The importance of intersectionality in the Black queer community - New Day NW

During Black History Month we celebrate the history and achievements of the Black community, but also embrace the challenges that lay ahead. Many agree that another important part of this time is recognizing how vast, diverse, and multi-dimensional the Black community is.

That's why Alanna Francis from Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Isabella Price from Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute joined New Day NW to talk about intersectionality.

"We really recognize how vast the Black community is when we start talking about intersectionality," Francis said.

From people identifying as Queer to those experiencing homelessness, those living with varying abilities, and people with corporate or nonprofit careers, Francis elaborated, that intersectionality allows us to see how beautiful those differences make us.

Through the perspective of intersectionality, we are able to recognize that without all these parts of the community, bringing about desired change and coming together is not possible, she said.

Intersectionality is a way for many to create community in a variety of spaces while honoring everyone's differences, Francis said. It is used as a way of highlighting everyone's differences that also overlap across identities.

"We are all this entire web of humans across this beautiful space," she said.

AT THE INTERSECTION OF BLACK AND QUEER

The queer community is very diverse, so when it comes to the Black queer community, everyone in this intersection of identity has different experiences.

"There's a lot to learn," Francis said. "Not any one person is going to be able to tell you exactly what it is like to be Black and to be queer."

The lack of any common or uniform experience by people in the Black queer community opens up a wide opportunity for those in the community to discuss and build what it means to celebrate who they are, she said.

Part of that conversation, Francis said, is to talk about where additional resources and conversations can be invested.

This conversation includes figuring out which spaces and cultural contexts this community is able to be in and occupy.

"Where are we able to be? Where are we able to really take power and dance and create art and create films and bring in more people and celebrate our foods and mix up how we’re able to work in spaces and how we’re able to really maintain this trajectory of queerness and transness in our communities,” she elaborated.

To spotlight all of these topics and further the conversation, Isabella and Alanna recently held a film event with works that tell the stories of characters with these experiences.

RECOMMENDED FILMS

"Paris is Burning"
"Moonlight"
"Rafiki"
"Pariah"
"Tangerine"
"Strong Island"
"Bessie"
"I am not your Negro"
“The Watermelon Woman”

"WE WANT TO BE INVESTED IN"

When asked about her hopes for the Black queer community in the future, Isabella said she hopes for not only the health and safety of the people in the community but for a quality of life that runs much deeper.

"The things that I hope are for not only our health and our safety, which has always kind of been secondary in culture, in government, in society," she said, "I'm talking about our mental health, our sexual health, I'm talking about our physical health."

Isabella wants the people of her community to do more than just survive; she wants them to thrive as people.

In order for people in the Black queer community to express themselves, have the jobs they want, and live the lives they want, a sense of safety is required, she said.

Isabella explained that every Black queer person lives in fear of being able to enter the spaces of everyday life, including bars and bathrooms.

"Every single section of your life is lived in such fear and I wish for us to be free of fear," she said. "I wish for us to be able to live authentically; beautiful, big, open, wide lives because so much of our culture is based on queerness."

Isabella went on to note that many elements of culture that most love and enjoy have roots and inspiration from Black queer culture including fashion, music, dance moves, and more.

"We want the same kind of love that you give to our culture, to our vibratiousness, to our vibrancy, to drag queens," she explained. "We want that back."

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