Black Lives Matter activist Deray Mckesson has become a trusted voice in the movement, providing many daily updates to his 247K Twitter followers on issues like police brutality and protests.
On Saturday, he addressed a GLAAD gala in San Francisco about the state of civil rights in America and his own experience as a black gay man.
Related: Guys Share The Biggest Hurdles They Face Being Gay And Black
“For so many of us, the world is a place where we’re not suppose to make noise, where we’re asked to hide who we are and be silent about the injustices that we face,” Mckesson told the crowd of LGBT media and allies.
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You can watch his full speech below, beginning with an adorable embrace with Empire’s Jussie Smollett, who introduced him:
h/t: Fusion
Xzamilio
It’s kind a mixed bag being a minority and being gay… on one hand, it is difficult for non-minority individuals to get a real feel of what it is to be ignored for being gay by one subset and then ignored for being black/asian/latino/whatever — although I do know that there are many white gay individuals who do understand the feeling of being discriminated against by their own and even non-white people. For me, it hurt a lot growing up and feeling like my dark skin was ugly and that being lighter skinned was acceptable in my black community. And then, growing up, moving away, and being the only black person sometimes in my group of friends felt isolating as well, although it was not the fault of my white friends. All I know is, though I wouldn’t change who I am for anything in the world (except to lose some more weight, of course), how many of us have wised at some point to just be everything that those around us denigrated us for not being?
I have my personal issues with the Black Lives Matter movement (namely that I wished they highlighted more of the problems internally within our black impoverished communities and not creating a narrative that gives us more of an excuse than an anchor of hope), but I overwhelmingly stand behind it as a hopeful force for good that doesn’t look to make white people look like some big bad enemy of black people. After all, just like with marriage equality and how much we needed our straight allies, the Black Lives Matter movement needs its white allies… And I’m not Stepin Fetchit-ing for the white man… just pointing out the truth.
CWM85
I knew he was gay, his voice and mannerisms. I wish the black lives matter folks made as much noise about black on black genocide we have going on in this country. We have 295 homicide s in Baltimore. Most victims 18-35 and black males. Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, Philly. I was hoping the movement would expand but its turn out to be another racial, political ploy… Such a shame… how so many deaths are being ignore by the group, politicians and media… their lives matter too. Not just when a white cop shoots a black person.
CWM85
As far as being gay and a minority. I’ve been lucky. I think most have come across my life and saw myself as an individual and not just part of a wider demographic. I’ve been very fortunate but I know far too many people have had to struggle just for who they are. Its a wrong that will never go away but hopefully more equality is in store for glbt people. At least race is a protected class inder federal law and state laws. Glbt people of all races still have a long way to go for national laws for protection.
Aromaeus
I’m all for white allies as long as they understand as allies their only role is to use their privilege to provide a platform for minorities to have their voices heard. They are not supposed to speak over us or speak as though their “understanding” of our struggles amounts for more than our actual lived experience.
Police brutality against minorities, specifically black people is a systemic problem and a problem of police culture. There isn’t any internal conversations that need to be had on that front. I always cringe when people try to divert the conversation to black-on-black crime or black culture because it’s possible to care about our own intra-community issue AND care that there are bigger systemic problems. A lot of the intra-community problems are side effects of systemic problems anyway. Colorism in the black community is a direct effect of the divisive tactics used by slave owners and slavery supporters to keep us from working together to rebel. The “pull up your pants” mentality is because of rhetoric used by right wingers peddling the very wrong idea that our culture is inferior to dominant culture and we have to conform to whiteness in order to actually succeed. It’s white supremacy at work.
Xzamilio
@Aromaeus: I always cringe when people attempt to dismiss a lot of the issues going on in our own communities by continuing to tout how we can walk and chew gum at the same time, and yet only choose to chew gum. We can talk about both? Great… why aren’t we? Why aren’t we using the same platform for Tyshawn Lee, a 9 year old boy who was just executed because of gang retaliation? Why not also go after the no-snitch” culture in our own communities as well as the police culture, because the former of those has gotten to the point that even they boy’s own father, reportedly the gang member they were targeting won’t even talk to police and he knows who did it.
