I’ve written here before about the racism in the gay community and this is one of the most egregious examples. Shirley Q Liquor is one of the drag personas of Chuck Knipp, a white guy who performs in blackface. The centerpiece of his act seems to be trading on the crassest stereotypes of black women.
The following is an excerpt from the Shirley Q. Liquor MySpace page, describing the character:
“How you derrin’! I’m Shirley Q. Liquor. I is from Texarkana and is mother of 19 chillrens. I love some brown bakeded beans, sermons on ignunce, K-Mark, and Shlitz malt liquor. I enjoys goin’ to get my nails did. I think I’m gonna get my nails painted blue with a lil’ gold jessie picture on my littlest nail. I also enjoys hangin’ out with my girl Watusi. Good lawd, she got’s some crazy ass drivin’s. Oh, and she so ugly. She 7″1′ and no amount of make up gonna help her. Oh lawd, she look AWFUL. Well honey, that’s it for now. Tell yo momma I axed her how she durrin’. Bye suga.”
In Shirley Q. Liquor’s repertoire are numbers with titles such as as “Church Slave,” “Who is My Baby Daddy?” and “Jailed.” Although Knipp defends his act as a parody of Tyler Perry’s Madea character, just saying that you’re mimicking black-created foolishness isn’t enough to absolve Knipp of the overtly racist content of his Shirley Q. character. And, just because white, predominantly gay audiences pay for this crap is no excuse either (boys of Queer Eye – I’m *so* disappointed in you for getting your pic snapped with Shirley Q!).
If you object to Knipp’s Shirley Q. Liquor drag character, take a second and sign this online petition.
Thanks for posting on this crap, Jessie. I just attended a queer people of color (QPOC) conference. The issue of racism within the gay community got much attention and has clearly been deeply problematic, even among gay/queer activists, for a very long time. This kind of blatant racist display is enabled in part by the systemic forms of racism within the gay community. Systemic gay racism consistently privileges gay white men and their issues/preferences, often explicitly minimizing queer people of color and their issues. Obviously, “minimizing” is not the full extent. Shirley Q. Liquor and other egregious events show that the white gay “mainstream” distances itself so far from people of color that it often uses people of color (including queer people of color) as punchlines.
Thanks @gatorglenn. And, as if to perfectly illustrate your point about the consistently privileging of white/gay/men within the queer community, there’s this from The Advocate:
“A Day in the Life of Gay America”
http://advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Photography/A_Day_in_Gay_America_Part_One/
White people – I see white people everywhere!
Whites want to find examples of Blacks being racist and say that this form of racism is OK for them to practice because they saw a Black person do it. This is as childish as claiming that because my schoolfriend stole a chocolate bar from Woolworth’s, I can do likewise. Whites want revenge on Black people for not being able, for example, to use the word ‘Nigger’ with the same impunity with which Black people use it by suggesting – in a context-free political vacuum – that they should be allowed to do the same as Black people. This, regardless of the fact that the use of such epithets is not neutral but pigmentionally-significant. Whites wish to evade reality and do as they please – as they have been doing for the past 500 years.
Whites want to claim Blacks as a benchmark for their own behaviour while continuing to imply – in that very behaviour – that Blacks are naturally inferior. But why would any rational person use someone they claim as inferior as a standard for their own behaviour? Because they have no higher standard!
Whites want to find examples of Blacks being racist and say that this form of racism is OK for them to practice because they saw a Black person do it. This is as childish as claiming that because my schoolfriend stole a chocolate bar from Woolworth’s, I can do likewise. Whites want revenge on Black people for not being able, for example, to use the word ‘Nigger’ with the same impunity with which Black people use it by suggesting – in a context-free political vacuum – that they should be allowed to do the same as Black people. This, regardless of the fact that the use of such epithets is not neutral but pigmentionally-significant. Whites wish to evade reality and do as they please – as they have been doing for the past 500 years.
Whites want to claim Blacks as a benchmark for their own behaviour while continuing to imply – in that very behaviour – that Blacks are naturally inferior. But why would any rational person use someone they claim as inferior as a standard for their own behaviour? Because they have no higher standard!
