The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism Summary and Analysis

In The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, Audre Lorde explores the complex reactions that result from being discriminated against. The essay was presented at the National Women's Studies Association Conference in 1981, and it specifically addresses other women who have a problem with the anger of black women. Her primary reaction to racism, she says, is anger—an appropriate reaction to injustice, she says. She distinguishes between anger, guilt, and defensiveness, the latter two of which, she says, are of no use to anyone. Lorde then gives examples of the kind of nonchalant racism, mostly on the part of white women, that infuriates her so. In all the cases, Lorde says, the women fail to recognize the differences that exist within their community, or perhaps...