[A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Black[ness],  Gender[queer],  Queer[ness]

sigh.

edited 05/19/2018 to note that while i still stand behind what i was trying to say with these posts, i now find how i went about saying it beyond embarrassing…. but am not deleting it because Accountability.


blaqueer:

i’ve screencaped these posts and made an original post as to not derail the posts in question or come across as calling out anyone in particular, as that is not at all my intention behind this post, but…

i’ve been seeing these flags (and variations of them) floating around both Tumblr and Twitter for over a year now and every time i do, i can’t help but think to myself…

people who are not American and thus would not be familiar with US history aside, do [young] people these days not recognize the symbol on these flags as being a re-purposed Black Power Fist….? do [young] people not know that this fist has been a common symbol of black power specifically since the Black Panther Party popularized it in the 1960′s…? that something that symbolizes power for black people certain ethnic / racial groups is not going to be synonymous with symbolizing power for all people of color because not all people of color are black members of the ethnic / racial groups with a history of rallying behind this symbol…?

has anyone stopped to consider that not all people of color– be they black or not– will feel comfortable with this symbol being used in this way…? that not all people of color will even feel represented by this symbol, because the added brown palette of stripes does not divorce this symbol from its decades of history being used specifically for / by / about black (and brown) people…?

not here to accuse anyone of anything or argue who can and can’t use this symbol; it is not at all my place to do so. i’m just genuinely confused by what seems to be a common trend these days– things that are specific to American black history and / or the black community in America being used blanketly in reference to people of color in general.

…mmm, to add on to the OP despite having only gotten 3 hours of sleep zzz.

one thing that i admittedly forgot and thus completely neglected to focus on in the OP is the fact that the original creator of this flag (shown in the first image) does explicitly acknowledge that the symbol on the flag is the Black Power Fist, but also points out the Power Fists’ usage in the Chicano Power Movement, which is indisputable fact, of course, and an important point to make that i obviously failed to.

even so, the point that i did try to make in the OP still stands: that a symbol of power used for one– two– however many movements or groups of people being used to encompass and represent a much larger and even more diverse group of people– all with their own respective histories, movements, experiences– feels problematic to me and is still Americentric, even if now the americentrism extends to include more of North America.

using the Power Fist as The Unifying Symbol for people of color in general feels as if black history and chicano history are being spotlighted, while the only acknowledgement of people who may not be or identify as black or chicano comes in the form of a reference to skin tone.

the QPOC design show cases all the skin tones of Queer people of color from the lightest (north Asians and biracial people not white people) to the darkest…

…reducing so many people’s inclusion down to the lightness or darkness of their skin, evidenced only by stripes within a symbol that may not even hold any actual significance to them personally or to their people’s history is just… a potentially offensive, failed attempt at being inclusive to me.

obviously this entire post is just one person’s opinion and ought to be treated as such, but surely if something is to be used as a symbol of pride for all queer people of color, it should be more inclusive than this.

YouTuber and Blogger, Vesper is an American expat currently living in Japan.

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