By Oyinkansola Awosika
Historian and activist Barbara Ransby discussed her new book, Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the 21st Century in a lecture Dec. 3.
Ransby — who is also a Professor of African American studies, history, and gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago — outlined the history and structure of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. She argued that Black Lives Matter is not one single, centralized organization; rather, it is a global network of individuals and organizations working collaboratively to spark change in their own communities and across the country.
Additionally, Ransby explained that no specific moment in history can be used to identify the start of the movement. While many cite the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin as that defining moment, Ransby argued that the civil rights activism that we see today is the consequence of an accumulation of offenses against members of the black community.
“That it [Trayvon Martin’s death] wasn’t exceptional, was part of the reason that people responded; that it was cumulative. That we had seen police murders, we had seen a systematic devaluation of black life, particularly black poor and working-class lives,” said Ransby.
Chessie Moquete, a university student majoring in anthropology said she felt really inspired by the discussion.
“Black Lives Matter has been ubiquitous,” Moquete said. “But it’s really inspiring reading her book and then listening to her talk about the black feminism that’s at the heart of it and see how that’s not really named in the public discourse of it all.”
Moquete was also particularly interested when Ransby expressed a need for the rejection of respectability politics – which call for black people to dress and behave in ways that are deemed acceptable by the white male dominated society in order to be respected in the workplace and in their communities.
“We’re not going to be free until the most marginalized of our communities are free, like that’s the key to unlocking global freedom for everybody.”
Neida Mbuia Joao, a junior English major said she found Ransby’s lecture to be very encouraging, particularly for her in her aspirations to organize political movements.
“It can often feel daunting thinking about the task of organizing,” said Mbuia Joao. The number of people it takes to organize and the length of time it takes to organize and see results are all points of concern for her that Ransby addressed in a short question and answer session following her lecture.
“It was encouraging that it starts with very small things and then it grows from there,” she said.
After the lecture, Moquete and Mbuia Joao both discussed ways in which they will apply what they learned from Ransby’s teachings to further the #BlackLiveMatter movement in their own lives.
Moquete said that it’s important for her to understand that the movement is not something that takes place separately from what she does in her daily life.
“One thing about black feminism is that there’s no distinction between political choices and personal choices,” said Moquete. “Just remembering that every decision you make, like where you get your coffee from in the morning, has global and political implications and local ones too.”
Mbuia Joao said that she will begin by addressing her peers at an individual level to debunk the myths that freedom for all people is crazy or that one must be extremely wealthy to spark social and political change.
“Doing work within my social circle of getting people on the same page and helping them realize that, yes, this is all possible but you just have to commit to it,” she said. “It’s not a fairy tale. It’s real work that people do every day.”