Dr. Herukhuti

Cultural Studies Scholar, Performance Artist, Neotraditional African Shaman, and Sex Researcher-Educator Specialzing in Decolonization and Liberation of People of Africa and the African Diaspora. Founder and Chief Erotics Officer (CEO) of Center for Culture Sexuality and Spirituality and Editor-in-Chief of http://sacredsexualities.org

[revolutionaryscholar]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUnCguCLxZo)

Learn about health and wellness among Black bi+ folks with contributors to the recent book Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation (Lexington Books): Roberto L. Abreu, M.S., Ed.S., NCC LaShaune P. Johnson, PhD Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, PhD H. Sharif “Herukhuti” Williams, PhD, MEd Moderated by Denarii Monroe, board member of the Bisexual Resources Center

[sacredsexualities]

[Social media logos and laptop background with the following text: Center for Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality In association with Bisexual Resource Center and FluidBiDesignPresents A Bisexual Health Awareness Month Virtual Teach-In on Google+/YouTube and Twitter. Learn about health and wellness among Black bi+ folksMarch 25th 2:30pm-4:00pm EDT. With contributors to the recent book Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation (Lexington Books): Dante’ D. Bryant, LaShaune P. Johnson, PhD, Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, PhD, Della V. Mosley, MS, EdS, H. Sharif “Herukhuti” Williams, PhD, MEd, Register Here: https://goo.gl/forms/wfAo05EfVnzpFSHM2 to join the conversation at #BiHealthMonth and #BHAM17. Tweets will be moderated by @BRC_Central. Follow @BRC_Central, @CulturSexSpirit, and @FluidBiDesign] 

[bisofcolour-blog]

On Bisexual Visibility Day 2016, I spoke at Leicester’s LGBT centre about bisexual immigration problems. I was joined by fellow activist, Grant.

[deadradioreviews]

Everything Wrong with Afropunk 2016:

Photos: (L): Photo of myself, taken by Driely S. | ®: Skin of Skunk Anansie, taken by my partner, Tom.

I am someone that, while I thoroughly enjoyed my time that weekend, was also very, very aware of how “un-punk” the festival was. Did I dance, eat, drink, and smile? Yup. I even got photographed a few times, so I can’t be mad at that. But the articles popping up about the festival becoming a “Black Coachella” are not negative.They are true. Here’s why:

Controversial Acts:

This year, Tyler The Creator headlined the Red Stage on Saturday. The rush to get to that area of the festival grounds was chaotic. But I must have been the only one who was thinking in the back of their mind “didn’t Tyler come under fire for some homophobic remarks a few years ago?” Back in 2008, when Afro-Punk documentary maker James Spooner was still involved in the festival, he actually got on stage to call out a band that ended their set with a cover of the homophobic song “Boom Bye Bye”. Because that simply didn’t fly with the vision Spooner had for this festival/movement. So I can only imagine that he must be cringing at the choice of having Tyler headline.

Also on the bill for Saturday was Cee Lo Green, on the Green stage.. who, admittedly, I danced to, because Cee Lo has had some serious bangers in his career. However, I couldn’t be the only one who hasn’t forgotten his deplorable stance on sexual assault. When your booked artist stands firmly against your banner of “No Sexism” which is what you pride your festival on, then you’ve got a real problem, and should re-evaluate what you want Afropunk to represent. Enough said.

And then there is the band Trash-Talk, who I didn’t research before going, and who’s set I didn’t see. But in the aftermath, I kept seeing photographs of a white singer, crowd-surfing and moshing with the audience, and wondering who this could possibly be? Turns out that Afropunk has officially ditched its “you ha[ve] to have a black singer” policy, in favor of simply getting any old hardcore punk band with some black members to keep your credibility up as a punk festival. Ouch. Their only saving grace were the amount of amazing black, female-fronted rock and alternative acts I saw on the Green stage (especially Skunk Anansie).

The List of What You Can’t Bring Into the Festival:

Bags that you can fit more than a cell phone in; although they seemed to be more lenient when you actually arrive with a bag, the official festival website’s FAQs scares you into not wanting to bring anything, lest it be confiscated. Other prohibited items included lawn chairs, your own food and drinks, picnic baskets and coolers, and umbrellas. Now, with that being said, I saw more than a handful of people with chairs, and umbrellas that weekend. I do not know if they were simply being lenient on certain people, or if there were chairs and umbrellas for sale on the festival grounds. But it’s not a good idea to risk having to go back to your car or having it confiscated, if you decide to defy the the organizers.

