UPDATED: Feb. 12, 2018 at 9:56 p.m.

Rahzie Seals couldn’t find an organization in Syracuse dedicated specifically to queer people of color, so in 2013, she created BlackCuse Pride.

Today, with funding from grants, BlackCuse Pride strives to create a safe space for queer people of color and provide them with resources that are hard to come by in a city with a poverty rate of 33.6 percent, per the United States Census Bureau.

Seals, the president of the organization and a former Common Council District 4 candidate, came up with the idea in 2011 when she noticed the lack of inclusivity within the gay clubs in Syracuse. She described its infancy as a party-promoting business, called “From the Bottom Entertainment.” She’d book venues to throw parties where queer people of color would feel welcome. This desire to create a safe space for queer people of color in the city would lay the foundation for BlackCuse Pride.

In 2015, Seals teamed up with LoriKim Alexander, a biologist who agreed to help her run the organization and is now its vice president. Alexander said a lot of the things queer people must think about are things straight people don’t.

“For (straight people), going into the doctor’s office, it’s pretty straightforward for the most part. But for us, even that is an ordeal,” Alexander said, “because you get asked questions that you may not be comfortable answering, or you’re comfortable answering, but folks aren’t comfortable with your answer.”

Alexander said this means they need alternative resources to ensure their safety.

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Seals described the organization’s early stages as frustrating, and recalled an exchange with the owner of a prominent gay club in Syracuse who refused to play hip-hop and R&B music after Seals suggested it. Seals said she felt playing music popular within the black community would be a first step in making queer black people feel welcome in clubs dedicated to queer people.

“We don’t really have anywhere that you could say, ‘Oh it’s a safe place that predominantly you’d be able to find queer people of color,’” Alexander added. “We don’t really have anywhere to go. Everywhere is very white — gay white male specifically. Which is not a very welcoming environment, I can tell you.”

The organizations in Syracuse that stand for LGBT people of color often focus on HIV/AIDS and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, Seals said.

Seals mused on the idea of an organization where queer people of color could find a welcome community, in addition to “different types of resources” — something she said was extremely lacking in Syracuse. She likened her concept to New York City’s “The Center,” an organizatin that empowers LGBT individuals by giving them access to health and wellness programs, entertainment and cultural events and parenthood and family support services.

Syracuse University students are welcome to reach out to BlackCuse Pride if they are interested in helping, Alexander said.

“We really want queer folks of color to have a voice in this town, and that includes the students who may not really reside in this town full time, but they’re here, and they need to be safe,” she said. “Safe doesn’t necessarily mean safe from physical harm. They need to have someplace to be that they feel comfortable.”

In celebration of Black History Month, the organization plans to honor historical queer activists and modern queer voices in the black community by posting short biographies and images on the BlackCuse Pride Facebook page. Alexander said she hopes the posts will create a sense of community and agency for queer people in Syracuse and empower them to emulate these individuals — some of whom many do not know are queer.

The organization, entirely run by Seals and Alexander with occasional input from volunteers, will host a Queer People of Color Mixer on April 19. They plan to host the mixer at Community Folk Art Center, SU’s cultural hub dedicated to black artists. Seals said she chose the center because of its high concentration of people of color, and added that the mixer will serve as a networking event for queer people of color who wouldn’t otherwise be available.

Seals and Alexander also plan to organize hiking, museum and theme park trips during the summer, as well as trips to music festivals to diversify the activities they provide. Alexander said the organization is planning arts and entertainment activities that will put queer people of color in the spotlight, including screenings of movies starring queer people of color, in addition to open-mic, poetry and spoken word nights.

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Most of these events are made possible by a grant the organization received from the Gifford Foundation to create spaces for queer people of color. The Gifford Foundation is an independent private foundation based in central New York that has invested more than $43 million in the community through grants since its inception in 1954, according to its website.

BlackCuse Pride also has two initiative programs, Sistah and Big Bruh. The Sistah program will be dedicated to femme women — both cisgender and transgender — and the Big Bruh program will cater toward both cis and trans masculine of center women.

“For Sistah, it is collaborating with adult femme women — for women who identify as more on the feminine (side), so they can provide support to the younger youth who identify as queer young women, who dress as women,” Seals said. “And for the Big Bruh, it’s the same thing — youth or just younger people who are questioning.”

Seals said she’s gained a sense of community since she started the organization and learned more about her identity as not only a queer person, but also as a person of color. She credits the organization with helping her “have a better understanding” of transgender individuals, people who prefer no labels and gender nonconforming people.

“How you learn is by meeting people who identify a certain way. You talk to them, and then you start to find out what makes them click,” she said. “You start to find out about their experiences, and then you start to find out their experiences are like yours.”

Alexander said she thinks the organization is on track to achieving its goals and sees it growing to include all the disparate voices around the city. She hopes the organization brings visibility and equity to queer people of color and helps build capacity for queer communities in Syracuse.

Seals added that her dream is for BlackCuse Pride to have its own space and become a center.

“Slow and steady wins the race, that’s how I see it,” Seals said. “We want to move slow, we want to make sure that we’re not leaving anybody behind, we want to make sure everybody is connected with us and we want to make sure we are reaching out to all these different organizations so we can work with them.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, BlackCuse Pride was misnamed. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, BlackCuse Pride’s Sistah and Big Bruh programs were misnamed. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, BlackCuse Pride’s history in working with other Syracuse organizations was unclear.

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, the audiences for the Sistah and Big Bruh programs were unclear.

Published on February 11, 2018 at 10:46 pm

Contact Jony: ktsampah@syr.edu