Kimberlé Crenshaw’s “The Urgency of Intersectionality” demonstrates the problem stemming from an idea she defined as “intersectionality.”  Intersectionality is the meeting point of two forms of discrimination that is overlooked and dismissed by society. In her TED Talk, Crenshaw when in depth on how black women are the primary victims of intersectionality, particularly in regards to police brutality and how their stories are told the least.

I was shocked to see people beginning to sit after hearing Tamir Rice’s and Freddie Gray’s names.  These young men have been significant cases of police brutality in our nation and it is a shame to see that their stories are still unheard of.  However, as Kimberlé Crenshaw continued to list the names of victims of police brutality, I found myself not recognizing names like Aura Rosser, and Meagan Hockaday.  Not knowing these names disappoints and shocks me as their lives and stories deserve to be recognized. The idea that the stories of black women who have been victims of police violence are untold even though they are equally as important is unacceptable.  In American society, black women are often and undeservingly overlooked. Their issues are unheard by the public. Despite several attempts to support black women such as solutions to black issues or women’s issues, none are tailored specifically to black women.  This lack of specificity sentences black women to become less than worthy to be heard and supported. The overlap of racial and gender discrimination has been a prominent issue in American society for decades. Unfortunately, not much has been done to resolve this.

This “intersectionality” proposed by Crenshaw, as she points out, not only impacts black women, but those who are apart of any minority group.  “As a consequence of intersectionality, intersections of race and gender, of heterosexism, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, all of these social dynamics come together and create challenges that are sometimes quite unique.”  Black women, for decades have been prominent receivers of hatred and discrimination yet other versions of intersectionality exist that target other underrepresented groups. It is imperative that in an era where social consciousness is expanding, we recognize the detriment that comes from intersectionality.  As young leaders, it is our job to push our biases aside in our to create a fair and inclusive community, which will ultimately lead to our growth as a nation.

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 video “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” Kimberle Crenshaw discusses the intersection of racism and sexism which often overlap in order to create different levels of social problems. She presents a speech where she describes the urgency of this issue. African American women are discriminated on a basis of race and sex. In order to solve this problem, we must recognize this issue. We must broaden the frame of discrimination to include women as Crenshaw describes this as a “framing issue.”

An interesting example she presents is the case of Emma DeGraffenried. She was double discriminated on a basis of race and sex when she was rejected by a local car manufacturing plant. The court quickly dismissed her case as they claim the plant hired both African Americans and women. However, the court failed to recognize how all African Americans working in the plant were men and all the women working in the plant were white. DeGraffenreid was quickly rejected because of the fact that she is both a women and an African American. In order to solve this issue, American society must recognize this issue and broaden its frame of discrimination to include African American women.

While delivering her speech Crenshaw uses slides to show images of African American women that have been victims of police brutality. This was a really effective action. By doing this, she indicates the relevance of this topic. Women are being murdered by police because they are being discriminated by race and sex. It shows the inhumanity of this issue. African American women are being killed and injured over the cruel actions of police and it is a shame that American society fails to have any knowledge about this issue and these women. In her presentation she makes eye contact with her audience, hand gestures, and has facial and vocal expression which all enhance her communication skills and effectiveness of her delivery.

Finally, she also interacts with her audience by conducting a survey in order to have an understanding of her audience’ knowledge of these women that are being murdered by the police. She also shows a video that includes some of the many women that were killed by the police and clips of police brutality against women in which she asked her audience to yell out the names of these women. She did this in order to bear witness to them, to let their names be heard and to being them to the light. SAY HER NAME!

In Moving Beyond Pain the author is saying that in Beyoncé’s lemonade video she is showing woman empowerment and how they are just like man and that woman should be seen the same no matter the shape or size. “there are diverse representations (black female bodies come in all sizes, shapes, and textures with all manner of big hair).” She also used images and families and made black people the center of attention on this video that made them even seem like royalty. However the author points out that although the video is intended to mean something positive it also has its negative meaning  in the way Beyoncé expresses the woman empowerment. Such as the scene where “ Beyoncé’s character responds to her man’s betrayal with rage.” Which she uses violence to express her anger by destroying a car to use it to help her with the betrayal. What she does not realize is that this is a “ Contrary to misguided notions of gender equality, women do not and will not seize power and create self-love and self-esteem through violent acts.” In a way it makes sense because violent doesn’t ever help wether you are a women or male.