The Choice of Music Spun by DJs:

I’m not anti-hip-hop, rap, or R&B. I’m not anti-pop. But the lack of alternative & punk music (not even black-made punk music) was very apparent at Afropunk this year. Perhaps it had something to do with the “theme” (they have themes now?); “Power to the Party”. What that means, I have no clue. But there was an abundance of hip-hop and rap that I honestly didn’t recognize (because I’m uncool and can’t keep up), with lyrics about “fuckin’ hoes”, and “suckin’ dicks”, and all that cringe-worthy stuff that shouldn’t really be played at a festival whose banner reads “No Sexism”. I literally found myself stopping in the middle of dancing when I would hear lyrics like that, and glance at my partner like “wtf did I just hear?”

White People:

As the festival gains more popularity, more white people are feeling okay about showing up, with their friends in tow. This is probably the most problematic thing about Afropunk, and could lead to its downfall. There are white people coming into a space that was made exclusively for alternative black people, standing through/ignoring black-made music that isn’t for them, to see artists that they could have seen at any other festival (i.e. Tyler, Ice Cube, Cee Lo, Janelle Monae, Trash-Talk). The future of Afropunk could very well look half white, as time goes on.

Cultural Appropriation:

We all know what this is. But we as Black people don’t seem to think it applies to us. I saw more than a handful of black girls with Native American headdresses on, and more than half the people on the grounds sporting the Indian nostril piercing look (you know the one). This isn’t okay. There isn’t much more I need to say on this. Especially since other festivals have come under fire for this sort of behavior before.

Punk as an Afterthought:

At the end of the day, Afropunk is looking to cash in, rather than serve the people it originally intended to serve. With non-punk or alternative headliners, and pricey admission, it’s become more about aesthetic than anything else. Even with Sunday night’s power jam, featuring Living Colour, Fishbone, and Bad Brains, punk was an afterthought. The fact that George Clinton (who was also on stage with them) had to even say “there would be no Afropunk if it wasn’t for Bad Brains” to hype up the crowd (who were all mostly waiting for Ice Cube), says it all. And it’s too late for the festival to turn itself around.

[kosmocrator]

[brownpeopleforblackpower]

Brown People for Black Power Cancels Workshop at Creating Change Conference 2016

Contact: [email protected] | @bppzines

When: Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 10:45am Where: Chicago, IL What: Brown People for Black Power Cancels Workshop at Creating Change Conference

#CC16 #CancelPinkWashing #CreatingChains

Brown People for Black Power, a grassroots collective of non-Black, queer people of color who are active in the fight for Black lives in Chicago, were scheduled to facilitate the workshop On Challenging Anti-Blackness in our Communities during the Union=Fúerza Latino Institute at Creating Change this year.

It has come to our attention that the National LGBTQ Task Force - tasked with organizing this conference - has reversed their decision to disinvite A Wider Bridge - a pro-Israel, pinkwashing organization - to the Creating Change Conference. This decision comes directly after the Task Force was publicly challenged for inviting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) to the conference, in which I.C.E. was scheduled to speak about improving detention conditions for LGBTQ folks.

The Task Force’s dis-invitation of I.C.E. does not make undocumented, LGBTQ immigrants safer at this conference. The trust of the Task Force to provide a safer space for our people has been broken and is irreparable. Additionally, the Task Force’s defense of a group dedicated to pinkwashing the Israeli occupation of Palestine is deplorable and we refuse to participate in a conference that enables colonization, occupation or militarization.

There is no “constructive dialogue” to be had about the deliberate genocide of Palestinians, or the detainment of queer and trans people of color.  There is nothing good that can come out of the “inclusion” of those who occupy, those who kidnap, those who incarcerate and those who terrorize. As Brown people for Black power, we recognize that the actions and positions of I.C.E. and A Wider Bridge not only affect Palestinians and Latinos, but also affects Afro-Palestinians, Afro-Latinos, and undocumented Black people.

While the conversations that we intended to have with our queer, Brown communities at Creating Change are extremely important in deconstructing anti-Blackness, we ultimately decided that it is critical to act in solidarity with our communities here and now. We will not be complicit in institutional or organizational racism and this decision to rescind our workshop is an effort to continue the fight against oppression.

Here are the collective demands to #Cancelpinkwashing, written by Tarab NYC and signed onto by dozens of organizations:

1. The Creating Change conference re-cancel the reception, and release a public statement attesting to why the reception hosted by A Wider Bridge should be cancelled (specifically, as a move to counter pinkwashing and Zionist efforts in solidarity with the Palestinian people).

2. The Creating Change conference commit to opposing future efforts that promote Zionism and pinkwashing of the illegal occupation of Palestine–whether those efforts appear in workshops, caucuses, plenaries, organizational sponsorships, and more.

