#BLKMOVEMENTSYLLABUS

The Problem.

               The Purpose.

                                  The Goal.

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On July 10, 2016, the day following the arrest of Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a space in the twitterverse known as Black twitter became engaged in a heated debate regarding Mckesson’s arrest. Sparking the exchange among several of the Black twitter community was the following tweet:

Although few in retweets and likes at the time of this screen shot @StarryToronto’s homoantagonistic and heteropartriarchal tweet eventually gained enough attention by afternoon to place many at odds with one another. The message of @StarryToronto’s tweet was clear: firstly, he desired for Mckesson to be a heterosexual male; secondly, that if Mckesson were heterosexual, and presumably met all other requirements expected of Black manhood (whatever those may be the jury is still out), he would win the support of “blackmen.” The premise here is clear: it is impossible, at least within the mind of @StarryToronto, for non-heterosexual, Black, and male to exist in the same body; more plainly stated it is impossible for DeRay to be an ‘authentic’ Black male because his sexual identity somehow negates his race. Blackness, for @StarryToronto, is not only the property of heterosexual Black men, but moreover, it is the exclusive right of such men to both award and revoke the recognition and privileges of Blackness—whatever they may be. Not only did @StarryToronto’s tweet make known the existence of Black male privilege, despite ongoing State police violence, but he also asserted that one is to be ignored by his straight Black brothers. @StarryToronto’s tweet also caused further assessments of Mckesson’s person and character, and these assessments, such as the following, were supported (re-tweeted) by him:

Interestingly @StarryToronto’s retweet of  Hotep’s Janan’s (a Black woman) assessment, came after he agreed with @Ohh_DatsYoGirl’s tweet that women are “bitches” and the “ugly” ones are not “bad bitches” yet still bitches nonetheless. This was the impetus of #BlkMovementSyllabus.

@StarryToronto’s and @zolajanan’s tweets suggest a Black gender and sexual essentialism as well as reveals the dynamics at play within numerous Black communities. However, more importantly their tweets uncover the existence of ignorance regarding the development and execution of Black movements—many of which were made possible and carried out by both Black women and non-heteronormative Black males. Perhaps one cannot fully hold @StarryToronto’s feet to the fire; maybe he did not know that Bayard Rustin was the organizer of the March on Washington and that Martin Luther King, Jr. and others appropriated the work of a gay Black man making it wholly their own. Maybe @StarryToronto and @Ohh_DatsYoGirl did not know that King and many others silenced women as speakers at the same event. However, what both @StarryToronto and @Ohh_DatsYoGirl represents is Black male privilege in continuum. What @zolajanan’s tweet represents is the insistence on a particular performance of Black manhood—anything else is weak and undesired.

These tweets and the claims they represent are not the only areas, as it relates to Black movements and people, where a lack of knowledge is abundant. Discussions regarding the usefulness of guns, demands on college and university campuses, diasporic resistance, spiritual and religious commitment to Black justice, poems, music, and much more have all had their turn being scrutinized by several and have all had their presence and usefulness questioned. #BlkMovementSyllabus, organized by a number of activists, journalist, professors, media personalities, film makers, and many more speaks to this absence and need of knowledge. If the present movement of Black people in America is to be successful, it must be an informed one. Professor Akinyele Umoja of Georgia State University admonishes us “the first weapon we have to load is our minds.” Steve Biko, a prominent activist of the South African apartheid resistance, reminds us “the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” Importantly, Audre Lorde warns us “there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.” This includes the current Black Lives Matter movement. To suggest ‘black’ as a monolith, as the tweets above insist upon, is to ignore the particular ways in which ‘black’ is experienced by non-heteros, those of differing socioeconomic classes, trans and cis women, and many others. In other words the insistence upon Black as a monolith is to repeatedly place Black heterosexual men at center and as the standard bearer of Blackness in its recognition and injury. This must be interrupted—the history of Black people and our contemporary lived experiences demands such an interruption.

This is the goal of #BlkMovementSyllabus, not to erase Black heterosexual men, but to vanquish the center; to compel Black people to fully engage one another in our identities along with our raced experience. This is essential is our current moment. Maya Young is equally important as Trayvon Martin. Rekia Boyd is equally important as Eric Garner. Dionte Green is equally important as Mike Brown. Armed resistance is just as strategic and needed as non-violent methods. Preominantly White Colleges and Universities must be made safe for all Black people, just like Historically Black Colleges and Universities must be as well. Blacks trans lives are just as important as Black cis-hetero lives. The point, as Martin Luther King Jr. stated, is this: we are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality. Black liberation and our cotemporary efforts cannot be white supremacy and power simply resting in Black hands. It is vital that we imagine and construct new social and political realties beyond the present demonstration and construction of power under which we are oppressed. This is the purpose of #BlkMovementSyllabus.

I cannot close out this note without thanking Candice Benbow, the curator of the lemonade syllabus. Candice’s work with the lemonade syllabus provided a vital example for #BlkMovementSyllabus as to how to get this project done. A huge thank you as well to the many persons who contributed to the project. Without your expertise in your particular fields this collection of vital texts would not be possible. I am also thankful for Barry Brannum who made the visual presentation of this public work possible.

In closing, the words of Fannie Lou Hamer are particularly important: “whether you have a Ph.D. or no D, we’re in this bad together. And whether you’re from Morehouse or Nohouse, we’re still in this bag together.” Our struggle is inherently multi-issue, is comprised of various ideologies, and is supported by various means of resistance—there is no one right way.

Thank you for viewing, downloading, and sharing #BlkMovementSyllabus

Antwann Michael

Click here to access Black Movement Syallbus

Click here for Printable PDF Version