Audre Lorde, self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” would have turned 80 this week had cancer not taken her in 1992. Here’s what she said about family in 1975.
I think that some of the taboos that we suffer under now, that a family must be made up of male/female plus children, all locked into a kind of an authoritarian, blind, give or take, I think that that will hopefully disintegrate. I think that if we begin to think of families in a wider context, groups of people relating to each other in a give-and-take manner, then our definitions of families will broaden so that we have groups of people, sustain groups, support groups, in whatever period of life, whatever time, what ever place, right, that come together and remain. I think families, in that sense, human beings, are basically social and we will always find some way of grouping together, and our children need to be protected.
Lorde’s words continue to resonate, for each of us in different ways. Writer and transgender advocate Janet Mock said in a recent interview about her new book, Redefining Realness, “Taking the lead from Audre Lorde, any time you shatter silence, it can be an empowering experience, but it’s a frightening one, too.”
Here’s to a foremother whose words help us to be brave.
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