On sloppy race/slavery analogies in the fight for gay marriage
That girl has issues has written a great post. It is long, but you should totally read it all. Here's a longish snippet:
Here's the thing about Black people and homophobia and patriarchy. Black people have been targeted with some shit that white people have not. Our ancestors faced sexual and reproductive violence as slaves, sexualized terrorism during the lynching movement at the turn of the century, forced sterilization during the U.S. eugenics movement, the 1965 Moynihan report that targeted Black women's reproductive and sexual integrity, more forced sterilization in the 1970s and 80s, the welfare queen debacle in the 1980s and 90s, etc. This is to say that Black sexuality has been on the fucking auction bloc since the get. We've been poked, prodded, raped, sold, and cut open primarily as a result of our sexual and reproductive capacities.
There's no real way to measure this, but a reasonable theory could go something like this: Black folks, in general, have a lot more to lose on the battleground of sexuality. Is there any wonder that, after our bodies have been brutally targeted for centuries, after surviving attempts of Black genocide, and even now, while experiencing more sexual violence in prisons (Black people of all genders, that is) because we're disproportionately incarcerated, that there's slightly more skittishness around what gets to be perceived as sexual normalcy. So, you might get a sexual conservative streak in a Black Christian tradition. Perhaps the desire to conform to a Western model of sexual normalcy is a move to prove that we are worth keeping around. Perhaps the possibility that Black folks are slightly more homophobic than, say, white folks, in general, could be related to this crazy history of sexual violence that is not shared by white folks. Folks may think they have more to lose. If we are just "normal enough," maybe we'll get a pass.
...
However, in a liberal rights-based view on these issues, all this history is just a noisy deck of race card excuses whining away accountability. Except when Black history of violence can be used for the purposes of showing how oppressed white people are today. Then it's A-okay. Also, as I am editing this post, I just got an e-mail calling prop 8 a pogrom. That shit is not cool! We don't need to say that prop 8 is a pogrom (which means massacre), or it's "just like" denial of marriage under chattel slavery (which, not to belabor the point, but seriously, wtf?), to defend the position that the passage of prop 8 is a terrible event that should have a powerful response (if gay marriage is how we're going to do queer liberation, which, of course, is still up for some debate).
So, I move that if white folks, including oppressed white folks, want to take the time to assert histories of racial trauma and violence against Black folks for illustrative purposes, they can not do so to lecture or shame us (which, frankly, is how I took Olbermann's "special comment"), but should instead humbly reflect on how those histories (since they suddenly seem so interested in them) might have brought all of us to the place of struggle where we are today. I know that's a lot to ask, especially of rich white men who have felt morally superior this week like Dan Savage, Keith Olbermann, Andrew Sullivan, and, yes, even my favorite rich white guy, Jon Stewart. But I think this will help all of our movements step up our game a little more, so I make the motion anyway and sincerely hope it passes.
EDITED TO ADD: This is on my mind, because a woman at the protest I attended in a small nearby city said, over the megaphone, that "the best thing" she saw after the election was a sign that read: "I just helped to elect a black president and all I got was this marriage ban." To top things off, we were in a busy downtown where a majority of passersby were black; and the protesters basically white. I wanted to sink into the soil. I should have gone up and spoken but was flustered...I didn't know how to do so in a way that would have worked, from my position, besides being basically cowardly. We left right after that. Ruined the afternoon, my lack of response eating at me.
Here's the thing about Black people and homophobia and patriarchy. Black people have been targeted with some shit that white people have not. Our ancestors faced sexual and reproductive violence as slaves, sexualized terrorism during the lynching movement at the turn of the century, forced sterilization during the U.S. eugenics movement, the 1965 Moynihan report that targeted Black women's reproductive and sexual integrity, more forced sterilization in the 1970s and 80s, the welfare queen debacle in the 1980s and 90s, etc. This is to say that Black sexuality has been on the fucking auction bloc since the get. We've been poked, prodded, raped, sold, and cut open primarily as a result of our sexual and reproductive capacities.
There's no real way to measure this, but a reasonable theory could go something like this: Black folks, in general, have a lot more to lose on the battleground of sexuality. Is there any wonder that, after our bodies have been brutally targeted for centuries, after surviving attempts of Black genocide, and even now, while experiencing more sexual violence in prisons (Black people of all genders, that is) because we're disproportionately incarcerated, that there's slightly more skittishness around what gets to be perceived as sexual normalcy. So, you might get a sexual conservative streak in a Black Christian tradition. Perhaps the desire to conform to a Western model of sexual normalcy is a move to prove that we are worth keeping around. Perhaps the possibility that Black folks are slightly more homophobic than, say, white folks, in general, could be related to this crazy history of sexual violence that is not shared by white folks. Folks may think they have more to lose. If we are just "normal enough," maybe we'll get a pass.
...
However, in a liberal rights-based view on these issues, all this history is just a noisy deck of race card excuses whining away accountability. Except when Black history of violence can be used for the purposes of showing how oppressed white people are today. Then it's A-okay. Also, as I am editing this post, I just got an e-mail calling prop 8 a pogrom. That shit is not cool! We don't need to say that prop 8 is a pogrom (which means massacre), or it's "just like" denial of marriage under chattel slavery (which, not to belabor the point, but seriously, wtf?), to defend the position that the passage of prop 8 is a terrible event that should have a powerful response (if gay marriage is how we're going to do queer liberation, which, of course, is still up for some debate).
So, I move that if white folks, including oppressed white folks, want to take the time to assert histories of racial trauma and violence against Black folks for illustrative purposes, they can not do so to lecture or shame us (which, frankly, is how I took Olbermann's "special comment"), but should instead humbly reflect on how those histories (since they suddenly seem so interested in them) might have brought all of us to the place of struggle where we are today. I know that's a lot to ask, especially of rich white men who have felt morally superior this week like Dan Savage, Keith Olbermann, Andrew Sullivan, and, yes, even my favorite rich white guy, Jon Stewart. But I think this will help all of our movements step up our game a little more, so I make the motion anyway and sincerely hope it passes.
EDITED TO ADD: This is on my mind, because a woman at the protest I attended in a small nearby city said, over the megaphone, that "the best thing" she saw after the election was a sign that read: "I just helped to elect a black president and all I got was this marriage ban." To top things off, we were in a busy downtown where a majority of passersby were black; and the protesters basically white. I wanted to sink into the soil. I should have gone up and spoken but was flustered...I didn't know how to do so in a way that would have worked, from my position, besides being basically cowardly. We left right after that. Ruined the afternoon, my lack of response eating at me.