Contentious ESPN Discussion On Hank Williams,Jr.

The Hank Williams,Jr comment dissing President Obama on Fox Noise and subsequent controversy that led to ESPN dropping him as the singer for their opening ESPN Monday Night football song made for a contentious discussion on ESPN's Outside The Lines show. 

The Thursday discussion between Sirius Radio's Bomani Jones, Alabama based radio host Paul Finebaum and the Nation magazines Dave Zinn was rather heated.  

But see for yourselves.

James Craig Anderson Was Killed Because He's Black Not Because He Was Gay

TransGriot Note: A guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings.



Hopefully by now you have heard about how James Anderson died but for those who haven't,  seven White youths in Mississippi decided to beat him while yelling racial slurs, and then drive a truck over his body. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a racial hate crime. I found his murder incredibly triggering and that is why I didn't write about it before. I have however been following this story very closely.  As a Black mother with Black sons, what happened to Anderson represents my worst nightmare.

This weekend as I was going through my reader, I noticed that several gay blogs have finally gotten around to writing about this story. Please note that Black blogs have been writing about Anderson's death since it happened, and I doubt that without their constant attention, that this story would have made the national news.  At any rate, reading these gay blogs I learned that Anderson was Black and gay. A light bulb clicked on, and I realized why his death had suddenly been deemed worthy of coverage - his sexuality.

When Anderson was just another Black man, who was a random victim of White supremacy, none of the GLBT blogs had a damn thing to say about it.  I suppose it was considered not to be a gay issue. Now that it has been revealed that Anderson was a gay man, being beaten and then driven over by a truck is suddenly deemed horrifying.  To that I say fuck you - fuck you ten thousand times over. They weren't screaming gay slurs at Anderson, they were screaming racial slurs at him and believing  that you can appropriate his death to advance the cause of gay rights is repulsive.

The moment that it was revealed how and why Anderson died, it should have been an issue for every single social justice blogger, because his life was worth something.  It should never have been about what group he did or did not fit into, because looking at any individual is never enough to know exactly what oppressions they have to negotiate on a daily basis.  Social justice is supposed to be about intersections, because most people will negotiate multiple site of oppression throughout their lifetimes, but for the GLBT blogs that decided to ignore what happened to Anderson, until it was revealed that he was gay, apparently that is not a truism.

As I read the commentary about how horrified these writers were about how he died, and the racial slurs aimed at him while he was being beaten, the bile rose in my throat. Only caring when it was revealed that Anderson was a part of the LGBT community is a reflection of White privilege. This coupled with the fact that Blacks are continually framed as uniquely homophobic and the fact that Black LGBT members are constantly erased made me absolutely sick.

I don't believe that these White GLBT bloggers represent the entirety of the BLGT community, but they most certainly represent a faction that is determined to place their oppression over and above the oppression that others face.  This kind of appropriation is something that we have seen repeatedly, because it serves a political purpose. It manifests in things like Gay is the new Black, or the outright appropriation of the civil rights movement and civil rights sheroes and heroes. Caring about racism, only when you can redirect it or make false analogies is racist.  I say again for emphasis, it's racist.

Since the first Black person set foot in the new world, we have been the victims of White supremacy. From slavery, to Jim Crow, to the present day, Blacks are still under assault.  It does not always manifest in brutal murders, but it is an everyday occurrence, which effects life chances, health care, education, the media etc,. There isn't a single social institution that is not effected by racism, because White supremacy is insitutionalized.

Ignoring any kind of ism because it does not directly effect your life, only encourages the idea that under certain circumstances, oppression is not only natural, but good.  Deciding that just because you would never yell racial epithets or run over a Black man with a truck, does not erase the fact that your daily actions directly support the institutionalization of racism, or that you benefit from such oppression on a daily basis. Silence in the face oppression is participating in the marginalization of another human being. 

The moment it was revealed how Anderson died people should have been horrified and waiting until his death could be used political is absolutely disgusting.  I found myself wondering how these people sleep at night?  This is not ally behaviour and I would have much preferred them to completely ignore Anderson's death, than to twist it for their own ends.  In instances like this, silence and erasure is a good thing.

I know that some of these blogs have justified their failure to talk about Anderson's death by wrapping their commentary around the fact that James Bradfield, Anderson's partner is unable to file a wrongful death suit.  To me this just stands as more proof that they viewed his death as irrelevant, until it could serve their purposes.  I cannot begin to properly express my rage at all of this.  I will however say, the very next time I hear that Blacks are uniquely homophobic, Anderson's name will cross my lips because he is the perfect example of the various ways in which some members of the White LGBT community fail the very same people they claim to want as allies and the way in which some members of the White GLBT community fails to realize that they are not representative of their communities. There are Black GLBT members, and if you had not spent so much time framing gay rights as a White issue, you would have realized that oppression, no matter how it manifests is a terrible thing. Finally, Anderson died because he had the nerve to take up space as a Black man, and any speculation beyond that or an attempt to insert yourself in his death, only cheapens your fight for justice. Homophobia will never trump racism, but they are each in their own way a terrible blight on humanity.  

