August 1, 2014 is the four year anniversary of Marissa Alexanders action to defend her life from her estranged husband. TFW is reposting our July 25, 2014, #FeministsWeLove interview with Free Marissa Now core team member Alisa Bierria in solidarity with the close of the week-long #StandingOurGroundWeekOfAction events held in Jacskonville, Florida. ...Was it Marissa’s blackness that, for this judge, precluded the possibility of fear? Was it the fact that she effectively defended herself, that she survived? What kind of body and performance can adequately represent “fear” in the US judicial system, or in our communities? And why is the proof of fear necessary to assert one’s right to defend one’s life? Racial justice, feminist anti-violence, and anti-prison/policing movements must take the implications of this ruling seriously in order to make their work more relevant to black women’s lives. If Marissa loses a second trial and is forced to return to prison, possibly for a mandatory 60 year sentence, then this distorted construction of black women will become even more legitimized as “truth.” The re-incarceration of Marissa Alexander will not only have a devastating impact on her life and her family, but it will sanction a larger culture of violence, surveillance, and punishment against black women and girls, and seriously damage the right of every woman to defend herself against an attack...
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 17:02:55 +0000
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