Yesterday I linked to David Mixner’s first of four pieces on the state of the LGBT activism, “The ‘Oh Lord, Not Now’ movement.” Part two is up, “Observations from Turkey Hollow on the LGBT Civil Rights Movement: Part Two: Learning from History.”

What the history of movements has taught us is that there is clearly no ‘one way’ or ‘one person’ that will enable the change. Even the most successful progressives have had deep failures and serious periods of doubt. In the end, sheer courage in the face of great opposition won the day.

The easiest place for us to look into the past is the epic struggle by African-Americans for their freedom. For two centuries, they threw off the yoke of slavery, fought separate but equal, overturned “Jim Crow” laws, won important battles in the 1960′s and ended up today with an African-American President. Let’s be clear that we do not view our journey as identical to that movement. None of us have had the physical horrors of slavery nor the brutality of a Klan-driven oppression. However, the greatest compliment that can be paid to that heroic struggle for freedom is for it to inspire the oppressed around the world – to honor it by seeking wisdom, knowledge and strength from it.

There are many lessons for us in that amazing journey. Among those lessons is that the tactics and principles used to achieve that success were not all original, just adapted to fit the times, people and places. In creating strategy, Martin Luther King, Jr often consulted the history of Gandhi or the great struggles for labor and women’s rights that came before. He found strength, courage and wisdom from those movements.

He notes that many forget that within the black civil rights movement there was plenty of division about the right strategy to take, who should be seen as a leader, whether integration would result in a loss of cultural history, etc.

Even the historic March on Washington in 1963 was filled with dissent that threatened its success. We do have this image today of a mass gathering of black and white capped by Dr King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. It was what we used to call back then a real “We Shall Overcome” moment. However, it almost didn’t take place. National African-American leaders thought the march was a risky gamble – a waste of time and resources that distracted from legislative and legal priorities. Some were appalled that King refused to dump Bayard Rustin as the key organizer because he was a homosexual. Others threatened not to stand on the platform if ‘radical’ John Lewis was allowed to speak (yes, that’s right, the current Congressman John Lewis!). Many predicted that no one would dare to attend and others thought it a colossal waste of time. Despite these barriers, and knowing the critics could have been right, the march was a historic milestone and inspired countless thousands, both black and white, to join those already involved.

Even the ‘Black Power’ movement which appalled Dr. King played an important role. Many wondered why in the world they would want to emulate the life journeys of their oppressors. They feared assimilation and the loss of history if they simply fought to be equal to those who sat quietly for so many years.

And that holds true today in segment of the LGBT community. It is worthy to think about and discuss the common elements of human nature that play a role in oppressed communities/cultures seeking equal rights under the law.

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Sort of off-topic, but it came to mind that just as there is not a unified LGBT community (we know that all too well),it’s also the case that the black community is not monolithic regarding class and culture. I think people realize this intellectually (though I know a good ignorant portion of white America doesn’t), but time after time, even within the black community there is a sense that we should all think the same way (culturally black enough/not black enough) that has little to do with the color of one’s skin, so as to maintain a collective political mindset. We see the problems emerge with the denial of the rights of black LGBTs. You cannot really be black and gay at the same time — it messes up the status quo, it messes with religious ingrained homobigotry. I hate to break it to the black homophobes, but there were most certainly gay men and lesbians who came over on the slave ships from Africa, who emigrated from the Caribbean, and all other points to this land. That those who dare to come out of the closet should not be seen as cultural traitors to the civil rights movement, but an extension and addition to the rich quilt of our society at large.

Then again, as I’ve blogged so often before, the black community still gets itself twisted into knots over colorism and hair texture, to our own cultural and financial detriment. I’ve seen so much energy and money wasted on this BS that if, for instance, black women saved all of the money they spend in a salon straightening the kinks out of their hair (and the necessary products to maintain it), they could have a down payment on a house in no time flat. But there is still a stigma within and in the dominant culture, particularly conservative corporate culture, that natural hair is seen is ugly, unclean, unkempt, you name it.  Malia Obama’s 2-strand twists and cornrows set the racists on fire. Rock it, girl!