by the BGD Team
Happy Friday, folks! BGD loves you and wants you to have nice things, so here’s a roundup of our new writing from this past week-or-so, in case you missed anything!
Men Like How I Dance, and Other Racist Reasons to Question My Feminism
Some might say my choices invite straight male attention. But if I avoided doing what makes me happy just because straight men might find it sexually appealing, I’d be one miserable femme. More than that, I’d be yet another black woman silenced by white feminists paying more attention to white, heterosexist norms of womanhood than to the needs of women of color or queer women. READ IT.
Which Side Are You On?: Queer and Trans People of Color Acting in Solidarity with Queer and Trans Black Lives
My political, social, and economic standing in this country has been attained through centuries of the violent exploitation of Black people’s labor and bodies. Assimilation and adopting this country’s constitutional culture and practice have been the rules of the game for my people. READ IT.
Disabling the QTPoC Future: Creating and Holding Space for Disabled Queers of Color
I have found that in a lot of spaces when we talk about queers loving each other, caring for each other, and witnessing each other intimately, sexually, and otherwise in non-normative ways, we do not consider disability. We do not think to create and hold space for disabled queers of color. READ IT.
Who Takes Care of the Caretakers?: Valuing and Supporting Those Who Nourish Our Movements From Behind-the-Scenes
While emotional laborers bear responsibility for supporting hundreds of others, we, consistently, only get support from other caretakers. In a system that openly devalues our work, we’re unable to release the trauma and stress we take from others and quickly burn out. Our work is viewed as an afterthought, perpetuating violent hierarchies that judge participation by the visibility of the work we do, rather than centering community and letting us each help in the way we feel most called. READ IT.
When You Become the Oppressive “Ally”: Asians, Anti-Blackness, and Accountability
“People of color” is an appealing term because it implies a coalition of non-white people—which can easily become a romantic illusion. Although all visible people of color suffer under the white gaze, this does not mean that non-Black people of color can blame all our infractions against Black people on white supremacy. We’re all susceptible to internalizing anti-Blackness, but we are not holding ourselves accountable when we pretend that white supremacy is the sole reason for our faults.
For Colored Girls Who Are Violently Quoted King When Their Own Words Are Enough
I am one of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of black people who have their own thoughts, feelings, beliefs and ideals. And when I write or speak—on Black Girl Dangerous, on my Twitter account, at universities across the country—I am speaking as myself about what I think. READ IT.
