APC Town Hall Goes South

Another perspective

by j. brotherlove

It’s been a week since the Atlanta Pride Committee hosted its town hall meeting “Building Racial Harmony within the LGBT Communities”, yet passionate conversations around its effectiveness and resulting effect continue in Atlanta’s black, gay community. SoVo reported an overview of the meeting, characteristically, it focuses on the sensational aspects of the program (despite more insightful comments, notably made by Michael Slaughter and Nikki Young). SoVo doesn’t tell the whole story, by a long shot.

The Setup
I attended the forum, reluctantly. From my experience, these types of events have a tendency to get off track, degrade into name-calling, and not produce the proposed results or any action items. I doubted this event would be different. The somewhat lofty goals of the forum were stated as “a dialogue on racial issues” and “an opportunity to have an important and frank discussion about racism within Atlanta’s LGBT communities.”

For the most part, these goals were achieved. Questions consisted of high-level race and acceptance issues (including immigrants and transgendered individuals), many that drew healthy applause. However, midstream, I wondered why we were spending so much time talking about why prejudice is evil and not more energy on specific issues that could be eradicated or replaced locally. I was not alone.

Here Comes Trouble
The meeting took a critical turn when activist Kevin Bynes approached the audience mic and launched a tirade. “This is not the discussion I thought we were having today,” he began (perhaps he did not read the press release I read), before calling the entire forum a “ruse”. He blasted the APC for avoiding discussion of their alleged racist practices and for not including Clik Magazine publisher Dwight Powell (who’s initial accusations of APC sparked the forum) in the process.

I appreciated Kevin bringing up the disappointing scope of the discussion. On the other hand, I did not want the type of discussion he was pushing either. I see no good in debating why a majority, white organization should accept in-kind sponsorhip from a black publication for an event most blacks admit we don’t attend. Regardless, Kevin’s comment quickly snowballed into mayhem. As APC’s Donna Narducci struggled to address the accusations, Kevin leapt from his audience seat into a shouting tirade that included activist Craig Washington and ITLA’s Darlene Hudson (who physically pushed her way through audience members waiting to comment and commandeered the mic).

Reactions
All I could do was shake my head in disgust. I understand people’s passions but when has this type of behavior yielded positive results? Better yet, out of all the critics who demand that APC change their ways, I have yet to read or hear of any actionable suggestions that would achieve this. In short, there has been a lot of rambling complaining but no suggestions put forth. This doesn’t make much sense to me.

Donna defended APC’s actions and the forum’s format adding, she was originally contacted by Craig Washington to plan an event that included Dwight Powell but he didn’t follow up with her. She then contacted a PR firm (an act some protested) to create the resulting town hall meeting. Subsequently, Craig declined to participate on the panel. Dwight’s involvement was not considered since the discussions were going to be central to Atlanta (Dwight lives in Florida).

The last straw occurred when activist and panelist Deepali Gokhale asked Donna Narducci to admit that APC is racist. An outcry ensued and attendees were asked to leave as the library closed. I was amongst many who found Deepali’s request ludicrous and unfair. It’s clear Donna does not view her organization as racist. Frankly, other than the Clik debacle (which is open to interpretation, in my opinion), nobody stood up at the forum and presented clear facts showing racist acts performed by the APC. On the other hand, there were examples of how the APC has partnered with black organizations and conducted outreach programs. Those statements were largely ignored.

Solutions, Anyone?
So now what? As one colleagues stated, "It is unfortunate that those who feel that it took an outsider to wake us up… have not been present where the dialog has been occurring. It is a shame that the truth becomes obscure(d) in the blindness of the ‘isms’".

To be sure, there are several discussions amongst Atlanta’s black, gay community (outside of the activist sector) regarding continued progress and real work to erode racial and exclusionary practices. We should demand more outreach and support from organizations that claim to represent all of us. More importantly, we need to emphasize black (gay and hetero) accountability for making black events and organizations successful. As Michael Slaughter states in the LA Times article, “Voice of Atlanta’s Black Gays Is Emerging” (subcription required), “Atlanta has not yet seen the power of the black gay community.”