Its Past Time for Pan-African Militancy against Homophobia

I grew up heavily influenced by independent Black Nationalist politics.  In fact, when I was a teen, that's all I knew.  It wasn't the hustler scam youtube based politics so dominant today either.  It was sincere on the ground independent political organizing in African communities based on principles of self-determination for the masses of African people.  Not material comfort by pimping our suffering which seems to be the primary objective of most of these video Black Nationalists today.  

With that firm foundation, I've spent the last several decades doing my absolute best to continue those politics.  That approach has repeatedly placed me in the position of defending African people from racist police as well as everyday racist Europeans.  I've also done plenty to support organizing with our people in my communities.  That's plenty on a collective and individual level.  Plenty.  All of this doesn't come without a great cost either.  A great personal cost that most people, because they are not engaging the work with any real skin in the game, have absolutely no idea about.

So, taking the above into account, the last thing I need today in 2019 is a lecture about what independent Black Nationhood looks like.  I know enough about that concept already to know that the widespread homophobic logic posing as independent Black Nationalism is actually white supremacist values repackaged to enact control over and division among our people.  A cursory study of Africa reveals quickly that gender and LGTBQ issues in Africa where much, much different than what the Black Nationalist Black power pimps would have you believe.  Additional study also makes it plain that the talking points utilized by so-called Black Nationalists today are being provided courtesy of traditional white supremacists like Franklin Graham (Evangelist Billy Graham's son) and his extensive organizational capacity (through Samaritan Power) to influence African communities on the LGTBQ question from Uganda to Ghana to Georgia, U.S.  His work, and those like him, has been constant in our communities for 40 years.

For me, when you say unity among African people, that concept has to mean love and acceptance for all of our people.  Addicted to drugs?  We love and accept.  Alcoholics?  We love and accept.  Convicted felons?  We love and accept.  Christians?  Muslims?  Jews?  Atheists?  North, Central, South America?  Caribbean?  Europe?  Africa?  We love and accept.  Gay, lesbian, transgender, etc.?  Yes, we love and accept.  And, by love and accept we mean we approach them like we approach you with all of the things in your life that we don't understand.  Need an example?  For me, its difficult for me to ever accept it when people they need to smoke weed in order to calm down.  I feel this way because I have been in far too many situations where my ability to selectively calm myself wasn't an option.  As a result, I look suspiciously upon anyone who needs something outside of themselves to accomplish this necessary act.  Still, I recognize these are my personal feelings based upon my personal experiences.  Consequently, I'd never even talk about this besides just using it as I am now to make a political point.  I certainly don't use my personal views as a filter for deciding how I'll interact, work with, and/or view those on other sides of the weed issue.  It doesn't matter to me on that level.  In other words, I read the comments of a confused young African who stated he wasn't homophobic.  He didn't care what LGBTQ people did, but then he went on to question the validity of their being.  That's an attack against them.  If a European told you they didn't have anything against Africans, but that we were born as savages and unsophisticated people, but they don't have anything against us, you would never accept that (if you have any sense at all).  No attacks.  No justification.  No one in the African LGBTQ community cares about your perceptions of them because you know damn well you haven't read one single book on the history of this subject.  Not one, but even if you have read several, your views on it are still ill relevant.

My perspective comes not from being a member of the LGBTQ community.  I'm not.  My lovely partner expressed to me not long ago that I am very cis e.g. heterosexual.  She's right.  And, the fact I grew up in San Francisco during the time it was ground central for LGBTQ life is further evidence to me that the claims by the homophobes in our community that there's something that is contagious is absolutely bogus.  

There are some ill refutable facts about this situation.  Number one, there is absolutely no question that African people believed and practiced multiple gender (not just a man and woman) roles long before European colonialism.  This is true with all people, not just Europeans.  There is evidence of this everywhere.  I've written much about it in this blog so before you disagree, do your work.  I'm not going to do it for you.

