TO THE EDITORS:
Re: “The Arrogance of White Gays” (op-ed by Herndon Davis, Nov. 14)
Herndon L. Davis believes that gays must blame themselves for black homophobia. Of course this is hypocritical race loyalty, since he doesn’t blame blacks for white racism—and he should never make such a preposterous claim. Would The New York Blade even print something that offensive? Yet gays are told to silently suffer black homophobia or get threatened with the label racist.
If the LGBT community is to blame for anything it is guilty of an insidious form of racism that infantilizes African Americans by shielding them from justifiable criticism. Davis’s editorial is a classic of its kind. Gays are held to a higher standard of behavior than the blacks who treat other disenfranchised groups with contempt.
Keep in mind that true friends tell each other unpleasant truths, and for far too long we have rationalized and explained away black homophobia. If there is a silver lining in our losses at the ballot boxes, perhaps it is that the silence surrounding this hatred has finally broken.
Coalition politics should be a dialog, but Davis proposes a one-sided monologue about so-called gay racism. I agree that white LGBT people are supposed to understand the ways they benefit in this society, but I also demand that African Americans engage in the same self-examination. Heterosexual African Americans belong to a dominant heterosexual culture that rewards them with incredible privilege, and these are privileges denied to me. If African Americans want credibility in human rights organizations, the vocal support for civil rights of all minority groups—not just for blacks—ought to be respected.
No one has a monopoly on being oppressed, and given the shameful lopsided 70 to 30 percent African American vote against our basic civil rights, it is obvious that no community has a monopoly on bigotry.
