On Being Brown » NubianImp Projects

Is it really a question of Semantics?

Mar 152009

So I’ve been reviewing and processing a couple of bad racist experiences that I had some time ago.

Arguing on FetLife will do that.

At one point I was having a conversation with someone and I said something like “there’s a difference between political correctness and racial awareness ya know!” Now… I probably could have used better or more clear language. And I found myself at the time not being able to make myself understood which has bothered me ever since.

There are good people out there who think that they are aware but are really just being politically correct.

Sorry Manners: Civility and Incivility in the Scene - Part II

Culture & Community, Writings on Race No Responses »

Mar 132009

From: Leather Journey

by Chris M (Black Rose) and Lady Medora (NOPE)

In fairness, we don’t want to suggest that leatherfolk are inherently rude people. The scene, as wonderful as it can be, contains many subtle and seldom discussed “stress factors” that contribute to uncivil behavior. Like water over a stone, these stress factors wear on the nerves year after year, thus setting the stage for impatience, irritation, depression, and the empathy deficit we have already discussed. These are the rudeness-producing rudeness that prompts retaliatory rudeness in return.

BlackBeat 2009 Essay Contest & Scholarship

Education No Responses »

Feb 182009

Essay Contest & Scholarship

Never attended a Black BEAT Conference?

Playful Fashions, proudly announces it’s second Essay Contest Scholarship for one creative person to attend Black BEAT 09! The winner will receive a general registration scholarship/package ( $150 value) to attend Black BEAT 09′s Caribbean Theme Conference, August 13-16 in Maryland.

The essay contest ends March 1st.

Hurry, there’s just a few weeks left to enter the Playful Fashions Essay Contest.

www.BlackBEATInc.org
Continue reading »

Kink-e-Zine : Black History Month Edition

Arts & Culture, Culture & Community, Writings on Race No Responses »

Feb 082009

Februaryâ€™s issue of Kink-e-Zine, honouring Black History Month, has just launched, & it has shaped up to be one of the biggest issues yet! For some of us, itâ€™s a beautiful tribute, & for other itâ€™s a valuable education—regardless, they are proud to present it to you.

Features on the inside:

A Place Where Race and BDSM Intersect

Our Actions > BDSM, Writings on Race No Responses »

Nov 262008

I’ve been screaming about the intersection of race and BDSM for a bit (not as loud as some though!) Even at this past weekend’s event I brought it up. No surprise when it came to the response of the participants. One of the presenters, Rope, who is Native American, lobbed a word or two in at different points too. I aspire to her grace in dropping and moving on.

Came across this wonderful thing that I think I just MUST attend:

How to tell people that they are racist

Writings on Race No Responses »

Nov 252008

LOVE this:

http://www.illdoctrine.com/2008/07/how_to_tell_people_they_sound.html

A wonderful video. I stole the link from a friend who posted it to Facebook. Someone commented that they were confused because there was no need for the Vlogger to “act Black”. I thought… REALLY?! Did you see the same video as me? GAWD.

Promise I’ll write about my time in San Fran soon. And yes, for the folks who keep typing me, I’ll be doing a D/s Dinner/salon soon, soon soon…

Prop8 Includes Black Queers

Dykes, Sapphists & Other Cousins, Writings on Race No Responses »

Nov 102008

I am SOÂ fucking frustrated.

How is it that I am hear shit from queers about how “they” could vote for a Black man but “black people” didn’t vote for Prop8?

SAYÂ WHAT?!

Like, even if one does the math and assumed that EVERYÂ black person voted (including those who inellgible like children), and EVERYÂ black person voted democrat, it still wouldn’t have been enough votes on their own? JEEEZ people do some math at least.
Continue reading »

Watching the American Election II

Writings on Race No Responses »

Nov 042008

… and may those around him remember that he inherited the legacy he is responsible for from not only a different man but a different party.

A short honeymoon methinks.

Keep him safe.
Keep him safe.
Keep him safe.

