Women In Black Panthers
The question that is being asked is: Is a movement more important than the individuals who constitute it? What about when those individuals are being abused? This article was written in 2014 but inspired by the 1970’s Black Panthers. This article speaks more about how the women in the Black Panthers were treated, one individual that Perkins (2014) speaks about is a woman named Marlene Cummins. Cummins was in the Black Panthers movement in Queensland back in December 1971. Perkins (2014) decided to write about Cummins story to help answer the questions. In the article, Perkins (2014) wanted to really know what went on to women in the Black Panther community. So she felt the only way for her to really know was to interview and Cummins. Cummins
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She explains to Perkins (2014) that she seen Denis throw a glass bottle at another woman’s face. She did not like what she saw from Denis but she still credits him with her political awareness. In Perkins (2014) interview with Cummins, Cummins say “black women made a sacrifice: seeing black men already demonized by the media, they knew that, if they ‘pointed the finger’ at one black man, all would be tarred with the same brush. So the women remained silent.” Which really had me in shock because reading what she said made me realize that is so true about women. Continuing in the interview Cummins then says that there a lot of men in the community very abusive. She started to get to hesitate about continue on with the interview because it bought up so much memories. She does decide to continue her interview; she then brought up sexual assault that happen to her at what she thought was a party but ended up being a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders. Who all raped her and caught it on video as well. She decided not to tell the Black Panthers about what happen because image is more important than what happen to her.
The question of what was and is in the best interests of the movement is a thorny one. Like feminism, or indeed any social movement, the black rights movement had and has differing views on the best way forward. Perkins (2014) love the fact that she got to
She explains to Perkins (2014) that she seen Denis throw a glass bottle at another woman’s face. She did not like what she saw from Denis but she still credits him with her political awareness. In Perkins (2014) interview with Cummins, Cummins say “black women made a sacrifice: seeing black men already demonized by the media, they knew that, if they ‘pointed the finger’ at one black man, all would be tarred with the same brush. So the women remained silent.” Which really had me in shock because reading what she said made me realize that is so true about women. Continuing in the interview Cummins then says that there a lot of men in the community very abusive. She started to get to hesitate about continue on with the interview because it bought up so much memories. She does decide to continue her interview; she then brought up sexual assault that happen to her at what she thought was a party but ended up being a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders. Who all raped her and caught it on video as well. She decided not to tell the Black Panthers about what happen because image is more important than what happen to her.
The question of what was and is in the best interests of the movement is a thorny one. Like feminism, or indeed any social movement, the black rights movement had and has differing views on the best way forward. Perkins (2014) love the fact that she got to