One of the most powerful images I've seen in a while. Dwayne Booth (who illustrates under the name Mr. Fish) came up with this graphic to accompany the truthdig article on 'the War on Gays' by Chris Hedges. Hedges believes that even as the queer community progresses in our rights in the cities, we've left behind our peers in rural areas who are finding it harder and harder.
In America, the refusal to acknowledge class struggle has led to a 'spreading of hate' and what Hedges calls an 'empowering [of] the increasingly potent culture of hate'. It's particularly telling that President Obama, in accepting the nomination, observed '[b]ut we don't think that government is the source of all our problems – any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we're told to blame for our troubles.' Even as America counts its votes today, I think it's worth pausing to reflect on how powerful a statement that is.
What perhaps is interesting about this emergent culture of hate is that it permeates even the communities that have traditionally been victimised by it. As Queer Asians we understand a little of this, we experience as Asians who are Gay and Gays who are Asians... and I feel the antidote here is exactly what Miyuki is looking at: visibility. It's about putting a face and voice to humanise and grow identity in the minds of our multiple communities. What was striking about the Tyler Clementi suicide was that the people involved were Asian. I feel really let down that my community would do these things. Such utter shame. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei. Gaysians around should've been particularly vocal about denouncing this kind of behaviour.
The Truthdig article is worth reading. Click here.
I haven't yet read the Truthdig article, but am really appreciating your mentioning of this difference between our peers in rural areas and those of us who operate out of more privileged, urban settings.
ReplyDeleteThere is a particular resonance around this here in Australia too, where the largest and most visible Asian populations seem to be in Sydney and Melbourne, and with a sizeable number of later generation Asian people in places like Darwin...
I've met a few gay Australian-born Asian guys who have come from more rural parts of Australia, with specific stories of experiencing very particular types of isolation around race, sexuality, and 'origins', both from their home towns, as well as in highly urbanised spaces...
I also wanted to add, Re: the Dharun Ravi and Tyler Clementi situation
ReplyDeleteIt was obviously a tragedy that Clementi took his life, but I'd be careful about leaping too quickly to scapegoating Ravi for this... Suicides are famously complex in their causes and conditions, and I think it would behoove us, as queer people, to be wary of jumping onto the first possible person, just so that we can satisfy our need for closure around another horrible, and tragic death of YET ANOTHER queer young person.
The way that Ravi HAS been condemned by many has been quite racist and extremely nationalist as well (e.g. calls to DEPORT him), which I'm quite wary of.