What now?

Damn… McCain yapping on TV. I’d like to kick him. ALL about race. Fucker. Make it small baby. You go on ahead and frame it like that. Blah, blah all about blackness. Gonna put that man in danger.

Keep him safe.
Keep him safe.
Keep him safe.

Watching the American Election

Writings on Race No Responses »

Nov 042008

I’m a Canadian. So I can’t vote. But I did participate in the Global Electoral College:
http://www.economist.com/vote2008/index.cfm

This is a historical moment for the world I think. Hopefully I’m not just full of media and pop culture brain washing. I don’t think so.

I was born two years after, almost to the day, of Martin Luther King’s assasination. I’ve always considered myself a Child of his Dream. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Forty years later, in my lifetime, I am alive to see this possibility arise. I wonder what he would say now? Or Rosa Parks? Or the many other strong voices that missed this moment.

However, I have also not lost sight that regardless of what occurs, this election will make history. A pair consisting of the oldest man to run and a woman are also running. How interesting that in these times of international distress that the States are choosing from a among a slate of candidates that are challenging no matter which way they vote.

I’ve been resisting the lure of the TV for over an hour but now I’m feeling twitchy. I feel like I gotta watch this. I need to SEE. Before I turned it off I felt like a junkie. Compulsively switching between stations and checking the internet. The last time this happened to me it was Hurricane Katrina blowing change through the States.

Stuff OTHER people like..

Writings on Race No Responses »

Aug 132008

Well meeting the author of the blog Stuff White People Like was very interesting. Started blogging January 8, 2008 and had a printed book by June 6, 2008. More abut that another time. He did mention that all kinds of lists had sprung up in imitation. So I googled:

Stuff White People Like

Writings on Race No Responses »

Aug 122008

The author of the blog/book “Stuff White People Like” is reading at 7pm tonight at the Chapters on Robson. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

I’d really like to go. Interested?

My D/s Syllybus for BlackBeat

Education, Our Thoughts > D/s & M/s, Writings on Race No Responses »

Aug 112008

SO EXCITED!

Here’s my planned schedule for BlackBeat so far:
Continue reading »

The only conference of its kind in North America

Education, Our Thoughts > D/s & M/s, Writings on Race No Responses »

Aug 012008

Soon I’ll be on my way to Black Beat. A conference I’ve been wanting (and fearing) to attend for five years or so.

http://www.blackbeatinc.org/

I can’t wait to surround myself with black kinksters. To be able to walk into a space where I don’t have to explain so many things about how the wind blows with me or ignore them altogether.

Sometimes I forget that I’m black. And I move through the world as if I have the same rights and am viewed the same as everyone else. Then I remember. Or am reminded.

So they say...

Self-Indulgent, Writings on Race No Responses »

Jun 222008

[emerging from the shadows of listening]

I been tracking some of the writing that has appeared since I return to writing with tales of the texture that my life has on a “this is 2008!?” level.

It always amazes/amuses me what people will speak to or address and what they won’t. The places/spaces/times where folks will be VISIBLE with whatever flavour of commentary. The where/when that people will place/insert their words or actions. The consistency/inconsistencies.

I watch those things and I log them. File them away.

‘Cause I do want to sleep without keeping one eye open.

The butch l**es me...

Self-Indulgent, Sex & Gender, Writings on Race No Responses »

Jun 192008

How do I know?

‘Cause the gauntlet was throw down to show up. To acquire some skills. To GET IT. And to have the courage to figure out what that meant to move through the world so that complicity is not a part of what I have to deal with in my personal life and PARTICULARLY when walking by my side.

‘Cause I won’t take excuses anymore if you want to touch my flesh. Nope.

I got a call about an intervention that had been performed. “You’d have been proud of me.” And I was. “Was it hard?” I asked. There was a pause. “No, actually.”

And today I got this in my morning email:
http://www.theroot.com/id/46894/?GT1=38002

Huh.

