Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

We Want the Airwaves: QPOC Artists on the Rise

Is it possible to make art and make rent without compromising your values? Since 2013, Nia King has been interviewing queer and trans artists of color to find out. Here's what she learned. Find more episodes at niaking.com. Logo by Joamette Gil. Photo of Nia interviewing Gabby Rivera by Tecpatl DeSequoia.
  1. All Episodes
  2. 67: Kamal Al-Solaylee

67: Kamal Al-Solaylee

Feb 4, 2017

Gay Muslim Yemeni-Canadian journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee traveled to ten different countries to report Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone), his magnum opus on race, color(ism), labor, migration, and economics. We discuss his definitions of brown:

  1. as not Black and not white, and
  2. as cheap (immigrant/migrant) labor.

We also discuss the history of colonial powers using of brown people (specifically Indians) as a buffer between Blacks and whites places like Trinidad and Uganda, and debate whether Black and brown can ever co-exist peacefully in such places.

His book also includes reporting from Sri Lanka, Qatar, Hong Kong, the Philippines, the US, the UK, France, and Canada. Interview transcribed by Amir Rabiyah. Audio editing by StormMiguel Florez.