I understand what the above person is saying, but I’d like to add that I believe the real problem is not that whites want revenge per se on blacks because they can’t use the N word with impunity. I believe it all boils down to empathy. Whites just do not have the empathy for African Americans that they should. With this in mind, it’s a short jump to not showing concern over blacks being ridiculed in comedy routines.
I honestly believe most whites don’t think blacks are inferior as much as they just don’t “see” black people. Which in itself implies they think they’re inferior. It’s just that the blindness to suffering is the greater issue as I see it.
A perfect example is I’ve mentioned this blog to several liberal minded white friends of mine. Every time I see them I ask if they’ve visited it. They always make excuses, they don’t have time, they forgot etc. Point is, if you don’t walk in a black man’s shoes, you don’t feel the horrible pain. If there’s nothing in it for “busy” whites, it won’t happen. It takes an unusual white person to even reflect on the racism that is so rampant here.
What I find interesting in the discussion of general white racism and the equating of symmetry to equality is when self-described “liberal and anti-racist” whites come here and accuse me of racism for, say, supporting a “double standard” for whites who want to be taken seriously as an “ally” or keeping leadership roles in black civil rights and community organizations limited to people of color. I wasn’t the only one to explain the reasoning behind my support, but my support was an “example” of my racism.
And when it comes to racism within the white LGBT community . . . well, lets outline two quick facts:
1 – the outreach and education that California LGBT groups did in white churches leading up to the vote on proposition 8 was not done in black churches.
2 – The black community has a higher average rate of church attendence than does the white community.
So, would it surprise anyone, or should it surprise anyone, that an overwhelming majority of blacks voted against gay marriage?
The racism? First of all, there’s failing to do education in black communities. Second, there’s the irrational assumption that blacks would support the LGBT community in there issues when I can’t really think of any support blacks have received from the organized LGBT community. (Though, I can state with fair certainty that black civil rights groups do support gay rights issues.) Then, of course, the condescension the black community receives/d for our “homophobia.” And the coup de gras? The condescension we get for not “recognizing the irony” of using our rights to deny rights to others – cause we’re either that homophobic or stupid or both.
And lest I forget, the empty comparison between issues of gay marriage/civil unions today and miscegenation laws of the past, right? Cause let’s be clear: there’s a difference between not being allowed to marry and being tortured and killed for even attempting to do so.
It’s quite clear that what most white gay men and women want isn’t equal rights for all, but rather, just the right to be seen and treated as heterosexual white men and women. They don’t want rights so much as they want privileges.
Cause the truth is, it wouldn’t be too hard to get the black community behind civil unions. And don’t get me wrong, personally I can make sense of the desire for “marriage” rather than “civil unions.” But if people really wanna get crazy looking down on black folks on this issue, lets also stipulate that not even in Athens or Sparta, Greece were gay relationships called “marriages.”
Before I get slammed with accusations of homophobia, I fully support state recognition of same-sex relationships whether they’re called civil unions or marriages. But don’t not do the work, reject “civil unions,” then accuse the black community of homophobia, stupidity, becoming oppressorss because we don’t wholesale endorse same-sex “marriage.”
By the way, off topic, but does anyone have any thoughts on Mel Gibson’s racist rant toward his girlfriend? It’s all over Youtube. If you have the stomach to listen, you’ll realize how some white people use African Americans as scapegoats in angry outbursts for no logical reason whatsoever! Car battery dead? Angry with your ex? Having a bad hair day? Weeds in your rose garden? Let’s blame an African American. It’s probably his fault! Nauseatingly revealing of the white racial frame brain.
I got so much swarming around in my head, I don’t see how listening to that rant will do me any good. You know?
But I may give it a turn in the next few days or so. You’ve peaked my interest.
The sad thing is I really enjoyed both THE PASSION and APOCALYPTO. I kept thinking, “Just stay down, Jesus! Just stay down!” and “Run, Jaguar Paw, run!!” respectively.