Farrakhan’s conception of the call for the March is based on a patriar­chal image of what the Black community needs.12 In the mission state­ment for the March, Farrakhan calls "on Black men to stand in unity to shoulder our responsibility as the heads of our families, and lead­ers in our community." He speaks of "our […]

Undeniably, the Million Man March, on October 16, 1995, energized the Black community. Many felt empowered by this spectacular event. Its leaders spoke eloquently of uplift and rejuvenation to a community thirsting for solutions to catastrophic problems, problems such as drug abuse, Black-on-Black violence, teenage pregnancy, record arrest and incarceration rates, AIDS, homelessness, endemic joblessness, […]

Luke Charles Harris MY TWO MOTHERS The ways in which race, class, and gender intersect to confound and restrict Black women’s lives are so severe that no single political agenda is adequate to address this "intricate complex."1 On a very personal level, I was sensitized to the workings of that "intricate com­plex" through the life […]

The Media, Black Men, O. J., and the Million Man March Ishmael Reed BLACK MEN HAVE become the sacrificial lambs for all male evil. Men from other ethnic groups whose treatment of women is, in some cases, worse than that accorded black women by black men join the attack on black men as a way […]

A hegemonic construction of blackness that excludes black gays and lesbians from the realm of black existence continues to plague black politics and identity. This narrow conceptualization of racial identity and politics persists in spite of the numerous—and even violent— ways in which blackness and gay and lesbian statuses interact. De­spite the prevailing, narrow model […]

The discourse of black gay men on the politics of the March evidences a diversity of viewpoints. Because the press—with only a few excep — tions—failed to report the opinions of black gay men with respect to the March, I have based some of my observations upon anecdotal ev­idence. Some black gay men believed that […]

Although prevailing antiracist political discourse tends to dismiss ho­mophobia and heterosexism as external to racial subordination (and as irrelevant to antiracist politics), gays and lesbians of color are at­tempting to reshape this discourse through their own activism and by speaking about the complexity of racial identity, subordination, and culture. Black gay male commentary on the […]

When I was a first-year student at Yale Law School, I enrolled in a class entitled "Race and the Law." During one session of the class, several black gay and lesbian students (myself included) attempted to discuss issues of sexual subordination and the needs of gay and lesbian people within the black "community." A black […]

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of literature by gay and lesbian people of color exploring the relationship between racism and heterosexist oppression. This literature is part of a broader artistic, political, and scholarly movement that documents the existence and the varied experiences of gay and lesbian people of color. Jewelle Gomez’s work […]

Black Gays and Lesbians, Racial Politics, and the Million Man March Darren Lenard Hutchinson Sure, we welcome any homosexual black man, as long as they [sic] are willing to atone for their sins as we are going to atone for our own. . . . [Hjomosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God, just […]