Blog #2

Quote: “To understand black women as political actors we must explore how intersecting disadvantages based on race, gender, class, and sexuality influence how these women feel and think.” (Harris Perry, 48)

When reading this selection before class I read it quickly and thought that Perry made some great points in her writing but nothing really jumped out at me. I thought it was interesting how she explained the three black woman stereotypes as motherly care taker, who cares for everyone’s children, being seen as sexual figures, or as an angry black woman. However it wasn’t until I went to class, that I really started to understand the reading. I realized as we talked about identity and perspective that one really shapes the other. Yes, I may be a woman but because of me being of a different race I cannot completely see through the same lense as Harris Perry. Then in class we split off into groups to talk more about the readings as they relate to identity and perspective. It wasn’t until one of my peers started talking about how on television on the United States at least white actors are commonly seen, they take on a number of roles and identities. Black people or black women especially are not as commonly seen on television, therefore it is easier to stereotype this group of individuals. Whereas white people are able to look to television and more easily find someone they can identify with. I found this so interesting because television is something that is so prevalent in the American culture that it is something Americans look to, to identify with, yet I had never looked at it from another angle than my own; a white woman. This relates so much to the quote I picked out because as much as I may have thought I understood black women just because I identify as the same gender, I don’t understand. I don’t understand a lot of their perspective because I have not taken the time to explore their identity and the disadvantages that society has put on them.