Between Two Worlds: A WURD Event Report Back
In response to Trump’s shameless assaults on the Black community, a local Black oriented media station hosted a community event to strategize and educate on what we can do moving forward. The large room was jam packed with people standing along the wall. Plenty of folks in the Black community understand the threat posed by Trump and his administration and people seemed to be hungry for community, commiseration and ways to fight back. As a long time activist and organizer I’d like to share my thoughts on this event, highlighting both what went well and what could be improved upon in the future.
The first thing I appreciated was that attendees were handed a small notepad and pen for taking notes when we arrived. Unfortunately I lost mine on the way back home and am working from memory, but I loved how this small gesture put folks in the mindset of being there to gather and retain important information. I also appreciated the acknowledgement from one of the presenters that we live in a police state; a gathering discussing Black self determination and resistance of course attracted at least one security state person. Anyone involved in activism or resistance to the state should know to be alert and aware without being paranoid. There were also multiple efforts made to engage the audience, like soliciting questions and comments via 3X5 card; this was an effective and efficient way of getting more people’s voices involved.
Several different panels were convened with folks speaking on issues ranging from healthcare to economics to education to reparations. The threats posed by Trump’s shutting down of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs sparked conversations on the need to build up the community’s resilience and self determination. Companies like Walmart that are ditching their diversity initiatives were discussed, and there was talk of perhaps initiating some boycotts. History was invoked, especially the Birmingham bus boycott that crippled the city and led to the abolition of segregated public transit. What several panelists highlighted however was that it was long past time to be satisfied with desegregation; there was a general consensus that what the Black community needs is empowerment, equal access to resources and redress for past harms. There was also special emphasis placed on the fact that Trump’s assaults on immigrants and established legal precedents were also aimed at further undermining and hobbling the Black community.
The importance of supporting Black owned media and Black owned businesses and initiatives was discussed at length; it was agreed that harnessing Black economic power would be a key aspect of community resistance to Trump’s agenda. Some frustrations were raised about the proliferation of corner stores in the Black community and the fact that these sorts of businesses are rarely owned and operated by Black people. Education, and the need to be more proactive about children’s curriculums was touched on as well. It was generally agreed upon that the education system has been failing and needs to be supplemented with efforts to expose Black children to more culturally competent, empowering and inspirational material.
One of the more interesting panels featured Michael Coard, a well known police critic along side a former police woman who was representing the law enforcement perspective. I especially appreciated Coard’s participation for two reasons. 1) He represented the more left end of the spectrum in the Black community, a perspective that is not often given a platform at all during community events. I just have to correct him about one thing because it continues to come up. It’s misinformation to say that Black Trump voters and leftists who refused to vote for Kamala bear the responsibility for her defeat. It’s worth mentioning that as a Black leftist I fully intended to cast a protest vote on election day but changed my mind at the last minute after seeing the Black folks at the registration table and how earnest they were about defeating Trump. But I knew before the results were announced that Kamala lost because way too many people were pissed about the sky-high piles of dead Palestinian children and the refusal of this government to hold “Israel” accountable or at least stop sending weapons. The fact that Kamala absolutely refused to break with Biden at all on this issue was a major mistake that likely cost her the election according to recent polling.
The second reason why I appreciated Coard’s participation was because he was the only panelist to be wearing a facemask, acknowledging the ongoing pandemic. Let me be clear that the space was not hostile to mask wearers unlike some other spaces I’ve been in where (mostly white) folks give mask wearers a stinky look or passive aggressively cough in your direction. I only wish that the ongoing pandemic and its impacts on Black folks had been raised at least one time. We should also be making sure to have HEPA filters at our public events as well in service of making it safer for everyone. This is a good place to transition to some constructive critiques of the WURD event from my humble perspective as someone who has been involved in activism on and off over the past 23 years.