“A lot of the intra-community problems are side effects of systemic problems anyway. ”
And this is exactly what I was talking about… an excuse. You know what? I came from the same poor ass black neighborhoods that most other black people come from. It’s only so many times you can blame colorism on the “slave mentality” and start realizing that we have our own hangups on skin… because it damn sure wasn’t my white and latino and asian friends telling me how dark and ugly I was. I’m sorry, but these all sound like excuses and I’m quite done blaming everything else for the fact that we as a race have not done better. Are we that damn weak of a people that even over a hundred years later, we still let the slave mentality dictate how we view our lives? Our skin? Our disposition?
tdh1980
@Aromaeus: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Crime in disenfranchised communities of color is almost always an effect of lack of opportunity because of systemic and institutional racism, and one would be hard-pressed to find a black person who considers it a trivial matter. What makes the “black-on-black crime” argument so disingenuous is that typically people with no sincere interest in the betterment of those neighborhoods invoke it to either justify or trivialize police brutality. They don’t care whether or not those residents have a fighting chance at equal education, career training, and jobs that can pull them out of the poverty that breeds criminal activity.
At any rate, I love being black and gay, and though each presents its chalenges, it gives me a unique perspective on life that makes me the person I am.
Tackle
Queerty this like the 3rd article within a week, where a singular Black male, is telling the world what it’s like to be gay and Black. Please stop! Not with the stories, or a persons own ” individual” experience with being gay and Black. But what I object to, is the premise, that ONE individual ,gay Black male can speak for, and be a witness, and believe that his life is the/a reflection of all gay Black men. I can assure you, it is not. We (gay Black) men are not monolith, in our thinking, behavior, actions, reactions or experience… Yes r@ce will play a role in someone’s life experience. But so will, religion, education, financial status, family structure, temperament and over all physical appearance. And lets face the facts, Queerty would/will never do a story about one young gay White male telling the world, what it’s like to be a young gay White male…
tdh1980
@Xzamilio: Do you honestly, realistically think that the ramifications of 200 years of slavery and 100 years of apartheid already should be undone in the 50 years since the civil rights movement? Really? Especially considering that in those 50 years legislation and policy continues to be enacted to work against the interests of people of color? Really?
SeeingAll
I didn’t even know that useless GLAAD was still around.
Tackle
@Aromaeus: I also want to thank you. You are absolutely correct in you statements about White allies, police brutality, and the root of colorism in the Black community…
SonOfKings
@Xzamilio: “I’m quite done blaming everything else for the fact that we as a race have not done better. Are we that damn weak of a people that even over a hundred years later, we still let the slave mentality dictate how we view our lives? Our skin? Our disposition?”
I’ve spent quite a bit of time around fellow Black who have “done better,” and have overcome the old “slave mentality” to forge a new path. The problem is they are, in A different way, horrible people also: bougie Black snobs, braggarts, name droppers. Always fishing to see what you have and who you know. I can tolerate them, but I don’t like them.
Xzamilio
@tdh1980: Do you honestly see ANYWHERE where I said or even implied that everything’s all good and we’re past racism? Because I damn sure didn’t… but I’m also damn tired of every damn issue in our community being someone else’s fault. We kill each other? Systemic racism? Highest murder rate (black on black) than any other race in America? Systemic racism? We kill each other more than cops kill us, but this narrative continues being fed that we have more to fear from the police than we do our own… and let me tell you: I tend to avoid large groups of both. I don’t care how that makes me sound, but experience after experience has led me to deduce that maybe our issues are further than “systemic oppression” and “200 years of slavery”… so REALLY, don’t strawman me, dude.
