Rod 2.0:Beta

Boykin Launches "The Daily Voice"

Our buddy Keith Boykin adds "entrepreneur" to his ever-expanding skill set: The New York Times best-selling author, activist and blogger now launches The Daily Voice, which dubs itself "Black America's Daily News Source."

Taking a cue from Arianna Huffington and her phenomenally successful Huffington Post, The Daily Voice fuses politics, pop culture, and, the arts and its roster of contributers reads like a who's who of Black America. The site launches with some heavy hitters, including out and former NBA player John Amaechi on the dilemma facing LGBT voters, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick amplifying his earlier endorsement for Barack Obama, as well as "Marcia Dyson and Jacqueline Jackson, each of whom is taking a different position on the presidential campaign than their famous spouses," Keith says. Just like we're one of the featured contributors at HuffPo, we're also joining the The Daily Voice team, so look for our byline in the coming days.

Boykin says the concept behind the The Daily Voice is "not a gay site. Or a straight site. But rather it's a place for all of us to come together in the African American community. Whether you're male or female, gay or straight, young or old, Republican or Democrat, we want to hear your voices. I see this as a space where Rev. Jesse Jackson may contribute one day and then Clarence Thomas the next. And you all know what I think about Clarence Thomas.

"Still, this new project is much bigger than me. It's about us, our community, our people coming together as one. This past weekend, as I watched the new Barack Obama music video, "Yes We Can," I suddenly felt inspired again. I remembered what it felt like to believe that anything is possible. I remembered what it felt like not to listen to the cynics and the naysayers. And I remembered the awesome power we have inside of us when we only dare but to dream."

The Daily Voice

More KEITH BOYKIN

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Report: Barack Obama Campaign REJECTS Michael Eric Dyson and TWO Black Gay Pastors

The hits keep coming for the ill-advised campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, which is in complete meltdown mode after booking a gospel revival tour in South Carolina and failing to background the participants. New reports suggest Camp Obama rejected at least TWO openly gay black pastors, and two straight allies, including the popular Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, as choices to open the concert series.

This news comes as the campaign releases an open letter by prominent black clergy and gay supporters which says the White House hopeful rejects the beliefs of alleged "ex-gay" Rev. Donnie McClurkin and "at the same time, a great many African Americans share Pastor McClurkin's beliefs."

The amateurish attempt at damage control was in response to the backclash against the headliners—alleged "ex-gay" Rev. Donnie McClurkin, notorious gay-basher Rev. Hezekiah Walker, and, popular gospel duo Mary Mary, who have compared gays to prostitutes and murderers. The inclusion of the Rev. Andy Sidden, who is white, to address homophobia in the black church has only heightened tensions between blacks and the gay community, and, outraged the black gay community.

Several sources inside and outside the campaign confirm the names of TWO openly gay black pastors suggested by the National Black Justice Coalition and the Human Rights Campaign were rejected in favor of Rev. Sidden. Those names are: Bishop Yvette Flunder, an outstanding pastor and orator from San Francisco and Bishop Tonyia Rawls of Unity Fellowship in North Carolina. In addition, Bishop Carlton Pearson of Oklahoma, whose inclusive ministry welcomes the LGBT community, was also rejected. A campaign source says Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, the so-called hip-hop intellectual, reportedly volunteered and was also rejected. Dyson is a prominent Obama supporter and very popular in hip-hop and with youth.

"We decided to go with someone local," says our source in the Obama campaign, who expressed concerns around finding a "local" gay pastor in Obama's own United Church of Christ. Yvette Flunder is a bishop in the United Church of Christ, so, this should have been a non-brainer. There were no such concerns around Hezekiah Walker and Donnie McClurkin who are in the Pentecostal Church.

The campaign's refusal to put a black face—especially a straight ally—to speak against homophobia reinforces stereotypes about blacks and drives a thicker wedge between blacks and gays. Presidential campaign veteran Keith Boykin: "I don't know if the Obama campaign realizes this, but inviting a white gay pastor to speak at a black gospel concert is not a smart move. Whoever is advising Obama really needs to reach out to people in the black community and re-think this whole approach."

Pam Spaulding is also outraged: "It boggles the mind that the Obama campaign would select a white pastor to deal with a situation that is awash in black homophobia," she says, explaining that the message "coming from a white pastor under these circumstances, can only be seen as paternalistic and patronizing; the shields of defensiveness will go up, the message will be ignored."

South Carolina-based Alvin McEwan blogs on black gays and religion at Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. Let's give him the last word: "LGBTs of color haven't been just pushed to the back of the bus in this controversy. We have been kicked off of the bus and told to find our own way home."

