Native Son’s Founding Father Shares the Origin of Black Pride and More
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To celebrate NYC Black Pride, Native Son – the leading organization championing Black gay and queer men – presented its inaugural Black, Queer and Here town hall exploring the intersectionality of the Black LGBTQ community Thursday, August 11th at the iconic Apollo Theater.
Above: photo by Domo on Unsplash
The event was held in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery and the Apollo.
Above: Writer and comedian Sam Jay and Emil Wilbekin
Native Son’s Founder Emil Wilbekin gave the opening remarks for Black, Queer, and Here which included an in-depth conversation with Nancy Santiago of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office focused on mental health in America as well as emerging health concerns around Monkeypox.
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Wilbekin and Lee Soulja, Director of Black Pride NYC, then discussed the genesis and history of Black Pride; and an engaging panel discussion centered around the experiences of Black queer people sharing their stories, challenges, and hopes while also engaging with other members of the Black community at large.
Above: Wilbekin and Nancy Santiago
Moderated by Wilbekin, this intimate discussion explored the realities of what it means to live in the duality of Blackness and queerness, facing shame and stigma, and unlearning homophobia and transphobia.
Panelists included: Kalen Allen (Award-winning actor, producer, singer and television personality); Lina Bradford (Actress, DJ and talk show host); Dr. Lena Green (Executive Director of the Hope Center in Harlem); Sam Jay (Standup comic and Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Live writer); Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (Author, host and Senior Minister, Middle Church); Greg Mathis Jr. and Elliott Cooper (stars of the E! hit series Mathis Family Matters); Tiq Milan, (activist, critic, thought leader and journalist); Chi Ossé (New York City Council Member, 36th District); Dr. Nii-Quartelai Quartey (National Affairs Contributor for The Grio, multimedia journalist, educator and activist).
The night included an electrifying first-ever mashup performance from drag legend Kevin Aviance and cutting-edge rap artist Cakes Da Killa (above) with music provided by queer Afrofuturistic pop duo The Illustrious Blacks.
Above: Kevin Aviance
In addition to being known as the epicenter of Black artistic innovation and excellence, the world-famous Apollo Theater has also been a safe space for the queer community from showcasing the famed Jewel Box Revue to Moms Mabley, Johnny Mathis, Josephine Baker, Little Richard, and many more.
Above: The Illustrious Blacks
Since its inception in 1991 with DC Black Pride, the Black Pride movement began as a way to provide Black LGBTQ people – who are often marginalized even within the LGBTQ community – an alternative to the largely white mainstream movement.
Black Pride global is a celebration and movement dedicated to ending racism and homophobia and serving as safe space for Black LGBTQ+ people to discuss specific issues that are more unique to their experience such as racism, homophobia, and lack of proper health and mental care in Black communities.
Above: In 1991, Welmore Cook, Theodore Kirkland, Ernest Hopkins and other community activists saw a need to address the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Black LGBTQ+ community in Washington, DC and launched the DC Black Pride (DCBP) over the Memorial Day weekend.
The Black Pride movement has spread beyond D.C. and is now celebrated in more than 50 U.S. cities and across the globe including Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, and Miami.
NYC Black Pride celebration is an annual five-day multicultural event created to honor, educate and uplift the LGBTQ community in New York City. This year’s NYC Black Pride runs August 17th – 21st 2022.
Native Son is a movement that exemplifies the duality of being Black and gay in a society that often shuns and belittles their unique experiences. This movement aims to create a safe space where the Black gay male community can fellowship, celebrate and empower each other, and—most importantly—see themselves. From the world-renowned to the up-and-coming, Native Son aims to connect and celebrate the members of this influential, yet long ignored community in the realms of arts, business, media, fashion, politics and healthcare.
Photo above: Lee Soulja and Wilbekin
Writer and fashion impresario Emil Wilbekin is the Founder of Native Son, a platform created to inspire and empower Black Gay Men. He has appeared on-air discussing pop culture, fashion/style, entertainment and current affairs on The Today Show, NBC Channel 4 News New York, E!, VH-1, MTV, BET, CNN, The Insider, Arise 360, Revolt, and PBS. Wilbekin’s expertise is in editorial creation, content curation and multimedia story telling (print, digital, social, video and live events) having served as Chief Content Officer at Afropunk, Editor-at-Large at Essence, Managing Editor of Essence.com, Editor-in-Chief of Giant and Giantmag.com, Style Guru at Complex Media, and VP of Brand Development at Marc Eckō Enterprises.
Wilbekin came to national prominence as Editorial Director/Vice President of Vibe Ventures and Editor-in-Chief of Vibe Magazine. Under Wilbekin’s leadership, Vibe won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002.
Above: Mimi Valdez and Emil Wilbekin during Vibe Magazine 10th Anniversary Fashion Party at Cielo in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world. With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo Theater is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations. Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in many new musical genres— including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly, and Miri Ben Ari. The Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information about the Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org.
Above: photo by Felix Soage on Unsplash
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