Dustin Seibert

Color me Alternative Negro, if you will. I kick it with people from all different backgrounds. I date – and have meaningful relationships with – women inside and outside of my race. I gravitate toward the liberal arts, and unlike many of my Detroit Public School alumni brethren, I can string together a paragraph or two that doesn’t resemble a bag of shit. I don’t do Jesus or any other deity. I love Sex and the City and The L Word. I wear my heart on my sleeve and my emotions run tangential with my brain and my instincts. The only sport I really care about is Michigan Football. I own Enya records. I’m a comic book nerd. I’m a friend of the gay community. I live on the north side of Chicago because the south side is, for the most part, empty and depressing. And yes…I’m a straight brother with a cat. And yet… I’m a proud, tenacious black man, and my culture is the epicenter of my identity. By virtue of having been born and raised in the most chocolate of the union’s major cities, I am still the most comfortable and most at ease in a room full of black folks. I know the hood intimately, and I have a sixth sense that will keep me frosty in any U.S. city. My mama is a strong black woman who has made nothing but the right sacrifices - I love and respect her more than anyone. Nothing moves my bones or stirs my soul like the Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder and their contemporaries. I have traditional ideas about what it means to be a man and a father, and I don’t think they conflict with any meaningful tenets of feminism. I suffer no fools. I like my women with an insane amount of intelligence and insight. I can spot the bitch in just about anyone with whom I spend a little bit of time. I think the two main things humanity as a collective are missing are love and respect. Any woman who truly understands me…me…ME…can be black, white or green with orange polka-dots – I won’t let anyone tell me shit about it. I will be Alternative Negro. I will NOT be compartmentalized.