Artifact 3

The following essay is a commentary on Hari Ziyad's essay titled "My Gender is Black". In this work, I lay out what I believe to be Ziyad's main points and provided my own perspectives on the matter at hand: What does gender identity mean for the Black community?

I selected this work as Artifact 3 because I believe it accurately portrays the way in which I think. It shows off my critical thinking and analysis skills when it comes to social issues. It is very honest and observant; both of which are defining qualities my thinking/writing style.

The basic idea of "My gender is Black" is that Western ideas of gender and sexuality do not include Black people. No matter what, Black people's gender expression is always seen as "wrong" or inferior to white people. Ziyad explains that their "my gender is Black" movement is not the same as the hotel talking point: "Blackness/race should be put first". It's simply a phrase that exists because there is no better language to convey the idea yet. It simply means that Black people are never able to satisfy the requirements of "manhood" and "womanhood" that would earn them the same state protection that white queer people have for example.

I agree with Ziyad and their analysis of how Black people fit into white ideas of gender. Our desperate attempts to fit into boxes that weren't made for us have caused us to harm each other and ourselves. For example, hyper-masculinity in Black men has caused such damage to our community because it's the breeding ground for other issues that plague our community, such as homophobia and toxic masculinity. I am very glad that I was able to read this article because I have held the same opinions as Ziyad for a while now. However, up until now I have never had the words to describe the feelings I had. I could not place my finger on why gender and sexuality are so hard for us to decode as a community, and now I realize that the reason is that we're all attempting to squeeze into a space not meant for us.