The Speech That Didn't Happen By Keith Boykin

After eight months of discussion, four productive conversations with
Minister Farrakhan and a heated exchange with Rev. Willie Wilson, the
Millions More Movement March took place today and I was not allowed to
speak. Although I believe we have opened the door for historic and
positive dialogue with Minister Farrakhan, Rev. Wilson does not appear to be
ready for such dialogue.

This is what happened today. After I arrived at the VIP tent shortly
after 8 in the morning, my colleague Donna Payne spoke directly to Rev.
Willie Wilson backstage, and he informed her that no one from the
National Black Justice Coalition would be speaking today. Donna told Rev.
Wilson that he was violating our agreement, and Wilson replied that the
agreement was void because the Coalition had not responded by Friday.
That was not true.

Rev. Wilson's excuse seemed a mere pretext to prevent us from speaking.
Sadly, I am not surprised. He has been an obstacle to this process all
along. Ever since his controversial July 3 sermon in which he blamed
the rise of lesbianism for the problems in the black community, Rev.
Wilson seems to have developed ill feelings toward the black gay community
for responding to his attack. That was three months ago, and I had
hoped to use my speech today to extend an olive branch to Rev. Wilson to
move beyond our differences and heal our wounds, but his actions this
morning made that impossible.

Today I am publishing the remarks I would have given at the Millions
More Movement March had I been allowed to speak. The complete text is
below.

---------------------------------



(Remarks Prepared for Delivery)
The Millions More March
Saturday, October 15, 2005
By Keith Boykin

Good Afternoon. Today I am honored to stand here at the Millions More
Movement March as a representative of the National Black Justice
Coalition, the country’s only national civil rights organization for Black
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people. The National Black
Justice Coalition strongly supports the goals of the Millions More
Movement for unity and inclusion of our entire community.



In February of this year, Minister Farrakhan and I participated in
Tavis Smiley’s annual “State of The Black Union” event in Atlanta. During a
press conference that day, Minister Farrakhan announced that women and
gays would be encouraged to participate in today’s March. “The makeup
will be our people, whoever we are,” he said. Then he added, “Male,
female, gay, straight, light, dark, rich, poor, ignorant, wise. We are
family. We will be coming together to discuss family business.”



After the press conference, I spoke to the Minister and I introduced
myself. “Minister Farrakhan,” I said, while shaking his hand, “My name is
Keith Boykin, and I am a Black gay man. And I want to thank you for
your inclusive comments about gays in the Million Man March.” Without
missing a beat, Minister Farrakhan responded to me with a long, warm
embrace. “Brother, I love you,” he said as we hugged. “We are all part of the
family. We are all part of the same community.” That was an historic
moment.



Ten years ago, I joined more than a million of my brothers on this very
location for the Million Man March. At that time, there were no openly
gay, lesbian or bisexual speakers at that March. This time, however, I
am able to speak here today as an openly gay man because of the
courageous leadership of one man – Minister Louis Farrakhan. I publicly and
honestly thank him and salute him for the invitation to speak. The
diversity of speakers assembled here today is a powerful signal that we in
the Black community will not allow ourselves to be divided by differences
of opinion, religion, gender, class or sexual orientation ever again.



As Minister Farrakhan himself said in August, “we must not allow
painful utterances of the past or present, based on sincere belief, or based
on our ignorance, or based on our ideology or philosophy to cripple a
movement that deserves and needs all of us—and, when I say all, I mean
all of us.”



Earlier this week, two of my colleagues and I sat with Minister
Farrakhan, his wife, his daughter, and his son, and with Rev. Willie Wilson,
the executive director of this March. Minister Farrakhan said it was the
first time he had ever sat down with a group of openly gay and lesbian
African Americans. Let me be honest. It was an intense, passionate and
candid meeting where both sides shared their pain and frustration with
the other. At the end of the discussion, however, we made progress. We
realized that there are no “both sides” of the table. There is only one
side, and that is the side of justice.



So today I accept the olive branch offered by Minister Farrakhan and
Rev. Wilson and offer an olive branch of my own. We acknowledge the hurt
and pain that has been caused by both sides in our past conflicts, and
we fully commit ourselves to heal the deep wounds that have hurt us.
Thank you, Minster Farrakhan and Rev. Wilson for the love.



We have disagreed in the past and we may disagree in the future, but we
all agree that we must move forward together. We all agree that we will
not allow ourselves to be manipulated by the media to create divisions
among us. We all agree that we are stronger together than we are apart.
And we all agree that the struggle for the liberation of our people is
more important than our individual differences of opinion.