@SonOfKings: Great… then you take your subjective anecdote and stay away from bougie snobby black folk, and I’ll use my subjective anecdotes and stay away from the black people not trying to do anything with their lives.
tdh1980
B@Xzamilio: BLACK ON BLACK CRIME IS NOT A THING. Intra-racial crime is the most prevalent type of crime for every race because people of the same race tend to live in the same communities as each other. Furthermore, statistically, “black-on-black crime” is on part with all other intra-racial crime statistics, including those for white people. There is ALWAYS room for us to do better as a people, but we’ve come a long way. Your specific personal experience can not be made general to all of us.
Xzamilio
@tdh1980: I’m gonna need a citation for that “Furthermore, statistically, ‘black-on-black crime’ is on part with all other intra-racial crime statistics, including those for white people.” I’m sorry, but “black on black” crime is most definitely a thing, and AGAIN, stop straw-manning me because I did once say my subjective experiences are the be-all-end-all for us as blacks in America… but I’m damn sure saying that as far as we’ve come, a lot of us still cling to “racism” as the reason why there is so much crime in our communities… I mean what kind of logic is that? To rob and kill our own because “racism”?
http://www.amren.com/news/2015/07/new-doj-statistics-on-race-and-violent-crime/
I make NO apologies for how I feel, because time and time again, when we have a chance to highlight gang violence, gun violence, rape, robberies, and violence within our own ranks, it is given little coverage and instead we get more stories of white cops killing unarmed black people, as if that is the norm… it isn’t and you know it. It is most definitely something that we need to address, but why can’t we also look at other things in our communities? Yeah… it sucks but the truth sucks… we are at the top of the charts when it comes to violence… I hate it, but why run from it?
Xzamilio
And by the way, let me stress two things: One, I’m not denying systemic racism, because I have experienced it myself, and two, I’m not backing down from anything I’m saying just because it’s not “status quo” for me to be saying it.
bob5678
I love how 0 cis white people commented on this article. Lol probably too busy crying about not being able to buy a cake.
Franklin
Every race commits crime it’s just that when you have poverty with perceived lack of opportunity it usually leads to higher rates of violent crime, and in this country it just so happens that there is a greater concentration of poverty and hopelessness in the black community. If white people were put in the exact same circumstances they would turn out the same way, and before you start bringing up poor whites in Appalachia to counter that point, just remember this quote from Martin Luther King Jr: “The Southern aristocracy took the world and gave the poor white man Jim Crow. And when his wrinkled stomach cried out for the food that his empty pockets could not provide, he ate Jim Crow, a psychological bird that told him that no matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, and better than a black man.” No matter how poor white people are in this country, the fact of the matter remains that many that will see themselves as better off than black folks. If one really wants to see what poverty and hopelessness does to a large group white people, just take a look at Eastern Europe, where crime is out of control.
Kangol
Deray is an adorable cutie, and such an inspiring figure. His leadership and activism are so badly needed these days, but as the young football players and students at Missouri demonstrated, young people are not going to take opppressive BS any more.
moldisdelicious
@Xzamilio:
self hating black people like you disgust me. i don’t understand what’s with all these self hating gay black men like yourself that seem so obsessed with getting approval from white people where you’re willing to hang yourself with your own rope.
Sansacro
@Xzamilio: great post.
Sansacro
@moldisdelicious: Guess we read different posts, because I didn’t get that AT ALL.
moldisdelicious
@Sansacro:
read Aromaeus comment as a response to xzamilio’s first post and it’ll explain everything that is wrong about what xzailio said.
Blackceo
@Tackle: This is a really great point because it seems like when one Black person takes a stand about something or makes a point about something, too many people make generalizations into believing its how we all think. Not the case. I grew up in freaking Main Line PA (almost all white) and the schools I went to it was like I was constantly having to defend the Black point of view while also showing that we are diverse in thinking. And of course because so many of the kids I went to school with only saw Black people as the help in their house, I got the “you’re not like most Black people” comment. Well what are “most” Black people like? Add the gay aspect to it and its a whole other level of just fun fun fun.