3. The National LGBTQ Task Force publicly endorse the Palestinian right of return and the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Read Black Lives Matter - Chicago’s statement on #CancelPinkwashing here: http://blacklivesmatterchicago.tumblr.com

For those who wished to attend our workshop, you can read Brown and Proud Press’ most recent zine issue, On Confronting Anti-Blackness in Our Communities, which is a split with Resisting Anti-Blackness in Ourselves and our Communities, by MOONROOT, a queer API collective. View the issue online here: http://bit.ly/1RUbEd1

Signed,

Brown People for Black Power. 

by Just Seeds artist, 2013. 

by FTP Artists Collective member Vicko Alvarez Vega, 2016. 

[blacklivesmatterchicago]

Black Lives Matter Chicago | Website | Facebook

MEDIA ALERT For Immediate Release Contact: Chapter Coordinator -

[phone], [email protected] When: Friday, January 20, 2016 Where: Chicago What: BLMChi Statement on #CancelPinkwashing​

BLMChi Statement on #CancelPinkwashing 1/20/16 - In the midst of recent escalations, we must offer clarity: Black Lives Matter Chicago fully honors and endorses the #cancelpinkwashing demands upon the National LGBTQ Task Force, brought by Tarab NYC and co-resisting collectives and organizations, to divest from the violence, ignorance and false “inclusion” of settler colonial pinkwashing in the name of a “wider” bridge. To avert our eyes, to choose silence, would come at too great an expense. We understand such silence to be a bringer of death. And under no circumstances can we corroborate the material and social death of Palestinian Lives, Afro-Palestinian Lives - of all gender identities, sexualities and faith practices - within Gaza, the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem, historic 1948 Palestine and throughout the diaspora. They/We navigate heavily surveilled and detained realities on tightropes. They/We are expected to be grateful to those that itemize their/our pain to strengthen existing norms. As is routine for too many souls across the globe, They/We must negotiate oppressions as a provision of harm reduction and triage. As They/We all struggle to achieve healing, safety and autonomy in our own lives, families and communities, let us commit to mobilize ourselves and honor the self-determined struggles of Palestine so as to divest from the violence of the Occupation. Black & Palestinian Lives depend on it.” THIS IS A CRITICAL STANCE, NOT JUST A “CRITIQUE”. PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING RESOURCES:

PACBI Guidelines for the International Cultural Boycott of Israel (Revised July 2014)

Reel Solidarity: Black Queer Reflections on Palestine and BDS

VIDEO: Solidarity Demonstration in Nazareth : Ferguson to Palestine (Dream Defenders)

African-Palestinian community’s deep roots in liberation struggle (The Electronic Intifada)

The crisis of solidarity: Using ‘’their plight” to score political points (Random Shelling)

VIDEO: Sexual Discourses in the Zionist Project (Dean Spade)

The #BlackLivesMatter Haggadah Supplement (Jews for Racial & Economic Justice)

​ With Power and Love, BLMChi

[revolutionaryscholar]

End imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy around the world.

[micdotcom]

Watch: Wiz Khalifa was violently arrested in LAX for riding a “hoverboard”

[sonofbaldwin]

You can be face down on the ground, with your hands behind your back, compliant as fuck, and the cops will still say “Stop resisting.” What they really mean, as Ben Spiker on Twitter said, is “Stop existing.” “Stop resisting” is the catchall phrase that cops use to justify murdering people. They say it as reflex and they say it at the scene so when they’re in court, they could explain to the jury how they murdered you because you “resisted.” Cops are, by the nature of what they are, liars. http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/95037403630/cops-fucking-lie http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/127196375215/training-officers-to-shoot-first-and-he-will http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/127196311055/virginia-alcohol-agents-cleared-over-bloody-arrest http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/127008096490/radazz-hearns-14-was-unarmed-when-shot-7-times

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/126702131825/study-white-people-think-black-people-are-more

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/126595784610/police-abuse-is-a-form-of-terror

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/124837418740/overseer-officer

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/122378154015/signal-boost-please

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/118237702855/alexiachristian

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/118216327620/the-fierce-bullshit-in-the-souls-of-why-dont-you

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/117937813465/the-mythological-good-cop-or-get-the-fuck-outta

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/116387953000/i-call-it-testi-lying-it-has-been-a-regular

http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/116211211392/the-10-cop-commandments

[sonofbaldwin]

There is a video that has gone viral depicting a vicious attack on a white gay man in a BBQ’s chain restaurant in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

The mainstream narrative is that a “giant black brute” attacked a “small white couple” for being gay.

However, it appears that narrative is a bit...