More BARACK OBAMA.
More DONNIE MCCLURKIN.
More RELIGION.
More POLITICS.
More UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST.
More PENTECOSTAL CHURCH.

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John Legend and Cornel West Against Homophobia

Cornel West and John Legend are must-see-tv as they discuss gays, the black community and homophobia on Real Time with Bill Maher. Both offer support and critiques of our community after some choice pot-shots by national security expert Richard A. Clarke. West agrees that many blacks may be homophobic but "it's not a big issue across the board. Black people are not more homophobic than other folk. But black people are homophobic. ... We need more Americans to speak up against homophobia. We've got to defend the gay brothers and the lesbian sisters."

Bravo. The love-fest continues with super-fabulous John Legend, who schools Richard Clarke on a few things. Clarke attempted to blame John Kerry's 2004 loss solely on the homophobic black vote in Ohio. John Legend, an Ohio native, debated Clarke toe-to-toe on the politics of his homestate: "[Homophobia] is coming back ... It's a big issue but in the black community but we don't vote on that issue, we tend to vote on other issues." Legend also repeated instances of intimidation and voter fraud in his homestate. Clarke discounted the GOP's nationwide gay-marriage wedge platform and apparently forgot or never heard about the voting fiasco in Florida. Not to mention the fact that Kerry's campaign was just plain ole' sloppy from start to finish. Rod 2.0 ♥ John Legend.

Jasmyne Cannick has the video and spot-on-commentary.

Cornel West On Gays (Jasmyne Cannick)

Real Time with Bill Maher: Episode 78 (HBO)

Previously:

What Becomes a Legend? (Rod 2.0) "Black Gays Went to the Back of the Bus" (Rod 2.0)

Dyson: "Black Gays Went to the Back of the Bus"

The brilliant Michael Eric Dyson once again rallied to the defense of black gays and lesbians in a weekend broadcast of C-SPAN's BookTV. The segment was taped in February at Eso Won, an African American bookstore in Los Angeles. Dyson was touring to discuss his latest book, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, a criticism of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. The celebrated author stood his ground when one heckler—in the aquamarine shirt—objected to his analysis of the theory that suggested New Orleans was destroyed because of gays.

Question: The levees weren't destroyed because people were gay, the neighborhoods weren't flooded because of gay people. It was because of black people and poor people. You don't hear anything about gays. Go to the internet and do a search, what will you find? Over 100,000 hits. The internet is filled with racist comments about the people who died. Right here in LA we had a homosexual talk show host who bad-mouthed the black race entirely. My question is, why in the hell would you bring this up now? When talking about Hurricane Katrina, the disaster that took place and affected our people?

Dyson: I'll tell you why. [Shouting] Hold on. Let me answer briefly but directly. The reason why, I brought this up is because in the chapter where I said that 'God caused Katrina', some people argue that God destroyed New Orleans because of gay people. I didn't just bring that up out of nowhere. I brought it up to address the fact that some people stood on tv, on many Christian networks and other pulpits, and suggested that gay people were the reason God destroyed New Orleans. They have a Decadence parade down there, where gay people organize their energies and march down the street. I didn't bring that up out of nowhere. I addressed that, because that homophobia and bigotry is the transmission of an idea that all black people should be opposed to. That is the opposite to everything that we as black people stand for.

Later, the University of Pennsylvania professor took issue with comments that suggested that since gay people are not as readily identifiable as persons of color, they cannot be true victims of overt discrimination in "our country."

Dyson: We don't discriminate against people who are gay? There are black men and women who are and have been gay. Black gay people didn't get an exemption from going to the back of the bus. But we can flip the script. You're absolutely right. Black people show up, it's our skin, it ain't our sexuality, it ain't our sexual orientation. It's the fact that we appear black that creates an offense to the American self-image and the way in which the collective vision of our country is shattered by our pigment. There's no question about that. But you named all of that and said "our country." So you aren't even part of it.

He just brings it all home and ties a bow on it, right?

You have to love Michael Eric Dyson's branding. His unique street cred of "hip-hop intellectualism" is fused with this wonderful temperament and superman intelligence. Just last month we were raving over his appearance in Jumpin' the Broom: The New Covenant. We need to clone this guy—stat.

Michael Eric Dyson (BookTV/C-SPAN)

11 Questions for Michael Eric Dyson (AOL Black Voices)

Michael Eric Dyson (Official Site)

Previously:

Jumpin' the Broom: The New Covenant (Rod 2.0)