Jasmyne A. Cannick has a wrong headed column in the Los Angeles Times giving a half-assed explanation as to why blacks betrayed the LGBT community and were perhaps THE reason Proposition 8 passed in California. Sadly, its the typical "all about me/us" whine that white gays have not done enough for the black community and implies that only blacks are real victims of discrimination. That mindset will guaranty in my view that many gays will never again lift a finger for the black community and I hate to say it, I might be one of them. *
Words do not begin to express my rage. I live in a majority black neighborhood, frequently raise Hell with the city and local police - every member of Council knows who I am and where I live as a result - which feel they can ignore this and some other neighborhoods that are mostly minority, have worked with the NAACP in the past, and worked to protect the rights of black voters on election day. I feel utterly betrayed. And from the many communications that I have received, I am only one of many. Believe me, I'm no racist, but those who harm me and my community should not expect to get my assistance. I apologize in advance to my black LGBT friends, but you have a LOT of work to do in your community. As for Jasmyne, sometimes you work to help your allies because if you don't, they may cease to be your allies. You allege many white gays are racists, well if they were not before, many now will be racist. Sadly, you are apparently too blind to figure this out. Here are some highlights from Cannick's short sighted column:
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I am a perfect example of why the fight against Proposition 8, which amends the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, failed to win black support. I am black. I am a political activist who cares deeply about social justice issues. I am a lesbian. This year, I canvassed the streets of South Los Angeles and Compton, knocking on doors, talking politics to passers-by and working as I never had before to ensure a large voter turnout among African Americans. But even I wasn't inspired to encourage black people to vote against the proposition.
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Why? Because I don't see why the right to marry should be a priority for me or other black people. Gay marriage? Please. . . . . The way I see it, the white gay community is banging its head against the glass ceiling of a room called equality, believing that a breakthrough on marriage will bestow on it parity with heterosexuals. But the right to marry does nothing to address the problems faced by both black gays and black straights. Does someone who is homeless or suffering from HIV but has no healthcare, or newly out of prison and unemployed, really benefit from the right to marry someone of the same sex?
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There's nothing a white gay person can tell me when it comes to how I as a black lesbian should talk to my community about this issue. If and when I choose to, I know how to say what needs to be said. Many black gays just haven't been convinced that this movement for marriage is about anything more than the white gays who fund it (and who, we often find, are just as racist and clueless when it comes to blacks as they claim blacks are homophobic).
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Maybe next time around -- because we all know this isn't over -- the gay community can demonstrate the capacity and willingness to change that America demonstrated when it went to the polls on Nov. 4. Black gays are depending on their white counterparts to finally "get it." Until then, don't expect to make any inroads any time soon in the black community on this issue -- including with this black lesbian.
7 comments:
Wow! I would have never expected that from a black lesbian. So I guess the fact that she has already benefitted from Affrimative Action, Gender Bias laws, or anti racial laws and even some of the ant gay laws laws is of no consequence to her? How does she think she even got those? I venture to say just as many white gays help put those on the books as heterosexuals. I can see Who is truly clueless. While She rants about HIV and homeless ex convicts, she may want to research what programs the black community has in place to help those people compared to the gay community as well as who staffs and fiances them. Until the black communtiy can over come his homophobia and LGBT community within can live out and proud, instead of on the dowmlow, they will have those problems. Us white gays can only do so much. Sometimes change comes from within.
That I recall, Jasymne Cannick has never been a team player, and that's too bad because she doesn't hold back and the sorely lacking within the activist blogging community.
Unfortunately, she's another person who never called her community out either.
The Black GLBT community failed.
In fairness so did the Latin@ GLBT, and the ex ex gay community
Too many people just sat on their hands on this one.
While I am sorely disappointed at the outcome of Prop 8, I think it is counterproductive to "blame" the Black community. I think it is important to remember that African Americans culture is different from white or gay culture. Yes, I would have celebrated the defeat of Prop 8 but it is not the time to assign blame. African Americans in the US have a very different history than white America and gay America and it didn't surprise me when I saw the data on Prop 8. We have a similar problem here in DC - home to one of the nation's most liberal and progressive gay communtities. But even here, Black and White gays live in very seperate worlds. I find it sad but there is no arguing the reality of the situation.
