Wenona Russrussw@bc.edu

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Hi:

This email is in response to the feminine mystique "thread."  I find it 
interesting; I, for the most part, have to agree with Bonita Stephens' 
post.  We, especially African-American women, have had to take on roles 
and responsibilities that were not originally intended for us.

Sis. Yohnk mentioned that the post-World War II era forced women into 
roles not originally meant for them.  But I must contend (at the risk 
of making this an issue of racism, which is not the intention) that for 
the Black woman, her being the breadwinner as well as the bread-baker 
started way before then.  It started when our families were torn apart 
by the deception of slavery, when our men were emasculated right before 
our very eyes, assasinated, mutilated, left powerless and stolen from 
us...well, you know why.  (Again, I do not mean to open up old wounds, 
but this is the truth...and it is the truth that eventually leads to 
the path of healing and deliverance...)

The Black Woman had to be strong; my grandmother was a strong Black 
woman.  She married my grandfather, who was more than twice her age, 
and gave him 8 kids.  He was a preacher who loved God and she loved her 
man and stood behind him thru it all until his untimely death when my 
dad was 8 years old.  Her youngest was just months old and she was left 
to not only take care of her family, but somehow keep the church going. 
The helm was given to someone else, and my grandmother cut sugar cane 
in the fields with all men, breathing in heavy smoke that eventually 
lead to her contracting emphesyema (sp.)  My aunt Ruth took care of all 
the kids while "Grandma Lillie" went out in the sugar cane fields and 
worked sometimes 12 hours, and then had to go home to 8 kids!  But 
today they are doing well for themselves, and three of her sons are 
preachers.  My aunt Beth is in Bible College, along with a cousin who 
just married another minister.  Now, I am not making a big deal out of 
the fact that we came out a very religious family, but only God could 
do that in our family.

I cite my family's example because for generations, this has been the 
sad norm instead of the exception for Black familiies.  Black women 
head more Black households than any other ethnic background.  And 
sometimes black women are known for being a little "assertive."  But we 
have to be.  Our men are being snatched from us a dime a dozen-and 
someone has to take care of the kids.  This is the case with all races, 
but I believe it is more prevalent in the African American community.

Now I know women can take the grace God gives us to do the "impossible" 
of raising our kids alone to love him to the other extreme and not be 
submissive to authority and embracing militant feminist thought.  I 
have known women who embrace a homosexual lifestyle why?  Not 
because they believe they were born that way, but because they have 
been in such abusive, dysfunctional relationships with our men and 
experienced them abandoning them so much that they become extremely 
disorientated with men altogether and "turn over a new leaf."  

But I believe the road to healing is when everyone-men, women, 
children-when we all stop being afraid to submit one to the other.  It 
all goes back to a form of mistrust.  If you really trust someone, you 
will gladly submit to them, correct?  But the enemy has done such a 
clever job and sowing discord, mistrust, lies, and division among so 
many...whites against blacks, and vice versa, women against men, and 
vice versa, rich against poor, and vice versa....the love of many is 
waxing so cold, that it makes true, biblical submission an exception 
rather than the norm.

Any comments?

God Bless!

Wenona Russ

----------------------
Wenona Russ
russw@bc.edu
Boston College