An Open Letter From Professor Tracey To Dan Savage - You Owe African Americans In California An Apology!
Mr. Savage,
Your post entitled Black Homophobia was flat out wrong, period. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and were completely out of line. You should have done some research and some careful thought before posting something so negative. You should make a public apology and begin mending the fences you have torn down.
I suggest reading Facts Belie the Scapegoating of Black People for Proposition 8 and Prop. 8 and thinking before we write and Black homophobia and putting the blame for Prop 8 where it belongs. You would have found concern, disappointment, and community kinship at Pam's Houseblend, What Tami Says, A Choice Of Weapons, and not to mention the multiple posts on Proposition 8 at Racialicious. You might have learned something.
And before you went off the rails accusing your fellow African American citizens you might have found some allies. You might have discovered that many Black Americans are disturbed by homophobia in the black community, but have a keen understanding of the failure of the white gay community to do outreach in those same communities. You might have found a way to be working on and resolving the issue of homophobia in the black community, but you didn't even bother. Now, instead of allies, you have made angry enemies, very non-productive, my friend.
And if you have the nerve to take Black Americans to task, then have the guts to take responsibility for your words. I was horrified to read that after you wrote that incendiary post that you stopped reading the comments after racist vitriol began to be directed at African Americans and criticism began to be directed at you. That is flat-out irresponsible! You can't stoke fires, then ignore the inferno!
If we all followed your logic then African Americans should be enraged at the white gay community. Fewer white gay Americans voted for Obama than in 2004 for Kerry. What happened there, it wasn't like McCain was even attempting to appeal to gay voters. And what about gay Log Cabin Republicans that didn't vote for Obama at all? Do black folks get to point fingers at those white voters or it doesn't matter because Obama won? This kind of race-baiting logic can get EVERYONE in hot water.
We all need to find out what went wrong in the black community with this issue FIRST before deciding that EVERY black person in California is homophobic. And you being an outsider to the black community needed to proceed with caution before laying blame because you have now lost your credibility and your compassion by leaping to unproven conclusions. In your desire to express your anger and to find someone, anyone to blame, you succeeded in doing nothing but taking complete attention away from the important issue at hand, how to gain equality for gay Americans of all races.
