TheGrio presents ‘Black & Proud,’ with George M. Johnson
“There is no Blackness without queerness because queer people have always existed within Blackness,” Johnson tells theGrio.
Emmy-nominated New York Times best-selling author George M. Johnson (they/them) is the definition of Black and proud.
“I walk into everyone as a Black person or a queer Black person; I do not enter as two separate people in that way,” Johnson tells theGrio.
Their debut book, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir, made them an international household name. The book is among the top five banned books in America, and because of that, their quest to keep the book in circulation as well as other banned books, has become part of their life mission in order to continue to keep pride history of the past and present alive for future generations.
“There’s been an expansion in the community, which is why the acronym continues to grow, and people continue to create new words and new programs to be able to find themselves,” they say, “But the other side of that is what we are also becoming more heavily targeted.”
Targeted or not, Johnson is part of a collective of young history makers and changers who are adamant about reclaiming LGBTQ+ history, especially for people of color. To them, the written word is one way to preserve the richness of our history.
“In many ways, our LGBTQ+ heroes got stolen from us because there was so much about the movement that I didn’t learn until I was an adult,” Johnson shares. “I had every right to know who those people were, but what I get to do now is ensure that the next generation doesn’t have to have the history taken away from them.”
As a celebrated author, Johnson is happily using their pen and voice to amplify Black and queer people. When they say they stand Black and proud, it’s delivered in actions, and for them, Black, queer, and proud are not interchangeable but make up the totality of a whole being.
“There is no Blackness without queerness because queer people have always existed within Blackness,” Johnson said.
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