A Queer History of the United States for Young People

The Power of Blackness
I
t was an act of incredible bravery, one of many that occurred in a short
life.
In November 1983, Essence, a popular, mainstream lifestyle magazine
for African American women, published a groundbreaking essay in their
monthly column “Say, Brother.” The piece opened with the sentence, “I am
a homosexual,” and the author was Essex Hemphill, a twenty-six-year-old
African American poet, essayist, and performer.
Throughout the 1970s, LGBTQ people and issues had gained increasing
coverage in the press. For a number of reasons, the African American
media was slower to embrace the discussion. Given that, Hemphill’s essay
was startling to many Essence readers. He began simply and honestly:
I am a homosexual. I love myself as a black man and a homosexual. I have known since I was
five that I would love men, but I did not know then that “brother,” “lover,” “friend” would take
on more intimate and dangerous meanings. I did not know a dual oppression, a dual mockery,
would be practiced against me.
Hemphill was not just daring in his openness about his personal life. He
was daring in the way he criticized the African American community for
many members’ refusal to deal honestly and openly with homosexuality. He
was also outspoken in criticizing the gay community and movement for its
racism. His essay was more amazing since it came in the early years of the
HIV-AIDS epidemic, when both gay men and people of color were being
affected by, and blamed for, AIDS.