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Black Trans Love Is Black Wealth

Kai M. Green (Editor)

When Joseph Beam’s collection of essays, In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology, was published in 1986, it was the culmination of a gathering of community knowledge that had previously not been documented in this way. Beam helped to forge a space for Black gay cisgender men to proclaim their love for one another and community in a time when they faced multiple challenges to living and loving. This collection of essays, stories and poems for and by Black gay men not only gave testament to the life, but also participated in the act of creating a new world, a new life, where the voices of Black gay men might not simply be demonized. In this sacred text these voices are highlighted and honored.

These Black gay voices are a lifeline for many Black bois searching for a place where they might live freely. Their words comfort those who feel loneliness and alienation. In the Life is, for some, family and a witness to a Black queer ancestral lineage. Not all of the voices speak as one; they are as diverse as Black is and ain’t. It still remains, though, that all of the men in the collection believed in the power and necessity of Black love—a radical act in the face of anti-blackness and homophobia. This text did not just elevate the voices of Black cisgender men; it also put into effect a practice of Black male feminism. This act of love required courage, a courage Beam attributes to the schooling he received from Black women, Black feminist writers such as Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith and June Jordan. He writes that it was “their courage [that] told me that I, too, could be courageous … could not only live with what I feel, but could also draw succor from it, nurture it and make it visible.”

I write this call to Black Trans, gender-non-conforming, and non-binary folk with excitement and urgency: It is our time to add our voices and our stories to this vibrant Black queer literary lineage. I have spoken to so many who, like myself, first found their voices through the living literatures of people like Baldwin, Cade-Bambara, Lorde, Jordan, Riggs and Beam. We must now tell our own stories, so that our younger siblings and our kinfolk know that they, too, have a lineage: a heritage, complicated and nuanced, but here nonetheless, in this life. We have the honor of being the offspring of Black feminists, Black gay men, and Black queer people around the globe, so let us now continue in the legacy of Black courage, liberation and love by adding our tales to the bubbling pot of gumbo, as Marlon Riggs might say. Let this collection and your stories make the pot richer, to join in the chorus of Black queer survival and revival. Let our courage today nourish the courage of those who will surely come behind us, those whose names we may not yet know. For many of us, it was both the kitchen table and the life that nourished our Black queer beings. Please join me by adding your voice to this collection, the first collection of Black Trans and GNC writing.

I invite submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following subjects:

-Relationships (friendships, family, transitioning with partners, non-monogamy, heartbreak, sex, love)

-Spirituality/Religion

-Coming Out (again and again)

-Sex (gender roles, hooking up (Craig’s List, Grindr…), play parties, STIs, PREP, sex work)

-Our bodies (hormones, surgery, health, fitness, STP, packing, binding, self-love)

-Workplace

-Violence (sexual, intimate partner, state-sanctioned)

-Public bathrooms (horror stories, maps or stories about your ideal public bathroom)

-Black Trans mixtapes (annotated playlists for survival)

-The State (incarceration, education)

-Aging (or aging but looking “young”)

-The Medical Industrial Complex

-Black Queer futures (visionary fiction)

-Anonymous (Not everyone our community wants to or has the ability to come out and be visible in the same way. This space is open to those kinfolk who shall remain nameless. There is space in this collection for your stories, too. Your tales and lessons are relevant. Diverse journeys will be honored here.)

Short essays (1200—3000 words), poetry (up to three poems), art, and interviews will all be considered.

We kindly ask contributors to submit an abstract of 300 words and a short biographical statement byNovember 1, 2016 (As a .doc or .docx Word Document). Please submit your abstract to:[email protected] Contributors will be notified by January 1, 2017 if their abstract is accepted. Deadline for final submissions will be June 1, 2017.

[1] In August 2013 following the death of Islan Nettles, a young Black trans women in Harlem, Black Trans Media emerged dedicated to shift and reframe the value and worth of Black trans peoples. Founded by Sasha Alexander and co-directed by Olympia Perez Black Trans Media hosts an annual "Black Trans Love is Wealth" event in NYC honoring and reframing Nikki Giovanni’s words to bring together Black trans people to talk about the power of love in life and justice. Black Trans Media has continued to use the hashtag #blacktransloveiswealth to respond to violence and oppression against Black trans bodies, uplifting abolition, arts, love, and Black history in an effort to decolonize the transformative power of relationships. The current title of this forthcoming anthology, though not a project of Black Trans Media, uses the name and I/we believe it is important to name and cite the incredible work that has already been and is being done under that name.

#blacktranslove #queerlit

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Introducing for the first time ever Mr. + Mrs. Tiq Milan!! Thank you for finding and loving each other and letting us watch!! @mrmilan714 @theladycrosby #NYC #Wedding #BlackTransLove #trans100 #wehappytrans

#nyc #trans100 #blacktranslove #wehappytrans #wedding