Absolutely, I’ll clarify.
To return the comment y’all so ungraciously deleted, what I said was this:
Clarifying question: Does this mean y’all are also officially enacting a ban on fake afros too? Or is it just simply not ok to appropriate Mexican culture but ok to appropriate Black culture?
and then, when someone in the crew stated the ban was enacted I replied:
Cool, well don’t be shy about adding that to the event description now and into the future.
And that’s when people got defensive and accused me of “reading” on facebook…
Well sure, I could have worded my initial post, as well as the ensuing comment differently, but I’m mutually “disappointed” and “bummed” by the tone of the responses from Devon and Tim which imply that I owe y’all kindness because of very abstract notions of us being in the same community. I find it funny, but ultimately “disappointing” that I’m read as reading, but Devon sent Tootles a message thanking her for comment, in which she specifically addressed what you do as a party in relation, or lack thereof, to Black culture when I had yet to be that explicit. Interesting how the Black person speaking up is “reading” and “cutty,” but the other brown person is congratulated. You acknowledge only other brown people positively and me with contempt and somehow I’m placing privilege among groups of color, hmm…
And I’ll indeed acknowledge that the subject of my post was the wearing of fake afros. It’s pretty clear to me that the Pico De Gallo is problematic, but the current theme nor the responses to it were not the focus of my criticism. I did not lie to, nor did I at any time even speak to any of my Latino friends now addressing your theme. There is a large(r) Latino community here, many of whom are (clearly) capable of handling shit without some outside force telling them which way is up. Because no one speaks, respects, or gives a shit about black culture I anticipated dealing with whatever defensiveness and backlash on my own, and I for the most part I still am.
Honestly, when I read the event description it literally made my heart sink. Given the basis of your party, where blackness is the ongoing theme, and where afros have been worn on more than one occasion, how can you attempt to enact a temporary moratorium on the appropriation of Latinos while remaining silent on the appropriating atmosphere you create?
I’m now seeing a lot of white people jumping very quickly to point out that there are poc members of the crew, as well as members of the crew themselves, as justifying the pico de gallo theme, and again the theme has been addressed by the people who need to address it so I won’t. However, looking at what your concept of a party is every month, and who is on the organizing team, and who overwhelming is in attendance (yes, it’s white people!) how do you justify yourselves with no black people taking part in the creation and ongoing organizing of this event? There are brown people who throw the party yes , and being brown is 100% different than being black. Anti-black racism still exists in mass effect in, even in the bubble of SF queer culture. It has always been American values to disrespect black people. Brown people are certainly capable and often willing to participate in that system, because as your party exemplifies - as well as many other DJ/party endeavors do too - it’s profitable to engage in the exploitation of black culture and I guess money comes before anything else.
The fact that I expressed critique about how my image and my culture as a black person is misrepresented in your space was met with quick reactions of frustration and defensiveness is disappointing and makes me feel “bummed” too. This is what anti-black racism continues to look like: a black person attempts to claim space and objects to their misrepresentation and is met with backlash. Legally it’s no longer ok to enact physical violence or explicit racist remarks, but instead we have moved into a culture that now reacts with unreasonable frustration, defensiveness, and sarcasm…
The wall posts I’m seeing certainly reaffirm that we’re not apart of the same community. The number of white people as well as brown people who are assisting in the denial of racism and the need to have a dialogue about racism shows that. They also show that racism is a real thing, many queers are doing it, and as people in such a powerful position as HF is, actively (re)shaping queer culture, socially and politically, I think at this point you have a responsibility to intervene, or at least acknowledge the ways your spaces are unsafe for people who are lower in the social hierarchy in terms of race and class. I’ll (with great pain) withhold the Spider-Man quote…
I will also remind us that white people cannot define what is racist and what’s not, as the abusers who never actually experience it. Yeah, y’all can say whatever you want, but I advise people of color not to listen. Would it be “just a dance party” if someone walked in with a “God Hates Fags” shirt, or would that just be ironic and funny too? White people will never implicate themselves as participants in racism as a system, so why would I or any poc listen to a white person who thinks the pico de gallo theme or fake afros are “just cute.”
