white noise, black death.
Hi everybody. Ivy Monteiro aka Tropikahl Poderosa here. [And] I would have loved to use this video to welcome you all to Pride Month. But I couldn’t, because the concept of pride is a construct that has been making me think a lot. As a black queer person, who is a community leader, a mother of a vogue house, a public person in our local community, a mentor [for queer/trans youth] and producer of queer events in queer institutions, I felt like I couldn’t just shut up faced with the events involving People Of Colour in the last months and days.
And trust me, you don’t even need to be black or even look hard to see black/brown death in the news everywhere; news from my birth country Brazil (the one who kills most queer/trans POC in the world) or here in Switzerland and beyond; news about the high numbers of black/brown death from corona all over the world; news about the racial war that is happening in the US but also everywhere else. It felt wrong for me, in my position, to stay quiet. I might not be the most eloquent person to represent and talk about anything at this time, and surely some of you don’t even think I represent anything. But for some I am holding something together in our local community, so I will take time to speak up.
And I wasn’t the one putting myself in this position. YOU DID. YOU needed a “powerful black person”, to head your fights, to nurse your needs, to heal your wounds. Throughout history YOU have always needed us. And if you can’t recognize this, please stop with this [text] video right now and go back to your bubble of queer utopia. But I, I’ll still be here, bursting bubbles, telling you stuff that some of you will forget by the time that the next riots come. Because you have the power to just forget. And privilege is to be able to forget. But why can’t I forget? WHY CAN’T POC FORGET? Why do we have to face indifference, death and violence just to be reminded we are not “equals”? And when we can’t handle it anymore, is the day safe, because we keep posting hashtag BLM in our social media?? Maybe we should just put a wig on, glitter and party to forget? Or should we let it all burn down to the roots, so we can start all over again? And then again, think hard before answering those questions, because you should think about who is “WE” in those sentences.
If what Miss Nina Simone said: “Freedom is to have no fear” is right, then privilege is also the power to have no fear. People like me were the first ones to rage against the system, using their own fears as weapons to fight, and yet we have never conquered real freedom. It is very conflicting to fight fear everyday, while being called “fearless! yes mama! fierce!”. Out of fear we were and are systematically the last ones to be picked for love, trust and any kind of recognition. But yet we are the first ones to go to war. Is this strength? Or insanity? By definition, insanity is to do the same things all over again and expecting different results…
So, if this is Pride Month, is Pride for whom? Some of us, queer / trans people of colour have lost hope, respect, love and even our lives fighting for this answer. They know this text all too well, even if they have never hit play on this video [read this text]. I myself have sacrificed way too much trying to answer this question: Who is this Pride for? This message is for you, so called allies, white and white passing queer people. So can you help me answer another question? Why do I have to do all the work for you? How are you paying me and people like me for this? Do you think we do this naturally like breathing? Sometimes we can’t breathe. Sometimes the weight is too much in our backs.
So, educate the hands of your privileged system to move away from our necks.
Educate your minds to move away from the expectations of what black and brown people should do or be.
Educate your pockets towards POC causes and artists. They are the ones who created most of the queer culture content that you enjoy so much.
Educate your desires to love us more, instead of fetishizing us.
Educate your ears to listen to what people of colour in your community needs.
And when you can, educate your children so they will know better how to do better in a future where we will still be there, hopefully fighting less to be in it.
Do it now! Do it from now on! And not just when the fire burns.
Cultivate ways to avoid the fire once and for all.
Because if you don’t help to avoid the fire… you might as well burn in it when it comes back again…
Thank you for listening [reading] and Happy Pride.