Second, the question about African unity again.  How the hell are we ever going to have unity among our people when you keep placing conditions on who is a legitimate part of our community?  There are many segments of our community.  I can always tell when someone has limited to no experience actually organizing our people (and please recognize the vast difference between organizing and mobilizing our people).  I know this because those people always fail to understand the basic elements of unity, any unity.  It requires agreement on what we can agree upon to serve as the basis from which we can unite.  People do this strategically because they understand we are always stronger the more of us there are focused in the same direction.  At this stage in our struggle, its imperative that African people come together based on the fact we are all oppressed because Africa is exploited and has been exploited for 500+ years.  There are absolutely no Africans anywhere who exist outside of this reality.  There is no evidence that being LGBTQ lifts a certain level of this oppression from any of our people.  Actually, there is plenty of data to illustrate that our LGBTQ family members are even more at risk when pulled over by the police, public encounters, etc., even unfortunately with some of us this is true.  That's another reason why our unity is necessary.

Another point is the Africans taking so much time and energy to question our LGBTQ family members always lead with the same talking points; "the LGTBQ movement is not concerned with the interests of  African people."  Duh, tell us something we already didn't know would you?  Name one European dominant movement that is concerned about our people?  That doesn't exist anywhere, but I have a secret for you.  Our people are no more a part of that LGBTQ movement than you are.  And, if you paid any attention to the particulars you would know that.  Gay marriage?  Health benefits?  Common law rights?  Show me any Africans anywhere that have these things as their priorities?  And, I said Africans, not even just LGTBQ Africans.  None of our people anywhere are stable enough to be worried about bourgeoisie things like who they can marry and who the benefits cover.  Most of us have no benefits to cover anybody.  So, when you keep saying this, you are proving just how much your views are shaped by white supremacy because you are defining a segment of the African masses based on the bourgeoisie issues of the European LGBTQ movement.  There's nothing more white supremacist than that.

And trust me, I understand there are plenty of African LGTBQ who are confused and disconnected from our people, but can you truly blame them?  Our churches tell them they are going to hell and try to convert them.  They cannot mingle on a social level without being in physical danger in our communities.  They are othered in every sense of the word among us.  Certainly not to the degree they are in European communities, but the day what Europeans do on a human level is the gauge that values where we should end up is the day we are finished as a people.  We have our own culture and that culture (if we understand it) teaches us to love and accept all of humanity and to fight relentlessly against any elements to betray that principle in efforts to harm our people.  That's who we are.

Again, I'm this total cis African man talking.  I can't for the life of me understand why this question is even any level of threat to any African?  What do you actually lose by extending humanity to segments of our people?  Are you truly and honestly afraid that if we love and accept our own people that they will eliminate any discussion of revolutionary Pan-Africanism, or whatever vision you have for our people, and that you will be forced to somehow turn LGBTQ or whatever it is you are concerned about here?  No matter how that is spliced, it comes out sounding very insecure to me.  Very insecure.  Why is it so hard for so many of us to realize that in accepting our people on their terms we map out the framework that ensures all of us are accepted the same way.  On the other end, the minute we start imposing division among our people, we weaken our ability to fight off all levels of division among us.

Nobody is telling anyone they have to change who they are, especially our LGBTQ family members.  They can be who they are and you can be who you are.  What we are saying is stop expending so much energy attacking their ability to exist.  Doing so isn't strengthening our people and you have absolutely nothing to demonstrate that it does.  What does provide us strength is our maturing to the point where we respect all our people because doing so forces the condition where respect is demanded and required for all of our people.  Isn't that what we want and need?  Isn't it time for us to be honest and admit we really don't know much of anything about the African LGTBQ community beyond maybe some individual engagements based primarily on subjectivity?  

Its time for us to take this struggle to the next level.  Masculine Black Nationalist rhetoric steeped in patriarchy and capitalist values has done nothing to advance our people.  We have to start saying that over and over.  Manhood and patriarchy don't have to be the same thing.  If you don't believe that, step to me and question my humanity based on believing taking this position somehow makes me weak and see how that turns out for you. There are many of us who want us to win this struggle.  Its time for serious objective and scientific study of our history.  That means we have to be open and willing to question everything in order to get stronger.  We are not going to protect the same old tired and divisive politics among our people.  So, if you think you are uncomfortable now, if you continue to be unwilling to expand your thinking in the interests of our liberation, you have no idea what's in store for you.