We Need POC Trans Speakers At The 2011 TDOR's

I've had the honor of speaking at many types of events.   They range from Trans 101 panels to speaking about trans issues from an African American perspective in college classes to testifying in front of governmental committees on behalf of trans rights issues. 

But one of the things I'm most proud of is being asked to be a keynote speaker at three Transgender Day of Remembrance events.  

It happened for me twice (2002-2003) in Louisville and I was honored to participate in one that takes place in Long Island, NY in 2009.

As you guessed, I'm passionate about it and I attend TDOR's when my schedule permits.  I made sure when I returned home I attended the 2010 TDOR event held at the University of Houston's AD Bruce Religion Center.

It was a well organized, well attended event and I have much love for the Houston Transgender Unity Committee that plans it.  But one of the things that glaringly stood out for me and many of the POC trans people in attendance that night and we discussed for days afterward was erasure.  

I know one of the persons on the HTUC, and while erasure probably wasn't the intent, it still happened.   


The names of the fallen trans people we were memorializing were predominately African American and Latina. The people on stage that night speaking and doing the reading of the names with the exception of councilmember Jolanda Jones weren't.

I'm broaching this subject because November 20 will be here soon, and the planning for 2011 TDOR events is either well underway in some locales or just getting started.   So I must ask this question.

Would it kill y'all to have POC transpeople in a major speaking role or you ensure that POC transpeople are taking part in the TDOR events you plan?

If we continue to assert that the trans community is a diverse one, then it is incumbent upon us to showcase that diverse trans community at our events.  TDOR's also get media coverage, and that makes it even more important that we show our diverse trans face to the world.

As I pointed out in a post I wrote in March directed at the Houston trans community but is definitely applicable elsewhere,  you can say all you want that a group or organization doesn't discriminate, it has a charter and rules that express that, but if all you present to the world is a predominately white face, that undercuts all of the non discrimination messaging you verbalize, put out there in the media or put on paper. 

It also says to the group not represented that 'you aren't wanted'.

I know that's not the intended message, but in order to get more POC trans participation you have to include POC trans people in the first place. 

I helped plan TDOR's when I lived in Louisville, and yes, in some cases that means you're probably going to have to work harder in the initial planning phases to get that POC trans participation.  

But you will reap the rewards if you are willing to do so and follow through on it.

Let's not forget there are trans POC people all over this country who are more than capable of eloquently speaking at a TDOR event or want to participate in them, and if their schedules permit it, wouldn't mind doing so.   But you have to respectfully ask us.
 
So yes, with November 20th approaching, it would be nice to see at 2011 TDOR events the people participating in the events to memorialize our fallen trans people be just as diverse as the list of people we are memorializing.

'Equality' Is Becoming A Dirty Word

When we in the African American TBLG community hear the word 'equality', it is starting to get the same connotation in our minds when we hear the word 'queer'. It conjures up in our minds 'just like you' melanin free images about well to do gay people pushed to the media and an agenda focused on 'all marriage all the time'.
  .
As far as many of us in the African descended TBLG community are concerned, 'equality' is beginning to mean that you vanilla GL peeps want to sip your appletinis and be equal to the conservative people who oppress you.  We see 'equality' as you fighting for the white privilege you lost when you came out as gay,.lesbian or trans and wanting the 'special right' to discriminate against others.

You may be fuming at what Moni just wrote, but you peeps constantly give me and other non-white TBLG peeps Mount Everest sized piles of evidence that contribute to that viewpoint.

The radical lesbian powered Brennan -Hungerford paper submitted to the UN Entity for Gender Equity and the Empowerment of Women seeking to deny transwomen human rights coverage, the racism aimed at African Americans inside the community combined with senior leadership ranks in professional gay orgs that are whiter than the Republican party ranks do nothing to dispel that perception.  . 

It's also a mystery to African descended POC's why you spend disproportionately far more time railing about, denigrating and disrespecting the African American president that's trying to get your political agenda adopted and ensconced into law than the predominately white Republican Party that spends every waking moment disrespecting you and opposing your civil rights?

Hey, don't get mad because I'm not passing out white chocolate candy bars to candy coat this truth tellin' session.  This is a sound the alarm reality check post.

The 'Equality' brand is in serious danger of becoming a dirty word like 'queer' already is to much of the African descended trans and SGL community.      

If that's not the impression you wish to give when you say the word 'equality', then to paraphrase and add to Parliament-Funkadelic's original words, if you don't like the effects, don't produce the cause that's driving the perception in chocolate TBLG world in the first place.