[bisexual-books]

The Bi Writers Association (BWA) announced the finalists for their Third Annual Bisexual Book Awards today in 10 book categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Romance, Erotic Fiction/Erotica, Speculative Fiction [Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror], Teen/Young Adult Fiction, Mystery and two special categories:...

[revolutionaryscholar]

It’s great to have a book, Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men, nominated a finalist for 3 of the categories.

[revolutionaryscholar]

[revolutionaryscholar]

[lowendtheory]

Theses on Adjunctification (for #NAWD)

[Image: Angela Y. Davis, then a UC San Diego graduate student in Philosophy and an Acting (probationary, non-tenure track) Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UCLA, lecturing at Royce Hall, UCLA, in 1969.]

I’m working on a book on black studies, women’s studies, and how the university became neoliberal. At the heart of this project is thinking about how major shifts in the organization of university labor were articulated through the processes by which women’s studies and black studies were institutionalized. I shared a couple quickly-written thoughts on these questions on Twitter for National Adjunct Walkout Day. I’m reposting them here nearly verbatim, with some minor edits for context and clarification. Rather than as final or conclusive statements, I’d offer these as points of departure for thinking about how we got to the here and now that is the university today.

Read More

[revolutionaryscholar]

Damn, I love this. Yes!

[revolutionaryscholar]

From: http://sacredsexualities.org/black-non-monosexual-leaders-and-allies-statement-on-thisisluv-campaign/

BACKGROUND

Wade Davis, Darnell Moore and Tiq Milan have decided to organize an LGBT anti-stigma campaign in the Black community without Black bisexuals leaders involved. In the latest gay effort marginalizing bisexuals, the trio have launched a #ThisIsLuv campaign (with with GLAAD, National Black Justice Coalition, Politini Media, Feministing.com, HRC Foundation (HRCF) and EBONY.com) to highlight and affirm "LGBT love in Black communities" without involving Black bisexuals (i.e., the B in LGBT).

No Black bisexual leader or organization is involved. What Black LGBT people does this omission suggest we deny Black love?

In their press release, Tiq Milan is clearly quoted ignoring Black bisexuals, “I, along with countless other Black gay and transgender people, have an amazing support system in my family. Their voices are constantly drowned out by the pervading idea that there is no room for Black LGBT people within our own communities.”

It's ironic that Tiq's campaign drowns out the voices of Black bisexuals and the statement demonstrates no room for Black bisexuals in Tiq's understanding of Black community.

What kind of love do they want?

The campaign doesn't even say anything about transphobia in the midst of an epidemic of murders of Black trans women. It shows even with a trans man as a co-organizer the needs of gay cisgender men take precedence. The sole focus of the campaign is homophobia in the Black community. Not transphobia, not biphobia.

Where is the love?

Although bisexual women and men have higher rates of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts than gays and lesbians, higher rates of poverty than gays and lesbians, higher rates of sexual assault, domestic violence, and intimate partner violence than gays or lesbians, Davis, Moore, and Milan have chosen to remain silent about biphobia and bisexuals (see: http://www.binetusa.org/bi-presentations and http://biresource.net/bihealthmonthlinks.shtml for more information).

How is that love?

Davis, Moore and Milan must have missed it when Black bisexual men were being accused of spreading HIV to Black women. They must not know the thousands of Black bisexual women who have been targeted at work or elsewhere for sexual harassment or assault.

How can you highlight the love of Black people you don't even recognize?

It's time for the Jim Crow approach to sexual and gender equality that many Black gay and lesbian leaders use in organizing to end. Black bisexuals will no longer take a seat at the back of the equality bus while they, Black gays and lesbians, ride in the front. We will not be their silent partners who allow them to say the B in LGBT while they maintain our separate and unequal status within it.

Love does not look like abuse and disregard.

UPDATE:

Tuesday, February 17th 2:15pmET:

From Wade Davis on the campaign FB page: Darnell L. Moore Tiq Milan and I created our ‪#‎ThisIsLuv‬ campaign to share stories of black LGBT love and acceptance that includes all sexualities and identities. We recognize that some folks under the LGBT umbrella haven't felt rightfully recognized and rightfully so. We understand that our unintentional omission of bisexuals explicitly was triggering for some and we apologize for that. We want all Black LGBT folks to participate in our #ThisIsLuv initiative, particularly those most vulnerable to discrimination and violence. [emphasis added to highlight the attempted minimalization and marginalization]

When people say others felt something rather than something happened, it is a way to act as if you acknowledge and recognize their experience when you really do not. Rather than say, "We recognize that some folks under the LGBT umbrella haven't felt rightfully recognized and rightfully so," the statement could have been "We recognize that members of the LGBT community have marginalized others and the impact that marginalization has had on the lives, health and wellbeing of those affected." See the difference? Rather than say, "We understand that our unintentional omission of bisexuals explicitly was triggering for some and we apologize for that," the statement could have been "We understand that, regardless of our intentions, our omission of bisexuals contributed to their marginalization and we apologize for that." See the difference?

