Hey Puddins, I was scrolling through TikTok and I ran across a video that piqued my interest. A young man with the handle Chairman_Elijah, posted a video discussing the topic of Toxic Masculinity. In the video this young man begins to say that we are unable to penalize Black men for what being a man is not if, in fact, there is no explanation as to what Black manhood IS! Listen to his statement:
Elijah Miles is the founder of Tendea Family, a non-profit that is dedicated to advancing the Black community in Baltimore city by operating initiatives focused on identity, self improvement, community service and development. While Miles has built quite the community to advocate, educate, and uplift Black bodies, he has made a point to include the guidance of what it means to be a part of Black manhood. Bringing us to his outlook in his statement in the video you've just watched. Now, as I agree with much of what is said here, the question that manifested for me was: Does the guided explanation of what Black manhood is include Black queer and/or trans men?
In almost every instance that I have witnessed or conversation that I have participated in about the Black man and the quantification of his manhood, the experience is nearly always dominated by Cis-Het Black men. There is always a - seemingly - pro-Black stance when speaking about what a Black man is, should be, is expected and/or is hoped to be by and for the community. However, the only time there is a mention of queer/trans Black men is when the community is speaking to what a Black man is not.
For so long the experience of Black queer/trans - specifically feminine presenting - men have been ignored or erased from the narrative. We are often found to be the scapegoat for the destruction and deconstruction of Blackness. Yet to erase us from the very definition of Black manhood is both dangerous and divisive.
Cis-Het Black men have cultured the narrative that queerness/transness is a white construct that somehow infiltrated Blackness and perverted it. We are inundated with the idea that homosexuality in Black spaces is the result of buck breaking during slavery - an act of sexual abuse by which a white man would rape a Black man, usually in front of his wife/family as a way to dehumanize and emasculate the Black man. This is also a rooted issue in the conversation as to why the Black woman's respect for the Black man often wavers and must be proven in deeds and actions. Albeit, the very fact that we have relegated who someone loves to rape is BEYOND what I am willing and able to accept, but, none the less, that is the narrative we are taught. We are taught that being queer is a western ideal. That in our African roots, queerness does not and did not exist.
Meet King Mwanga II of the Buganda Kingdom - what is now part of modern day Uganda. Only one of the many kings in African history who was gay. As King Mwanga's story is filled with violence against those that he felt were coming to destroy the very culture of his Kingdom with western religion, he stands as a part of history that goes to show that being queer was not brought into Blackness by the white man. However, the demonization, condemnation, and hatred of it was!
I have heard Cis-Het Black men time and time again sit on platforms advocating for the Black community while never mentioning (and often holding high disdain for) Black queer/trans men. These are often the same men who are either in the DM's trying to live a double life or on the giving end of brutalities inflicted on their fellow Black community members.
In the intersectionality of Blackness, queerness, and gender identity, those of us who do not live a Cis-Het experience are still enveloped and violently oppressed by the micro/macro-aggressive bigotry, prejudice, and racism of non-Blacks folks. We ALSO are navigating the hatred and violence toward queer/trans/nonbinary folks by the people who look just like us. When we are unable or unwilling to acknowledge that many roads journey us to Black manhood we become something worse than those who've oppressed us simply based on skin.
We become like a cancerous cell; first multiplying in rapid succession, breaking down small parts of the body. Then, over time, causing a full meltdown of function and recognition. Queer/Trans men bring a very intricate piece to the narrative that is Black manhood. We are, by the very existence of us, the embodiment of resilience, power, ingenuity, unification, protection, and love! We bridge the proverbial gap of gender/expression ideologies because as queer/trans men we live an experience both unique to us but shared on both sides of the community. We are pillars. We are the elders that lived in secrecy to progress the Black movement! We are the senators and councilman who fight on the political front today! We are the entrepreneurs that are pushing Black dollars and generational wealth into our communities. We ARE men! Black men. Black men who are needed as we fight and soldier to push the needle of equity forward. We just so happen to also be queer and/or trans.
When we are able to understand that, though the make up of our Blackness is beyond our control, the road to Black manhood is well within our power to curate, define, and stand on. What would a fully embracive, fully supportive Black community look like if Black men (of all iterations) were able to stand together and be the examples we so fervently preach that we are? What if? What the fuck if?
Inlay photo courtesy of Medium.com - Fair Use
Sources:
Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies In African Homosexualities; Edited by Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe
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