Next month, allgo will celebrate 32 years of uplifting and centering the lives and experiences of queer people of color (QPOC). In that time, many things have changed in the organization, in the community, and in the world. Yet, many things are still the same. Our communities are still working hard, our people are still full of light, and our passion to raise and highlight the voices of QPOC is still going strong.
allgo has spent the last 32 years working and fighting against the violence experienced by our QPOC communities. It is vital that organizations like allgo continue to exist to intentionally hold space for our QPOC communities. allgo strives to foster stronger community in all of our events while working to provide a place where members of our communities can come together to connect, share stories, information, art, and so much more.
In the last month we have had the honor of presenting many different events with, for, and by members of our communities. Check out the recap below:
Gbeda Tonya Lyles facilitated a community discussion titled Let’s Talk: Food & Nutrition, What’s in Your Grocery Bag? where we were able to discuss and learn about the different foods that we eat, how our chosen foods affect our bodies, and the ways to look at the foods we eat more critically. By bringing together our community members, we were able to look more in-depth at the ways that we as individuals and as a community have been taught to approach food. Gbeda Tonya Lyles shared knowledge about how food can be healing and how healing can start by looking at the food we eat, as well as how the colors of our food affect our bodies and how to bring balance to our meals.
allgo artist-in-residence Dora Santana’s sharing of Minha Filha! A Black Trans Daughterhood was a beautiful and moving look into Dora’s life and experiences. More than just a performance Minha Filha! was a look into the very heart and soul of who Dora is, who she was, and the experiences that shaped her. Dora covered topics such as race and colorism in Brazil, her relationship with her mother, and her relationship with herself. Through movement and prose she painted a picture for the audience that was full of light, sounds, smells, and sensations, transporting each person into a place that lives on in her heart, mind, and soul. Minha Filha! is a sharing that is uniquely about the experiences and life of Dora Santana, but one that every person will find familiar and touching.
Tent Revival: A Festival of Black LGBTQ Arts and Prophetics was a community gathering of Black performers, preachers, poets, writers, singers, artists, healers, and more. Over the course of two performance-filled days, members of our communities came together to share, laugh, love, cry, and bask in the light that is black, queer art. Full of sermon, music, and movement the Revival highlighted the inherent spirituality of queerness, and celebrated the magic that is love for ourselves, our community, and for each other.
Dr. Martha Ramos Duffer facilitated a community discussion titled Let’s Talk: Polyamory: Love, Integrity, Jealousy, and Liberation where QPOC could discuss the different ways in which we practice love and caring. This much-asked-for-conversation showed the desire and need for our communities to explore the question “What does love look like?” Covering topics in all aspects of relationship building, from honest and open communication to power structures, and looking critically at privilege and how it affects relationships, attendees were able to share experiences and ask questions. Many attendees expressed gratitude that allgo exists to hold this space, as often times conversations of love and relationships do not center around the unique lives and experiences of QPOC. At the end of the night, many attendees expressed an interest in continuing the conversation. Be on the lookout for part two in the coming months.
We will continue to create spaces with, for, and by our community members to ensure that our QPOC communities continue to grow and flourish. We hope to see you at one of our events soon. To see more pictures of our events or to see what allgo is doing next, check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
