Black Queer History Spotlight: Shorts
Grand Lake Theatre
3200 Grand Lake Ave.
Oakland
Feb. 22, 2024
It’s not always easy to find events falling at the intersection of Black and queer. Many praises go to the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center along with queer cinema nonprofit Frameline, and the cultural hub for filmmakers, Cinemama, for sponsoring the free event, “Black Queer History Spotlight: Shorts.”
The queer community gathered at the historic Grand Lake Theatre, which first opened its doors almost 100 years ago on March 6, 1926. Who knew that patrons flocking in to see vaudeville, silent films, and later on, “talkies,” would evolve into vibrant BIPOC queers communing to enjoy the best of local Black queer short film?
We were handed the Center’s pamphlets and made our way to Auditorium 3, Egyptian 1920s-style, complete with hieroglyphics and bright murals of sand, river, trees, and sky covering the walls.
We were welcomed by founder of the Center, Joe Hawkins, who made many acknowledgements, including those of us in the balcony, the Ohlone land recognition, the owners of the theatre, Cinemama, Frameline, the ASL interpreter, and Debra Wilson with whom he co-founded the Oakland Int’l Black LGBT Film Festival.
We went on a ride of seven short films back to back with mere seconds in between, made by and starring queer BIPOC. Marlon T. Riggs’ dynamic and proud music video, Anthem, told us to “Pervert the language.” Code Switch, described as “A Poignant Short Film Gazing on the Black Femme,” showed us about navigating worlds. Sampson McCormick’s a different direction jerked at our tears and made us feel empowered to protect ourselves, and How Not to Date While Trans was courageous, hilarious, and impressive because Nyala Moon wrote, starred in, and directed it. There was the slow and intimate narrative cinema verite, Baby, that took us out with a simple exchange between two Bronx teens on a park bench, involving a bodega rose and a most unpretentious, “I got this for you.” The penultimate short film was the moving experimental/performative short Blackness is Everything written by and starring Donte Clark and directed by Alba Roland Mejia.
Lastly, in The Beauty President, we were introduced to the legendary Terence Alan Smith, also known as Joan Jett Blakk, a beautiful drag queen. In 1992, she displayed the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to (and I kid you not) run for President of the United States. She recounts the story of showing up to a convention and when they wouldn’t let her in, she removed all of her drag, entered as a man, and got back into drag in the men’s bathroom. When an event manager approached her with a press pass, she used her man voice and was handed the pass over the door of the bathroom stall. She then left as Joan Jett Blakk, passing the event manager with a “Byeeee.”
Her platform was all about visibility. After the credits ran and we saw that Black, queer favorite Lena Waithe was an executive producer, we heard, “Please don’t leave because we actually have The Beauty President here tonight” and we erupted with ecstatic applause.
There was a panel discussion moderated by Debra Wilson. When it was her turn to speak, Joan Jett Blakk lit up the room with her humor and realness, spilling all the tea. As Terence Alan White, he informed us that he had run for mayor of Chicago in 1990 so “the Chicago press already knew about me.” As a drag queen, she talked about how her campaign two years later had no budget and added “well we got $100 from Oprah.” Her slogan was “Lick Bush in ‘92” and in response to what her slogan would be today she responded, “Get out of the way!” and added “We got a lot of work to do.”
I consider myself lucky to have sat in the presence of an elder, a griot of Black queer herstory, in Joan Jett Blakk. There is so much tenacity among the Black queer community in Oakland and it was evident to me that the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center is truly making a difference by honoring the marginalized yet integral people who have been left out of the history books.
Watch the films for yourself here:
Anthem | Code Switch | a different direction | How Not to Date While Trans
