And it was kind of like buying condoms out of CVS for the first time.ĭS: Yeah. I'm in the aisle of black people's books at this library, and I saw the title In the Life. So, like, early '90s, like, '91-'92, I think my junior/senior year in high school, I went to the library, Cleveland Heights Public Library, to get some books out on Zora Neale Hurston for a thing I was doing for my African-American history class. When I was in high school - I think you and I are the same age, same year, in fact. The way I came to Joseph Beam's work - I'm from Cleveland, born and raised. So, I'm learning with the people who are coming to the show, really. I remember Joseph Beam." But I hadn't really done enough research, in terms of recognizing his role in curating all of this gay black literature. So then, Yolo approached me a few weeks ago and mentioned Joseph Beam. So, I kind of took for granted that they were always there and didn't really know - didn't have a historical context for when they had started and who had been instrumental in bringing them to the fore. And so, there was already this conversation about queer people of color happening that I sort of assumed had always been happening. But folks had mobilized around prevention and detection.
We had already sort of mobilized - we, meaning, they, because I was a child.
Related: Untying Tongues: A Conversation With Darryl Stephens on Joseph Beam, Black Gay Men, and Ending HIV Stigma This was in the Bay Area in the early '90s, so we were already talking about prevention at that point, and detection, as opposed to the mid-'80s when it was all about "what the fuck is happening?" And "how are we going to - ?" "Who is going to save us?" And "what is the government doing?" I came up at a point when the conversations were probably already happening. But when Yolo started talking to me about this, and I did some research, I became fascinated by what, in many ways, I had really taken for granted. And I would say that there was still a very present and significant, I would call it, poet-warrior presence in Berkeley, probably largely rooted in Oakland, but a lot of queer people of color doing poetry. I went to school in Berkeley in the early '90s. Kenyon Farrow: Tell me about your relationship to Joseph Beam's work and why it is important to you to participate in the upcoming event.ĭarryl Stephens: Well, quite honestly, Yolo Akili really brought him into focus for me.