Davis makes no apology for saying, "It's not like bi thought leaders are on every corner." Milan makes no apology for explicitly excluding bisexuals in the statement, "I, along with countless other Black gay and transgender people, have an amazing support system in my family."

BLACK NON-MONOSEXUAL LEADERS STATEMENT

In response to being notified that the #ThisIsLuv campaign is silent on biphobia, marginalizes Black bisexuals and has no bisexual leaders as partners, co-organizer Wade Davis stated, "It's not like bi thought leaders are on every corner." And co-organizer, Darnell Moore said, "Uh? Bi-phobic?" (FYI, bisexuals don't hyphenate the word biphobic or biphobia.)

We, the undersigned, are Black non-monosexual (e.g., bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, fluidly sexual, or queer) leaders, organizers and activists. So that you don't have to go "every corner" looking for Black bisexual leadership the next time you think of an LGBT campaign in Black community, we are letting you know we are here, live and in living color.

We will not be participating in your campaign and will not respond to attempts at damage control, crumb throwing, placating or other such second-thought, 11th-hour tactics.

We encourage all Black bisexuals and our allies to boycott your campaign and instead to use the #ThisIsLuv hashtag to let you know marginalizing, ignoring or demeaning Black bisexuals and our lives is not what love looks like in Black communities.

We encourage all participating campaign partners that are committed to true inclusivity and love in Black communities to discontinue their affiliation with #ThisIsLuv campaign on the basis of its underlying biphobia and monosexism.

Prepared by Dr. Herukhuti Founder/CEO, Center for Culture, Sexuality and Spirituality 2015 Thought Leader, Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians Member, Bisexual Leadership Roundtable https://twitter.com/DrHerukhuti https://www.facebook.com/RevolutionaryScholar http://revolutionaryscholar.tumblr.com/

To join the following signatories by signing the statement, go to this link:

Andrea Roberts, Austin, TX USA

Jacq, UK, Bi's of Colour: "#ThisIsLuv has clearly forgotten about bisexuals. When called out, they have responded with cynicism and rushed patching up. We bisexuals are not an afterthought. The B in LGBT is not silent. #ThisIsntLove"

Juba Kalamka, Oakland, CA USA

Faith Cheltenham, USA, BiNet USA and Bisexual Leadership Roundtable: "Find us on the street corner, find us in church, find us everywhere you look!"

Amy Andre, USA: "Studies show that people of color who are not straight are more likely (than white people who are not straight) to use to the term "bisexual" to identify themselves, compared to using terms like "gay" or "lesbian". Bisexual people, compared to gays and lesbians, are more likely to be black; gays and lesbians are more likely to be white. Research also shows that there are at least as many out bisexuals as there are out gays and lesbians _combined_. That means we're the biggest segment of the LGBT community. Ignore us and you're literally ignoring _most_ of who you say you're talking to and about -- which makes no logical sense. It's not a question of: why should you include us? (Which is what the statement about "no bi leaders on the corner" implies, by the way.) It's a question of: why wouldn't you include us? If you don't, you're missing out. And that's not love. That's loss. Your loss."

eric reece, Dallas, TX USA

LaMonda Stokes, Detroit, MI USA: "As a black bisexual woman, this makes me sick. Most of the black women I know who are in this supposed "LGBT community" do not identify as gay. Thank you for just bitch slapping us all in the face. This is not LUV, this is blind ignorance. It is time to start our own community, a real community. Everyone is invited, not just the people who happen to be available on any given street corner."

Dennis Slade Jr, San Diego, CA USA, BiForum San Diego, 2014 Bi Pride Planning Committee, Bi Bar San Diego: "It is highly disappointing that no African-American leaders in the bi activist community were contacted/consulted in the creation of this campaign. It is clear that there is one degree or less separation between Wade, Darnell and Tiq and our "thought leaders" Faith Cheltenham, Dr. Herukhuti and Amy Andre as well as Stacey Long at the Task Force. And there are many more. We will no longer accept, "We couldn't find any of y'all" as an excuse. I hope we can all move forward *TOGETHER* to make #ThisIsLuv truly inclusive to the entire LGBT+ community. If we want to achieve full rights for ALL, we must all be fighting as one."

