that he was willing to do anything to achieve his radicalized goal of getting back at the “oppressors”, not for equality or justice or anything, just pure revenge.