Black History Month: Food for Thought...Double Dutch and the Double Jeopardy

Growing up in the playgrounds of the inner-city, little black girls master the art of Double Dutch. According to the book Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America by Charisse Jones, symbolically double dutch can be a metaphor for the struggle many black women face to keep their balance between race and gender."When all is said and done, women could win all the rights afforded to men, but African American women would still have to deal with being Black in a color-conscious society. "
Some say black women put their race before their gender because attaining the same rights as men is something that we can actually work towards attaining. However being black is something that cannot be constructed. Our color is a genetic makeup that can never go away and it is something we will always be judged by. For many black women, race supersedes gender. The problem that I see with this theory is that racial solidarity can sometimes be a hinderance to a women's dignity. For example, if a black man was making uncomfortable sexual advances in the work place towards a black woman yet she chooses not to say anything because of the consequences he will face; this woman is putting her race before her gender.
This post is literally food for thought in the name of black history month. The concept illustrated in this post is influenced by the book "Shifting" and should raise some questions in terms of the intersectionality of race and gender.