by Shawn Nowlin
Dr. E. Patrick Johnson had a good feeling that October 2 was going to be a good day when he woke up that morning. At 7 p.m., Johnson, chair, African American Studies and Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, was scheduled to speak at Roanoke College.
A lecture by Dr. E. Patrick Johnson, ‘Are We Not Family? Sexuality, Citizenship, and Politics in the New Black South’ was held at the Logan Gallery in the Bank Building.
The free event was open to the public and upon entering, Johnson received a warm welcome by school faculty, students and area residents.
A variety of topics were broached during the discussion. Based on oral histories he’s collected from Black LGBTQ southerners over the past decade, Johnson provided some examples of the ways LGBTQ folk resist being pushed to the margins in Black communities. He also provided some historical context for why homosexuality is taboo in Black communities in the South and sometimes considered as outside the Black “family.”
“I believe that it is important that occasionally we push beyond our comfort zones. That is part of evolving as intellectuals, as students and as a community,” Dr. Johnson stated.
“While racial politics are not always easy discussions to have, Black folks are not shy when it comes to speaking truth to power when it comes to racism. Sex and sexuality on the other hand, is quite a different story. We are less likely to engage in this topic. However, our sexuality is an integral part of who we are as humans. Even our notions of family are tied to the ways in which our sexuality has been controlled and policed by institutional racism. If we don’t have these honest conversations, it’s impossible to keep making true progress,” he added.
Another who spoke was Dr. Gregory Samantha Rosenthal, assistant professor of Public History, Roanoke College.
“Roanoke Vice-Mayor Joe Cobb approached me about bringing a high-profile LGBTQ speaker to the region and we very quickly settled on Dr. Johnson because of his prominent role as a scholar and storyteller of Black LGBTQ southern experiences – which aligns with a large segment of our own regional community. Dr. Johnson’s lecture focused on ways that African Americans think about ‘family’ and how Black LGBTQ people consider the term and concept of ‘family’ in their own lives.
“I think Dr. Johnson’s great contribution is to show how unique Black LGBTQ people’s experiences are and how they differ from those of white LGBTQ southerners, she said. Often Black LGBTQ people are invisible or marginalized within the larger LGBTQ community
Also speaking was Garland Gravely, president Fashionista Roanoke.
“For the longest time, the African American LGBTQ community, especially here locally, has been invisible, I was born and raised in this area, but we always felt like we never had the visibility that we needed. Not only in the mainstream community but the African American community as well. We are heading into a new decade and we need to let our young people know that they are safe and that they have a support system. We have a lot of work to do, but we can do it together…one step at a time.”After the function, Dr. Johnson signed copies of his book “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South.”