As a party, I honestly don’t know how you can do what you do differently to “balance” the appropriation. Blackness is the groundwork for the party, I don’t know how you could do it without that foundation. Luckily that is not my question to answer. This was your crew’s choice to make since the party’s inception, and I find it hard to believe that no one, especially the self proclaimed “brown and down” members of the group didn’t for a second think how it could be offensive, as the black population in SF is quickly being pushed out of the city.
I realize the commodification of black culture is a widespread cultural phenomena not unique to Hard French. It happens in multiple queer parties in SF, multiple parties across the country and world. But everyone makes a choice to be a part of that history of exploiting Black people. You don’t have to do it, and you don’t have to do it as you do.
The fact that you refuse to include any language which would encourage your patrons to have respect for the people who’s culture affords you large amounts of money, as well as a lot power socially and now politically, is insulting, appalling, and again racist. The fact that blackness is the undertone theme and joke, as latinos are the joke in cinco de mayo, and y’all have ferociously refused to make any attempt to frame black people in a positive light is “disappointing” and makes me “bummed.”
I absolutely acknowledge that Hard French is a labor of love for the promoters, that y’all do work that, for you and your friends and followers, makes SF a better place, and that there are brown people behind the scenes. None of that means that you can’t make mistakes, and it certainly doesn’t mean that any of these realities are incapable of producing racism, as well as classism, in the process of creating safe and fun spaces for specific groups or communities. Good intentions do not always produce good results. I don’t apologize for the tone of my original comments, but what I was anticipating was for it to become an entry point into a conversation I’ve been wanting to have with HF and many party promoters who do similar work while claiming that we’re in the “same community.”
I also absolutely acknowledge that I make and have made mistakes, and that I’ve internalized racism and classism, and every other ism in the book. I also acknowledge that just acknowledging it doesn’t make the shit disappear: its a process.
Given what I’m brining to surface for us all to look at, do y’all (hopefully) feel inclined to engage in an ongoing discussion about these topics, or you want to continue to replay white culture, claiming you know what does and does not constitutes as racism, classism, misrepresentation, and abuse and go into the the next month like this never happened? Is this going to be simply another “controversy” dismissed which you can add to your belt? Clearly your followers would encourage nothing but. However, as people who claim to be “making SF a better place” are you going to follow their route, or will you truly act as leaders in your community and attempt to do work that that is hard and isn’t considered fun, glamorous, or even valuable by the people around you?
Again, yes, our culture is fucked up in a lot of ways and we replay it, but there is also a choice to intervene at any time.
Finally, again I was very sad my intial post which sparked this so called “campaign” was deleted because it was initiating this dialogue. Hard French is a public entity, it takes up a lot of space in local queer culture, and provides a monthly service to the public, why would I care to have this conversation in private? Tim’s ongoing harassment shows another shade of why I was and am not interested in private conversation:
I’ve yet to speak to the current “dialogue” until here and now, certainly not in any manner which I am being accused of. And I certainly didn’t “author” the note Millán posted which was commented on:
You can tell because Millán posted it, on his account, and I did not! Amazing how people see what they want when they’re in denial…
Stating that by addressing your silence on afros which = anti-black racism I’m literally conspiring behind the scenes “over nothing”, manipulating the Latinos (writing documents and pushing them to post it?) who have addressed your crew on the nature of your “theme” is racist, again exemplifying why this dialogue needs to happen, and is really fucked up as you’re “married” to a brown person and putting on soul music party. If you can’t have a dialogue about race and racism, things you don’t experience and just don’t know anything about other than what your white peers tell you, without getting angry and defensive, perhaps you shouldn’t be playing black music.
So in light of Tim’s perception of the situation, If any of the brown people who throw Hard French want to engage in an in public dialogue about what I’m addressing I’m down. Someone has suggested over a brown brunch perhaps…
I also believe I’m doing what I can to make SF a better place, and in attempts to do so I want to keep this dialogue going into the future and I hope that can happen from here without defensiveness, frustrations, or accusations.
xoxo
Essex O. Lordes
Anonymous
