QPoC

I am a co-coordinator for my campus' Queer People of Colour organisation.  I'll be the first to admit, we have gotten off to a slow start.  But this evening I caught a glimpse of the greatness that awaits us.  Yes we can!  

Initially, I had more of a College Dems outlook.  I thought that people would come with solid ideas of what the organisation would be and do and who it would serve.  That has not been the case....  But I think this is better, more suited to the Northwest, because this is an entirely different world from Orlando.  And also, the Dems have the Organising for America organisation to back them up in all of their activities.  And also they have a wider network and more members.

The fact that I can help build up QPoC is good though.  It is continually teaching me team-building and patience.  And also how to reign in my god complex, because it tends to get a bit out of hand.  I want to solidify QPoC's presence on campus so that when I (finally) graduate in two years, I won't have to worry about it falling to the ground because membership is low or because there isn't motivation to keep moving forward.

Well, those are my hopes.  It's always different because the future is uncertain, and this is Evergreen we're talking about. -__-  But hopefully this org won't fall prey to the lack of interest that has plagued other groups.

If nothing else, I will have gained firsthand leadership knowledge that I can take with me when I (finally) graduate.  I have plans of working in some awesome racial/social justice organisation where I'll have to be able to navigate the group dynamic as well needing to have the leadership abilities and also be able to handle individual projects....  Yeah, and do the whole grad school thing, which encompasses all of the activities I mentioned above.

So, it's about legacy and learning.  Let's get started....

Back to the Beginning

SC, my faculty, told me to start anew with my independent contract, since I seem to have lost my motivation and passion over the last six weeks or so.  This is what I wrote to refocus.  I must stay, I was watching Law & Order SVU and later Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.  In other words, I was utterly distracted. ;)

I write so I don't go crazy. I have so much activity in my head, I have to release it.  Writing is my medium of choice.  I'm going to try my hand at radio/video/photography, because I have an interest in them and i think they're important media forms that have the ability to convey a powerful message.


I first decided to create this independent learning contract because I've recently begun to identify as 'queer'.  As I began to settle into my new identity, I became more aware of how non-heterosexual people are portrayed in the media... and how few queer people of colour are represented.  I had also noticed how few queer people of colour I knew on an individual basis.  The literature i encountered also felt skewered toward the White Experience.


And I began to wonder where the queers of colour were.  I knew they existed (my friends and I could not b the only ones, along with a handful of celebrities!), I just did not know where to find them.  I knew of queers within other culture and countries (the travesti of Brasil, the five genders of Indonesia) but I was looking for specific examples of queers within African-American culture.


It wasn't until I began to research potential books for Evergreen's Queer People of colour library that I realised how much literature was available, not only for African-American queers, but also Latinos, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Middle Easterners/Arabs and Native Americans, and is going to be published within the next year.  Although the amount of works is not really as vast as that of White LGBTQ, it's more than I expected with communities of colour generally being less receptive to queers of colour.


The feeling I get when I see all of the books on queers of colour is a sense of pride.  To know that despite our unique issues being generally misrepresented or ignored by the mainstream, they are being studies and addressed in the academic world give me hope that one day I will be able to switch on the television or read an article in a national newspaper that accurate portrays my experience as a queer person of colour.

Oh yes, that is definitely some jilted writing. -__-

I must mention that 'queer' is a relatively new word in my vocabulary.  In Florida, 'queer' still carries a very negative connotation.  I'd equate it with using the word 'Negro' or 'coloured' to describe an African-American person.  You just don't do it.  But here in this Pacific Northwest bubble, it fine.  But I'm going to try my hardest not to take it for granted that on the other side of the Rockies, and East of the Mississippi it is not acceptable.

Just trying to keep things in perspective for when I head back East.... ;)

Introduction

Ah, new beginnings.

I've decided to start a blog (yes, another one) to collect my thoughts about being a queer person of colour, and more precisely a working-class African-American female queer raised in sunny Orlando during the late 20th- and early 21st-century.

I find that there is very little space in the media where I find experiences that mirror my own.  A little in the queer community, more so in the African-American community, but I find that I need my own space. I snicker as I write this; I've been drinking the Kool-Aid of the Northwest.

I guess this intro will serve as a disclaimer (again, the Northwest Kool-Aid).  I am a product of my historical period and geographical location, among other things, and I make no promises to be diplomatic.  Where I'm from, you say what's on your mind and it's up to the listeners to steel themselves for the often harsh words.  This is the one domain I will speak freely.

Let's get started....