The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism (Audre Lorde, 1981)

1946-1989, Black, Consciousness Raising, Date, Defining the Enemy, Patriarchy, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption, Women

In this piece from Audre Lorde, a renowned intersectional feminist/activist, she offers the use of anger as a unifying force for women across the lines of race. White women struggled to understand the consequences of racism, even in their own activism. Lorde suggests that this divide can be lessened when women empathize with each other and use their divergent experiences to come together against the patriarchy. Anger can be a powerful tool instead of a divisive force.

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. And I am not free as long as one person of Color remains chained. Nor is any one of you.”

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