What Fandom Can Learn From Onyxcon
In honor of celebrating being a black geek for Black History Month, this weekend I had the honor of attending Onyxcon: Sankofa where I fellowshipped with other black geeks.
Bonus I got to hang with my sibling from another maternal figure, Amaya Radjani and my date J.
Suffice it to say I scored with plenty of swag and spent quite a bit of cash. It's all good as I'm all too happy to support black businesses.
As I chatted with Amaya and J, something struck me as odd. I've been to plenty of cons over the years, as both a guest and an attendee. I've had some wonderful experiences, and I've had some less than pleasant ones. This was the first time I attended a Black convention.
It's always interesting to note the difference of energy between marginalized spaces and mainstream straight white spaces. This isn't to say that minorities are infallible because we aren't. However at the same time, it's always refreshing to lower my guard and enjoy myself in a non-hostile environment.
Onyxcon is doing a lot of things right that quite frankly mainstream cons/fandoms should be taking notes from. Here are a few examples:
Oh yes we go there......