For Immediate Release September 16, 2002 ACTIVISTS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST CHELSEA MINSTREL SHOW
New York - Approximately fifty activists demonstrated Friday night in front of The View, a bar in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The demonstration was organized in response to the second scheduled performance there by ‘Shirley Q. Liquor,’ a performance personality of Chuck Knipp. As Shirley Q. Liquor, Mr. Knipp dresses in drag and blackface, and speaks in pidgin English, affecting the persona of an impoverished black woman. The blackface character sometimes appears dressed in a Confederate flag housecoat. The ‘Shirley Q. Liquor’ personality is heard regularly on radio stations across the country. The appearances Thursday and Friday were her first scheduled in New York, and marked the beginning of a tour set to include gay bars in Pittsburgh, Boston, Austin, Florida and other cities throughout the South.
“Our goal was to let The View, Mr. Knipp, and those wanting to see the show understand that this performance was offensive to people of color, particularly black women and poor people - and should be offensive to all communities concerned about discrimination,” said Joo-Hyun Kang, executive director of the Audre Lorde Project, a center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit people of color in New York, and one of the demonstration’s organizers. “That people would believe that a white man dressing up in blackface mocking poor black women is entertainment in the year 2002 is reprehensible. That the gay community and businesses would support such a performance is a sign of how much more work we have to do,” continued Kang.
After the protest began in earnest, officers from the 10th Police Precinct arrived. After discussions between the police and the demonstrators and bar management, the police opted to close the bar, effectively canceling the show, under a policy that requires them to close a bar or nightclub that causes a public disturbance – regardless of how active the establishment might be in creating that disturbance. The demonstrators were also threatened with arrest if the protest was not disbursed.
“We absolutely did not set out to either close the bar or have the police cancel the show,” said Gary English, executive director of People of Color in Crisis, a black gay organization in Brooklyn, and another organizer of the demonstration. “We believe that The View should have been able to stay open, Knipp should have been able to perform, and we should have been able to hold our demonstration. We do not agree with censorship by the government, even if it is essentially ‘effective censorship’ and a byproduct of some other public policy.”
“What’s most disturbing about this show is that it points to the willingness of some gay people – primarily white -- to actively participate in racist entertainment,” noted Colin Robinson, executive director of the NYS Black Gay Network, a state-wide coalition of black gay men’s organizations. “Beyond that, one gay listings guide (Next) ran a full-page ad for the show with Knipp outfitted in blackface and wig, and another (HX) ran an editorial profile in its listings section with a similar image of the performer holding a ‘pickaninny’ doll. There’s clearly work we plan to do with HX and Next to change some of the business and editorial decisions they make that promote misogyny and racism. We’d like to have a series of meetings with them to make some changes in their willingness to run ads or profiles of clearly offensive items,” concluded Robinson.
“We’d also like to work with HX and Next to develop some editorial pieces that discuss the issues that this case has raised and develop some dedicated and free ad space for people of color organizations in their publications. One thing was clear from the reaction of many lined up to see the show – they had no idea that a minstrel show could possibly be considered offensive. That reaction boldly underscored how far we still have to go with respect to race issues within the gay community,” English concluded.
Organizers and/or supporters of the demonstration included: the Audre Lorde Project and People of Color in Crisis, both members of the New York State Black Gay Network, African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change, Fierce!!, the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and Unity Fellowship Church of Christ. Organizers also noted that they plan to alert other communities in which Knipp is scheduled to appear and encourage them to organize similar demonstrations.
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