Conversation focuses on ‘unmuting’ Black women – Oklahoman.com

Black women are often left out of the conversation when it comes to the topic of racism and police brutality, and that is a problem Fifth Street Baptist Church addressed recently in its A Conversation with Sisters.

The Facebook Live event featured Dr. Ashley Bennett, director of college counseling at KIPP Sunnyside High School, and Chelle Luper Wilson, community activist, as the main speakers. They talked about the plight of Black women who have been left on the sidelines throughout history and how, even now, Black women are left out of the conversation about police brutality.

We are oftentimes double, triple, quadruple minorities, Bennett said. Were asked to be submissive and quiet down and pump our men up and be the backbone. Meanwhile, were the ones doing the work often times. Look at all those marches. Look at the black women in front.

The 40-minute event started with Dr. Sharri Coleman, a podiatrist and adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma who hosted the conversation, reading the names of 10 Black women who were victims of police killings, including Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician who was killed on March 13 in her home in Louisville, Kentucky. The women discussed why those names are not as famous as George Floyds or Ahmaud Arberys, and Bennett said its because Black women are not invited into the discussions.

We very rarely have had spaces offered to us, Bennett said. Weve had to create our own.

Bennett also reminded listeners that this is nothing new. Even the feminist movement of the 70s focused on the plight of white women, and Black women were left out of the narrative.

Wilson, daughter of the late civil rights activist Clara Luper, used Solitude of Guadeloupe as an example of Black women being left out of history. Solitude helped fight for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies in the early 1800s, but people are more familiar with Louis Delgrs involvement with the movement. She is just one of many women, Wilson said, who has been forgotten by history despite her contributions.

In order to rectify the problem and bring Black women into the conversation, Bennett said people need to amplify the voices of Black women and encourage others to use their privilege to raise the voices of Black women.

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Conversation focuses on 'unmuting' Black women - Oklahoman.com