GUEST BLOGGER: GodfathaNYC Speaks

The response to my article You Only Count If You're Black, and the subsequent piece, You Only Count If You're Black: I Got It Wrong (links below), left me reeling last weekend. It seems the issue of race in the SGL community continues to provoke controversy among us. The following article was submitted as a comment, but the content is thought-provoking, and for me personally, deeply affirming. I don't know who GodfathaNYC is, but I would like to. What do you think?

Garçon Stupide

WHAT IS TRAGIC to me is that so many of Us are unwilling to make a distinction between the people who committed crimes and atrocities against Us and “white people” as a whole.

As a result many of Us actually justify the exclusion of people based on their “race”. We list Our grievances as if they owe Us something, without really knowing anything about these people, their heritage, their communities, their history or humanity. Only that they are “white”. We rationalize the racist behavior and attitude, convincing each other that excluding people by race is somehow not racism.

We have even re-defined racism to excuse ourselve from having any responsibility for it. But racism is not just about economic power. We are responsible for the way We treat other Human Beings, no matter what color they are. Their “whiteness” is no excuse for Us to marginalize or blame them for the actions of other “white people”. We generalize them as if they are some kind of monolithic force of evil, but We can't fight REAL racism if We are busy fighting a "race". I know this is the result of the severe trauma inflicted on Our ancestors, and a mistrust that is still reinforced in Our communities, but I believe it is something We will need to contend with more and more as We go forward. As your friends pat you on the back for what you do in the "community" you might want to take a moment to consider: as important as it is to support Our Community, it is equally important to support Our larger Human community. That idea plays out locally and globally, and it doesn’t exclude “white people”. As someone who has fought racism and homophobia my entire adult life, I find this tendency heart-breaking, that so many young people, who are doing so much don’t seem to get this message. Even Our beloved Marlon Riggs, who made a film about Black Love as a revolutionary act also knew that it wasn’t just about race, in fact he actually had a white lover. His love for Our community didn't pivot on the hatred of another. We should not try to write out of U.S. history that much of what We have overcome came with help from Our Caucasian brothers and sisters. And convincing Ourselves that the exclusion of people based on race, especially when they are friends to Our community, somehow isn’t racism? There is just too much hatefulness dressed up as Pro-Black activism. I believe We should know the difference, and be more responsible for Our own bigotry, prejudice and racism.

PREVIOUSLY - You Only Count If You're Black

PREVIOUSLY - You Only Count If You're Black: I Got It Wrong