Wesley Crichlow is a hero in the black gay community in Toronto Ontario Canada. This book PUTS A FACE TO THE STRUGGLES OF BLACK GAY MEN IN CANADA that are immigrants or children of immigrants.
Crichlow himself, immigrated to Canada in 1981 as a teenager.
The first reviewer obviously is IGNORANT about black life in Canada. This book is about black Caribbean GAY MEN living in Canada. Now if you want to read about black Loyalists go read another book because that's not what this book is about. This book finally puts a face to the racism and the struggles gay black men encounter in Canada. It's refreshing to read a book that deals with black homosexuality THAT IS NOT ABOUT THE BLACK AMERICANS. I think blacks in Canada need this book bad. It's so tiring to read about African Americans as though they are they are only black people in this world. Guess what? You're not we suffer in Canada. Don't be fooled Canada is a VERY RACIST COUNTRY. Canadians are just more SUBTLE with their RACISM then Americans. So what if gays can marry here? Doesn't mean Canada isn't racist because it is. Canada is very Eurocentric. Crichlow for all the American and foreign readers owned a black book store called 'A different Booklist' in Toronto. Crichlow is a VERY educated black man with a PHD and he teaches Justice Studies in Toronto area. Now,Crichlow definitely has the ACADEMIC EXPERTISE to write the book. However, the beginning of the book sounds too ACADEMIC the scientific terminology is TOO MUCH this I feel is the unfortunately a weakness of the book. Having said that, I agree with the first reviewer the middle of the book with the interviews of the 19 black men are the most powerful part of the book. This book is important precisely BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT BLACK GAY MEN IN CANADA. Crichlow I agree though should of talked more about the gay white racism. I feel especially in the interview of the character Neil Crichlow dismisses Neil and I think he could of expanded more.
Crichlow, also feel that could of written more about his OWN experiences I think that would of been more interesting as well. Overall though, this book is NECESSARY and I give it 3 out of 5.
I feel everyone will learn something from this book.
Dismissing the word "gay" as Eurocentric, Crichlow is a black Canadian man who loves men who interviews similar men in two English-speaking Canadian cities. His primary purpose is to illustrate the severe homophobia in black Canadian communities and demonstrate how it hurt many black men.He spends the beginning pages of his book emphasizing how unique and revolutionary his project is. I think he patted himself on the back too much. He quotes from Audre Lorde, Essex Hemphill, James Baldwin and many others who have already stated years ago what he is simply re-articulating. This book reminds me a lot of "One of the Children" and "The Same River Twice."
What makes this unique is that he is speaking about Canada; lots of American black gay men and lesbians have written books like this. In fact, I wish he would have spoken more about Canada. He mentions nothing of the descendants of American slaves who fled to Canada; he only mentions blacks of Caribbean origin. He doesn't really talk about immigration matters at all. In a recent book on Pilipino gay men in the US, it was stressed that their immigration status weighed heavily on them; nothing is mentioned here. In a time when Canada has legalized gay marriage and US has DOMA, this is a let-down.
He uses the term "same-sex" rather than "gay." Unfortunately this term is awkward. Their is a different between same sex and same-sex loving. I really think he would have benefitted from activist Cleo Managa's term "same-gender-loving" or SGL. Readers must note that he never uses that disturbing epithet "queer." Further, he implies that "buller men" and "batty bwoys" are synonyms, but I wish he would have made it absolutely clear.
This book goes on and on about black homophobia. First off, there are many straight, black academics that are gay allies. He even qoutes Gates, hooks, and West (all of whom are American citizens). I doubt this book would inspire straight blacks to take up homophobia as a crusade. If he meant that there are no Canadian black straight allies, he should have said so explicitly. His list of black homophobic writers seems like plagiarism from Simmons' "Challenges Facins the Black Gay Intellectual" from the "Brother to Brother" anthology. Furthermore, white gay racism is for the most part not challenged or spelled out.
The body chapters are much more easy to read than the introduction. Non-academic writers may want to start in the middle of the book. He quotes much Caribbean patois that gives the interviews some flavor. However, it is not as extensive as the Spanglish found in Moraga's or Anzaldua's books. So those who don't know the lingo should not be afraid to go forward with this book. He interviews two guys, one named Michelle and one named Loqueshia, yet he never discusses how the very flamboyant face different experiences from those who can be closeted.
Despite my critiques, I don't think there is such a thing as too much black, gay writing. Big applause for the author. In a time when black Americans of all sexualities are discussing the "down low" phenomenon, I think this text may be very helpful for many.
