February 16, 2010 Special Issue

Queering Black History Month

Égale Canada director speaks about being queer in the black community

by Terrine Friday

GRAPHIC VIVIEN LEUNG

When Akim Archer walked into a local restaurant in Toronto three years ago and saw a poster of reggae star Elephant Man promoting his upcoming tour dates, he said he “got pissed off.”
Archer, who works as director of policy and research for the gay rights group Égale Canada, was appalled that Canada would allow an artist who preaches hate speak to come into the country.

“I just thought, ‘Something has to be done about this,’ because he’s being given a platform to perform and [...] he represents a certain element of homophobic violence,” Archer said.
Out of the movement to prevent Elephant Man from entering Canada, Stop Murder Music was born.

Archer, founder and spokesperson for Stop Murder Music, said the organization’s mandate is not only to stop the spread of hate speech—which the organization found most frequently in Jamaican dancehall reggae—but also to rectify the perception of the Caribbean as being a homophobic place.

“We wanted to correct the information in the media and let people know that [homophobia in the Caribbean] is something new. That element of violence has not always been there,” Archer said. “The objective was to raise education and awareness about what the music actually meant. Although some people enjoy dancehall—I myself enjoy dancehall—there’s certain songs and artists that are offensive.”

Archer, a law school graduate, has also been successful in getting iTunes to remove some music inciting hate towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities, including songs from Sizzla and Beenie Man.

“It was not their entire albums,” Archer noted, “just the specific songs that glorified hate and violence and murder, or that could be considered to be contravening the criminal code.”
In Section 319 of the Criminal Code of Canada, it states that anyone who incites hate against an identifiable group can be subject to penalty ranging from a summary conviction to a two-year prison term. Although the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms asserts equality before and under the law, it does not protect gender identity. The Northwest Territories, under their territorial Human Rights Act, is the only place in Canada that does (other provinces protect sexual orientation only).

Besides focusing on Stop Murder Music, Archer said his goal is to educate people about the often-ignored intersectionality of colour and gender identity.

Similarly, in his publication called Negotiating Stigmas: Black Gay Males Reconciling Race and Sexuality, Northwestern University PhD candidate Marcus Hunter discusses the lack of qualitative theory regarding black identity and the resulting effects of leaving minorities out of queer theory and discourse.

“This [omission] imposes a cursory homogeneity upon the black community, wherein certain dividing lines within the community are blurred or ignored altogether,” he wrote. “Thus, the nuances of smaller communities within this larger minority are not considered.”
Although Elephant Man was not in the end denied entry, Archer said the goal was never to stop his entire tour.

“[It] got a lot of media attention and a lot of community involvement, and with that, there were many cancellations of his tours. Although some went ahead, that was fine. In my eyes, that was positive. It was important the conversation [started] and people were taking notice of this issue.”

For more info about Égale Canada and their 2010 Queering Black History Month award recipients, visit egalecanada.ca.