In the Black community it is still unacceptable for men to be gay, thus the divide over Prop 8. And I think it would be wise for all of us non-black gays to understand that through the history of Black culture in America it cannot yet accept the idea that Black Men - always the target of white racist "conclusions" about Black culture (eg hung Black men, escessive sexual adventurism, always pursuing white women, loose morals, heterosexual taboos, etc.) are still very much a part of the Black-gay equation.
In my own expereience I have found that Black men are more often on the DL than their white counterparts. It was during the early 1980's that here in the District of Columbia that the "split" between the Black and White gay communities sharply emerged and remains the operative equation for all of us.
Even though Barack Obama is our President elect, the Black community is still operating (and arguably rightly so) under old modus operandi where their very existance as people is not assured. Tell me, what other ethnic group in America was subjected to lynching as a fact of everyday life as lately as the 1960's?
So while I disagree with the votes of Black Americans on Proposition 8, I do understand it. What it means is that we all have to re-double our efforts to reach out to the African American gay community and forge the kinds of ties that will endure over the long term. There is, in my opinion, no other solution to this issue. Once gay Black men and women understand - through our actions - that we are in fact allies in this struggle for equal rights - will we be able to effectuate the kind of change that our coutry needs.
Thanks for listening.
Scott
I was excited to watch the US election here in Canada and see the historical change. It's so disappointing that 70% of the black voters voted against Proposition 8. As a black gay man it makes me angry to see that my fellow African North Americans don't seem to understand the concept of change isn't limited to just them but its for all.
I am not surprised by her opinion. I don't think the black community takes ANY critism very well. The facts are they don't see discrimination of blacks on the same plane as against gays. They are always blacks first. What I find surprising is their vote of 95% Obama. If the white voters approached the white candidate the same way McCain would have won the Presidency. Without the white vote Obama would not have been elected. I hope the black people see this and we start pulling together as a country.
we have a long way to go. the old civil rights pioneers must stand up.
"white gays have not done enough for the black community"
Well, have they? While I don't doubt that you (as well as a many other individual white lgbt folk) have done a lot to help racial minorities, I fail to see where Jasmyne is in the wrong here with regards to lgbt community at large. And before I get flamed, I know that it's not just white gays who suffer from a problem of narrow focus when it comes to social justice. There's not a whole lot of attention paid to lgbt issues within the black community either.
"That mindset will guaranty in my view that many gays will never again lift a finger for the black community and I hate to say it, I might be one of them."
In all seriousness, Michael, I have a hard time believing that someone who has genuinely cared about and has worked to alleviate issues plaguing the black community would suddenly threaten to "never again lift a finger for the black community" following the Prop 8 debacle. Rather, I would like to believe that such a person would take the time to figure out what sorts of cultural and social differences between blacks, Latinos, and whites would lead to the Prop 8 turnout and in turn, use this information to do a better job of reaching out to minority voters on this issue. There were a lot of blacks who voted against Prop 8. There were also a lot who didn't vote on it at all. Why is this so? Were they unaware of the proposition? Did they just not care about it? We need to be asking these questions.
"implies that only blacks are real victims of discrimination."
Where did she imply that? At the very most, she seems to imply that legalizing gay marriage isn't a high priority for most inner city black folk (even those who are lgbt), which considering the reasons she provided, is pretty understandable.
"I apologize in advance to my black LGBT friends, but you have a LOT of work to do in your community."
Actually, I think black lgbt folk are more than aware of the changes needed in their communities without you reminding them, thank you very much. Same goes for the first commenter in this entry who seems to have conveniently forgotten that many of inner-city programs aimed at at-risk lgbt minorities were kickstarted by fellow queers of color. To cut a long story short, we ALL have a lot of work to do in our communities to destroy homophobia. Scapegoating black voters and threatening to "never again lift a finger for them" (as if all blacks were responsible for Prop 8 passing) does NOTHING to solve the problem. We're all in this together, black and white, gay and straight.
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