Fifty years ago, Ralph Ellison wrote, "I am an invisible man. . . I am
invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. . . .
When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or
figments of their imagination -- indeed, everything and anything except me."
Ralph Ellison was talking about the invisibility of the African
American, but the same could be said of Black gays and lesbians.



When Dr. King spoke at the 1963 Civil Rights March, he called on one
person, Bayard Rustin, a Black gay man, to organize that march. When Duke
Ellington performed “Take The ‘A’ Train,” he called on one person,
Billy Strayhorn, a Black gay man to serve as his composer. And when Black
actors and directors put on performances of “A Raisin In The Sun,” they
call on one person, Lorraine Hansberry, a Black bisexual playwright, to
serve as their muse.

Black culture as we know it today would not exist without the words of
James Baldwin, the poetry of Audre Lorde, or the choreography of Alvin
Ailey. That is why I am here today – to honor their legacy.



But I am also here to honor the living heroes and sheroes of today. My
good friend Phill Wilson likes to say that our people cannot love us if
they do not know us. So I want you to know who we are. I want you to
know the activist Angela Davis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Alice
Walker, the Grammy-nominated recording artist Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello,
Editor-at-Large and former executive editor for ESSENCE magazine Linda
Villarosa, and the former Adviser to New York Mayor David Dinkins, Dr.
Marjorie Hilll.



And I want you to know the living male heroes. Men like New York City
Council Member Phillip Reed, Former Mayor of Cambridge Ken Reeves, Mayor
of Palm Springs Ron Oden, Bestselling Author E. Lynn Harris, and
Harvard University Chaplain Rev. Peter Gomes.



And finally, I want you to know that we are your brothers and sons and
fathers. We are your sisters and daughters and mothers. And we are your
cousins and nieces and nephews as well. We cannot separate ourselves
from the larger Black family because we are an integral part of the Black
family. We raise our families, we send money to our nephews, and yes we
sing in the choir as well. The issues that affect Black gays and
lesbians are issues that affect all Black people. Last year I sat in the
living room of a young mother who had lost her child to violence in Newark,
New Jersey. Her 15-year-old daughter, Sakia Gunn, was murdered because
the killer thought she was gay. When black homosexuals and bisexuals
are murdered, black heterosexual family members still have to bury their
kin. What happens to Black gays and lesbians directly affects black
straight people as well.

HIV and AIDS is the leading cause of death for young Black people, gay
or straight. Forty-five million Americans do not have health insurance,
and too many of this group are Black, gay or straight. Unemployment is
still too high among Black people, gay or straight. We are all
connected.



When Black people were forced to sit in the back of the bus, Black gay
people were forced to sit in the back of the bus. When Black people
could not vote, Black lesbians could not vote. And when Black people are
beaten and abused by the police, Black bisexuals are beaten and abused
by the police.



We share the same goals and aspirations as the rest of the Black
community, but none of us can accomplish those goals without unity and
courage. We all need courage in our lives. It took courage for you to come
here today. It took courage for Minister Farrakhan to invite me to speak
today. And it will take courage to heal the wounds that have divided us
for far too long.

In the timeless words of Audre Lorde, "When I dare to be powerful – to
use my strength in the service of my vision – then it becomes less and
less important whether I am afraid." So I say to you today: Be strong,
be proud, be courageous.

You've been Punk'd by Keith Boykin!

That's what George Payton is saying in a
fiery email making the rounds today. Once again, I've got Boykin on
the brain and feel the need to speak. But first here's a clip from
George Payton's lengthy note.

have news for everybody. Especially those so enraptured in Keith
Boykin's
guerilla-like self
promotion tactics that their logic has gone to
sleep. There is a quote in today's Washington Post from Willie Wilson
that
states a fact many gays are way too busy hating him now to accept. It
says, “[Keith Boykin] straight up lied” about ever being
invited to speak at the
Millions More rally. In other words, Keith Boykin
was never cut from the
Millions More program by Willie Wilson. He was never
invited, and he knows it.

... Be logical people and face that you all have
been punk’d. When everybody scammed by Keith comes out of their stupor,
they may
then admit that Cleo Manago was the logical choice to speak on behalf of
same
gender loving people at Farrakhan’s pro-black Millions More Movement
rally....


George Payton ... I wanna make a confession.