During Friday's dialogue we looked at the extent to which same gender loving men flex our political muscle from the following angles:  

Define political.

"To advocate for causes..."

[Participant reads dictionary definition] "'Pertaining to public policy; concerned with the administration of government: a political system: Engaged in or taking sides in politics...'"

What does it mean to be political?

"Having a voice and using it everywhere I go...And now, learning to use it as a gay, same gender loving, HIV+ man...It's phucking freeing...I came to this [disposition] by almost losing my life..."

"[Being political means] If it's not documented, it doesn't exist...It's the ability to make sure things are documented...The police harass us [with impunity]...I call Internal Affairs...I call CCRB...I hold them to account...[That's being political]..."

 "Being political is challenging the status quo...Seeing something is wrong or unjust and setting out to right the wrong..."

What is political capital? How is it garnered?  Do we have any?  Where?

"[Having] some kind of clout..."

"Capital...The assets, the gains and abilities we have in unity...Resources, numbers, people...BMX could be considered capital because here we are a group of men...We don't have a lot of political capital as Black men because of what we were told by our parents...That we were wrong...It's slowly growing..."

{Facilitator says, "That's important...You said Black men don't have a lot of political capital because of what we were told by our parents...Can you elaborate on that?..."}

"We were taught into shame..."

"That's a great point...That we are not present to our political capital because we have been taught to be ashamed of who we are...Being political presumes worthiness..."

"We all have political capital...It's about whether or not we choose to use it..."

"Once you give gay, SGL, or whatever [people] the right to marry, you're legitimizing the group...As long as you don't, you're robbing them of their political capital..."

"It's not gay, SGL or whatever...Especially where we're talking about political clout...capital...[What I call myself involves] self-determination...It's connected to [having a] voice, and the things that impede our capacity [to find our voice...and take political action]..."

"{Facilitator says, "[Same gender loving in the name of] A self-determination movement [which] is crucial...We came out of slavery only a moment ago...We are still in the process of defining ourselves..."}

"That's so true...My mother died in January... And as I was preparing for her home-going, it occurred to me that she was born fewer than fifty years after Emancipation...I was born fewer than a hundred years after Emancipation...The reason we went from Nigger to Colored, to Negro...And, I remember, as a kid, for a moment between Negro and Black, some among us identifying as Afro American...Malcolm founded the Organization of Afro American Unity, I believe it was...And I remember Black people arguing amongst ourselves as we opted to shift from Negro to Black...And now, we are in another transition...As homosexual Black folk stand up with Same Gender Loving...The reason we have continually shifted from one identification to the next is because we have continually opted to redefine ourselves in the face of definitions that were imposed on us...So, yes...in terms of gaining political capital, it matters what we call ourselves...Do you think it's an accident that we may be within hours of marriage equality in the State of New York?...No, gay works for the people who coined it...Something I learned growing up through all of that is that, the way you can tell if an identification works for a people is that, it impels them to act in their own interest..."

Is being pro-Black and pro-SGL radical?

"Radical is stepping out of the preconceived notions of normal...I always hated being considered a minority...There ain't nothing minor about me..."

"[Radical is] taking a clear and distinct position..."

"I think SGL is a way of further separating us..."

"The reason I like SGL is because, when I say it, people say, 'What is that?'...And it gives me the opportunity to reflect on things about me...to say some things about who I am [that gay doesn't]..."

{Facilitator reads definition, "'Radical...Favoring fundamental or extreme change; Specifically, favoring basic change in the social or economic structure'"...}

Does the gay liberation movement address our issues?

"Do the things the gay movement are fighting for address my needs?...No..."

"Yes and no...One time I went down to the LGBT Center...There was a [game night]...People were playing games...It was an open thing...It was all White except for one guy...and this guy [who was running it] kept making all kinds of excuses for why we couldn't play...On Logo, "Noah's Arc was the highest rated show they had, and yet, they still haven't replaced it..."

"They don't address our issues...Police profiling...the spread of HIV and AIDS...In some places in Africa, it's up to fifty percent..."

"With mainstream society, you know what they say, 'If you can't beat 'em join 'em'..."

{Facilitator says, "It's not about beating 'em, it's about being our best selves collectively..."}

""Your parents were taught not to oppose White people...Your grand parents were taught not to oppose White people...You have been brainwashed to not even choose your own name on the threat of death...We were also taught to settle for whatever they gave us...And we have only been allowed to have about 30 -years of having a voice...You cannot change 450 years of training in 30- years...That's why there has been no revolution...Why we will kill each other rather than them...We wait for them to tell us what to think...Even as we look at marriage equality, they look at it differently than we look at Civil Rights...They look at it as [a] resource right to be able to transfer property and inheritance..."

{Facilitator says, "White gays don't have entitlement issues based on PTSS [Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome]...Their entitlement issue is, 'I don't have enough'..."}

"We have already been separated, that's what slavery did...we're not separating ourselves...gay marriage or unions is only good for people who can use it..."

"If you can't beat 'em join 'em?...No, I'm not joining 'em..."

"[I recently realized] I haven't been operating with a full set of emotions...Where did that come from?...I was raised in a household where you were not allowed to express anger...My grandmother is 97...Her mother was born a slave...They were not allowed to express anger...We were raised not to be angry...But there are others of us who may be missing other emotions like love...the ability to love ourselves and each other...This idea that we have been trained to accommodate White people and that we must come together to heal ourselves is very serious...So, all our lives we are taught as Black men that we are not worthy...We are not worthy...Years ago, I was a science reporter...I chronicled Act Up for Newsweek Magazine from the beginning of the movement...I took a plane with them down to Atlanta [and the Centers for Disease Control] where they planned to [disrupt] shit and get thrown in jail...It was a Civil Rights Movement strategy...The difference is they had the money to bail each other out...There was this one Black guy, and my sense was that he was somebody's sex object...And I thought, what's going to happen to him?...When he goes for a job and has to say, 'Yes, I was arrested once, but it was part of a political movement'...Is he going to get the same kind of consideration as his White counterparts?..."

"The notion of unity is false...There are two kinds of racism...Systemic and identity...We have not been taught how to deal with racism...Jewish people have set the template for having voice after [having been conquered]...The concept of DL means not having a full identity...We have been [enculturated] not to take power...Power is [saying] 'No,' no matter who it pisses off..."