Dr. Kai M. Green has crisscrossed the country, having been born and raised in Oakland, California, and then at age 15 moving to Massachusetts to attend an all-girls boarding school and then on to Williams College. Next it was off to Los Angeles to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California.
And since last summer, Green has called Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood home—and he is now in the middle of a two-year program, the Sexualities Project at Northwestern ( SPAN ) postdoctoral Fellow. Green teaches in the African-American Studies Department and Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Northwestern.
He also is a member of BYP100, an activist member-based organization of Black 18-35 year-olds, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. Plus, Green spends considerable amounts of time on #Blacklivesmatter campaigns, initiatives, events and more—in and outside of the university.
"I think there are many diverse Black communities," said Green, 30, a queer trans man who is partnered. "Whenever I enter a space, or am engaging in building community, I take the time to listen, observe, be mindful of and honor that which existed before me. I think my role in Black trans communities is the role I see myself having in the world. My role, or rather my work, is not limited to one group because even the idea that there is a 'Black trans community' is a farce. So my role in community building is just that, building, growing, loving, practicing and modeling the world that I want to live in, a world that is loving and affirming of all people, [including] Black, queer, disabled, poor, women and transgender. I don't aim to represent my race, my gender, or any of the identity markers that I may use to describe myself, rather, I want to always be making space for people to exist no matter what their identities or social statuses are."
Green teaches two courses a year at Northwestern, with his remaining time his own to work on research. This year, he taught "Queer in the City," a class that examines race, place, space, gender and sexuality, and "Black Queer Looks," a class that examines representations of Blackness and queerness in film.
Next spring, Green will be teaching "Theorizing Blackness" and co-teaching a graduate seminar, "Black Queer Studies," with Dr. E. Patrick Johnson.
"I think it's unfortunate that many of our movements, or the way we are made to seek social change, is through a charismatic leader—someone who can popularly be heralded as the voice of a people," Green said. "I push back against that, even though I know there are people who look to me as that kind of figure. I try to use what power/platform I have to make room for other voices, other stories, other people to claim their right to be."
In addition to teaching, Green is a writer, poet and filmmaker. Green also is a "public intellectual," one who is "interested in building coalitions and creating art that has the ability to make people move," he said. "Primarily, while in Los Angeles, I helped to create and maintain space for Black LGBT people. This work has included helping to organize a march of visibly Black LGBT folk in the MLK Day Parade in South Los Angeles, moderating panels and running workshops in community space about sexism, misogyny and patriarchy in primarily Black gay male space. I have also, over the past three years, been collecting and creating a digital archive of Black LGBT life and community past and present. This last project is a heart project centered in my belief in the power of history.
"There is power in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the stories we are told about ourselves from institutions that often times either erase or distort stories of radical people of color and poor people's coalitional movements. My archival and ethnographic work is exciting in that it is one of the only projects of its kind that seriously takes into account the work of Black LGBT folks and allies in Los Angeles. This work on Black LGBT Los Angeles will serve as the primary documents for my dissertation, which culminated with a Ph.D. in the department of American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California with certificates in both Gender Studies and Visual Anthropology."
Green added, "It has been essential for me to think about the ways in which I can use the tools and resources of the University to enhance the work I do in community settings. This has helped foster many great projects."
For example:
—He was able to complete a short documentary, It Gets Messy In Here, a film that examines the experiences of Black and Asian-American transgender men and masculine of center queer women in public bathrooms. "My film highlights the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality are inextricably linked and how those identity markers are great factors in determining one's ability to move in the streets, in school, at work, in the airport and in the world in general," Green said. "I use this film as a teaching tool in academic, political and community organizing settings. It has been screened at major film festivals, including the Queer Woman of Color Film Festival and the Fusion Outfest Film Festival. It has also been screened and purchased by many university libraries and local community organizations in the U.S. and Canada. My work on this film is an example of my dedication to creating consciousness-raising and community engaged scholarship."
—He was a community member and an advisory board member for In The Mean Time Men's Group, an organization in Los Angeles that focuses on bringing down the HIV/AIDS infection rates of Black men.
—He was a member of the academic branch of The Coalition to End Sheriff on Inmate Violence in LA County Jails. "This organization is demanding the county to hold the Los Angeles sheriff's department accountable for the record of excessive force and violence documented by the ACLU, instead of expanding the county jail system, which has been occurring," Green said. "We create pedagogical tools to teach abolitionist methods in classrooms. We will publish our first reader next month. I was also involved in the making of the film, Visions of Abolition: From Critical Resistance to a New Way of life. For me it is essential to make abolitionist art and scholarship, art that is invested in community accountability that does not rely on state violence and policing."
