Our Mission

Our mission for the Julep Town Collective (or JTC for short) is as follows: 

• to center the work of queer, fat, disabled, poor and incarcerated Black folks of marginalized genders, sometimes referred to as “MaGes” (coined by @CrissyPoet). This includes cis women, trans women, trans men, non-binary folks, folks questioning their gender and those who are otherwise underrepresented.

• to increase our exposure to the lived experiences, politics and perspectives of Black folks of marginalized genders through thoughtful engagement with their written works.

• to interrogate and unlearn our toxic beliefs, attitudes and behaviors.

• to learn how our social identities determines the relative power we have over others

• to grow in community with Black folks of marginalized genders.

Unfamiliar with some of the words above? No problem! We’re still learning, too. Peep our glossary here.

Why Only Black Writers of Marginalized Genders?

We acknowledge a few truths here at the JTC:

1. Black folk of marginalized genders (or Black MaGes) face both gender-based and racialized oppression at minimum.

2. Gender and race are socially constructed hierarchies that prioritize cis-gender men and white people. Cis-gender men and white people exercise systemic power to determine who can speak with authority and on which topics, often excluding Black folks of marginalized genders.

3. Cis-gender Black men are often ignorant to and/or in denial about the power (social and political) that we have relative to Black folks of marginalized genders. We are resistant to interrogate our dual role as “oppressor” on the basis of gender and “oppressed” under white supremacy.

Paraphrasing writer Stacia L. Brown, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes in her book Thick, “No amount of pathos, logos, or ethos includes [Black women] in the civic sphere of public discourse and persuasion. We do not have enough authority, as judged by the audiences and gatekeepers who decide to whom we should listen, to speak on much of anything.” Simply put, Black women and other Black folks of marginalized genders are excluded and silenced in our society.

The Julep Town Collective values the voices of Black folks of marginalized genders without exception. We value Black folks of marginalized genders and what they have to say but not from a belief that they are superhuman or always right because of their identities. We are in solidarity with Black folks of marginalized genders because none of us can be free unless all of us are free.

Community Guidelines

1. Unsure of certain terminology that is being used in this community? We suggest browsing the glossary to familiarize yourself. Still unsure? See something that needs correction? Fail to see something that needs inclusion? No problem! Hit us up.

2. Members of this lil community of readers will automatically be entered into a give-away each quarter to win a free copy of one of the four books that we’re reading for the year!

3. Join our Slack channel for talk about what we’re reading using the QR Code below.

4. This is supposed to fill you up, not weigh you down. Come and go as you please!

Disclaimer

This is not a “reading challenge,” or a shallow attempt to diversify our otherwise white, cisheteronormative reading lists. For myself and the folks in this lil community of ours, this is a way of decolonizing our bookshelves and, in turn, the way we see, think and move about the world.

The books that we read are chosen using Black feminist thought as the basis for our exploration because I believe that, “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression” (The Combahee River Collective, 1978).