Keith Boykin

I had heard a little bit of Keith Boykin in passing from various campus leaders that I work with from time to time, and I was intrigued by what he would have to say when he came to Champaign-Urbana. But I didn't want to get my hopes up too much because sometimes these quasi-celebrity guest speakers just disappoint.

And then half the class was there.

Keith Boykin did not disappoint.

First of all, he spoke well. He was intelligent and funny and spoke with a clear organization and he was not just interested in talking up his new book (which basically was the reason he was here). Second, he had a purpose and actually cared about what he was talking about and who he was talking about. Lastly, he has lived through some prominent moments of LGBT history and has worked on some of the strides (and setbacks) for the fight for LGBT rights. 

Half the class was present for this lecture, so that was cool.

Keith's lecture was kind of set up like a timeline of his life and the moments he encountered. I'm not going to go into all the details but Keith's life in short was born in St. Louis, a series of moving around, college in New Hampshire, worked on Dukakis campaign, taught for a little bit outside of Atlanta, was a consultant for a little bit in St Louis, went to Harvard Law, worked on the Clinton campaign, worked for Clinton administration, wrote some books, did political commentary, reality shows, etc. For a more detailed bio of his life check his Wikipedia page. Unless you're not into Wikipedia... then my summary will have to do.

While Keith's story was fascinating I found myself thinking heavily about a couple of key points that Keith brought up.

He had been participating in a live discussion on Huffington Post about an op-ed re-questioning if gay is the new black previously in the day and the point was made that even gay people can be racist. But Boykin responded, "It should not be about who is more oppressed, it's that nobody should be oppressed at all."

I recalled my work from junior year in which I questioned myself as a white man in the realm of 'diversity.' Was I allowed at this table of diversity if I had privilege in 3 or 4 realms? Was my sexuality enough to bump me enough to be "diverse?" This thought has continued to mold my work over the past couple of years and will probably always influence my work and everything I do. But I really connected with Boykin on this statement and how he thought it was relevant in today's society. We like to one-up each other by acting like we are worse-off, but if we are suffering, does it matter how much?

Boykin also quoted Audre Lorde,

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

This quote was empowering and shot momentum through my body. I want to do more and not worry about my fear. Besides, in 40 years there will be people looking back who were protesting these big issues (marriage, civil rights) and say "What was I thinking?" Boykin brought up the iconic picture of Elizabeth Eckford and how the angry women following her look back today and know that they were wrong. It will be the same in the years ahead.

He also said NEVER COMPROMISE ON YOUR BELIEFS! He was referring to Obama and Clinton. Clinton passed Defense of Marriage Act to appeal to conservative voters, Obama negotiated health care to appeal to conservative voters. In the end, the conservative voters did not vote for Clinton or Obama. Basically he said if you were on the right, be on the right, on the left, be on the left. True dat.

Keith Boykin said a lot of things that were thought-provoking and inspiring. He sort of made a call to action to help out those who are bullied and upset that they would consider taking their lives. He focused on how to participate in making change and he did it well, which makes all the difference.

Here's a little video of the beginning of his coming out story.