Donne Redd, Brooklyn, NY USA,  S.i.S.T.A.H.,Bisexual Women of All Colors, New York Area Bisexual Network, BiNet USA: "Bisexual Lives Matter! If you are going to represent... REPRESENT EVERYONE! Speak to Bi-Leaders, Hear their voices, RESPECT THEM! IF YOU DO NOT GIVE RESPECT, YOU CAN'T RECEIVE IT! #AHOUSEDIVIDEDWILLNOTSTAND!"

Latisha McDaniel, Iowa City, IA USA, University of Iowa LGBT Staff and Faculty Association, Black Lives Matter Iowa City, Community Policing Initiative (CPI): "And I can be found on any street corner with either a sign or a bullhorn."

Bisexual Women of Color (BIWOC), Boston, MA USA: "Although the Facebook call for submission did use inclusive language, we are concerned regarding:

The Ebony magazine quote "“I, along with countless other Black gay and transgender people, have an amazing support system in my family. Their voices are constantly drowned out by the pervading idea that there is no room for Black LGBT people within our own communities,” says Tiq Milan. This February as we celebrate love and Black History Month, this campaign is a much needed recognition and examination of where love and Black LGBT identity intersect.” That quote does not include bisexuals; we are not gay and also many of us who are trans are being assassinated. It would have been healing to add a sentence about bi and trans folks something like "We recognize that Bi and Trans folks may not be able to participate and those who can we encourage them to tag their photos with #Bi and #Trans to build visibility". Using the abbreviation LGBT does not make it clear that you are referring to OUR communities; many bisexuals do not identify with the "LGBT" community. The majority of out black bisexuals ARE not embraced by our families of origin and can not take a photo with them (including the founder of BIWOC).

We are also concerned that the organizers of this social media campaign did not think to invite a Black Bisexual Activist to help plan. It appears that it "just didn't occur to you." The neglect to not do adequate research and extend an invitation to a Black Bisexual Activist adds to us being erased from the Queer community. We hope that future Black Queer campaigns includes Black Bisexual Activist. We would be happy to be active in healing and celebrating ALL of our sexual orientations. - GFH"

Denarii Grace Monroe, Brooklyn, NY USA, freelance writer, BiNet USA: "When bisexuals make up the majority of the LGBQA community, and when Black bisexuals make up the majority of all bi/non-monosexual identified people, it is more than a travesty that we are being erased by the very people who claim to want to lift up "LGbt" as a whole."

Tracy Holton, Los Angeles, CA USA

B Davis, Oakland, CA USA

Gloria Jackson-Nefertiti, USA

Dawn Williams, USA

Lynnette McFadzen, Portland, OR USA, The BiCast Podcast for the bisexual community, BiNetUSA Official Volunteer http://www.thebicast.org/ and http://www.binetusa.org/: "This is unacceptable."

Laurie Roberts, Jackson, MS USA

Nat Radband, UK

Janine deManda, Oakland, CA USA

Alisa Swindell, Chicago, IL USA, Bisexual Queer Alliance Chicago - Board Member: "To ignore Black bisexuals, shame some into a monosexual queer closet, to usurp our numbers and traumas into your statistics while refusing to fight for us is not showing love. To do these things is to endanger our lives. All Black lives matter!"

Natalya Dell, Birmingham, UK, UK Bi Communities: "I am increasingly aware of how bi people of colour are marginalised and actively oppressed in LGBT spaces by erasure of bisexuality and bisexuals and racism for the colour of their skin or their ethnicity. Please don't forget to include bi people of colour, it is really important to be inclusive. Exclusion, biphobia and racism kills and harms real people."

Jacob Short, Washington DC USA

Gabriele Rosado, New York, NY USA, New York Area Bisexual Network: "This is gaywashing at its ultimate. It's even sad to see Tiq Milan, a black transman, play sidekick to the whims of the cisgender gay issues and not even notice it. That's the extent of gay washing - the issues of cisgender gay people is every queer's issue. It is not. The Black LGBT community should know more than anyone else the epidemic of Black trans lives being taken at an astounding rate. But all is silent. Why? One word - transphobia. How ironic of Tiq Milan to introduce the support of only gay & transgender people, but to include a four-part acronym when no mention has been made of bisexuals? This "oversight" of the B in LGBT is tiring and frustrating. If gay organizers want the bisexual support for their agendas, make it INCLUSIVE. Inclusivity does not mean adding a letter to an annoyingly long acronym. It means educating oneself about issues pertaining to the bisexual community. Yes! There IS a bisexual community! Gay issues are NOT everyone's issues. The world is NOT gay or straight. BISEXUALS...WE EXIST!"

Joan Sherwood, Atlanta, GA USA: "It's too late to fix this campaign. The damage is done. But learn from this and do it right next time."

