Ep. 36 - LGBTQ+ Liberation vs. Representation ft. Benji Hart

BrownTown shares space with Benji Hart, author, artist, and
educator to discuss language, movement-building, and artistry
created by and for queer, trans, and gender non-binary folks. The
gang analyzes the relationships between Pride celebrations and
police, media and political representations of LGBTQ+ folks, and
the nuanced, complicated ways in which we subvert and reimagine
oppressive systems while simultaneously navigating, operating,
and living within them. Originally recorded June 2019.



As representation for LGBTQ+ folks (especially queer, trans, and
non-binary) slowly expands in mainstream media, policy, and other
facets of socialized life, BrownTown and Benji chop it up about
what this means in terms of grassroots activism, emerging
frameworks, and media making on the path to liberation and
equity. Benji discusses his work in educational and activist
spaces with queer, Black, and trans folks at the forefront of
movements (Benji: “queer people run shit.”). The gang dive deep
into the history and colonization of our very language in
discussing ourselves and the world around us as well as its
parallel to Chi DNA and drill rap as a (at times problematic yet)
misunderstood form of communication. We get an update in Chicago
and national politics regarding the effect of identity politics
on actual policy and march towards equity (see: Benji’s article
on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot). Recorded in June, BrownTown
brings up the role of Pride month, particularly with the 50th
anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and the renewed conversation
of police presence in celebrations of trans and non-binary lives
(see: NYPD’s says, “my bad” for Stonewall). This begs the
question, who is Pride for now? The team pivots to media
representation from 1990’s Paris is Burning documentary to
FX’s current TV show Pose (which has the largest cast of
transgender actors to be starring as series regulars in a
scripted show), both about ball culture in New York City. How
does a traditionally colonized industry successfully employ,
consult, and bring real identities to a mainstream light without
cheapening the story? What power dynamics lie in documentary and
fictional filmmaking behind-the-scenes and in front of the
camera? As in ballroom categories and in everyday life, how do we
send up, alter, and abolish violent systems politically and
culturally while using their tools and internalizing navigating
within them in complex ways to survive and thrive on the way to
liberation? Here’s BrownTown’s take.


 


GUEST
Benji Hart is an author, artist, and educator from Amherst,
Massachusetts, living in Chicago. The writer behind the blog
Radical Faggot, their essays have been anthologized in Rebellious
Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief (2017) and Taking Sides:
Radical Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism (2015), both
from AK Press. Their commentary has been published at Teen Vogue,
The Advocate, The Chicago Reader, and others. They have led
political education workshops on subjects ranging from prison
abolition to trans liberation for organizations across the
Midwest, and been a guest lecturer in classrooms at the
University of Chicago and Kalamazoo College. They have
facilitated retreats, focused on organizational development and
community building, for grassroots collectives such as Love &
Protect and For the People Artists Collective.
 Follow Benji on
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Peep their work on their
website BenjiHart.com.


READ MORE on SoapBox Editorial's article "At the Intersection
of Media and Movement, 2020 Pride Mirrors its Roots" by
Christian Ianniello.


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CREDITS: Intro/outro song Rose in Harlem
by Teyana Taylor. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode
photo by Mark Poucher.


EPISODE CORRECTION: The 2019 US military budget
was around $700 billion while the 2020 budget is proposed at $720
billion, likely to exceed to $750 billion by most estimates, not
$600 billion as was stated. All numbers are still a fraction of
the overall defense spending, not including individual war
budgets, homeland security, etc.


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