Merissa Ward's Post

As I read chapter seven in Mujerista Theology, I could not help but to see parallels within my own Black community of women. I am no liberation theologian/scholar, but I believe that my experience as a Black woman strongly identifies with the three Spanish phrases Isasi-Diaz uses to help readers understand Hispanic women. La lucha, the daily struggle of Hispanic women to survive is one that resonates in the struggle of Black women. Diaz says that Hispanic women deal with suffering without being determined by it. Black women, from my experience, constantly struggle just to make ends meet. I witness many single mothers struggle to raise children on their own and take care of the household with inadequate jobs. Though many would like to make a better life for themselves and their children, most can never get a break. The responsibilities of life are often to o much to even think about escaping it. I also look upon the value of suffering with a hermeneutic of suspicion. According to Diaz, suffering has “become an ideological tool, a control mechanism used by dominant groups over the poor and oppressed” (129). My entire life I have been in black churches that perpetuate this value of suffering. Black women, who make up the largest percentage of black churches, struggle all week to survive and then go to church to hear preachers tell them that their reward is in heaven and that earth is only temporary. I have to say though, of la lucha, it definitely makes and has made Black women strong. Pertitanme hablar indicates Hispanic women’s need to be a part of human history. Hispanic women and black women have been ignored by historical accounts. History often records events in the public sphere, which leaves the private sphere of Black women (and most women) out. However, it is the private sphere that usually determines what happens in the public sphere, which history records. Diaz says it nicely, “history does not exist apart from history of the social: from the history of the family, history of ideas, history of social and religious movements, history of the churches and religions. Social history is not mere secondary history” (134). Social history deals with everyday life, and from my experience, Black women are the key players. Finally, la familia, for Blacks is also a very important institution in life. Growing up and even now, my family is very important to me and I consider them in many of the decisions I make. Within my family and many Black families, women are the backbone. They keep it alive and well. However, as it is with Hispanic women (as Diaz suggests), Black women’s bodies are also objectified. Black women are more than mothers! I think Valerie Saivings would agree. I think the parallels I have seen in my own experience as a Black woman can also be seen in the experiences of women on a whole. Mujerista theology deals with the needs of Hispanic women, but it can also serve as a window of particularity through which we see the experiences of all women.