The Reason Why Black Feminism Has a Larger Following Than the Conscious Community

By:  Asher Primus

Black activism has been the face of America’s demand for justice and equality, yet not all black activists are on the same page, but for the most part they want to demilitarize the police and punish those who kill unarmed black people.  This is the basis of it, but activism has been divided in general on who to follow for true black liberation.

Most black women and LGBT follow (black) feminism/womanism.  They are also fine with white allies and other POC joining in, but black feminists still have a hard time trusting their white counterparts.  Black people are aware that at the end of a march, the white allies either go home and/or to bed with the same white men who chant white lives matter.

Even though, I am not a feminist, they do bring good points to the table in critiquing white people and black men.  The reason why most black people follow feminism over the conscious community is due to claims of sexism, homophobia and lack of personal respect in opinions.  Black women and gays formed their own movement.  Black women and gays do not feel protected in their communities.  Men in the conscious community have been a community that stays bitching about thugs taking their women, but these men refuse to challenge and correct the bad behavior in person.  The Hebrew Israelites preach all day yelling at white people and black women.  When white men are gentrifying black communities and the Hebrew Israelites and Hoteps have no solutions (nor try to back politicians) as to who can save the hood.

This is where black feminism wins in the popular vote because they are more practical and are willing to work with black people of varying backgrounds, hence why Angela Rye would have more followers than a pro-black radical YouTuber who wants to ‘armchair’ the movement.  The conscious community/Black Empowerment have no political might, yet fail every time with their pipe dreams of establishing Black Wall Street 2.  Black feminism stands for inclusiveness as they acknowledge different identities in race, sex/gender and spirituality.  The conscious community on the other hand wants a monolith black community to codify acceptable behavior.  In theory it sounds good, but again due to the vast ideology of black people there is no way to govern blackness on the constitution of one person.

The conscious community has failed black women as they do not defend black women.  If the thugs or deadbeats who are impregnating our women are so bad, why aren’t there bands of brothers who are trying to teach their daughters and sisters to get with black men of substance?  Instead, these groups (especially the Hebrew Israelites) slut-shame black women in public by calling them whores.  Despite the righteous and godly teachings these men claim they have from a book, they view women no different than the thugs they hate.  I have seen abuse being normalized as a way to tame & domesticate black women’s attitude. They can blame white feminism for creating distrust between black men and women, but honestly these men are not helping at all.  It is of no surprise that a good bit of these men are felons, sex offenders and/or had history of domestic violence.

This is why I am in the middle.  The conscious community does have a trump card which is male leadership (that is unapologetically black), yet when black men try to lead a movement, they fail every time due to ego and jealousy.  Case and point:  Dr. Umar Johnson and his many mishaps with his bad tempter.  We have heard all the lectures schooling us on racism, white supremacy, getting on code, the gay agenda, Christianity, the music industry, black economics, black love, Obama, Malcolm X, secret societies, ancient Egypt, the Bible, black women, the future, the past, police brutality, aliens and every and any topic imaginable.  Hours and hours of talking and watching mediocre documentaries and nothing has risen to save black people.

Granted, black feminism is not saving our community completely.  Yes, we can argue that it was a mutation of a white woman’s movement, but are we going to denounce the work and leadership of Angela Davis?  Is Amandla Stenberg’s gender and sexuality-identity as a non-binary bisexual going to be a bad influence for your daughter, even though this young woman has been calling out white girls (for cultural appropriation) for years?  I cannot even hate on DeRay of Black Lives Matter because at least he is doing something for black people, even though these conscious folks would not even stand up for him as a brother just because he is gay.  I do not have to agree with my brothers’ and sisters’ lifestyles, but they are here and there is nothing we can do about it.  Regardless, when I see them being threatened by white supremacists who hate them solely on the fact for being black then why should I hesitate to defend them?