Introduction to a Developing Essay

We continue to critically interrogate the cyber world, as we search for visuals that can potentially provide connectivity between the “cyber” and the “real,” furthering our understanding of how this relationship reinforces and transforms inequality.The cyber-world has actively participated in the blueprinting of Queer life;what seemed to be utopia at first, has turned into the producer of misguided digital narratives that provide the fundamental pedagogy on what and who Queer is. The cyber-world has been perceived to be a judge-free community where many closeted and non-closeted Queers explore sexuality with out the gaze of a normative society. With the growing epidemic of cyber hate, and the extreme degradation of Queerness through technological invention, we conclude, that in fact, this is a myth.

Russell K. Robinson, professor of law at UCLA, informs us in his essay, “Structural Dimensions of Romantic Preference” on “the impact of structural conditions on preference regarding intimacy.” He suggests that our “preferences” regarding intimacy are imaginations and not natural or fixed desires. Robinson examines a number of romantic “market” places(dating sites, hook-up sites);one of his claims is that the representation of gay men of color on these sites is for the most part a commodified and racialized imagination. As we translate these representations into “real” life, we see that Queer men are forced to conform: “.. in predominantly white and gay romantic marketplaces, men of color are forced to conform to certain racialized sex roles, such as the “aggressive Black top, and the submissive Asian bottom”

I wish to further extend Robinson’s claim by suggesting that pornography has served as one of the major cyber producers of these racialized images. In my recent research on black male subjectivity, it is impossible to escape the visual of the “aggressive top” in pornographic narratives. I have even began to notice that more often than not, when two men of color are the visual, the darker one is “on top.” I can hear bell hooks saying that this explicitly illustrates that societies’ antipathy for dark men of color is greater than their antipathy of men of color in general.

I define this process through the following language: The Black Male subject in interracial gay pornography is an archetype;he is constructed through a process of dehumanization -- further producing a digital narrative that is replicated in the everyday performance of gay sexuality.

Sites such as Its Gunna' Hurt and Blacks on Boys are not only popular, but consumption of interracial pornography is ever growing. In terms of analysis, I fundamentally rebuke the idea that any analysis of power can emerge from the “top/bottom” invention. That some how, if the man of color is on “top,” some type of overcoming of racism is occurring. I would argue that in fact, the white man remains in power. Through a process of dehumanization, the weapon that administers pain becomes the subject -- the black penis.

After the dehumanization process has been played out by a white supremacist tradition, we begin to see the destructive trends of capitalism suggest the socioeconomic slavery status of men of color. A majority of these disturbing narratives depict a poor black men. The trend of ghettoizing pornographic plots is everywhere; in many instances the black man walks into the room, fucks the white man, and walks out. He is wearing urban-style clothing, and the suggestion of lower-class status is either explicitly or implicitly suggested. One might ask why in a video about “sex,” these types of issues would even be narrated? To me, they are crucial in the context of white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy, as they suggest neo-colonial and profoundly imperial implications of the social condition of race.

The slave/master relationship is reinforced though the use of pornographic narrative; colonizing black sexuality is essential for the sustainability of white supremacy and the perpetual destruction of the black male subject.

The most disturbing of all is that this dehumanizing narrative is replicated in the performance of sexuality. We experience Queer dating sites where people are requesting “a black top,” or suggesting that their primary interest is “ethnic men.” Queer men of color are socially forced to conform to these racialized sex roles. While we assume that whiteness is not “ethnic,” and that whiteness only needs to practice sex; Practice sex in the purest of ways – free from implications. Queer men of color are not only forced to practice a political sexuality, but one that is fabricated and fundamentally unauthentic.

Unpacking the Rutgers Tragedy: One Step at a Time

The Tyler Clementi story has brought to light once again the sick world we live in, and the media coverage has reenforced the marketability of gay death. It’s sickening to watch newscasters and main stream conservatives like “Dr.” Phil go on Larry King and say, “ it doesn’t matter that he was gay, someone is dead.” Yes, someone is dead, but it’s not a coincidence -- it’s homophobia.

This passive language dismisses how many of us feel -- vulnerable and frightened.

When will we start a comprehensive discussion? When will we realize that issues of gender and race, at all levels, are crucial components in American politics. Today, in my political column for The New Hampshire, my colleagues suggested that I would “cast the Tea Party as racist, sexist, and homophobic” because it had a good “ring to it.” News-flash: If you are holding a “Lynch Obama” sign, you are a fucking racist and a white supremacist. There is no excuse. And suggesting that I make everything about race? -- well, I do. Because it is about race. I don’t know why I am so surprised that privileged whites don’t want to talk about race. They don’t have a race. They just are.

This same type of hegemonic rhetoric is being used for the Rutgers suicide. “It's about human life, it could have happen to anyone. Stop making everything about being gay”

Well, I am.

It is crucial that Tyler Clementi was having an intimate encounter with a man. Whether he was gay or not we don’t know. But why are we surprised? Isn’t suicide the climax to the tragic Queer narrative? Not to mention that the people responsible for filming Tyler’s encounter are not the only ones at fault. How about the rest of bigots that have driven every Queer person to a breaking point? How many times we have heard the word “faggot?” And even if it was not directed at us, we know we are the faggots? What causes a 13 year-old to shoot himself in the head?

We do.

Our refusal to talk, our refusal to act, and our refusal to acknowledge the privileges we hold. It’s easy for Dan Savage to come out with his “It Gets Better” campaign while many of us watch the disposability of Queer death in horror. Yes, Dan, for you it does get better: your money, your whiteness, your status, and your obsession with assimilation will help you achieve the “better.” Never-mind, your biphobia, transphobia, classism and racism. It does get better, Dan -- for you.

Many of my dear friends and social justice warriors like Joelle Ruby Ryan have started a conversation to unify, and come away from these Gay Inc. mentalities. Join the conversation, and understand that it won’t get better if you don’t get involved.

Justice is not inevitable.

We all must realize that the solution is in education. They have been asking us all week if there are enough resources for us to turn to in crisis. Yes, there are. Trust me, every Queer knows where the counseling center is; it's part of the tragic narrative. My question: Where is the mandatory Multicultural Theory course for every freshman? Where are the pro-active administrations that will commit at an institutional level to teach diversity? Not just for us, we know it, we live it.

It is time for radical change in education. Sustainability will only be possible with a commitment to diversity, not a commitment to “tolerance” and “acceptance.” Many of us have to tolerate ignorance, and we are tired .

We are tired as a community. If all of us would come together as allies, we would see change, but so many of us are saturated with apathy and cynicism.

Ask yourself: who will be next? Try to find an answer, you won’t -- because it might just be one of us.