Assata's Influence Of Sexism In The Black Panther Party

Within the Black Panther Party, women were treated with the same cold, harsh attitudes that the men were treated. In Assata’s case, her gender did not give her any sort of advantage over her male counterparts. In some instances, it even put her at a higher risk for abuses to take place, which eventually led her to decide to leave the party for good. When Assata first entered the Black Panther Party, she was extremely excited to become a revolutionary. However, as she describes, after her first day, she began experiencing the arrogance of the male members of the party. She goes on to explain how Robert Bey tried to expel her after her first day as a member for not putting away some files correctly. After cussing Bey out for being a coward and not telling her to her face what he was planning on doing, bay accepted her back in. Assata says that she “hates arrogance whether its white or purple or Black…You can’t claim you love people when you don’t respect them, and you can’t call for political unity unless you practice it in your relationships” (218). Although she does not cite gender as being the reason Bay treated her with such disrespect, it can be concluded that the fact that she was new and a girl did have an influence in how the superiors were treating …show more content…
We will never be good enough, and when we are, we are not seen as a woman anymore. We cannot be firm and serious, with a purpose, without being seen as too stuck up. After so many battles we have fought, and after so many other women have tried to set up the system to help us move forward in our struggle, we continue to be seen as inferior and treated with disrespect. This isn’t just a race issue. In America, if you are part of a minority group, whether it be through race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or socioeconomic status, you will be expected to always work twice as hard as the white man. And that is the fight we must fight