What does it mean to create community? As we find ourselves officially in June, the month held to designate solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, we must get clear on what it means to hold space. While the vast majority of corporations will capitalize off Pride Month by adding cheesy rainbow aesthetics to all of their branding materials, some organizations do hold space for queer people, namely, Mobilizing Our Brothers Initiative or MOBI.
MOBI is a New York-based collective that organizes and facilitates conversations geared toward gay and queer people of color centered around the pillars of wellness, community and personal development. As MOBI prepares to commemorate its fifth anniversary and the in-person return of its popular MOBIfest, the organization’s Founder and Executive Director, DaShawn Usher, stopped by Blavity News to reflect on the importance of creating space for Black, queer people, some of his proudest moments of MOBI’s five years in existence and his hopes for the future of the organization.
On MOBIfest
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MOBIfest, MOBI’s annual wellness festival, is back in-person this year after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The celebratory festivities kicked off on June 5 with its pre-festival queer art show and party. The fest will continue to host a week full of programming that celebrates the voices of Black, queer folks. Usher expressed the need to create such a festival, as there weren’t similar events or programming that focused intently on the ideal of wellness.
“When we started MOBI, we thought about what’s missing and how can we essentially fill in the gaps for our community. What we realized was that, yes, there are Black pride events, and yes, there are different festivals where some are queer, but there isn’t anything that centered wellness first,” Usher said.
“When we think about what this holistic wellness looks like, how do we get different community service providers into the same spaces? How do we become proactive and encourage our community to understand what their health and wellness looks like beyond traditional health and wellness and also thinking about how do we make it free.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, MOBI was forced to pivot to virtual programming like many other companies. Usher feels that while the organization’s virtual programming still captured the essence of what MOBI is, he’s excited for the festival to return in person.
“Last year, we created a beautiful testament to what MOBIfest is and what it felt like even in the midst of COVID. I feel like going back into it this year, you’ll be able to feel the essence of MOBI and MOBIfest,” Usher told Blavity News. “What we’re actually most excited about is that we’ll actually have that audience participation and engagement.”
How MOBI creates space for Black, queer people
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Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that there are several spaces curated for LGBTQ+ people that are exclusionary to Black and other non-white members of the community. As MOBI approaches its fifth anniversary of being a home created to foster the community of those ostracized voices, Usher said that there was intention behind that when creating the safe haven.
“I think what was important for me when we created MOBI was for people to self-select into this community and knowing that this community exists. I think oftentimes community is just thrown out there and people think that people just subscribe to it,” Usher said.
“It was really thinking about how do you create an environment ultimately that people want to be a part of. Where people are invited, and it’s not exclusive. Where anyone can attend. Creating a space for people to just thrive and for people to just be, exist and to come as they are.”
MOBI's impact
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MOBI may have started as a “failed grant attempt,” according to Usher, but its impact has been that of longevity and deep community impact since its inception.
“MOBI came about as a failed grant attempt. I had this idea for MOBI, including the name. The idea of what it would be, what it would look like and how it would foster community while being rooted in health literacy. At that time, I wanted to really engage Black gay men with PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) awareness and just think about how to do HIV prevention and sexual health differently,” Usher said.
“When resources came to the Black gay community, we wouldn’t see any of it when it actually trickled down to implementation or programming. For MOBI, it was really important to think about how to change that funding system. To date, I know that we’ve been able to invest over one million dollars directly into our community for Black gay, queer people.”
MOBI's fifth anniversary
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MOBI will celebrate its fifth anniversary of elevating Black, queer voices in July. As Usher reflects on the many momentous feats he and his team have been able to pull off, he’s most proud of his team’s resilience.
“What I’m most proud of is despite what’s thrown at us, it’s the team’s resilience in ensuring that we’re putting on the signature programs. From this failed grant attempt to actually being funded to being able to produce MOBItalks and then eventually be able to produce the festival for the first time are standout key moments,” Usher said. “For the last five years, we’ve been able to continuously do it despite COVID-19. I think that speaks to the culture of the MOBI team of folks that are fully dedicated to their community.”
Usher hopes that the next five years will include MOBI continuing to put on stellar programming while providing more visibility and representation behind Black, queer artists.
“Being able to just produce more signature programming across the country but largely still doing it within communities that it’s needed in,” Usher said. “One Lil Nas X and one Saucy Santana is great, but imagine if we had 10 of them. Imagine if we had even more visibility and representation of the Black, queer artists that we were actually able to put resources behind and what would that look like?”
Find more information on how to support MOBI here.
