SGL Café ...

You've been Punk'd by Keith Boykin! Well, that's what George Payton is saying in a fiery email making the rounds today. Once again, I've got Boykin on the brain and feel the need to speak. But first here's a clip from George Payton's lengthy note.

I have news for everybody. Especially those so enraptured in Keith Boykin's guerilla-like self promotion tactics that their logic has gone to sleep. There is a quote in today's Washington Post from Willie Wilson that states a fact many gays are way too busy hating him now to accept. It says, “[Keith Boykin] straight up lied” about ever being invited to speak at the Millions More rally. In other words, Keith Boykin was never cut from the Millions More program by Willie Wilson. He was never invited, and he knows it.

... Be logical people and face that you all have been punk’d. When everybody scammed by Keith comes out of their stupor, they may then admit that Cleo Manago was the logical choice to speak on behalf of same gender loving people at Farrakhan’s pro-black Millions More Movement rally....

~~~

George Payton ... I wanna make a confession. For a lot of years I've hated Keith Boykin with a passion. Hated. Passionately! Everytime I saw a press release or news blurb about him doing this or that ... I got an angry knot in my stomach and I'd mumble, "Queen", under my breath. Boykin was the SGL communities Al Sharpton, swooping in whenever gay rights were impugned or somebody whispered "faggot", and of course, cameras were present and he was always coiffed and prepared for the spotlight. I hated Sharpton too, and his processed hair (which Chris Rock told him he'd never be president with) ... because in my estimation they both were blatantly and unashamedly self-serving in their tactics. Tactics, I must add, that when disguised as activism are even more morally and ethically repugnant. It's like someone consoling you by stroking your back and cooing in your ear ... while surreptitiously stealing your wallet. They reminded me of Kevin Powell. He was on the original cast of MTV's The Real World, playing the angry black man asshole stereotype. I hated him too. The thing is, we went to high-school together. He was cool then. But once he turned up on The Real World years later, I started to hate him. Then he wrote a book ... and I hated him even more. I'm sure you all see where this is going. I sat down and admitted to myself why I hated people who, although their actions were somewhat self-serving, were out on the front-lines getting things done. I was jealous of Kevin Powell because we'd sat in the same class in Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City ... we graduated together and he walked away with a special award for winning a national essay contest our senior year. I'd won that same contest in our junior year, but I got no mention. I fumed over that ... and a long, unhealthy, one-sided rivalry was born. I say one-sided because I'm the only one aware of it.

Kevin Powell would probably laugh his ass off if he knew I've been hating on him since our graduation in '84. There are a lot of unconscious haters out there. And its a shame. I finally admit it, right here right now, that I've hated Keith Boykin just because he's an extremely attractive, accomplished, poised, and a first-class self-promoter. Basically ... he's my dream ME. Kevin Powell ... same thing (although I still say I should have received an award at graduation, damnit!). As for Sharpton, I don't know, maybe in the late eighties I was just tired of seeing his fat sweaty presense everytime something went down. But in hindsight, thank God he did the things he did. People need to know a community refuses to be spat upon. Sharpton annoyed people, but he also got things done ... while at the same time becoming a national political figure to be reckoned with. Is he self-serving? Probably. Be honest with yourself ... aren't we all, just a little bit? At a time when the SGL movement for equality has finally begun to crawl, already forces from within are conspiring to trip us up before we even attempt to stand. Some throw around terms like Boykinistas, to describe anyone who supports Keith, which in my opinion says a lot more about the creator of the term than the targeted supporters. It's bullshit. Plain and simple. We are at the base of a hill where the enemy is firmly entrenched and lobbing shells all around us. And what are we doing? We're punching each other in the eye like Ren & Stimpy. Have you ever heard of the crabs in a barrel syndrome, George Payton? I thought, I hoped, we had the same goals ... respect from the African American community and squashing the rhetoric from the pulpit, and then ... equality as a whole. A two step plan. We'll never acheive full equality on a national level as long as the Neo-Cons use The New Black Church to dehumanize us. That's our target. That is what should be in our collective cross-hairs, not each other. And certainly not an activist who's out on the front lines not only making a name for himself, but making a name for all of us (did you read his unspoken speech? Was it about him? Or was it a history lesson about US and OUR legends?). He's not just getting headlines and selling books, he's also dodging the bullets that society likes to throw willy-nilly at OUT, PROUD, UPPITY FAGGOTS who dare to defy the church & demand equality. I have equal respect for Keith Boykin and Cleo Manago and John-Martin Green and BMX and NBJC and everyone else who stands up, dodges bullets of hate, and demands my rights for me. The question of motives has no place in this discussion ... 'cause bottomline is, we all want a piece of the pie. Don't front. From one hater to another ... and I say this with the greatest brotherly respect ... you need to check yourself, George Payton ... dig deep deep down inside yourself and grab that inner 'haterator' ... and then strangle the fuck out of him. 'Cause we don't have time for the bullshit right now ... we'll beat each other up later, but let's take out the enemy first ... shall we?