Today is the perfect example of what I have been saying about White Gaze and how people like to separate Blackness (to be bluntly specific) from being LGBT. Whether it is done maliciously or with good intention, it is offensive and proves that folks often do things from a place of privilege. Before I continue do you remember or know what White Gaze means? Here is a refresher:"The white gaze is looking at the world through a white person’s eyes. In America it is everywhere. It is in history books, on billboards, on television, in films, in fashion magazines, on the Internet. It is the world as told by white people for white people...
Most White Americans do not see it that way: they are just presenting the world as it is, the way anyone would who was being fair, honest and open-minded. Any twist it might have is purely a personal one.
They fail to see how the colour of their skin colours their view of the world. That is for two reasons:
- Many live in such a white world that their white gaze is rarely challenged and so they do not even notice that it is there. Only certain black voices make it through into that world, mostly those of Rented Negroes.
- Whites like to believe “I do not see race” and “we are all the same”. In a colour-blind world there is no white gaze. They believe, want to believe, in a colour-blind world, which means the white gaze should not be, therefore must not be."
Often times Whites in general and more specifically the LGBT community always commit the crime of exclusion to take the moral high ground. They say that "this isn't about race, it's about hate toward the LGBT community. Well to day this meme below was posted on twitter:
In response to a Trump sticker that was spotted on someone's vehicle, photographed, posted online and had gone viral:
Here is how I responded via two posts:
I meant what I said, "Regardless of how you take it, I'm not going to support this photo (left) as a response to anti LGBT, RACIST folks. It is an image of a CONFEDERATE FLAG and we all know what that flag means. I'm not going to hug a person who wants to commit genocide of my race and hates me for being LGBT at the same time. Its called intersectionality, it is always racial coupled with Homo/Bi/Transphobia. So When did we separate being queer from possibly being black or a person of color? NO MATTER HOW WELL INTENTIONED IT IS, IT ISN'T COOL." I was going to avoid blogging about this, but I am angry beyond repair, angry because racism exists. I am angry because people really believe they can make issues of anti LGBT sentiment non racial. Then when you try to explain it to them, they have some type of mental block that does not allow them to compute that what they have said or done is wrong. So you have to call them on their shit when they refuse to understand even after you graciously explained to them what hey did wrong.
No its not like that, they say...then we shake our heads in disbelief because they are so busy trying so it ain't about race because their main point is most important. My good friend Angry Black Hoemo put it best when he said:
"First, if your privileged ass wants to forgive unabashed homophobes, that’s your prerogative, but speak for your goddamn selves. Leave the pride flag and the rest of the LGBTQ community out of it. I don’t know how forgiveness works in your, little world, but generally, an extension of peace and forgiveness from the oppressed victim is preceded by a sincere show of remorse and desire to do better from the oppressor/aggressor…neither of which has remotely happened, here. Clearly, based on the existence of that original sticker, alone, LGBTQ-phobia is still alive and well and bigoted ass people have no plans or intentions to stop. How do you “forgive” discrimination that’s literally still ongoing, at full-speed..."
Mood
"Second, I fully understand the context of this meme being a direct response to the Trump 2016 sticker. But you can’t overlook the historical context, in that the figure you’re jumping to forgive (on my Black-ass behalf, at that) is, ultimately, a confederate sympathizer. Confederates…y’know, the people who literally went to war to try and ensure that people like me remained in chattel slavery? For whomever made this (and I’m making a pretty safe guess that it was one of the WhiteGayze™), who the fuck are you to speak for me and any other Black, gay person on whether or not we can forgive a self-identified confederate lover? Remember that this community doesn’t revolve around you and your white-ass experiences (as much as you’d like for that to be the case)..."
I hate use people to make a point or to make an example out of them. But the problematic conversation that I had with Cristan Williams (who made clear that she posted the problematic meme) brings my and many other folks' assertions to light:
*Note that I don't know Cristan Williams every well, and this is not a personal attack on her.
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| The message opens up with a screenshot of my tweet of disapproval. |
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| Reprimand? |
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| Justification? |
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| More justification of the indefensible coupled with info I could care less about... |
For context:
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/johnwright/this_anti_lgbt_trump_bumper_sticker_is_going_viral
I politely ended the conversation because I quickly realized that she didn't get it. I dont get why one does not or would not understand the blowback they will receive from using the confederate flag in any image that is purported to show love to a hateful person. This was erasure, whether anyone wants to accept it or not, it is also turning a blind eye to racism.
