feature: chicago-based black and brown punk show collective creates space for queer, trans, and intersex punks of color

The pair met in 2009 through an Anarchist People of Color community. Having been forced into the margins of the scene that they clearly didn’t fit in, Oxun and Negra formed Black and Brown Punk Show Collective to support like-minded POC by fund-raising to throw underground shows and parties that are committed to radical, all-inclusive politics for marginalized identities, with a heavy focus on queer, trans, and intersex POC. This commitment is expressed through hosting nurturing gatherings and having conversation about privilege, violence, race, orientation, and gender-based discrimination, as well as offering events to blow off steam and enjoy the types of music that brought them together in the first place. Black and Brown Punk Show Collective. “It’s become OK for people of color to be into [underground punk] It’s not just a white person’s form of expression,” says Oxun.

Six years after its inception, the collective has branched out to other cities, like Buffalo and New Orleans where Oxun now lives and leads the Black and Brown Punk Show Collective chapter there. You can read more about their journey and interview with Chicago Reader right here.

By Erin White*, AFROPUNK contributor