Something I found intresting was the article when the author talks about at the end like I feel like I know what the author is saying but I am a bit confused. Is he saying that woman should stop fighting each other as they do in society but instead support each other physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Throughout the article, “Moving Beyond Pain” by Bell Hook, the author states a contrast of good intentions and of various issues throughout Beyonce’s album. For example, in Beyonce’s Lemonade video she demonstrates black women in a new perspective that the world has not interpreted. In this video, she shows that black women’s bodies are supposed to be seen as royalty so she purposefully puts these women as the center of attention in her video. Beyonce tries demonstrating that black women should be seen as they are, through a new perspective and a new interpretations. As states in the article, “… its purpose is to seduce, celebrate, and delight—to challenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body.”

Furthermore, Bell Hook addresses several issues with Beyonce’s album Lemonade. For instance, it states, “And even though the father in the song ‘Daddy’s Lessons’ gives her a rifle warning her about men, she does not shoot her man. She dons a magnificently designed golden yellow gown, boldly struts through the street with baseball bat in hand, randomly smashing cars.” Beyonce decides to use violence throughout her album to demonstrate that when women are being lied to and betrayed they should use violence to act onto the issue. Some women might actually view her video with this interpretation and might go an extra mile even if Beyonce herself did not physically hit someone. As Hook said “Violence does not create positive change.” I agree with her statement because the more violence there are the more chaos and issues can come.

In “moving beyond pain” the author, Bell Hooks, discusses the positives and negatives of Beyonce’s album lemonade. Hooks claim that the purpose of lemonade is to: “seduce, celebrate, and delight—to challenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body”. This is clearly shown in the album when hooks says, “it shifts the gaze of white mainstream culture. It challenges us all to look anew, to radically revision how we see the black female body”. This proves Hooks’s claim about the purpose of lemonade and how it is meant to change the way black women are looked at and thought about. The author however talks about a song in which she was betrayed, “he was my man alright, but he done me wrong”, then goes on to say, “[her father] gives her a rifle warning her about men, she does not shoot her man. She dons a magnificently designed golden yellow gown, boldly struts through the street with baseball bat in hand, randomly smashing cars”. Although this shows empowerment in a way, I personally disagree with the method because it can be easily misinterpreted with the promotion of violence especially because stereo-typically people tend to associate blacks as being more violent. I feel like there could have been a much better way than fury and violence to depict empowerment. one point that confused me in the article is where she states, “No matter how hard women in relationships with patriarchal men work for change, forgive, and reconcile, men must do the work of inner and outer transformation if emotional violence against black females is to end”. I feel like Hooks is making it seem like only black women experience emotional violence in relationships when in reality many women not just black women and even in some cases men feel emotional violence in relationships.

After reading “Moving Beyond Pain” by Bell Hook, I better understand the messages Beyonce conveys in her songs and music videos from her 2016 album Lemonade.  Bell discusses several issues highlighted within the album and yet one peaked my interest most. Beyonce’s visual essay from her sixth studio album depicts black women in an honest and realistic manner – a way in which black women are typically not seen in.  The appearances of the performers in the videos reflect the typical African American woman, and the metaphorical expressions within her videos provide insight on the true feelings of black women in America. For instance, in Beyonce’s video for “Hold Up,” the singer walks through the streets, bashing in random parked cars as a means of releasing her anger.  In American media, it is uncommon to convey the anger felt by black women without the attachment of negative stereotypes. However, in her video, Beyonce chooses to remove the negative connotations typically partnered with angry black women in the media and instead chooses to celebrate rage (Hook). This depiction of black women is not often portrayed in the media and is instead replaced with images that aid in the “devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body.”  As a young black woman myself, I recognize the misrepresentation of black women within media and I commend Beyonce for aiding the eradication of prejudice against black women. As Bell Hook discusses, this misrepresentation of black women leads to not only the world viewing them in a negative light but to black women negatively viewing themselves as well. Beyonce’s Lemonade album allows black women to be heard, and understood.

