Uncle Says: Live your Truth

The latest installment of Uncle Says from A.R. Arthur—a warning: the f-slur is used in this piece, taken from the lived experience of the writer.

What does the intersection between being POC & Queer mean in a world where western hegemony damages what it means it be either? We surrender ourselves to groups in hope of finding some simple form of existence amongst the crowd, embedded in the hivemind propagated through media channels, trends, and rugged individualism. The latter of which merely reflects a new form of capitalist differentiation that makes individualism marketable whilst commodifying inclusion.

I say we are beyond such commodification but we are the passively led, we are the 21^st century beings that are engulfed by marketing and packaging that only acts as a capitalist maneuver to ensure our compliance, our willing submission. We are more than media manipulation that tells us who we are and tries to construct identities beyond our consent. For this intersection is wrought with suffering and misunderstanding. Let us briefly consider two worlds:

To be Queer and Arab is a death sentence to arcane norms that guise the covert experiences that elapse in worn chalets found on sanded borders awashed in desert dust and rising saline humidity that tinges our existence with a saltiness that never truly dissipates. For we are the outcasts that dare openly engage with who we are. But we are not victims, nor will we surrender to the demands of society or media pressure.

x

To be Queer and Arab is to steal hidden kisses along the shore before dawn’s eyes destroy our adoration and render us covert lovers forever searching for acceptance.

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To be Queer and Black is to be told that you are a disappointment, to be told you’re a “fag that takes it up the ass.” But anal doesn’t make one Queer—sexual interaction does not define attraction, nor should it be used to ostracize and verbally maim.

x

To be Queer and Black is to trace a ravishing obsidian with gentle caresses forgotten by morning’s departure, sealed with luscious lips begging to remain.

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To be mixed-race and Queer is to surrender to a profound loneliness where not one individual understands the dilemmas that make your existence whole.

For this is the reality of an ultra-individualized society which, far from fostering unity, only divides people further beyond our core humanity. The western-world thinks it speaks for the billions beyond its aureate borders as if we are merely prey. But we are humans that love and desire, live and die, just like those that subscribe to the heteronormative gaze waning as the century progresses.

Dear Reader, Uncle Says live your truth! No matter where you are, never let the media dictate who and what you are and take the time to challenge western domination. For although we may be different shades of brown, we are one no matter how much those in power and, indeed, our own communities try to divide and oppress.

A.R. Arthur (formerly A.R. Salandy) is a Black Mixed-race poet & writer who has spent most of his life in Kuwait jostling between the UK & America. Anthony's work has been published over 250 times internationally. Anthony's Flash Fiction was shortlisted and received an honorable mention in the 2022 The Dillydoun Flash Fiction Prize Competition. Anthony has 3 published chapbooks titled 'The Great Northern Journey' 2020 (Lazy Adventurer Publishing) & 'Vultures' 2021 (Roaring Junior Press) as well as a novel 'The Sands of Change' 2021 (Alien Buddha Press). Anthony's Chapbook 'Half Bred' was the Winner of the 2021 'The Poetry Question' Chapbook contest. Anthony is the EIC of Fahmidan Journal/Publishing & Co, Review Editor at Full House Literary & Poetry Editor at Chestnut Review.