@Franklin: Very true. Low income and lack of opportunity generally tends to produce very poor social outcomes. Substance use, crime…it’s really bad. The news people who came to Baltimore after the riots were shocked at the statistics of the Blacks living in that area. Well, they were decades late to the game because once industrial jobs dried up and became non existent, communities just went downhill. Crack epidemic of the 80s really made those communities spiral out of control. But it’s way more layered in just that. Policies around housing, education, incarceration….ugh. Dissertations are written of this stuff.
@SonOfKings: Unfortunately, this is very true about Blacks who have done quite well for themselves. My experience in school was also difficult in fitting in because the white kids weren’t fully accepting of me and then there was a divide among the Black kids who were there on financial aid and the Black kids like me whose parents wrote a check to cover everything. Unfortunately, we can be just as stereotypical and judgy in a way that we get pissed about in others who do it to us. Immediately I was that “bougie light skin” who thought he was better. Well, no. You never got the chance to know me. There is this thing in the black community where a certain section of people have defined what it means to be authentically Black and if you don’t fall into that category then you are a sell out or trying to be White. This is not the case though amongst Black gays. I’ve never run into the issue of that in any Black gay man I’ve met.
But yeah….my parents had me in Jack and Jill growing up because they wanted me to stay connected socially to other Black peers and there was a lot of competition and status bragging. I mean the parents did not set a good example. They wanted to know where you summered (and it better have been something like Sag Harbor or Martha’s Vineyard) and the car you drove, the size of your house, the neighborhood you lived, the letters after your name, did you pledge?????? Now I do admit, I have bougie ways but I don’t think I am better than anyone. The field I am in has humbled me in a great way and made me appreciate what I have and always want to see others make it. Who wants to be at the party alone?
Blackceo
@Aromaeus:
Co-sign 1000% to every single word of what you said. I have been very pleased to see many non Black faces in BlackLivesMatter protests and all of the ones I have seen have known their role as an ally and how White silence about such an obvious issue isn’t going to help things get better. It’s like those Univ of Missouri football players threatening not to play and the University President and Chancellor are now resigning. That wouldn’t have happened without the influences of the Black Lives Matter movement over the past almost 2 years now. It also showed that Black athletes at these predominantly white institutions have way more power than they think. The Mizzou stance set a precedent and should be a model to other Black athletes that they are not just there to be entertainment for alumni, but that they can affect meaningful change by banding together. I am impressed with Deray because he gets a lot of flack but always handles himself with poise and claps back with intelligence.
Xzamilio
@moldisdelicious: “self hating black people like you disgust me. i don’t understand what’s with all these self hating gay black men like yourself that seem so obsessed with getting approval from white people where you’re willing to hang yourself with your own rope.”
At this point, ad hominem diarrhea like this does not bother me, because A. It only demonstrates this penchant for people like you to have this homogeneous attitude among black people as though we all have to think the same and B. Also serves to demonstrate that people like you are just reactionary and don’t bother trying to see both sides of the coin. I don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone else on this page, and up until now, no one was resorting to personal attacks. Nothing I said read as “self-hating” or defaming of my own race, because as it is, I have never slept with anything BUT black men (not that I wouldn’t date outside of my race) and I actually WANT to see better in our communities, which is precisely why I bring attention to so many things that get swept under the rug by MSM and individuals LIKE YOU who need someone to blame for their own failures in life.
You know, it’s possible to actually have an opinion that is contrary to the general opinion among us as black gay men and NOT tap dance for “the man.” That’s your small-minded worldview, not mine, so keep it moving, bruh… no need to force your own insecurities on me.
Xzamilio
@Sansacro: Don’t even bother… the Tumblr kids and SJWs of the internet just need something to latch to, and if it doesn’t fit the “narrative”, they go all apeshit. Aromaeus actually brought up some good points, and despite what the mold is saying, ain’t a damn Uncle Tom bone in my body, which that idiot could see for himself if he bothered looking at other things I’ve written on this site. I’m not even going to try to be nice to people like that. Should’ve brought some dip for that chip on his shoulder.
