Blog on "The Queer Limit of African American Memory" Sam Quinn woop woop

Just thought i'd throw the 'woop woop' in there to add some excitement to my blogpost, ya know. A Lot of people say I text/write/email so similarly to how I speak that they can imagine me saying what I wrote...butttttt since I don't text cha guys that much guess you wouldn't know? Anyways now you DO! :)

Sorry for the tangent...I already forgot what I have to blog about, so I'm gonna save this and go look, brb.

YES the talk given by Matt Richardson last Wednesday in McGlolthlin hall titled "The Queer Limit of African American Memory," which discussed the lack of acknowledgment shown to queer African American history. Richardson described himself as a femminist, activist, and writer, who Professor Meyers asked to come speak at WM!

What he had to say was really insightful, especially because it was on a topic I had never given much thought before: and that was the point. He highlighted the fact that their are definite modern consequences due to the failure to recollect specifically QUEER, Black History. One of these consequences is considered the inability to grieve at a collective level. By cutting out the lgbt blacks, or segmenting and ostricizing them from their community, it leaves the group at large less able to galvanize as a whole, and gain national recognition. The Meuseum of Black Diaspora is meant to memorialize the struggles of the African American community, but fails to represent queer people. Instead, it exhibits gender as static, even when trying to morph images of humans into different races to show connectedness, the genders never change...heterosexuality is dominant.

Richardson also talked about how most people understand Queer and Black as 2 seperate entities, and have trouble thinking of them overlapping. As a result, he gave many examples of Blacks who have been 'abandoned' by other black people, since their gay/transgender selves make them seem like traitors to blackness (EX: Duanna Johnson, 2008).

Richardson ended the talk with a Q&A, in which students asked how to address this overlooked issue at a collegiate level. He gave us some good advice, suggesting that we make sure to have an open forum for community learning and discussion about such topics, so they seem less taboo. In addition, if you identify with as a "queer black" person, Matt said your strongest self defense is to be open with others, and true to yourself. It forces them to face the reality, and learn to cope with it, rather than choose to ignore such things.

Overall, I'm really glad I went to the talk...I learned a lot, plus there were some great snacks afterwards! Please talk to me about it if you have questions, I took a bunch of notes, it was really awesome!