Samantha Mattox, a student
at Roosevelt University, has started a Black
Feminist Discussion Group,to talk about gender
issues within the African American community.
News of the NOW talked with her about this
subject, and her views about racism and sexism.
How
did you first get involved in feminism?
When I was younger, I remember always having an
interest in the women's suffrage movement and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I saw that the early
feminists had problems trying to get women to
realize they had to fight for the right to vote,I
thought that was pretty interesting. And the
early black feminists that I read said these
issues had a commonality,issues of sexism are
issues all women share. We've been taught to
fight amongst ourselves, in competition for men,
etc. So that was my early interest. But I also
didn't take these issues as seriously until I got
older,I didn't see that sexism was as important
an issue as racism. And it wasn't because I
didn't think these problems exist,I saw them in
my own life,but I didn't have a word to describe
what the problem was. I saw it as "normative
behavior', so I didn't challenge it until much
later.
So
when did you really become an active feminist?
A year ago, I went to the Black Radical Congress
and they had a black feminist discussion
group,and Angela Davis was there. It was
wonderful! It inspired me to read more about it.
So I spent the summer after that just reading
about feminism and the history of women's rights.
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