SonOfKings
@Xzamilio: If you are so concerned about “Black people not doing anything with their lives'” why are you expressing it so stridently in a predominately White forum? And are you equally concerned about White people doing too much with their lives? Like the “brilliant” Investment Bankers and rocket scientists who damn near destroyed the entire economic system with their incompetence and incorrect asset valuations. If you want to condemn people who have failed at life, you should also include the educated thugs and dunces who either are not very good at what they do, or just plain corrupt. Either way they destroy lives, businesses, and communities also.
Xzamilio
@moldisdelicious: This is EXACTLY what I said:
“Great… then you take your subjective anecdote and stay away from bougie snobby black folk, and I’ll use my subjective anecdotes and stay away from the black people not trying to do anything with their lives”
Don’t quote mine me, you dishonest asswipe… you can CLEARLY see I made no such generality. It helps your argument when you try arguing what is there, not what you want to be there. I don’t give a two warm summer night dumps what white people do with their lives, because I’m not looking to see better in the white community… I want US to be better. Why is that so hard for you to see, you faceless moron? Why are YOU here on this predominantly white site??? And for all the crap I got about my dark skin, big nose and black features from OTHER BLACK PEOPLE, it’s amazing that you have the GALL to call me self-hating because I’ve never seen more hate for my dark skin than from my own.
And — and this is my last post as I am done addressing you and with this page period — you can read my blog (or not… don’t give a shit) and see exactly how I feel about matters of race.
Try reading this one http://shallowvoices.blogspot.com/2015/04/rant-race-issues.html
And then tell me what a sellout I still am…. fuck you.
tdh1980
@Xzamilio: To clarify, I meant intraracial murder statistics for black and white people.
At any rate, the problem I have with your argument is that it *seems* to assume either an inherent criminality in black people or at least a summary refusal from us to address crime in our communities, which simply isn’t true. Like @CWM85, I also live in Baltimore, and I can tell you that when murders started to rise in its majority black population, what the media didn’t show were the rallies, marches, and meetings held by concerned citizens who are desperate to improve the situation. By all means, speak your truth, but also realize it’s *your* truth.
Xzamilio
@tdh1980: Sigh… I’ll iterate this point one last time, and then I’m done with it. I have already stated the fact that MSM (mainstream media) has a propensity to do stories concerning race where the narrative is racism concerning whites and blacks, and rarely does it show when local communities protest internal violence… the same as when someone goes missing; let the media tell it, only attractive white women go missing, only black men are killed by cops, and only white men go crazy and murder everyone within a three mile radius. I know there are those of us who protest black violence within our own ranks, and I never said otherwise… so I don’t know how you came to that conclusion.
Second, I already addressed that these are my opinions, and that it is my subjective truth, just like yours is your subjective truth… so again, I don’t know why you’re mentioning it like I said it was THE truth. Third, as I said from the very beginning, the Black Lives Matter movement, which has a prominent platform now, is a force for good, and is something that we can use to highlight the issues of violence in our neighborhoods IN ADDITION to police brutality, the latter I which I feel is more prominent as these are individuals sworn to protect and serve the public.
NOW I’m done… I’ll go back to tap dancing for the white man and denying my obvious blackness.
Billysees
@CWM85:
” Its a wrong [struggling just for who they are] that will never go away but hopefully more equality is in store for glbt people. ”
More equality ‘is’ in store for glbt folks. But it’ll take time. I’ve been a participant in and an observer of the gay scene since 1972. The ‘acceptance’ of gay people has been astonishing since then and can only get better.
But like all great works, it will be according to the ‘three steps forward, one or two steps backward rule’.
Chris
I accept the focus of Black Lives Matter because it grew out of the seeming callousness with which Police Departments are able to kill black men/people with there being absolutely NO consequences.
Even police of color target, shoot, and kill blacks more than they do browns or whites.
