What is Amourgynoir?
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1To centre the lived experiences of Black women, girls, gender diverse & trans people and combat anti-Black gender-based violence.
2A call to action that use loves to disrupt misogynoir and counter the systemic hatred against Black women, girls and gender diverse people.
Black women, girls, gender diverse & trans (B-WGGDT) people are always at the forefront of social justice resistance and activism. This movement is no different.
Canada has yet to reach gender and racial equity. It continues to ignore its colonial and patriarchal histories, resulting in ongoing violence, especially towards Black communities, many of which have existed on these lands for centuries.
We have developed The Amourgynoir Code to be a social movement, a framework, a promise, and a revolution.
Why is it important to have this word?
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Amourgynoir is a term coined by Nneka MacGregor (2019) as a verb to define the actions taken to proactively, deliberately, and intentionally uplift and centre self-identified Black women, girls, gender diverse & trans peoples; to love, like, trust, have faith and belief in Black-identified women, girls, gender diverse & trans peoples.
It is a verb. Amourgynoir speaks to the importance of love, and more importantly, the act of loving BWGGDT. It also speaks to the need to replace hate for BWGGDT – the basis of white supremacy and misogyny – with love for BWGGDT – the basis of a Transformative Accountability and Justice Framework.
Amourgynoir and the A-Code are important because they offer a counter narrative that challenge the dominant narrative of BWGGDT survivors in historical and contemporary contexts because:
- It is survivor-led and survivor-centred.
- It records the truths of BWGGDT survivors’ experiences of anti-Black gender-based violence including state sanctioned violence in response to gender-based violence (ex. Black victims/survivors are more likely to be criminalized, Black children are more likely to be apprehended, lack of funding for Black-led and Black serving GBV services etc…)
- It is grounded in the lived experiences of BWGGDT survivors whose lives are the sites of white supremacy and black resistance.
- It uses a transformative accountability and justice framework to change the conditions that create, reinforce, and perpetuate acts of violence against BWGGDT.
- It inspires hope for the liberation of BWGGDT and all oppressed peoples in Canada.
In short, the A-Code re-tells the histories of BWGGDT survivors of anti-Black gender-based violence in Canada. BWGGDT peoples have a unique history at the intersections of race, gender and other identity factors that has been erased from Canadian history.