Sublime

Yes, I am Black and Lesbian, and what you hear in my voice is fury, not suffering. Anger, not moral authority. There is a difference.

For Black women as well as Black men, it is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others — for their use and to our detriment.

All our children are outriders for a queendom not yet assured.

we all shared a war against the tyrannies of silence.

When patriarchy dismisses us, it encourages our murderers. When radical lesbian feminist theory dismisses us, it encourages its own demise.

So the question arises in my mind, Mary, do you ever really read the work of Black women? Did you ever read my words, or did you merely finger through them for quotations which you thought might valuably support an already conceived idea concerning some old and distorted connection between us? This is not a rhetorical question.

In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower.

Survival is not a theory. In what way do I contribute to the subjugation of any part of those who I define as my people?

I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.