I want to talk about the significance of having spaces for the expression and articulation of Black Womanist Culture.

So that we are both on the same page, by Black I’m referring to the socially constructed term to include the multitude of cultures within the frame of being Black ie. Jamaican, Haitian, Trinidadian, African-American, etc.), More specifically in this context, this term is meant to include any and all people with shared African Ancestry. When I say woman I’m referring to both cis-gendered and transgendered alike.

Despite the increasing availability of media content created by and about women of color the popular narrative about Black Women is continually lead by people who neither fit the demographic of being Black nor do they identify as Woman.

• This results in Black Women being viewed as a monolithic group instead of an inclusion and recognition of the varied communities and even cultures that exists within this diverse group.
  
• It also leads to gross mischaracterization and at the least inaccuracies that inform public opinion and perception. Perception is a large part of Power.
  
• There is a Power and Politic to Knowledge production that determines what is meaningful and valid.
  
• In a world that tells them that their lived-experiences don’t matter, their feelings don’t matter and their dead children don’t matter. It is important to have spaces where they are reminded that they do matter.
  

This is not to suggest that only women of color should speak on topics of interest to or related to women of color. It simply suggest that not only do Black Women have a unique standpoint but, also that they should be positioned at the center of their own critique, and that critique should be part of popular discourse.

The purpose of these spaces are not to exclude men or people who are not of African Ancestry. It is meant primarily:

• to serve as a place where Black Women can in some way read, see, hear, and share part of themselves communally.
  
• To allow them to self-define and articulate their varied unique positions.
  

A place where they know that, not only do they matter, but that they are also valued.