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Queer people of color erased from history

Writer, speaker and activist Jonathan P. Higgins, who goes by Dr. Jon Paul, talks about how privilege keeps queer and transgender people of color marginalized, Tuesday in the Campus Center Ballroom. He discussed the erasure of queer history and how people of color who have social movements in the LGBT community are often overshadowed by straight white men./ photo by Tyler Evains
Writer, speaker and activist Jonathan P. Higgins, who goes by Dr. Jon Paul, talks about how privilege keeps queer and transgender people of color marginalized, Tuesday in the Campus Center Ballroom. He discussed the erasure of queer history and how people of color who have social movements in the LGBT community are often overshadowed by straight white men. / photo by Tyler Evains

Arturo Gomez Molina
Arts Editor

Activist Jonathan Paul Higgins gave a presentation on the inclusivity, acknowledgment and ‘erasure’ of queer people of color in the Campus Center Ballroom Tuesday.

The Center for Multicultural Services, Office of Diversity and Inclusivity and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life collaborated to bring Higgins to campus.

“I want everyone in the back to move toward the front of the room because someone out there doesn’t have the same privilege as you to be here today,” Higgins said before starting the “Queer People of Color” event.

He discussed the suppression of queer people of color to the crowd of roughly 20 white, Asian and Latino and black students, faculty and community members.

“We want to have a dialogue about servicing queer people of color today,” Assistant Director of the Center for Multicultural Services Misty Levingston said. “I really want people to open their minds and realize that we are not all the same. We are not cookie cutter people.”

Higgins opened his presentation with a short summary of his self-discovery journey and a history of suppressed queer people of color.

Pauli Murray, a lesbian activist who founded the National Foundation for Women, and Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender liberation activist, were a few who fought for LGBT rights.

Higgins said these people did a lot of great work for the queer people of color community, but have been erased from history.

He emphasized that activists like these, and like the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, tend to be “erased” from history.

Higgins finished his presentation with the emphasis that we needs to “unlearn” the bad habits we have grown up with.

“It is important that we unlearn the way we automatically look at people” Higgins said. “We are so quick to piece (them) apart rather than look at them as a whole.”

During the question and answer section, Suzanna Bratzler, graduate student in education, identified herself as a “recovering white supremacist” and asked Higgins for advice on how to conduct herself properly.

“I have involved myself in a lot of the cultural intersectionality on campus, so I am glad I got the answer that I needed today to keep moving forward,” she said.

Melissa Moss, executive assistant to Beatriz Gonzales, the University’s vice provost and chief diversity officer, said she wished the turnout had been higher.

“We need more engagement on campus,” she said.

Arturo Gomez Molina can be reached at arturo.gomezmolina@laverne.edu.

Arturo Gomez Molina, Arts Editor
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