Why Only Black Writers of Marginalized Genders?

We acknowledge a few truths here at the JTC:

1. Black folk of marginalized genders (or Black MaGes) face both gender-based and racialized oppression at minimum.

2. Gender and race are socially constructed hierarchies that prioritize cis-gender men and white people. Cis-gender men and white people exercise systemic power to determine who can speak with authority and on which topics, often excluding Black folks of marginalized genders.

3. Cis-gender Black men are often ignorant to and/or in denial about the power (social and political) that we have relative to Black folks of marginalized genders. We are resistant to interrogate our dual role as “oppressor” on the basis of gender and “oppressed” under white supremacy.

Paraphrasing writer Stacia L. Brown, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes in her book Thick, “No amount of pathos, logos, or ethos includes [Black women] in the civic sphere of public discourse and persuasion. We do not have enough authority, as judged by the audiences and gatekeepers who decide to whom we should listen, to speak on much of anything.” Simply put, Black women and other Black folks of marginalized genders are excluded and silenced in our society.

The Julep Town Collective values the voices of Black folks of marginalized genders without exception. We value Black folks of marginalized genders and what they have to say but not from a belief that they are superhuman or always right because of their identities. We are in solidarity with Black folks of marginalized genders because none of us can be free unless all of us are free.