B.Michael was a staunch supporter of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. On December 1, 1996, B.Michael and six other brothers, organized the first Brothers for Sisters fundraising event in New York City. In the above photo, (L-R) Michael Seltzer (standing), Don Kao, Mitchell Karp, B.Michael, Lidell Jackson, Ralph Tachuk, John Manzon-Santos (standing).
Artists G. Winston James and What I Miss? contributor Jacquie Bishop generously donated their time as special guests.
Below is the same post-event scene as above, snapped a millisecond later, enough time for B.Michael to cock his head slightly; also B.Michael with Steven Birnbaum, one of the evening’s guests, a new contact brought in by Don Kao.
Although B.Michael and Adunni were on the same earthly plane for just a few years, their connection was deep and everlasting. The deal was sealed by their shared left-handedness.
This photo (and photo box) was gifted to B.Michael by Adunni and her mom.
Together with fellow Other Countries member G. Winston James, B.Michael co-emceed this groundbreaking celebration on June 18, 1996. (The video’s date-stamp of June 19th is an error.) This day was proclaimed “Other Countries Day” by Ruth Messinger, Borough President of Manhattan, as B.Michael recites from the podium [05:36].
While the above footage does not capture the entire program, we do get to see, and hear read, five of Other Countries’ “veteran voices” in Christopher-Dana Rose, Allen Wright, Len Richardson, Guy-Mark Foster, along with B.Michael [07:16]. The evening includes remarks by New York City Councilmember C. Virginia Fields [02:16] and powerful performances by four literary giants, who also happen to be Black and Queer — Samuel R. Delany, Jacqueline Woodson, E. Lynn Harris, and Sapphire.
In addition to acknowledging Jacqueline Woodson and Sapphire, B.Michael gives shout-outs to some of the fierce women artists who supported Other Countries over its first decade [01:22:34], including Jacquie Bishop, Hattie Gossett, Gale Jackson, Sheilah Mabry, Mariana Romo-Carmona, and Pamela Sneed.
B.Michael shares his remembrances about Haruko Kuroiwa Brown [b. 12 December 1921, d. 06 June 1996] at her Celebration of Life on June 17, 1996, in Manhattan, New York.
“Hello everyone, my name is Bert Hunter. I’m a New York City high school teacher and happen to be John’s lover.
It was through John that I met Haruko. And what I didn’t want to do was just deal with her on a level as John’s lover / through APICHA. I was really trying to find some kind of way to connect to her in the boundaried way that I am sometimes and in the boundaried way that she is. Interestingly enough, because she worked at the Board of Education, we were able to build some kind of relationship around that.
We talked a lot about different books. She would lend me some books and I would lend her some books. And we talked a lot about, actually, my mother. I didn’t necessarily realize that she was a social worker. She’s like social working me sometimes. (laughter) It was interesting that she was able to do that because I’m usually the person who’s the ear for other people. So it’s rare that somebody has an opportunity to social-work me, if you will, or to counsel me and I believe that she, in fact, did do that. She gave me some incredible advice.
In addition to that, because I have a natural ability to social-work other people although I’m not a social worker, we actually did talk a lot about her family, her children, her life and her grandchildren. I knew her granddaughter immediate because of the red hair because I also have a brother who is a carrot top. No offense! (laughter) One trip, she was coming back talking about her granddaughter with the red hair. “My brother had red hair … ”
I’m kind of angry because of the power of this woman. This was an incredibly powerful woman, and this is a loss. I had the opportunity — I teach American History — and during the 50th anniversary of “the bombing,” I was trying to put that in perspective for my students and was running my mouth to John. “Oh, you should talk to Haruko.” I was almost like, Why? Because you meet people and you talk to people, and someone who’s so rich, has so many different sides of themselves to share with you that you don’t necessarily always tap into the sides. “You know, she was interned.” I was almost floored because, as a history teacher, it was hard for me to believe that someone who was interned was still alive and accessible, if you will.
She came to school the first time and she talked to the students. I should say the majority are Black and Latino, we have some white students, very few Asian students. And she held their attention for 20 minutes easy, talking about her life and experience and it was incredible. She came back a second time to a different type of class a year later, actually, last year. Again, she held their attention. She actually read her testimony that she gave to Congress on her experience as a person who was interned. Again, the room was silent. She asked me for feedback, how I thought it went. I told her it was phenomenal. I said it’s the kind of thing where, years from now, they will realize that they touched history. That she, in fact, was history and that they had an opportunity to experience it.
We again exchanged … I just found a new reader so I gave her a book, I think it was Family or The Matter of Life from J. California Cooper, a new author who I was exposed to. Even for myself, I was moved by the power that I recognized in her … ”
B.Michael attended law school and he taught the U.S. Constitution to high school students who came from marginalized backgrounds. The right to vote was a tantamount issue for him, particularly as a Black man. Every election is important — and he would be organizing folks with even more passion toward Election Day on 03 November 2020.
B.Michael felt it was important to support our LGBTQ community institutions. He was often at “The Center” for workshops, performances and other events, as well as regular meetings of organizations of which he was a member, including Other Countries: Black Gay Expression, Gay Men of African Descent, and the Lesbian & Gay People of Color Steering Committee.
B.Michael visited with partner John, who had lived in Italy during college and maintained close friendships, together with dear friends John and Haftan. (Scroll to photos entitled “Italy, 1995” here.)
Their ten-day sojourn, roughly outlined above, included landing in Venice/Venezia, passing through Bologna (the city where John had studied) on their way to Florence/Firenze and Pisa in the region of Tuscany/Toscana. Then to Rome/Roma, back to Bologna, with a hop to the Adriatic coast, before departing from Milan/Milano.
In his role as an “out” gay teacher, B.Michael participated on a panel called, “Illusions of Inclusion: Toward an Understanding of Lesbians and Gays in the Educational Community.” (See page 3.)
Bert had a special connection with Aurelio, whom he most likely met through Queer People of Color organizing in New York City in the late 1980s. Aurelio was a member of Hispanos Unidos Gays y Lesbianas (or HUGL, roughly referred to as “HUH-gull” in English) and would often rep HUGL at coalition meetings.
Aurelio also had a beautiful singing voice to accompany his activist heart, both of which he brought to The Flirtations. Here in this clip, Aurelio anchors an impromptu performance of “My Boyfriend’s Back” at a political demonstration, sometime between 1987 and 1993.
On Apple Music, Will Grega writes: “The Flirtations gained national prominence in the late ’80s as the only openly gay, positive a cappella group. It helped that they had tremendous voices and chose outstanding material. In a few short years, these media darlings became everybody’s group of choice as ambassadors of homosexuality for the world. Little could they have known that within five short years of their first Greenwich Village street performance in 1988, they would have appeared on The Phil Donahue Show, Good Morning America, Nightwatch, MTV News, and National Public Radio; gathered rave reviews across the country; and that they would actually be making a living doing what they love most: being gay and singing about it.” They also performed “Mr. Sandman” for the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning film Philadelphia.
Bert saved these clips from the February 1991 issue of Angles, a queer publication out of Vancouver, Canada.
^^^ Though hard to see, the caption in purple reads: “One of us had the same lover for eight hears. One of us was in the closet until he was 37. One of us was entrapped, arrested, handcuffed and beaten by police. One of us was an M.P. [Military Police] in the U.S. Army. One of us had been fag-bashed with a two-by-four. One of us has AIDS.”
Aurelio sent this postcard, dated March 18, 1995, which Bert received just three months prior to Aurelio’s death from HIV. The book he thanks Bert for is Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS, which Bert served as Managing Editor.
