This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, internationally known urban planner, designer, analyst, keynote speaker, media maven, and fiber artist on one key issue every week. This week I’m going to share why a Black Queer Feminist Urbanism is important, beyond just my own personal comfort and affirmation.
I’m thankful for sponsorship for this newsletter from Rail~volution and my Patreon supporters. Scroll down to the Before You Go section to learn how you can become a sponsor/advertiser.
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The world can benefit from seeing itself and then acting in a Black Queer Feminist Urbanist framework, even if that’s not exactly who they are.
Last week I went into how I specifically demand and define a world for myself in a Black Queer feminist body, interacting in urban spaces.
I’m going to back up here and clarify a few definitions of what I mean by Black Queer Feminist Urbanist, so I can share next the “whys” of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism that you, no matter how few or many intersections we share, can see, especially after I share the whys, how this exercise of my self-care, becomes a practice of community care.
Here are my definitions of Black, Queer Feminist, and Urbanist:
Black: A person of African descent, often with visibly melanated skin, who has been subjected directly or through ancestry to enslavement, colonization, discrimination, or mistreatment as a result of their ethnicity, past and present marginalization, and/or skin color. This also refers to the cultures derived from these activities and their adaptation to their environments.
Queer: A person who has a gender presentation, gender identity, gender journey/relationship, or sexual orientations that differ from traditional Western colonial thoughts on such ideas. Also refers to cultures that develop from this state of being.
Feminist: A person and a movement that honor genders marginalized under patriarchy, traditionally those tagged as feminine or outside traditional gender binaries.
Urbanist: A person and a movement that promotes the conglomeration of ideas, services, and objects in centralized locations, governed democratically, given freely and fairly, and connected by public transit and other people-powered transportation networks such as sidewalks and multi-use bicycle and pedestrian paths. Not mutually exclusive to rural expressions, but the natural output of natural and rural environments that have high levels of human interaction.
These are the definitions I came up with from both my heart center and from years of academic study, continuing independent education on and offline, and just observing the world around me and listening. Then as I thought of the specific areas of my needs around Black Queer Feminist Urbanism, I came up with these “whys”, because”
Spiritual Spaces: Our souls are weary and deserve comfort and uplift, in modes that affirm and honor us.
Housing: Shelter and housing are human rights, they should have never been and shouldn’t continue to be a commodity.
Transportation: We should never have to worry about how we will navigate this Earth, that’s just as much ours as anyone else’s.
Food: Our food and foodways should nourish us in abundance.
Health, Wellness, and Caregiving: We deserve to be in good health, practicing communal wellness and wellbeing. Our health, like our shelter, should never be a commodity, outside of fair trade to receive needed supplies and tools to maintain our health.
Work and Finance: In whatever skill or created object we choose to trade with others, we are deserving of that trade or product to be given freely and compensated for fairly. We should never be assumed to be incapable of any task we take on.
Natural Environments and Recreation: We steward this Earth and allow it to nourish and nurture us. We do not actively work against it or destroy it for our gain.
Arts and Cultural Space: Our dreams made manifest deserve to be seen, heard, and shaped, first in equitable measure and later equal measure.
Grooming and Adornment Spaces: Our bodies are beautiful and deserve to be adorned and adored in ways that honor who we really are and the gifts that come from the corners of the Earth we inhabit, no matter what corner of the earth that is.
Identity, Affinity, and Human Rights: We deserve to be, likewise others deserve to be and we should conduct ourselves and honor our innate and natural differences not as a reason to marginalize, but as a necessary part of our human ecosystem.
Education: We are lifelong learners and everywhere has the potential to be a classroom or a space of knowledge exchange. In addition, we learn from everyone, no matter their age or era.
Now I know you’re thinking, aren’t these just principles of human rights? Why label them this way? First of all, we need to meet our world where it is, that makes these distinctions of us. Secondly, until the day we are no longer marginalizing or worse, destroying or killing members of these overlapping communities, then we don’t need to start our focus here.
So, here we are on the next phase of our journey. In two weeks, I’ll spell out specific, tangible ways those of you who are allies of Black Queer Feminist Urbanists can support the self-actualization and liberation of those who are. In three weeks, I’ll share how fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists can start to demand the support they need. Next week, I’m going to pause talking about Black Queer Feminist Urbanism in this more abstract way and directly address how our current humanitarian crises across the world demand a Black Queer Feminist Urbanist touch, inclusive of our individual bodily abilities and our freedom of movement.
Before You Go
For those of you who are able and itching to get out to another in-person conference, Rail~Volution will be in Miami next October, and as in years past, scholarship opportunities will be available.
Are you involved with transit, mobility, and development projects or investments? Are you dedicated to their potential to shape better places to live for everyone — to build more equitable and sustainable communities? Do you have new approaches or innovations to share?
The annual Rail~Volution transit and community development conference will be in-person in Miami, Florida, next October 30- November 2. The Call for Speakers for the conference is now open, through March 16.
As we look forward to coming together in Miami, we’re focusing both on the ways mobility and development are being transformed and on solidifying the basics. We want the 2022 conference to be a place to reinvigorate the vision for transit-oriented communities and to share nitty-gritty know-how across all aspects of the work, from community engagement to planning, policies to technology, engineering to design, financing to implementation, operations to metrics, and evaluation.
Submit a proposal and make sure your experience is in the mix! For full information and the link to submit, visit railvolution.org/callforspeakers. Scholarships are available and Covid-19 protocols will be taken.
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I have so much more I want to say and I don’t want to get stuck with what email service to use. One thing I do want to clarify is that there will always be a free edition of this newsletter, even on Substack. However, that will come with ads, like the one above for Rail~volution. But, you can tell me in the survey what kind of ads you want to receive and a little more about who you are in a way that I can better write this newsletter for you. Also, you may still receive two versions of this newsletter, on Mailchimp and Substack, depending on how you subscribed and when you subscribed. If you want to unsubscribe from one or both versions, be sure to do so using the unsubscribe link provided in the emails run by the respective services. Or, you can keep deleting or ignoring the version you don’t like, lol. Or just read here on Medium and use its email service to get me directly in your inbox.
Or you can advertise your Black or queer-led business, job, RFP, conference, achievement, or even a shoutout. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment, but there are one, two, three week options available, plus opportunities to extend. Learn more about our new advertising program.
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The Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge is open for fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists to walk through this world together. What you’ll see in these next few emails is how our allies should show up and work to create this space for us, but we will be digging deeper into how to create this space for ourselves and what the whys and definitions should be in the Lounge. Lounge members are eligible for scholarships for my coaching and consulting services and lounge membership is free.
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My consulting services will actually be housed at my soon-to-be-revamped personal website for anyone who needs moving, resume, career, and other help. If you’re ready to book a season, email directly at kristen@theblackurbanist.com and request a strategy service. The first 30-minute clarity session is free, then subsequent sessions start at $150 for one follow-up session and $75/session for a package of four.
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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can become a monthly Patreon supporter, or you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash.App me.
Until next time,
Kristen