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• 1 2019-10-23T18:38:19-04:00 The Pat Parker Paper, Beverly Smith's Radicalism through Healthcare 3 gallery 2020-03-17T23:53:44-04:00 The background on intersections within the health and well being of black womenDifferent sources both fictional and scientificDescription of politics at play in general mental health

  Deep within Pat Parker’s archive lies the syllabus of black woman’s health. The syllabus was not written by Parker, but by a woman named Beverly Smith, but no doubt influenced her work in Oakland during the mid 1980’s. Parker at the time was organizing many different programs and workshops for blank women in the area. The pamphlet focuses on the many health afflictions which effect black women. It includes both physical and mental health and first debriefs the issue at hand before providing several sources which further explain the problem usually focusing on its background and key elements or scientific research which backs it up. 

  The syllabus seems simple however it holds a very important and radical message within its text. By establishing the issues of black women as independent of both black men and other woman Smith makes the remarkable claim that the black women face their own unique set of issues and problems. This claim pushes back against so many of the ideas by the prominent radicals of the day including Eldridge Cleaver, James Baldwin, and George Jackson. Jackson even claims in his book Soledad Brother, that women are supposed to be oppressed and therefore enjoy the racism and sexism they face, “Women like to be dominated, love being strong-armed, need an overseer to supplement their weakness. So how could she [his mother] really understand my feelings on self-determination.” (Jackson) This assertion is indirectly destroyed in the syllabus by focusing on the very real medical effects of racism and sexism on black women. The syllabus posits that racism presents itself very differently for black women and therefore has different manifestations than it does for a black man. This, however, does not mean that the effects aren’t as real or as seriously detrimental to black women’s well being. 

  To that extent Beverly Smith also pushes back on mainstream feminism which seldom includes any acknowledgement that black women face an extra burden because of the color of their skin. This simple syllabus becomes a radical intersectional feminist article detailing the very real and present dangers black women face everyday, mentally and physically. This narrative is of course echoed in the writing of many of the black radical feminist authors that were discussed in class including Audre Lorde, Angela Davis and of course Pat Parker herself. 

  The sources within the syllabus are also of great interest to the overall message because they are both medical and fiction. Smith uses “The Bluest Eye” to explain the “destructiveness of white beauty standards on the patches of black women”. This fictionalization story written by famed author Toni Morrison details exactly what the author wrote, how black women living in a society with euro centric beauty standards suffer terrible costs. It is extremely unusual to have fictionalized narratives within a medical text but Smith chooses to reject the societal norm of medical documents and include fiction. This has the effect of helping create a deeper understanding of the struggles of black women. 

  Art, and particularly written art, helps people put themselves in the shoes of a certain person and really understand the nuances of what they are facing. As Toni Morrison knows firsthand what it feels like to grow up in a society that doesn’t value black beauty it is not hard to believe that her writing eloquently reflects this reality and helps to convince readers of the Smith point. This difference also points out a key problem within the medical system, to understand the problems of a patient you must understand their background but in a field dominated by white people it’s almost impossible to understand the variety of pressures a black female patient may face. Texts like “The Bluest Eye” become medical text books to white practitioners when examining the mental health background of these women but are often times overlooked  and ignored because they are fiction and because they do not focus on white people, particularly white men. 

  This source does an excellent job of proving the need for a specialized clinic for black women and by explaining carefully and thoughtfully the myriad of problems faced by black women tells readers what might be necessary to solve these problems. It’s radical elements are found within its very being, that black women struggle independently of other women and independently of black men. It’s unique in its reliance on both medical texts as well as fiction which help readers to obtain a better understanding of the many sides of the issues facing black women. Pat Parker no doubt understood the nuances and deeper meaning to this piece and it can be assumed this is why this seemingly random piece of literature was chosen to be a part of her incredible archive.