21/09/2023
Jackson King writes in the African-Caribbean newspaper The Voice on UK Black Pride, the event for LGBTQIA+ people of a variety of non white backgrounds. Whilst he supports in principle the aims of the festival, he is critical of its wide interpretation of "political blackness", which he says does not acknowledge the very real differences between different groups. His essay is lengthy, but here is some of what Jackson says. "So if you’re an adherent of political blackness, UK Black Pride does what it says on the tin. It’s a gathering for and by every queer person who has felt the sting of white supremacy and exclusion from mainstream (white) LGBT+ spaces. Not just African-Caribbeans. But political blackness as an idea does have its limitations… Different non-white groups face different challenges, as well as complex relations and conflicts amongst each other. This was the case when political blackness first emerged as a concept in 1970s Britain, and it’s still the case now. Often, language that aims to unite, can also erase: terms like ‘politically black’ and ‘people of colour’ tend to focus on shared struggles, without addressing the realities of in-group conflict.".
