UPDATED!!! LITTLE ROCK DRAG CLUB IS RACIST
im a local queer and trans black youth of color from Little Rock, Arkansas. Living in the deep south is hard enough as it is, and now we are struggling more due to racism being endorsed By Club SWAY within one of our few local drag clubs.
Queen Anthony Gerard Wade Jr, who is employed as a Drag performer at Sway sparked a conflict when he (a cis white gay man) posted a photo of herself wearing box braids, calling herself an ebony enchantress, and claiming she was born in the wrong body (insinuating that he should have been born a black woman). This is the same statement Rachel Dolezal made when called out on her racism.
In response to being called out, Queen repeatedly asked the person (who identifies as non-binary) was asked if they were born a man or woman, and was referred to as “it” when corrected on misgendering the person.
In retaliation to being called out, the club Anthony works for posted a video of him impersonating a black woman (wearing box braids and performing to a black womans music) while smashing watermelon and eating off of the floor.
Many queer people of color found this video to be insulting, and felt as if Sway was just mocking the anger and struggles of poc. A protest was planned but later had to be cancelled due to safety issues after members of Sway and patrons threatened the organizer and members of the protest.
Soon after Sway posted an article featuring RuPaul titled “Straight people steal from gay culture and why educating youth is a waste of time” while Queen Anthony maintained the statement that he “doesn’t argue with children”
The Drag community is not what it once was. It was queer and trans people standing together in solidarity with people of color and those who meet at that intersection of identities against police brutality, racism, homophobia and transphobia. Never forget that the first person to throw a brick in the Stonewall Riots was a trans woman of color. The drag community in Arkansas is here for the sole purpose to appropriate mock black culture while making a profit off of it and ignoring the struggles that we face.
this photo features another drag queen from little rock arkansas wearing crochet braids. The comment highlighted in red says “drag lives matter” to add insult to injury.
Never once has this club spoken out about the dozens, probably hundreds, of Black Trans Women who have been murdered this year. Nor have they spoken out against police brutality for killing more than ten queer and trans people of color this past year, the Flint Water Crisis, or about any other issues surrounding the Black Community.
As a queer person, a person of color, and a trans person never have I been more disappointed in the Queer community. Allowing these oppressive behaviors to be fueled and endorsed by “safe spaces” is not and will never be acceptable.
conway pride- i went to conway pride- a parade for lgbtq folks in a city 45 minutes away from where sway is located. they were performing and during their performances one of the wigs came off and hit me in the face. not knowing what to do with it it was placed on the ground and then the performer “LadyBoi” came off the stage and got in my face threatening to fight me. as the situation was diffused queen anthony got on the mic and called me a bully to which the crowd cheered. we left the situation and recorded a live video. which can be found here (sorry we’re kinda hype)
On june 24,2016 we sat down with the two owners and queen anthony. the meeting lasted three hours with no resolution. i was consistently misgendered, ignored negated and even questioned. my first resolution was to have sway pull out of little rock pride, they did not want to do that so we changed our bottom line to if they want to go then they need to go through free anti-racism trainings and issue a public apology to the queer black community and pride and they refused.
On october 16th, 2016 black lives matter little rock along with revolucion (a queer latinx group) banded together and we organized a direct action at Central Arkansas Pride against Club sway. we held our black lives matter sign in front of their float and chanted things such as “Racist Drag is Still Racist” and “Fuck You Sway, We Wont Go Away” and ended with the assata shakur chant from ‘a letter to my people’. As Revolucion performed they ended by holding up signs saying “Queer Latinx Undocumented Immigrant” which was our cue. we took the stage and were immediately met with resistance even though we had permission from the MC, Bob the Drag Queen. The DJ of pride ran over to us screaming and grabbing the mic from two black femmes. They turned the mic off, blared music, and booed us. They called the LRPD who escorted us off stage into the audience. Then the crowd began to hurl insults and boo and question us and some even got into verbal altercations that were escalating quickly.
Then LRPD pulled tasers on the group and we were forcibly silenced.
During the performances of Sway signs were held up to block them to which demonstrators were pushed out of the way.
Share this post, Signal boost it, Write bad reviews on yelp and google about sway, don’t give them your money, message them and tell them how you feel! They cannot silence all of us. I am asking for you to show your support to the queer and trans poc community of Arkansas, and take a stand against racism within the queer community.
yousharknotpass
2087
blakekathryn