In the article “Moving Beyond Pain” by Bell Hooks, the author talks about Beyonce’s album “Lemonade”, the author makes the claim that “is intent; its purpose is to seduce, celebrate, and delight—to challenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body”. This is because through the album it shows “the construction of a powerfully symbolic black female sisterhood that resists invisibility, that refuses to be silent”. The author also makes the claim that that this album even though shows an empowerment of black women in one had, it also continues with a stereotypical idea that black women is always the victim. She claims this because the album starts with “a story of pain and betrayal highlighting the trauma it produces”. The article also criticises how in the album it also present black women  as violent since in one of the songs she “boldly struts through the street with baseball bat in hand, randomly smashing cars”. which is very important because another of the author’s main point was about how “women do not and will not seize power and create self-love and self-esteem through violent acts”. Meaning that even though the song had the right motivation of showing women as free and empowered, violence is not the correct way to do it, since it defeats the whole purpose.

One of the points that confused me about this article was on the second to last paragraph, where the author talks about beyonce’s album as a fictional world. And from this assertion she start talking about how in Beyonce’s world black women get to actually have a voice, their “emotional pain can be exposed and revealed”. Which makes me wonder, if she is trying to say that black women in real life don’t get to say how they feel, or to have a voice? And that this shows that black women are going through emotional violence. Which she then says in order for this problem to be solve “men must do the work of inner and outer transformation”, which also confuses me because I got no idea of what that’s suppose to mean, and how is it going to solve anything.

In the analysis “Moving Beyond Pain” the author points out a criticizes the grows and glows of Beyonce’s album Lemonade. In the analysis the author points out one of the glows of the video,  “Obviously Lemonade positively exploits images of black female bodies—placing them at the center, making them the norm. In this visual narrative, there are diverse representations (black female bodies come in all sizes, shapes, and textures with all manner of big hair). Portraits of ordinary everyday black women are spotlighted, poised as though they are royalty.” the author also points out how Beyoncé is wearing rather casual clothing than the other women in the video. At first, this confused me but then I realized it was a clever way to draw attention away from her and more into the image of the black body. In the analysis, the author also states how the video constructs black female sisterhood and changes how we see the female black body “it shifts the gaze of white mainstream culture. It challenges us all to look at a new radical revision of how we see the black female body”. The author also points out cons of the music video stating “Even though Beyoncé and her creative collaborators daringly offer multidimensional images of black female life, much of the album stays within a conventional stereotypical framework, where the black woman is always a victim. “. In the video a scene of a character smashing cars after being betrayed by her man portraying all black females to be this way. The author responds to this by saying “Contrary to misguided notions of gender equality, women do not and will not seize power and create self-love and self-esteem through violent acts”.

One point I agree with in the analysis is when she said “Female violence is no more liberatory than male violence. And when violence is made to look sexy and eroticized, as in the Lemonade sexy-dress street scene, it does not serve to undercut the prevailing cultural sentiment that it is acceptable to use violence to reinforce domination, especially in relations between men and women. Violence does not create positive change”. Violence should never be an option in a relationship no matter if it’s done by a man or women, in all cases it is wrong.

In Moving Beyond Pain, author Bell Hooks analyzes the music video Lemonade, a song written by Beyonce. In one part of the critical essay, Bell Hooks credits Beyonce for the visuals throughout the musical video for positively praising the black female body. Hooks points out that in Lemonade the female black body is the center of attention throughout the music video and the artist, Beyonce, is not. She even goes on to say, “It is the broad scope of Lemonade’s visual landscape that makes it so distinctive—the construction of a powerfully symbolic black female sisterhood that resists invisibility, that refuses to be silent.” Surprisingly, Hooks then goes on to say how the female violence, the misguided notions of gender equality, and the whole “sexy” theme did not cut out for this music video and just undervalued the whole concept. She says, “ simply showcasing beautiful black bodies does not create a just culture of optimal well being where black females can become fully self-actualized and be truly respected.” So basically this contradicts her entire thesis and confused me. But i understand her in the way how Lemonade shows that the woman is always the victim of a man’s betrayal and she always responds with rage. The author argues that this is not completely true, portraying black females in this manner acts as a stereotype. Mainly. Hooks criticizes Beyonce for her representation of black females in the music videos and goes through all its highs and lows.