The movement may have grown, but let’s not lose sight of its focus. The problem it addresses goes back to how police are chosen and trained. It’s rare to even get an indictment because prosecuting attorneys depend on the police to do their jobs; it’s even rare to get a conviction when video is required and the evidence they present becomes so twisted that you end up thinking that it was all, somehow, the victim’s fault.
And the deeper problem that Black Live Matters stakes out is “how can we be a nation of laws when those we are told to trust to enforce the laws kill black folk as if their lives did not matter?”
I agree: there is much else to do. And I agree that it is pretty aggravating how the focus on police (mis)conduct seems to suck out the oxygen from the room for many other groups.
But I cannot agree that this is somehow the fault of the advocates who focus on how the police do their jobs as if black lives did not matter. THAT is a huge task. If you care about another social problem, there is lots of work that needs to be done there are well, even without press coverage. And we can/should be allies. The -ism problems require allies each of whom work deeply in those spaces that most concern and involve them.
Aromaeus
It’s not just about the training, it’s about the culture. There is an us vs. them kind of mentality in police departments all over this country. You have dominant culture and the mainstream media demonizing these poor and minority communities which is internalized by the general public(including said communities) and those meant to protect us. They don’t see a father of two who is selling drugs because working his regular job doesn’t cover all his bills. They see a thug whose trying to take the easy way out of life.
They don’t see our pain and struggles. They don’t understand the mechanization behind our oppression. They just see criminals and thugs and whatever narrative the mainstream media has fed to them for decades. They don’t see our humanity because they’ve been led to believe we have none. That’s why they will empty an entire clip in our backs for minor offenses.
macwell
@Tackle I stopped reading Queerty years ago because I got tired of not seeing, or reading substantive articles on/about anyone that represents me – a gay Black male. Didn’t know they’ve come so far as to oversaturate their site with 3 whole stories about Black gay males in a week, and these men had the audacity to voice their personal opinions of their gay, Black male perspective, which is what Queerty has done from jump, from a primarily/overwhelmingly gay, White male perspective, but sure, maybe they should bring it back to the level I left it, at about 1 story per month or so. That way, I won’t be tempted to give the site a look see for more faces/stories about/by people that look like me.
Blackceo
@Aromaeus:
You better educate sir!!!! The other issue unfortunately is that the police officers who patrol these particular areas do not interact with the community and do not live in the communities which they patrol, which back in the day was the case. Where I grew up the police chief lived in the neighborhood and so did most of the officers, or at least they lived nearby.
Now Im not expecting officers to live in the high crime, high drug areas in certain areas in which they patrol, but the police needs to do a better job of community outreach in these neighborhoods. Have barbecues and community events and forums where the police mingle and introduce themselves and say I’m officer so and so and I patrol this neighborhood. The relationship needs to be less contentious.
To me it is the overall culture of the police because trust and believe there are some Black police officers who treat Black suspects like shit too and use excessive force when not warranted. I have great respect for police putting their lives on the line, but too many of them put that uniform on and get on power trips and overstep their boundaries.
Aromaeus
@Blackceo: Yes one piece of reform I’d like to see is that police have to engage with the community in a non-official capacity. There are videos on youtube of police officers joining in on basketball games and challenging teens to dance offs. Little things like that go a long way to creating some level of trust between the community and the police.
tommiej
Too be honest, the issues of being both black and gay is extremely complex. A lot more complex than most people care to acknowledge. It’s like one of those Russian dolls. You open up on issue only to find another issue inside of it.
It’s like we get an extra dose of all the American hangups about sex, race, and politics dumped on us – all at once. I really think that leads to self-esteem issues. Which many black people already struggle with. At least that was true for me.
For the longest time I didn’t feel as “good as” a white person or a straight person. It took a lot of work on myself to build up my esteem. It wasn’t easy.
It’s hard to feel good about yourself when you are getting dumped in just about every way imaginable. I don’t mind the article though. It’s nice to see a positive and visible role model out there.