mmmmm..let your tears be your armor today. let your statuses be your armor today. let your “i love you’s” to folks who they try to destroy be your armor. let ya accents and hood twangs be your armor. let ya eye rolls and side eyes to white folks be your armor. let your friends and community be your armor today. let your family be your armor today. let your blackness, your queerness, your latinidad, your “foreignness”, your parents’ “otherness.” your hijab & your faith. your brownness. your people’s history of exploitation be your armor today. let your “is this deadass” be your armor today. let EVERYTHING they hateee about us be your armor today. everything they try to steal but can’t do like us. let your jokes cuttin ass & comin for Trump & Amurikkka be your armor today. let your surviving violence & sexual violence be your armor today. let love be your armor today, let that self-love cover you. let dat ass clap & that booty pop & that SLOWWW WHINEEEE be your armor. let that bachatatika and perico ripiao be your armor. let that dembow be ya armor (lol). let your eyeliner, lipstick, highlighter, eyebrows fleeky be your armor. let that curly, nappy, natural hair be your armor. let your tenderness and softness be your armor. let your laughter, your joy, your silliness be your armor. we are everything we need. we are EVERYTHING we need. we have everything we need (to survive & CONTINUE to thrive). these niggas keep forgettin we come from a peoples that make our struggles into magic & light. they try to bury us & keep forgettin we SEEEDSSSSS, nigga!!!!
Today in Black Excellence: Dapper Dan—the underground fashion icon who made history as the first Black designer to receive CFDA’s lifetime achievement award.
“I don’t give a damn about failure. I was born part of failure. We are the phoenix—all of us here in America, every black man, woman, and child are part of the phoenix, still rising from those ashes. All my life is about getting knocked down and getting back up. I don’t care. It’s fun!”—Dapper Dan.
What’s Dapper Dan’s story?
Born Daniel Day on August 8, 1944, in Harlem, New York City, into a working-class family. By 13, he was making thousands a day after teaching himself gambling. By the 70s, Dan first sold items out of his car, and in 1982, the iconic Dapper Dan’s Boutique had its grand opening —open 24/7.
Dan is self-taught—from his fabrics and leather printing, to his creations of unique textiles featuring Louis Vuitton and Gucci logos. His designs became synonymous with 80s hip-hop—but Dan was neglected by the fashion world, and his illegal use of major label logos led to police raids. Local attention became Global; European luxury fashion companies like Fendi caught wind and promptly took legal action. Dapper Dan’s Boutique was shut down in 1992. Ever the hustler, he continued working underground.
How did he come to win the CFDA award?
Ironically, to say the least, and on his own terms in true Dapper Dan style. Fans were outraged when they noticed Gucci steal one of his classic designs for a major show. The coat was first made for Olympian Diane Dixon, and she posted on Instagram: “Give Dapper Dan his credit. He did it first in 1989!” Incredibly, Gucci accepted its wrongdoing and sparked his career into new life when it offered a partnership.
At age 77, he made history as the first Black fashion designer honored with the CFDA’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also the first designer to receive the honor without ever doing a solo fashion show. Truly the epitome of Black excellence.
There’s a quote by Faith Cummings that says, “We still struggle to garner a seat at the table. Even though we’ve oft built the table ourselves.” As a Black Creative, this is a reality many of us face. And Dapper Dan is a modern representation of just that—Black Excellence. He exemplifies how and why our contributions to culture often define culture. It was an honor dedicating this piece to him, as an extension of my gratitude and appreciation for the path he has paved for all Black Creatives. Thank you Dapper Dan.
It’s a new year, but our goals remain the same: joy and liberation.
Here’s to the collective joy of all of our communities. We can’t do it without each other; we are interdependent.
[ID: Blue galaxy background. Cursive white text reads “Here’s to trans joy, queer joy, Black joy, native joy, disabled joy in the new year.” The TEP logo is in the top left.]
Hello QTBs and BQTs! How is your new year feeling? A lot like last year? That is so real. Because believe it or not, as of today, we are still living in a cissexist, colonial, capitalist, cop, covid, climate catastrophe.
Whew!
That was a mouthful, but it absolutely needs to be said, because we need a more accurate analysis of the sickness if we must find effective cures to the sickness. Ya feel me?
Anyhooo, like a majority of the Black women and Black QTs in my life, I’m in the middle of grieving, hurting, healing, growing, transforming, breaking down, and being put together again. These are mos def trying times for us.
Thankfully, and thanks to my QT community, I’ve been connected to a counselor of color, and with their help, I am learning to honor my grief. Before getting into the practice of honoring grief, I was all about suppressing my grief and trying to rush through the grief process. Then grief ate me up in very harmful ways and I knew a change was necessary if I wanted to survive.
Now, one of the ways I honor my grief is by allowing myself to be honest that I am grieving while singing, dancing, painting, having sex, being in solidarity, writing, being intimate, biking, eating, being with my loves in loving ways, vaping cannabis, and during many joyful practices. I do this because I am attempting to befriend grief and let her know that it is okay that she is here, and it is okay that we are grieving the loves and lives we’ve lost. I know that after they have visited me and we have become friends, they will learn to co-exist with me in a way that is no longer harmful to me.
In the spirit of honoring grief by engaging in joyful practices with her, I put together a playlist of songs that are helping me move my body in rhythmic ways while I cry in the shower. I hope this playlist helps you do the same!
I’m dedicating the playlist to the BQTs and QTBs who wake up every day with anxieties and depressions but still rise to continue the work of abolishing violent and oppressive systems. More power to us as we build something better and more liberation-centered. We give me so much life! And EYE am always rooting for us.
Without any more delay, here are some joyful songs to get us moving through the highs and lows of our very chaotic society.
PS: Yes this playlist is not an hour long. But one day it will be. In the meantime, take an hour to allow yourself to be sad while engaging in joyful practices.
Black people continue to be marginalized in Deaf/disability spaces; and Deaf/Disabled Black people continue to be marginalized in all spaces. We will no longer be pushed aside!
The Harriet Tubman Collective is highlighting Black Joy during this divisive and oppressive election season.
Please join us by posting photos and videos of yourself or something you love with a caption and the two hashtags below all day on November 7, 2016:
#DisabilitySolidarity #BlackJoy
ATTENTION BLACK DISABLED/DEAF TUMBLR:
Today is #BlackJoy takeover day. Share images of yourself exhibiting Black disabled/deaf excellence. Details are above.
I am a teacher, an SLI, for Freedom Schools, and I wanted to share a little Black Joy with you. My students are working hard to prepare for their closing play for their final week. They wanted to take on Black Lives Matter and Afrofuturism as their special themes. I love my babies.
