dichotomy?

The concept of intersections and connectivity is a major issue of contention for a great majority of ethnic studies. While reading the introduction to “Black Queer Studies” I was struck by the ever present, ever looming lack and desire for intersectionality. In a great majority of ethnic studies, the need to be able to speak for one’s race is always present. The challenge of being a queer minority is that the intersection between race and sexuality figures predominately in identity and it is this intersection that is in great debate.

As Raven mentions, the “new” image of the black man must be always placed in the context of a history that ebbs and flows through different periods of history and representation. The marked body of a black man, of a black woman, carries it the burden of having both a history etched into their physical self and the projections that the outsider sees. What image is offered for the queer black man, especially when being queer and being racially marked, is the image of being “white”. There is a dichotomy that occurs but the question now is, how will this dichotomy be bridged?