In Church Or On The Picket Line, We’ve Got Work To Do

“Deborah answered, ‘But because of your attitude, you will not be honored when Sisera is defeated. The Lord will allow a woman to defeat Sisera.” – Judges 4:9. 

To the Brazilian government, Lélia Gonzalez was a woman to watch. She was a fixture on the state’s watch lists until her death in July 1994.

Gonzalez was right up there with revolutionary leaders like Angela Davis and Assata Shakur. She exposed the intersectional racism deployed against Black women in Brazil. 

Gonzalez co-founded the Unified Black Movement, N’Zinga, and the Black Women’s Collective in Rio de Janeiro.  She was also an original member of Brazil’s National Council of Women’s Rights.

A trained anthropologist, Gonzalez coined the term “Amefricanity.” The term recognized the need for unity amid the complexity of Black experiences in the Americas, including the indigenous narratives that have been historically erased from African diasporic histories. 

Gonzalez stressed the importance of decentralizing the United States, believing America’s cultural understanding of Blackness couldn’t be the sole ideology behind global Black protest. 

She also believed that over-romanticizing Africa was problematic, because understanding diasporic displacement was essential for understanding Blackness. 

While we all have a role within liberation, Black, African diasporic, and Indigenous women’s voices have always been at the heart of our protest. 

Regardless of where we are, church or the picket line, we must uplift those voices who bring an intersectional, Amefricanity understanding to our liberation and spiritual practices.