Melody Dingus, USA

Janice Rael, Clayton, NJ USA, BiUnity Philadelphia (member)

Tuan N'Gai, TX USA, Operation: REBIRTH

Steven G Fullwood, New York, NY USA: "All of us, or none of us. That's all. "

Tangela Roberts, Brighton, MA USA

Sincecombahee, USA

Jen Deerinwater, Somerville, MA USA, Bi Women of Color, Bi People of Color, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, Boston Dyke March Committee, Emerge Massachusetts, Knapsack Boston: "The behavior of the organizers is utterly unacceptable and hypocritical. The erasure and hatred that you have shown towards bisexuals is no different than the erasure and hatred that the heterosexual world has and continues to show toward gay men, lesbians, and transgender people. "

Margaret Robinson, Toronto, CA

Daniel Williams, Bronx NY USA, Fellowship of Affirming Ministries

April Anderson, Ames, IA USA: "As a white, genderqueer, bisexual individual I find it appalling to leave out, erase, diminish, or otherwise oppress ANY bisexual. Bisexuals of color are equally important and equally deserving of love, recognition, and respect. Bisexuals of color voices need to be heard, their lives matter, they deserve to be included and respected. How can someone create an org that is supposed to "highlight and affirm “LGBT love in Black communities” without involving Black bisexuals"? What insanity is that? As the saying goes "Nothing About Us Without Us!" Include Black bisexual voices and leaders!"

Stacey Langley, New York, NY USA, BiNet USA, MAsT: Metro NY, POOR Magazine

Amber Lamar, USA

William Soergel, College Park, MD, Bisexuals at Maryland of the Pride Alliance at the University of Maryland: "I stand with my Black Bi/Pan/Queer friends and colleagues in calling for "a counter-narrative to the prevalent idea that the African-American community is generally homophobic" and biphobic, as well. It is important to all LGBTQ+ people to see that none of us are stigmatised and that all are included in an effort of racial uplift — and that includes the "B" in the acronym. "

Sam Fillenworth, USA

Jacob Short, Washington DC USA

Stephen Brown, London, UK, antidote WestlondonGMP

[revolutionaryscholar]

02/06/15, Vol. 5 Issue 24

In this issue join us as uncover the ‘B’ in bisexuality. Check us out online and on stands near you!

[salon]

On Monday, New York State’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman instructed Target, GNC, Walgreens and Walmart to immediately cease selling a number of scam herbal supplements. An investigation revealed that best-selling supplements not only didn’t work, but were potentially dangerous, with four out of five of the products not even listing any herbs in their ingredients–instead, the supplements contained fillers including powdered rice, houseplants and asparagus. Fraudulent products include echinacea, ginseng, St. John’s wort, garlic, ginkgo biloba and saw palmetto.

Only 21 percent of store herbal supplements contained the plants listed on the labels.

[goodbye-good-bi]

[revolutionaryscholar]

An example of young, unconsciously privileged, white middle class women who attempt to use rudimentary ideas about feminism, faux allyship with people of color and trans people and poor critical thinking skills to exert their desire for white male privilege and need to be the center of everything, everywhere in the world. Ask them what specific work they have done to fight against the forces that have murdered, raped, experimented upon and assaulted Black and Brown women around the world and you’ll observe their privilege and hypocrisy twist, turn and squirm. I learned feminism at the feet of Black and Brown women, working class who struggled everyday for liberation against sexism, racism, classism. Their bodies were constantly the target of assault, in the streets and at home because they did not have middle class entitlements or privileges.

These laptop feminists do a disservice to the movement and I will not be their whipping boy. I’ve seen what they grow up to be over and over again—privileged, middle class white women who act as agents of imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy once they have the opportunity to get a house, car and 6-figure salary.

Not in the name of Ella Baker, Shirley Chisholm, Gloria Anzaldua and the Combahee River Collective.

[dr. herukhuti included the bi community misogyny masterpost here. I, goodbye-good-bi, have clipped it for length.]

[goodbye-good-bi]

You clearly aren’t making an effort to genuinely engage at all, so this doesn’t really warrant a response at all, but here’s one anyway, because I won’t stand for this treatment.

Yeah, I’m white. I acknowledge that. I acknowledge my privilege all the time. I’m white, there are a bunch of ways I’m not disabled, I’m not a trans woman, etc. I gave my white opinion about our treatment of you in relation to race in the first version of the masterpost, which I shouldn’t have done. I’m sorry for that. I corrected it and openly acknowledged it when Shiri talked to me about it. You have the first version in your reblog. Unfortunately that version did circulate a bit. Here’s the corrected version.

