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Black Cuse Pride Hosts ‘Soul of Pride Cookout’ Black Cuse Pride Hosts 'Soul of Pride Cookout'

The event celebrates queer people of color as Pride Month comes to a close

By Samantha Croston

Entertainers performed under this tent at the Soul of Pride Cookout.
© 2021 Samantha Croston

Samantha Croston: When Rahzie Seals first started Black Cuse Pride back in 2013…

Rahzie Seals: I started it as a party promoting company in order to create spaces for LGBTQ folks to have fun, be safe.

Croston: But very quickly, she began to realize something.

Seals: It’s more than just a party, we needed somebody to advocate for us.

Croston: That person became her, and eight years after the organization’s birth, Seals is still planning parties. But make no mistake—these parties have a purpose.

Seals: This is centering us. This is giving us a space to be us so you can hear our voice, so you can see our talents, so we can showcase them, and just be unapologetically queer and black.

Croston: Enter the Soul of Pride Cookout, the largest event Seals has ever organized. But more importantly, an opportunity to showcase the different purposes her events have. It’s a space where queer people of color can meet others like them, and in doing that…

Koy Adams: Learn more about themselves and like try to engage in that approach in the ways that they are comfortable with.

Croston: While the cookout is a place to be social, it’s also a safe space for people to come for information and resources they might need. That’s why groups like ACR Health and Planned Parenthood came to the event too.

Adams: It’s more of a holistic approach to queer community health in a way.

Croston: But the goals don’t stop there. Outside of building community and providing resources, Black Cuse Pride events like the Soul of Pride Cookout highlight and serve the people that they employ. People like Sparkle, the event entertainment director who also starred in the drag queen show.

Sparkle: We’ve got vendors here, a black DJ, community dance teams here. We’re here for a reason. So it’s about giving people a chance, give them a stage.

Croston: Even after the party’s over, the work doesn’t stop for the leaders who run Black Cuse Pride. Their work will continue until people of all races, sexualities, and identities are treated equally.

Seals: If the most marginalized of us are free, then we are all free.

Croston: But that goal won’t be accomplished unless everyone pushes the mission forward. In Sparkles’ opinion, it all comes down to one word: support.

Sparkle: If I need for my family to be there, my community, the LGBT community to be there for me, I expect you to show up. Cause whenever someone calls on Sparkle, I’m there.

Croston: And even when Pride month comes to an end, it’s sentiments like this that keep this community, their community, proud year-round. Samantha Croston, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – When Rahzie Seals first founded Black Cuse Pride eight years ago, the organization was primarily focused on event planning.

“I started it as a party promoting company in order to create spaces for LGBTQ folks to have fun,” Seals said.

When Seals started having her events though, she would have conversations with attendees who would tell her about problems that existed within the community for queer people of color.

Koy Adams, vice president of Black Cuse Pride, remembers this being the spark that ignited Black Cuse Pride to shift its focus.

“The organization [Black Cuse Pride] kind of expanded into… community based organizing around needs for what the community asked for,” Adams said.

Seals knew at this point that Black Cuse Pride had goals to accomplish outside of hosting events.

“It’s more than just a party, we needed somebody to advocate for us,” Seals said.

That person later became Seals herself. Eight years after the organization’s birth, Black Cuse Pride is still throwing parties, and Adams attests to Seals’ hosting abilities.

“Rahzie can throw a party,” Adams said.

But make no mistake — these parties have purposes outside of having a good time. One of Black Cuse Pride’s main goals is to promote visibility for queer people of color. They accomplish that goal by having events that center and celebrate people in that community.

“This is giving us a space to be us so you can hear our voice, so you can see our talents, so we can showcase them, and just be unapologetically queer and black,” Seals said.

The most recent of these celebratory events is the Soul of Pride Cookout, the largest event Rahzie Seals has ever organized that took place on June 26 at Comfort Tyler Park in Syracuse. Outside of promoting visibility for queer people of color, the event served as a space where people in those communities could feel comfortable in their own skin.

“If a person does not feel welcome in any number of communities because of who they are… this is supposed to be a space that they can come, express themselves, learn more about themselves,” Adams said.

While the cookout is a place to be social, it’s also a safe space for people to come for information and resources they might need. That’s why Black Cuse Pride partnered with groups like ACR Health and Planned Parenthood who had tents set up at the cookout. Adams says that it’s important to have these organizations at events where queer people of color will feel comfortable approaching them.

“If you need to talk to these people, they’re here. If you need to learn more about what these organizations do, they’re here,” Adams said. “It’s more of a holistic approach to queer community health.”

The goals don’t stop there. Outside of building community and providing resources, Black Cuse Pride events like the Soul of Pride Cookout highlight and serve the people that they employ. That’s why many of the entertainers and vendors are queer people of color.

“When you go to different events and different festivals, you don’t really see a lot of drag or singers, rappers, poetry, for folks who are queer, and that’s a problem,” Seals said. “This is an opportunity for them to showcase their talents.”

After the party ended, the people who attended the cookout went home, but the work didn’t stop for the leaders who run Black Cuse Pride. They say their work will continue until people of all races, sexualities, and identities are treated equally.

“If the most marginalized of us are free, then we are all free,” Seals said.

The only way that goal can be accomplished, though, is if everyone pushes the mission forward. This includes not only individuals who are a person of color and queer, but also individuals in only one of those communities or neither of them.

One of the people who is working toward these goals is Tavares Lewis, who performs under the name Sparkle and was the event entertainment director for the Soul of Pride Cookout. She also starred in the drag queen show. Sparkle says it all comes down to one word: support.

“If I need for my family to be there, my community, the LGBT community to be there for me, I expect you to show up,” Sparkle said. “Cause whenever someone calls on Sparkle, I’m there within the drop of a dime.”

When Pride Month comes to an end, it’s sentiments like this that keep queer people of color proud year-round.

Koy Adams: “For the longest time, as an example, Pride was double booked on June 18th. It wasn’t even attempted to be moved. So we can’t talk about issues if nobody tries to move it. I know it sounds very redundant and simplistic but it is a statement of fact. So when we talk about these issues, intra-communal issues as I like to call it, it’s beyond talking about progress in the abstract. I think a lot of mainstream gay media approach is ‘let’s put a slogan on it’ and it becomes so abstract that anybody could say like ‘love wins’ and it’s like, ‘well we still have homeless youth, we still need healthcare.’ We need to expand that conversation more. I think once we start to have these conversations, once we start to try, it will be easier to do.”

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