I’m gonna have to keep this one around a little longer apparently.

This racial shit? It's not in my mind

Writings on Race No Responses »

Jun 162008

Contentious was the word used.

I found it curious. No had called me that before. I had to look it up to ensure that I knew what it meant:

1.tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome: a contentious crew.
2.causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy: contentious issues.
3.disputatious, argumentative.
4. Given to contention; quarrelsome. See Synonyms at argumentative, belligerent

I sighed and said Oh… do you mean that I am Uppity? And the person replied no. That they knew that identity politics were important to me and that I could be assertive…. etc…. Perhaps I was manifesting by focussing on this… etc…

Black Men Playing With Men

Dykes, Sapphists & Other Cousins, Our Actions > BDSM, Sex & Gender, Writings on Race No Responses »

Jun 012008

May I stand beside you and help hold space as an ally?

I asked this of a woman on a forum who was being given a hard, hard time by some of the members.

As a dyke, I found the conversation disturbing and alienating. It reminded me of conversations with white people about race. It didn’t feel safe. If I was a black gay man or a straight man who played with men, and I had any personal agency, I would have been cautious about outing myself on that particular board based on what I’d been reading.

I’ve dated/had in service, men, women, M2Fs and F2Ms. They are people. I’ve been looking for names of the International Master/Slave from – I believe – 2002. Gay man with a Dyke in service. LOVELY people with no question in theor mind or in that of others. And I’m pretty certain that one of the ways she served was to provide oral service… A good friend of mine who identifies as Straight (he really is) had a dyke in service whom he used sexually. She was no less a dyke for serving her master as he wished.

I couldn’t understand why I was seeing a debate rather than an attempt at understanding. If one is a straight identified man who engages in SM with other men or CDs ot TGs… why does anyone else care? Why is anyone else invested in defining your identity? If that same man is playing “”sexually”, with any of those same people, again, I ask… why all the the care and investment?

Who does it threaten? Advantage? Disadvantage? The local of the discussion seems awfully homo/transphobic to me.Â Gender, sex, and sexual orientation may overlap… but they don’t have to. Genitals are not the final arbiter and neither is the activity that involves or does not involve them. The locus of identity is not from the point of view of the observer but from the subject!

Oh. And what about women? How come there is no issue there? Huh? ‘Cause it’s sexy? Hawt? What?

Less judgment more questions and listening.

YEESH.

Info Out: Giving up Distinctions - June 16 deadline

Arts & Culture, Writings on Race No Responses »

May 092008

Someone is getting all artistic about the bits & pieces that swirl in my mind… helps me in being grounded that my line of thought – just because it isn’t “popular” or “mainstream” or “comfortable” for others – isn’t completely fucking CRAZY. What I need are folks who can keep up or jog ahead so I can try and catch them… maybe take turns following the leader? Yeah. That would be good. Good and nutritious.

All is quiet...

Writings on Race No Responses »

May 082008

Silence is golden.

Huh.

Sometimes it speaks VOLUMES.

Sometimes just fucking rude.

Ticking boxes with my dull pencil…

Choices... I pick...

Writings on Race No Responses »

May 042008

The Dark Crystal.

Still holds up.
……………..

The question is: Do you fight

For what you think is right

???

Do you sit?

Or do you fight.

???

Older Entries

NubianImp Projects

Is it really a question of Semantics?

BlackBeat 2009 Essay Contest & Scholarship

Kink-e-Zine : Black History Month Edition

A Place Where Race and BDSM Intersect

How to tell people that they are racist

Prop8 Includes Black Queers

Watching the American Election II

Watching the American Election

Stuff OTHER people like..

Stuff White People Like

My D/s Syllybus for BlackBeat

The only conference of its kind in North America

So they say...

The butch l**es me...

This racial shit? It's not in my mind

Info Out: Giving up Distinctions - June 16 deadline

All is quiet...

Choices... I pick...

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