Dear Betty,
Why didn't you run that night! Oh how I wished you would have run.
Not a day has gone by where I didn't feel guilty about leaving you there with those white boys that night. It's just, I couldn't allow my body to become a vehicle for continual oppression by the white man. So, when I got the opportunity to run, to run for my virtue, my voice, and my right to exist as a black woman, I ran!
Yet, my sister, I recognize that you didn't have that opportunity. You stood there with a knife to your throat, caught in the clutches of a centuries old war between us and them. After I ran, I didn't know what had become of you. I didn't know whether you were dead or not. All I knew was that the Betty I had ran away from would never be the same Betty again.
And I was right. When we found you, you were bruised, broken and violated. You had been through one of the worst crimes imaginable; yet you had something different than some of our sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers who came before us. You had a fire to break the culture that tries to quell our voice and invalidate us as sexually impure and provocative creatures without dignity.
As I write this letter to you, I don't mean to remind you of the pain you experienced, but I want to tell you how much I admire your strength. From your resilient stance on the witness stand against the attempts to invalidate your character to your mission you break the counterproductive and stifling politics that come from both inside and outside of our community, you represent all that I want future black women to be.
Even though I ran away then, I will never run away from the cause and story that you represent. I will not allow your suffering to become a tool in the argument between white and black patriarchy. I, along with all of my fellow black brothers and sisters, will support you to ensure that you as well as our entire community receives justice.
Love,
Edna
This is such an emotional letter from Edna to Betty and it reminds me a lot of one poignant message/theme that is evident in the biography of Ella Baker. Barbara Ransby talks about how Ella Baker remembered her ancestors as militant fighters and survivors rather than simply the descendants of slaves. Ella recounts memories of her maternal grandmother, and describes her as a women who proudly defended her humanity. She describes a story that is passed down through her family so that future generations never forget the strength and resilience of their predecessors. In this particular story, Ella's grandmother, Bet refuses her slave master's desire to marry a man. The slave master's wife called for Bet to be punished but the slave master, bet's father, felt guilty and did not do so and instead let Bet marry another man of her choice. This was an important story within this family because it reminded women of resilience and strength in the face of extreme adversity and sexual exploitation.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Bet, Ella's maternal grandmother, Betty demonstrated extreme courage by testifying against her abusers. This is her own testimony, her own story of resilience that must be passed down to the generation of women that will follow her. These stories and accounts are so important because I believe while they seek to uncover and reveal the horror and violence experienced by black women, they also show the strength and unwavering courage and resilience of the black woman, and that image and story also must be told.