I've been called a lot of things that generally people would consider negative qualities, however, I see as empowering. Back in Portland I was called a racist because I simply had the nerve to challenge White people and their sometimes oppressive cultures, establishments and lifestyles. If criticizing the flaws in the dominant culture made me a racist I was/am very proud of the title even if it potentially misinterpret my intentions. Lately, I've been called heterophobe. Now this is even more interesting then being called a racist simply because I don't even care how that gets interpreted as long as my heterosexual women know I LOVE them lol. I have White friends, so the idea of hating these very honorable people for the simple fact that they're White is horrendous but I intentionally stay away from the heterosexual males unless they're dating my girls and even then I hardly think they're good enough. But just to make one thing perfectly clear, dominant power structures that traditionally and typically utilizes their identities to demean and de-power others inspires such passion and frustration within me that I often grow to reverse the prejudice that I see being the most popular.I am so sick of minorities, by minorities I mean all forms of minorities (including gays), arguing that they want "equal" rights, that they want to be tolerated or accepted as "no different" than the norm or the dominant culture. Where is the pride in that? Where is the respect in that? I don't care if you find the kindness in your heart to "accept" me for being gay, I don't care if you don't associate my skin color with some foolish stereotype, your acceptance means absolutely nothing to me. I see myself as truly equal or already equal no need to have the essence of my equality be confirmed therefore I can just as easily be disgusted by you just as much as you can be disgusted by me. Allegedly, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and that's how I view my own prejudices nothing less than an equal and opposite reaction to the dominant forms of prejudices.
Now people claim that reacting to prejudice with prejudice doesn't solve anything and isn't productive. But how productive has accepting the dominant culture's idea of equality has been for us? Well we are about to elect the first Black president but I wonder how much good is Senator Obama going to do for Blacks? I have a feeling he's going to have the least diverse administration we have seen since Reagan, at least when it comes to the number of Blacks he'll hire. The only form of "uplifting" he has done so far is tell Blacks that their fathers need to do a better job. And if you want to be honest with yourself you already know he wasn't even talking to Black but to the audience of CNN and Fox News, he was talking to White people. (I'm more of a Michelle Obama supporter than an Obama supporter fyi lol). Blacks are still highly regarded as less successful than Whites, overwhelm prison systems, poorer, and in the words of my Black Politics professor "still at the bottom of the jar".
See, I'm more of a Malcolm X supporter than I am a Martin Luther King supporter. I have no shame in believing in Black Power, Gay Power, etc. I have no problem aligning myself with institutions and establishments that support these various forms of empowerment, hence attending Howard, going to Church, and proudly participating in gay culture regardless of the general social consequences.
I get very defensive when I get called a racist because I definitely don't hate White people and I definitely wouldn't want any of the White people I am close to, to mistake my passion for fighting against the many flaws with our dominant cultures as a general prejudice against them. Even though I do not feel that racism against Whites is inherently wrong. But in regards to being called a heterophobe I can seriously care less and in fact I would wear it as a badge. The typical heterosexual male disgust me and if you're a heterosexual male and I'm friends with you then that means you're an exception because there are exceptions to almost everything but only a handful. Now I probably shouldn't make this so public because the last thing I need is for my future boss to read about me being a heterophobe but I'm tired of minorities always being on the defensive, asking dominant powers to sit at the same table... can we just sit at our own tables instead of attempting to mold ourselves in their image of equality? Can we be on the offensive for once, homophobes will wake up the day when the headlines of a newspaper reads "Straight Bashing is the Cause of Male Victim's Severe Injuries". Would that even be considered a hate crime or self-defense?