You’re one to talk about allyship. I don’t have trans allyship for you to judge. I’m trans. I’m agender. Says so right in my description. You’re gonna tell me what kind of “ally” I am to myself? I’m the only one who gets to call me a woman, and I don’t appreciate your erasing use. What have you done for bi women? What have you done for bi women that bi women, including radical ones, find appropriate and helpful? Take a look at what you’ve done that hurts bi women.

"Rudimentary ideas about feminism"? I can count on my fingers the people who work as hard to advance bifeminism as I do. (And that does not include you.)

Yeah, my activism is mostly educational writing, which I do from a laptop at home. It takes some privilege, yeah. It took money to get a laptop, and it’s a privilege to have the time to write. I’m in college, which is a privilege. It’s also a result of limited accessibility and privileges I don’t have. Most of the “street” activism happens an hour away from me by bus. I’m disabled and get fatigued easily, and I rarely have the time and energy to spend two hours busing, plus the protest. It’s also a matter of what’s out there to participate in. I don’t have the time, energy, or connections to organize “street” activism of my own, and I’ve participated in some events, only to be extremely disappointed by how shallow and liberal the politics were. Here I can do my politics my way. If I recall correctly, you have a blog and a published book. Is getting a book published less privileged than running a blog?

How about my age? How about ageism? How about the fact that you, Lynnette McFadzen, and others have condescended to me about my age, and no one who’s done that has ever acknowledged my rebuttals? Will you side with Lynnette just because she also disrespects me?

You got lucky to be correct about me being middle-class. I am, very tenuously, for now. This time last year I was poor, food-insecure, and living with my abusive girlfriend for a lack of other options, and without getting into the details, I could find myself in a similar situation at any time.

You have no idea about my life or my politics, because you’re just taking guesses. We’ve provided extensive evidence for every claim we’ve made, and you’re making wild claims with nothing to back them up. I try to be anti-imperialist and antiracist, but that’s not ultimately for me to judge. But I know I’m (vocally) anticapitalist, and I can’t even put words to how much I hate the heteropatriarchy, although I write about it frequently. How dare you call me an agent of it?

And what about everything else in the post? What about the rape threats, gaslighting, older people using their power within established bi organizations to harm and dismiss us?

[revolutionaryscholar]

I am willing to engage anyone who is interested in sincere conversation with integrity. 

You have quoted me out of context and without my permission in a public environment. You have taken pieces of a conversation that occurred in one forum and brought them into another without the permission of the people involved in the original conversation. You have used your access to that space and my lack of access to that space as a form of power and privilege. You have mischaracterized my statements in a self-serving, pejorative and inflammatory manner.

You have associated me with rape threats that were made by people I do not know in spaces in which I was not present. This dangerous, racist trope of associating Black men with rape has a longstanding history that includes the movie Birth of a Nation and the rise of the KKK.

Your actions have encouraged personal attacks on my character, career, and person. You have participated in calling for my social rejection, isolation and banishment. You have accessed this form of group power against an individual while claiming victim status all the while being on the aggressor, attacker and abuser.

You have done all of this from the comfort of your white, middle class privilege and entitlement while I, a working class, black bisexual revolutionary activist put my life on the line every day since I was 14 years old and confront threats to my existence you can't even conceive. 

Far from condescending to you based upon your age, I have been giving you the benefit of the doubt because of your age and not calling you on your racism, sexism and ageism until now. You have attacked several Black leaders, women leaders and elders on multiple occasions for not doing things the way you would have done them if you were actually doing the work we have been doing.

When I started out in activism, I was much younger than you. I did not have the privilege of being able to sit back critiquing what leaders and elders in the movement were doing from the comfort of my house. I knew that the violence of the State and the violence of white America could and would enter my home and that substantive change meant more than my critiquing others who were trying to make a difference. If I wanted to really affect change, I had to organize with others for structural change, build coalitions, learn from elders and more experienced activists what worked and didn't work in the past, study the history and theories of social change, humble myself to recognize what I didn't know, etc.

Throughout everything that has happened, you made no attempt to contact anyone directly or personally to express your concerns, offer your assistance in improving the work already being done, or learn about the circumstances that made things happen the way they did. I'm speaking here specifically of your claims about the first ever Bisexual Awareness Week. Instead, months later, you chose to engage in character assassination against me and associate me with rape threats. You have no idea about my own personal history of rape, the history of rape in my family, nor the emotional impact your associating me with rape threats would have on me or my family.

This is why I say you lack sincerity and integrity. You are exercising levels of power, privilege, access and entitlement in social media without awareness of the consequences of your actions, which is very, very dangerous. It is cyber-bullying in the way you have referenced me directly, exploited my words and name, and encouraged social action against me.