My main gripe with this event concerns a concept that has been raised through the conceptual art project I’ve been working on over the past several years. It concerns what it means to be between two worlds, or caught between two worlds. Victor Klemperer, the WWII diarist and Holocaust survivor whose work forms much of the conceptual basis of my project, has some thoughtful insights that are relevant to my personal life. Like how he wrote about being “between stools,” meaning he was never able to fully sit in one spot or the other, but always felt caught in the middle. As a Jew he did not feel fully included in mainstream, antisemitic German society; as a German patriot and WWI veteran he often felt isolated from the Jewish community, especially because of his conversion to Protestantism. I have often felt this way while in Black spaces because of the failure to include LGBTQ issues on the agenda. As a gay/queer man, I didn’t feel actively unwelcome at this WURD event, but the lack of inclusion of LGBTQ issues felt like an unfortunate oversight, especially considering the danger LGBTQ people are in. We should be aware of how Trump’s plans will disproportionately impact Black queer people, and there should be plans to support these members of our community.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that Black queer people are suffering a lot from a lack of understanding and empathy in our own community. This is especially true for transgender people, those who are visibly queer, and those who are counter-culture. When I was around 20 years old I worked at an LGBTQ organization doing sensitivity trainings and community outreach at local nonprofits and corporations. The vast majority of the people we interacted with in these suburban settings were white. A crew of us representing the various LGBTQ identities would travel to these places, sit in front of folks and tell our personal stories. Then, we would answer people’s questions, making it clear it was a non-judgmental space for those who legitimately wanted to learn. I believe that institutions in the Black community need a similar kind of outreach, especially the churches. We need to create spaces where folks can engage with queer Black people, hear our stories and have their questions answered. And there are serious issues that need to be addressed within our community, from DL culture to the crisis of cisgender Black men murdering Black trans women.
The general conspiracy of silence around issues of sex and gender in the Black community is harmful, especially to those in the community who are targeted because of their sexuality or gender expression. The ghettoization of poor Black people has led to some very serious sexual health challenges that must be urgently addressed and discussed more often. But for far too many in the Black community these subjects are too taboo to discuss. The refusal to talk about sex is especially ridiculous when we consider that 99.89 percent of us are here on this earth because of sex. Yet there’s this weird refusal to talk about it. This leads to all sorts of pathologies, anxieties and neurotic behaviors. Confronting this subject has become a part of my artistic practice because not only has this issue impacted my life, if we don’t discuss certain issues and educate ourselves we won’t be able to protect ourselves and our loved ones. There’s a saying: you don’t know what you don’t know.
So, for those planning community events, try and remember that the Black community also includes LGBTQ individuals who are facing serious challenges during these trying times. I would like to be more involved in the Black community but the homophobia and anti-queer attitudes make it more difficult than it should be. Go where you are celebrated not tolerated as they say. In the past this has led to me gravitating towards leftist-oriented white spaces where homophobia is much less of an issue; but in those spaces there’s still the racism, the Zionism, and the way they habitually brand Black/PoC folks as crazy, dangerous or pathological whenever we challenge their bullshit. Especially over the past year, and especially as it concerns the issue of reparations, I’ve become totally cynical about the mostly white activist community I’ve been involved in over the past years. Between two stools. Between two worlds.
One of the reasons I’ve been gravitating back to getting more involved in the Black community is because that’s how I was raised. If I were a straight person I would probably have a bunch of kids and be living that “normal” life as a member of the community, but being the kind of person I am has put me on a different kind of track. Reconnecting with my grandmother’s memory (she’s the one who raised me for the most part) is the main reason why I’ve become interested in reestablishing contacts with the community I’ve been a bit estranged from the way I was once estranged from her. Just as with my grandmother, I realized I need to move past the bitterness, the gripes and the “what ifs” and focus on the very real gifts and blessings of Blackness despite all the challenges. The problems and struggles that have been inflicted on our community can make it difficult to see these gifts and blessings, but they are there. Let’s work towards a community where everyone feels empowered, included and able to tap into this power.
