Audre Lorde
Throughout this course so far, we have studied about legends who fought for equality, justice and most of all, for humanity. However, after reading Audre Lorde's speeches, I now perceive the journey of decolonization in a different light. Her speech "Learning from the 60's" is truly a piece of art. It is not only revolutionary but also self reflective. I adore a woman with confidence and that is why the opening lines of the speech resonated with me, especially the ones where she proclaims her identity as Black, Lesbian and a Feminist. She was comfortable in her own skin and juts by reading the speech once, I realized that her confidence is contagious to the reader/listener.
Her speech is not centered around the mainstream idea of fighting for your rights but rather it is a heartfelt piece about how unity exists in diversity. Differences for Lorde, are not something to be afraid of in this race against racism, sexism and homophobia. Rather, she propagates that future growth can only be achieved and sustained if we join hands with all those who hold different opinions than ours. Including people from all genders, school of thoughts, skin color and sexual preferences, is the right way to move forward in a world which will eventually be free of all prejudices. In my opinion, Lorde successfully dismisses the idea of a 'us vs them mentality' (something that was commonly adopted by the colonizers). This takes me back to Fanon (apologies for mentioning him in almost all of my comments and blogs) when he talked about how the colonized intellectuals formed Negro identities in the colonized era, without realizing that cross cultural differences exist within the Negro communities as well. Therefore, what Lorde is proclaiming is a more inclusive way of moving forward, one which ensures unity but at the same time promotes ideas of equality, togetherness, acceptance and tolerance.
I found her speech to be extremely moving because her tone literally urges the reader to take the first step towards inclusive unity. My biggest takeaway from this speech is the following quote, "Each one of us is here because somebody before us did something to make it possible". We often forget the most simplest of things and this quote being an example of that, serves as a great reminder to all the readers/listeners to take charge of their life and play their role in contributing something to the lives of our future generations. In addition to this, she urges people to accept each other for who they are and then join hands, move forward so that they can build a desirable future, capitalizing on each other's strengths. There is magic in the unity of people who are different than each other, yet same in their aspirations.
Her speech is not centered around the mainstream idea of fighting for your rights but rather it is a heartfelt piece about how unity exists in diversity. Differences for Lorde, are not something to be afraid of in this race against racism, sexism and homophobia. Rather, she propagates that future growth can only be achieved and sustained if we join hands with all those who hold different opinions than ours. Including people from all genders, school of thoughts, skin color and sexual preferences, is the right way to move forward in a world which will eventually be free of all prejudices. In my opinion, Lorde successfully dismisses the idea of a 'us vs them mentality' (something that was commonly adopted by the colonizers). This takes me back to Fanon (apologies for mentioning him in almost all of my comments and blogs) when he talked about how the colonized intellectuals formed Negro identities in the colonized era, without realizing that cross cultural differences exist within the Negro communities as well. Therefore, what Lorde is proclaiming is a more inclusive way of moving forward, one which ensures unity but at the same time promotes ideas of equality, togetherness, acceptance and tolerance.
I found her speech to be extremely moving because her tone literally urges the reader to take the first step towards inclusive unity. My biggest takeaway from this speech is the following quote, "Each one of us is here because somebody before us did something to make it possible". We often forget the most simplest of things and this quote being an example of that, serves as a great reminder to all the readers/listeners to take charge of their life and play their role in contributing something to the lives of our future generations. In addition to this, she urges people to accept each other for who they are and then join hands, move forward so that they can build a desirable future, capitalizing on each other's strengths. There is magic in the unity of people who are different than each other, yet same in their aspirations.
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