Even in Death, There is No Peace for Whitney Houston

TransGriot Note: Renee wrote this post for Clutch magazine

When I was young girl, I thought that Whitney Houston was a princess.  Everything about her seemed perfect and I am sure that I cracked a few mirrors attempting to sing like her.  As I grew older and Whitney attempted to take control of her own image, I began to understand that the Whitney Houston who I had loved — with what can only be described as a teenager’s glee — was a creation of Clive Davis.

In crafting Whitney’s public persona, Davis’s brilliance was giving Black people a woman who could be elevated at a time when we were all desperate for positive images of Black femininity.   This vision of Black womanhood was framed in a manner that was not threatening to Whiteness because it didn’t involve a political message which questioned inequality or any of the issues Black women have to negotiate in this world. Whitney was a Black woman with a powerful voice, singing cute and ultimately harmless pop songs rather than gospel or R&B music.  As a professional voice for hire, they told her what to sing and she sang it.

In the later years of her career, Whitney would take control over own image and move away from the “princess” Davis created in an attempt to be more authentically herself.  Whitney strove to bring in the traditions of her own culture as an African-American woman and to more closely tie herself to the Black community, but despite her efforts, she was booed at the 1989 Soul Train Awards.  Like many celebrities, the creation still obscured the person, but in her case it was specifically because many viewed her as “too white.”  Her acceptance in the Black community was often tenuous as a result.

 Finish reading article here.

Black History Meets Women's History In 'TransGriot' Event

TransGriot Note: Thanks to Miranda Butler of the Daily Wildcat for this article on my impending visit to the UA campus tomorrow night 

West African historians called “griots” can recite hundreds of years of their history from memory. Monica Roberts, an African-American transwoman writer and activist, has modernized this responsibility by adopting the role of “TransGriot” — telling the history of transpeople of color in her award-winning blog. Roberts will present her experiences with “Blogging at the Intersection of Race and Gender,” on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Gallagher Theater.

Roberts co-founded the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition and has also led the Transsistahs-Transbrothas conference for black transpeople. But her “TransGriot” blog is one of her most influential projects. Since Roberts started the blog in 2006, the page has hit more than 3 million views.

Stephan Przybylowicz, co-director of the ASUA Pride Alliance, said Roberts is a significant figure in the trans community because she has reached a level of publicity that is not seen very often. Roberts says what she thinks and isn’t afraid of having her opinions heard, Przybylowicz added.

In her blog at transgriot.blogspot.com, Roberts explains that since 1998, the goal of her activism has been to “push for trans human rights coverage in Houston, Texas, and the nation, ensure that POC (people of color) transpeople’s voices are included in the policy mix, tell our stories, unearth our history, and be the stereotype-busting role model for African-American transwomen that I didn’t have growing up.”

The event, hosted by ASUA Pride Alliance, the Women’s Resource Center and African American Student Affairs, fits well with this goal. The “TransGriot” discussion will celebrate both Black History Month and “women’s herstory” by combining personal identities that are often separated.

“A lot of times when there are events for different heritage months, they don’t really think about people of color who are also LGBT … So, we wanted to bring together that intersection by having (Roberts) come to speak about both issues,” Przybylowicz said.

During the event, students and the general public will have an opportunity to hear Roberts’ thoughts on race and gender in everyday culture, the media, politics and legislation. There will be a question and answer session with Roberts afterward.

“When the opportunity presents itself, I get invitations to discuss trans issues from an Afrocentric perspective,” Roberts writes. “I enjoy speaking to college students and various audiences about our issues.”
Przybylowicz noted that the event is sure to be an inspirational way to get perspective on what’s happening in the world.

“It’s really an event that everybody can benefit from,” Przybylowicz said, “because even if none of those are your identities at all, you’re learning about somebody else’s experience. That has value as well.”

JFK Separation of Church And State Speech

This September 12, 1960 speech that then Senator John F. Kennedy made to a group of pastors in Houston during his campaign for the presidency is one that desperately needs to be heard once again

And I hope that idiot Sweater Vest, Jr throws up after he hears it.

  

Texas Black History GLBT Style-Judge Tonya Parker

As the story of 116th District Judge Tonya Parker's refusal to perform marriages for straight couples until she and other rainbow community people can get married in the Lone Star State is going viral after being posted in the Dallas Voice, there was also another piece of info that was overlooked in this story.

Everyone was so focused on the marriage piece of it they missed the fact that Judge Parker may be a trailblazer in another way.

She may be the first elected openly gay African-American official in the state of Texas.

Yes, Rep. Barbara Jordan was elected to the Texas state senate in 1966 and the US House of Representatives in 1972, but her sexuality wasn't revealed until after her death in 1996.

But Judge Parker is the first LGBT person elected as a judge in Dallas County and possibly the first openly gay African-American elected official in Texas.   I think that's more newsworthy than her stance on marriage.

The 2012 Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

I know some of you are anxious to watch the Oscar telecast, but it's time to announce the winners of the 2012 edition of the Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Awards. 

These folks will be retired from weekly Shut Up Fool Award consideration unless they say or do something so jacked up I have to call them on it or they decide to run for the presidency or a higher political office.

And now, enough jibber-jabber.   Here are the 2012 honorees.


A group award for the Gendertrender radfem trans hate blog

Michelle Malkin

Dan Savage

Michael Savage

Chuck Knipp (AKA Shirley Q Liquor)

'Queens Of New York' Documentary

Here's another interesting documentary by Kara David that focuses on the transpinays living in New York.