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Leave The Racism Behind pt 1
Jasmyne Cannick step on up.
Join the leadership of the LGBTI community and stop trying to be the leader of the Black Gay community.
You seem rather reluctant to bring both sides together, and instead seem to be feeling that the White Gays are busy oppressing Black Gays.
Ms Cannick, you are still fighting the 1960′s. I, on the other hand, am not. The lack of black faces in the leadership of the LGBTI community is certainly not because any of us are excluding you from taking an active role in obtaining rights for all of us, black or white. Or, in the case of a number of us, Hispanic. I certainly know of no rule, or even move to exclude intellects and voices just like yours from the ranks of the leadership. All we ask is that you stop blaming us for your reluctance to step forward.
Stop acting as if, somehow, some way, we are the root of the problem.
I certainly know of, and even personally know, a large number of interracial gay and lesbian couples. I know transpeople of all races. Why not step forward and go after the root of the problem instead of projecting this issue upon the rest of us. Why not take on the leadership inside the black community for their prejudices instead of projecting prejudices upon the rest of us. Stop acting as if, somehow, the majority of the LGBTI community is kicking blacks down into the gutter.
The breakdown of the vote on Prop 8 was telling.
The majority of the black community that did show up was older, the demographic which voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prop 8. Even Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com was clear on this. The younger generation- black, white, latino- voted against Prop 8. It is certainly more the Mainstream Media which have been pushing this supposed importance of the black vote for Prop 8 than anyone on our staff, or anyone of the blogs that I have read, and yet, you blame the “white” leadership of this movement.
When I was growing up in Tampa, Florida, I learned a very stark lesson in racism. A man was being served with a warrant. The crime was fairly minor, but he needed to come down to the station. The officers involved allowed the man to go back into his house to get a jacket. Instead he came back with a gun and shot the two police officers. One of them died. The man went free in the end only to later commit a crime that he was sent to jail for.
The caveats to this tale? The man who was served the warrant is black. The officers were a white woman and a latino man. Officer DeSoto, the Latino man, died when one of the bullets hit him in the armpit and entered his chest cavity. The man who shot him said at his trial that he was afraid of the white officers who came to arrest him. As Officer DeSoto’s wife said after the trial, he was never white until he died.
I have strived very hard not to fall into racism. Through my nearly twenty-five years in the South, I managed to keep racial hatreds from overwhelming me. I clung to the color-blind vision I had when I first moved to Florida. I did this despite listening to whites tell me how blacks were dangerous scum, and blacks blaming ME for slavery. That’s right, a woman who had only one branch of her family in this country at the time of slavery was being blamed for it, and my ancestors in that branch fought for the union and against slavery.
What’s more, many of the leadership within the LGBTI community are not white.
Certainly a fair number of us are Asian and Hispanic, especially in California.
Ms Cannick, leave the racism behind and embrace being a leader within the LGBTI community. Stop acting as if, somehow, we “whites” in the leadership are excluding your unique voice. The LGBTI community today- maybe not yesterday, but certainly today- are more than open to all races, and we would like to see leaders of all races come together to fight for our rights. We lament not having more black voices in our community. It makes us feel less whole. Their silence makes us less of a chorus, and deprives us of our strength.
Sei is a trans-lesbian who lives in Vermont and has a strong passion for LGBTI rights. She has a BA in History and her hobbies include sci-fi, anime, fantasy, action movies, video games, and more. You can visit her Blogger profile here.
6 Responses to Leave The Racism Behind pt 1
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Sei
March 5, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Bodacious Boi,
I have no doubt that you will not like what else I’ve written about race in the LGBTI community. I am going to point out that I am not officially white. I am Hispanic.
Actually, I do agree with many things that Ms Cannick says. I just want her to let go of the anger and the blanket accusations of racism and lack of understanding. I want others to do the same. That old leadership that Ms Cannick is talking about is crumbling fast, and this is the perfect time to step forward. However, those accusations of racism and lack of understanding have to stop. I have spoken out several times against people blaming blacks for the passage of Prop 8. In fact, that whole thing made me furious.
Before you start talking about blaming others, I might point out that I have a hundred and forty posts on this site ranging across a dozen issues. I report a lot of news. I comment on some things like this. I try not to fall into the anger. This was one of my early posts, and may have been worded far more strongly than intended.
