Boihood - Outside the XY: queer, black and brown masculinity

Outsidethe XY: Queer, Black and Brown Masculinity, A Bklyn Boihood Anthology 2016 Edited by Morgan Mann Willis

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic ormechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from thepublisher.

For more information contact:

Riverdale Avenue Books

5676 Riverdale Avenue

Riverdale, NY 10471.

www.riverdaleavebooks.com

Cover Art by Mickalene Thomas

Cover Design by Mekhi Baldwinand Scott Carpenter

Digital ISBN:978-1-62601-303-2

Print ISBN: 978-1-62601-304-9

Second Edition August 2017

I [read] the book with greatdelight and gain[ed] insight and knowledge[it is an] excellent personalreading and a major contribution to academic literature. I would be honored torecommend it to any friend and to my fellow faculty.

Dr. Wilhelmina Perry,Co-Founder of LGBT Faith Leaders of African Descent

The depth of writing, thehonesty of storythe whole collection really gets your heart and mindconsidering what masculinity looks like and feels like inside of all of us.Outside the XY is a courageous collection, full of all the stuff of life.

Frenchie George, Blogger andDirector of Queer Media at GMS

bklyn boihood is a collectivewhose work has always brought people together. This anthology is anotherexample of their ability to do what is so desperately needed in these spacestomake room. We are grateful and excited this collection exists. They arebuilding an archive.

Sar Malany, LGBTQ YouthOrganizer

This anthology is an offering.In it we share ourselves as humans, as queer bois, studs, butch babies,transmen, aggressives, tombois, the intersexed, stealth, gay, non-cisgenderedmen, brotherboys, women, machas, butches, lesbian, femmebois, unlabeled,ungendered and unboxed. We are a collection of people whose voices andreflections are stories that commemorate the human experience through thedelicate lens of self-affirmation and honest reflection. Outside the XY is aquilt.

These stitched together pieces span the range of timeand space; contributors to this collection are black and brown. We hail fromseveral continentsAfrica, South America, Europe, North America, and Australia.We range in age, academic background, ability and identity. Some of us write,others are just beginning our journey with words. We are poets, academics,retail workers, hustlers, organizers, students, professionals, entrepreneurs andhybrids. We are immigrants, dual citizens, outsiders, roamers and in exile. Weare disabled, cyborgs, able-bodied, chronically ill and healers. Some of ushave never read an anthology. Some of us have never told our stories. Everyonein this collection is brave and has been generous with the fabric of theirhearts.

Masculinity is not the thread that connects our work.We are joined in our journey of re-learning that masculinity is not defined bymen, or by patriarchy, or television, or its apparent need to consume andproduce violence. Masculinity is an umbrella in the sky of identity. Some of uslive underneath its vastness centrally. Others of us have found pieces of whowere are there, key pieces that help us see and know ourselves more clearly.Our relationship with and in masculinity is not rooted in any singulardesireaesthetic or sexual. We know that who we are simply is andrequires no explanation. If you are looking for answers you may or may not findany herethis collection is sewn together by the struggle and progress ofsimply being alive.

bklyn boihood is so honored to work with Don Weise,our editor, and Magnus Books, the LGBTQ imprint of our publisher, RiverdaleAvenue Books, and to have been given the space to curate this anthology in a waythat felt inclusive and accessible to our community. We light candles on theregular for it to go far and wide.

As the Lead Editor, Id like to thank my collective,my family, my brothers, my team, for allowing me the opportunity to recruit,review, gather, select, edit and compile this book. As a writer and communityorganizer, this feels like some of the most important work I will ever do. I ama Black, gay, woman, boi and gender non-conformist. My pronouns are she/they. Icome from a long, long line of people who have determined masculinity forthemselves. May this collection make them proud. As.

Morgan Mann Willis

Lead Editor

(by Toshi Reagon)

I woke up this morning andI could see and I could breathe.

Are there any rights Imentitled to?

Bernice Johnson Reagon

Seems like since the day I wasborn Ive known my name. The day I woke up seeing and breathing, I knew who Iwas and my declaration hit the air and rebounded across playgrounds, inclassrooms, in vehicles, at multiple gatherings with family, friends, andstrangers. Sometimes questioned but eventually affirmed because I would have itno other way. The only label I ever truly claimed was/is my name. Myname is what comes with this body as she works the world. I sometimes blendinto categories of my experienceSinger, Composer, Mom, Cultural Instigator,Producer, Curator, Freedom Fighter, Uncle, Pops, Papa, Husband, Boyfriend,Daddy, Friend but all of these names sit inside mygiven/chosen name.

It is a great gift to know who you are and why, evenif that knowing is constantly evolving. Maybe that is why we live in a world sothirsty to disintegrate that great knowledge, so fast to devalue and soquick to try to unsteady that which cannot and wont be denied. Here inthese pages is testimony to the truth of the matter that many folk knowing whothey are and standing in that knowing and broadcasting from that knowing bringsa strength and celebration to all who walk the world. This knowing broadensour possibilities and leans us in forward motion as it unsticks us fromthe mud of oppression.

I was three when I told my mom I did not liketo wear dresses. She stopped putting them on me. I was so lucky that mymother was/is a civil rights activist and had some experience with folks steppingoutside the lines that were created for them. When my mom joined the movement,she stopped straightening her hair. She started wearing bubas (African blouses).She scared her own mama. When I started playing football withneighborhood boys at eight, I started my lifelong love affair with myfavorite uniformT-shirt, jeans, boots or hi-tops. My mom worried andquestioned this. My Aunt Mae Frances told my mother I was no differentfrom her. My mother not only let me be but participated in my path by helpingto expand my way.

My mom and I are both musicians. I grewup on the songs my mother taught me and on the musical soundtrack of mylife growing up in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington DC. I learned aboutI songs. The text and poetry of I songs became additions to the line onwhich I write my name.

Ill Overcome

Im Gonna Stay on theBattlefield

This Little Light of Mine(Im Gonna Let it Shine)

Im Gon Stand ( We willnot bow down to Racism, Injustice, Exploitation)

Say it loud- Im Black andIm Proud

I Was Born This Way

I become the first step to the possibility of a we, ofa collective, of a movement, of a people. These pages are additional verses tothese I songs. They join the long line of Black and Brown people declaringtheir names in a world sometimes not willing to hear the call. It makes nodifference if the world is ready to hear or not