Queeribbean Crossings: Solidarity as Resistance
Date and Time: Thursday, December 5, 2024, from 9 am - 5 pm
Location: Queens College (Student Union Building) - 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367
Volunteering Opportunity Available: Sign up Now!
On Thursday, December 5, Caribbean Equality Project will host its 3rd Annual Queeribbean Crossings conference, "Solidarity as Resistance," in recognition of 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights Day, a partnership with the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium. The FREE one-day community conference is a knowledge-sharing space that centers on critical reflections and collaborative discussions on transnational cross-racial solidarities and multicultural artistic expressions through a diasporic Afro and Indo-Caribbean LGBTQ+ lens. Queeribbean Crossings will feature international keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops, a health and immigration resource fair, and a closing cultural & drag showcase.
The 2024 "Queeribbean Crossings: Solidarity as Resistance” features the Queens premiere screening of the short film Caribbean Queen by GLAAD Media Award-winning director Sekiya Dorsett, hosted at Queens College, CUNY.
Panel: Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as Solidarity for Collective Future Building
Sekiya Dorsett, Director, Caribbean Queen & Assistant Professor, Hofstra University
Karl O’Brian Williams, Writer and Actor, Caribbean Queen & Lecturer, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Mohamed Q. Amin, Executive Producer, Caribbean Queen & Founder and Executive Director, Caribbean Equality Project
Ansi Rodriguez, Actor, Caribbean Queen
Murtada Elfadl, Culture Writer, Critic, & Film Curator
Panel Overview
Building on the themes of the short film “Caribbean Queen,” this panel explores storytelling as a powerful resource for solidarity and collective resilience within Caribbean LGBTQ+ diasporic communities. Panelists will discuss how narrative has long served to preserve history, assert identity, and resist colonial legacies both in and outside of the Caribbean region. In particular, storytelling becomes vital as a critical site of local knowledge production for Caribbean communities as they reclaim space and voice through storytelling, challenging oppressive laws, and reshaping cultural narratives. This session will focus on the role of storytelling in bridging divides across the Caribbean diaspora, particularly within Caribbean-American communities advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and decriminalization. Panelists will consider how storytelling connects these communities, transforming shared histories into acts of resistance and envisioning a future grounded in inclusion and mutual support.
Conference Program Schedule:
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Registration & Breakfast
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Opening Remarks, Conference Overview, Land Acknowledgment, and Queens College Welcome
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM: Keynote Speaker, Rajiv Mohabir
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM: Screening of “Caribbean Queen” Short Film
11:30 AM - 12:45 PM: Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as a Tool of Solidarity for Collective Future Building Panel
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch & Resource Fair
2:00 PM - 2:30 pm: International Keynote Speaker, Daryl A. Phillip
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Breakout Workshops & Panels
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM: DJ and Social Networking
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Drag & Cultural Showcase
Queeribbean Crossings takes a transnational approach to building solidarity. The term “transnational” here explores how queer and trans diasporic Caribbean struggle is not contained within one geography or history but forces us to contend with issues and struggles outside of the places we call home. A transnational framework to queer Caribbean liberation will think not only about the relationships between the queer Caribbean and the US diaspora, but also other adjacent political struggles and histories that we, as queer and trans Caribbean communities, may or may not experience. To truly seek collective liberation, we must think both within and outside ourselves, our histories, and our personal struggles. A transnational practice of solidarity allows us to connect queer and trans Caribbean emancipation efforts with various intersectional struggles. The name “Queeribbean Crossings” represents a commitment to a feminist and anti-colonial approach to thinking transnationally in our social justice work and solidarity movements. Our emphasis on the transnational here is largely indebted to the work of Trinidadian queer feminist scholar, M. Jacqui Alexander, who first gives us the language of “crossing” in her ground-breaking 2005 text Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, Memory, and the Sacred.
Launched in 2022, Queeribbean Crossings focused on confronting gendered and racialized violence to foster cross-racial solidarity, healing, and community-driven solutions to hate violence. The conference is grounded in multiple expressions of queer and trans Caribbean ways of knowing that include, but are not limited to, community organizing, art, and aesthetic practices, among many others. Yearly, the conference brings together community members, academics, creatives, and students of all levels and backgrounds to engage in community conversations related to issues of im/migration, gender-based violence, human rights, contemporary issues LGBTQIA+ people of color through a culturally responsive and racial justice lens.
As you prepare to share space with us at the Queeribbean Crossings conference, we invite you to reflect on the following questions:
What is solidarity for marginalized queer and trans Caribbean communities, and how do we build it for ourselves and our political comrades?
How does solidarity become an act of resistance? Why is such an act necessary in our contemporary LGBTQ+ liberation moment?
How does queer and trans solidarity center both our local communities and those who we may never come to meet or whose struggles we may never experience?
How do we transform coalition from a noun - or simply a word we use/say - to an everyday practice of solidarity as resistance?
Please join us on December 5, 2024, for an extraordinary one-day Queeribbean Crossings conference featuring conversations, performances, and community engagement!
Volunteer at Queeribbean Crossings!
We are looking for volunteers to support the conference. Please complete the Volunteer form, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.
This event is made possible through the generous support of Queens College, LaGuardia Community College, and the New York City Council LGBT and Queer Caucus.
Host and Presenters
Sponsors and Community Partners