About my “naïveté” concerning the impact of racism on the LGBTI community, I am not as naive as you may want to believe. I’ve seen my share of it on both sides. I’ve seen interracial gay and lesbian couples treated with contempt by both sides. I’ve seen those couples torn apart because the outright racism on the part of the white partner’s family and the accusations of being traitors from the black partner’s family. I have seen blacks excluded from white LGBTI circles. I have seen and heard the scars of what the racist attitudes of many white gays and lesbians have inflicted on many black gays and lesbians. I have seen some pretty, pardon this, damn stupid stuff in the last ten years. I have heard some of it too. I know a lot of it, but I am also trying to put words around some of what I’ve seen. I’ve spent the last ten years in something of a fog thanks to the depression.
On the other hand, I am tired of being blanketly shoved in with the racists because of the color of my skin. I am tired of the anger being directed at me because I am “white”.
I did not give up, incidentally. I chose, instead, to try and change the tone of the people I want to help the most so that we can work towards ending or limiting the racism within the white part of the LGBTI community. I am sorry if that seems racist and arrogant, but I really am tired of having to justify my support of points made by many blacks concerning the racist attitudes. I am tired of having to walk that line between one side and the other and constantly ignored for supporting the rants of one side, and constantly demeaned by the other side for saying what needs to be said. Yes, that may sound arrogant.
I have crossed swords with Renee of Womanist Musing about the issue of anger and ranting. I understand where she comes from and why she’s angry, but why should I support her points when all we get from her are rants and blanket accusations.
I care. I may not always be able to explain it best, or couch it in language which is perfect, but I care. I am so tired of being hit from both sides for saying what needs to be said.
In more than twenty years in the South, I fought falling into racist tendencies and giving up caring about this issue. Maybe what you are seeing is that tiredness. Maybe what you are seeing is the slipping away of an ally. Because, really, I am hitting the point where I am ready to just give up on trying to deal with any of the racism in the LGBTI community.
I really want to know why calling for an end to the anger, the blanket accusations and the cries of “you don’t understand” is wrong. You called me well meaning. I mean well, yes. But you are dismissing my point.
If you want me to, I will be explicit about what I have tried to say several times now. By constantly making these accuastions, attacks and showering anger all over the place, all that Ms Cannick, Renee and others just like them do is drive away allies who want to help.
I have spent the last couple of days wondering if I should continue to discuss racial issues in the LGBTI community, and take on both side of the issue. I have started to really wonder why should I bother? Explain to me why I should care about this being an issue and address the racism I see coming from the white part of the LGBTI community.
I should point out that I should be royally pissed off at you for constantly using the phrase “same-gender loving”. That excludes half of my identity. That excludes many straight transpeople. There are so many things I should point out about that phrase. What it also means is, I understand why the anger and frustration. However, I put it aside.
I am sorry if my word is harsh. I am sorry if, limited to a whole page, I cannot explain everything. I regret that I have not had a chance to continue discussing these issues; however, given the amount of anger I have gotten for telling people to let go of the visible anger in the black LGBTI community, I have started to wonder if I should. I had begun a piece going after the use of Civil Rights images and terminology in our own movement, but I deleted it. I really have started to wonder why should I bother to go after anyone for these issues. If all I do is get accused of being a racist, of being arrogant, of any number of things, why bother?
I will point out that this post dates back to November. It was written post Prop 8. I know it reads 1/14. Lez Get Real had to move from our old servers and everything written before then reads as posted on 1/14. That was something of a point I did not notice until recently.
Here are two of my posts on this. The third apparently got lost in the move.
Changing Face Of The Movement-
http://lezgetreal.com/?p=557
Pt 2 Of This
http://lezgetreal.com/?p=422
Bodacious Boi
March 5, 2009 at 4:42 pm
No I didn’t see the second post, (no search-ability on this site) and I was unable to find it, but I can’t imagine anything you could say that would make this first post more palatable. But by all means, please feel free to send me the link.
I can’t possibility respond to all of the web post that strike me as offensive, but yours stood out as particularly misleading and misguided. I’m quite sure you are well meaning, but we as a community are paying a great penalty for lots of well meaning folks who have done great damage to our ability to ever bridge the racial divide in the gay community.
I suppose I should be grateful for your candor when you say “I have strived very hard not to fall into racism. Through my nearly twenty-five years in the South, I managed to keep racial hatreds from overwhelming me” but I’m not. That is an appalling statement that leads the reader to believe that you have tried, failed and given up on any chance of not being motivated by racism.
Where did you fail to comprehend what you have in common with people of color in America? How can you expect others to emphasize with your struggles if you can’t do the same with people you have so much in common with? You are letting black and brown folk know that despite your best efforts, you took the easy, and destructive, way out.
You claim “The exclusions of the past are disappearing” but where is the evidence? Racism is hardly new to the gay community in America and no one seems to care enough to address it, outside of a handful of community centers and political action groups. The leadership within our national and statewide advocacy groups amounts to lip-service acknowledging the issue, but no action or plan to address it. Attitudes such as yours are encouraging present day exclusions to expand and deepen into an abyss that we as a community may never be able to get out of. Your naïveté about the impact of racism (and you’re not alone) within the same gender loving community presents as big a threat to our community as the hatred from the religious fundamentalists presents. It threatens to destroy us from within, as it has already demonstrated many times, recently.
The difference here is that we, all of us in the same gender loving community have a stake in the outcome and stand to win as a community and as individuals if we address this issue. We must first acknowledge we have a problem and address its long term affects on our future and move on to create a meaningful dialogue not just with same gender people of color, but with the larger communities of color across America. Had that happened in California 5 years or even 2 years ago, Prop8 probably would not have failed. We have a chance to learn from our mistakes and break new ground in states like New York and New Jersey (where we also haven’t done our due diligence AND they both have sizeable communities of color!) where Marriage has a real chance of passage, but it remains to be seen if we have learned anything, yet.
Yes, more black same gender loving people need to get involved, but when they encounter your attitude, will they want to remain involved? That is only one of many issues keeping people apart. I’m not coming to your dinner party if I’m not going to feel welcome, and worst yet, if there is no place for me at the table.
And finally, you do not have to agree with or like Jasmyne Cannicks’ views but please know this, she reflects the very real-world frustrations of a lot of black same gender loving people and you should at least acknowledge the validity of her voice, even if you do not comprehend or find it too shrill. Yes she, like you, spends a fair amount of time blaming others when we have more constructive things to do. Blaming others deprives us of our ability to change, and right now, we need to focus our attention on changing things for the better. Peace.
bodaciousboi@gmail.com
Sei
March 2, 2009 at 11:17 am
You did actually READ the second one didn’t you? I’m going to guess not because I lay into those perpetuating the racism in the LGBT community on the other side of this too. I actually ADDRESSED that one already.
If we do not open up a dialogue without rancor and hatred, we will not get anywhere. You talk about being marginalized. Try being transsexual in this community. I’ve been called many rather nasty things over the years, and been attacked for being transsexual.
I was, I will also point out, commenting on things being said by Ms Cannick at the time. We were, and are, in a transitionary period in the LGBTI community and people should be stepping up to lead. The exclusions of the past are disappearing.
In trying to point out all of this, including that we need more African-Americans in the LGBTI community to step forward, I have been called many nasty things too. Least of which is arrogant. If telling the truth is arrogance, if calling for someone to step forward and lead is arrogant, if not turning a blind eye to the issues encountered on both sides is arrogance, if pushing for an end to the racism on both sides is arrogant, then yes, I am arrogant.
Bodacious Boi
March 2, 2009 at 10:16 am
Sorry Sei,
Your argument is arrogant, misleading and is part of the problem, not an informed or sensible solution. As someone who has worked for many years in civil rights and human rights efforts, I can attest that Jasmyne Cannick is on point when she criticizes the “male, pale & stale” leadership of most LGBT organizations. Prop 8 failed, in part because we continue to do what we’ve always done: marginalized communities of color and then blame them for not being at the table as we discuss the white, male, suburban agenda.
It’s extremely convenient of you, a white trans woman, to decide that the black same gender loving community has somehow failed to step up and embrace an agenda created to serve the needs of others. It’s terribly convenient of you to pass judgment on a community you are not a part of, whose shoes you will never walk in, and who’s problems you cannot fathom.
Same gender loving people of color may be the most endangered community in America. Many have already resigned themselves that racism in the LGBT community means they are forced to fight two wars at the same time: homophobia from without and racism from within. A lot of my brothers and sisters have given up all hope that the “rainbow community” will ever include them and their needs.
Instead of jumping on the bandwagon and kicking a community while they’re down, why don’t you become part of the long-term solution of making our community more inclusive and accepting of everyone, regardless of their race? Leave The Racism Behind pt 2 needs to be addressed to your peers!
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p.Johanna
November 21, 2008 at 4:31 pm
i wouldn’t call her a leader of the black glbt either. leaders step up and lead she has done neither for blacks or for the community in itself.