Archive for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Category

Vancouver LGBT pioneers launch petition to counter Black Lives Matter’s bid to remove police from Pride parade – Straight.com

A group of longtime Vancouver LGBT activists and community pioneers have launched a petition to counter Black Lives Matter Vancouvers request to have the police removed from the Pride parade. These activists are concerned that the voices of older generations who helped found the communities and worked hard to develop relationships with the police are being ignored, in addition to others.

The counter-petition was launched on February 12.

The organizers of the petition are Velvet Steele, a Vancouver trans and sex worker rights advocate who was a member of the Trans/Police Liaison committee in the early 1990s; Gordon Hardy, a co-founder of the Vancouver Gay Liberation Front in the 1970s; Sandra Leo-Laframboise, a trans queer activist and Mtis Two Spirit elder; and Kevin Dale McKeown, Vancouver's first out gay journalist and an LGBT columnist for the Georgia Straight in 1970s.

The petition cites the history of the relationship between the Vancouver Police Department and local LGBT communities.

Vancouvers LGBTQ community has a long history of positive engagement with the Vancouver Police Department, from the first Gay and Lesbian/Police Liaison Committee in 1977, through the 1980s with the work of community leaders like Jim Deva, Jim Trenholme, and Malcolm Crane, and continuing today as the LGBT/Police Liaison Committee. We've been doing this work for 40 years now.

The petition organizers also note that the VPD and RCMP have participated in the parade since 2002, which signifies the progress we have made in our struggle for LGBTQ equality.

Just as the Vancouver Pride Society operations executive director Kieran Burgess told the Georgia Straightthat their approach would differ from Pride Torontos to reflect the different history and population composition of Vancouver, the counter-petition organizers expressed a similar sentiment.

While the objections that Black Lives Matter Vancouver makes against the presence of the Vancouver Police Department in the Vancouver Pride Parade reflect historic and ongoing injustices against the black communities in major American and Eastern Canadian cities, they do not reflect relationships between Vancouvers LGBTQ communities with local law enforcement.

The counter-petition is a reaction to BLM Vancouvers petition launched on February 7 to request, for a second time, that the Vancouver Pride Society have the VPD withdraw all of its uniformed, armed officers from the parade.

By phone, Steele told the Georgia Straight that the counter-petition was launched in reaction to the Toronto police announcement that they would not be participating in Torontos Pride parade, which raised concerns that the same thing could happen here.

Steele concurs that Vancouver is different from other Canadian and U.S. cities. Although BLM Vancouver spokeperson Daniella Barreto told the Georgia Straight that her group perceives the VPD as representative of police institutions elsewhere, Steele disagrees with such a perception.

As Canadians, we cant compare ourselves to the States or make ourselves similar to that, she said. We have a very rich and diverse Asian community here in Vancouver and I think we need to be celebrating all different cultures and backgrounds and ethnicities and things like that, and the fact that we are living together so cohesively and so well and loving each other and enjoying the differences and the variations and everything else, that to me is exciting.

She also expressed concerns about how the older generations who helped develop the local LGBT communities, including indigenous and Asian Canadian individuals, are being systematically ignored and pushed out of the whole situation.

Steele herself experienced discrimination from the police in both Toronto and Vancouver. In the 1990s, she said, Toronto police displayed a lack of response to physical assaults she experienced, including being stabbed or having her fingers broken, and made comments about her lifestyle, clothing, BDSM paraphernalia,and appearance. She also witnessed police discrimination against trans friends and acquaintances.

When she began to meet LGBT police officers and began to learn about their challenges, she became more involved in helping to educate them.

It just strengthened my resolve to keep on working forward to educate them and sensitize them.

Steele has worked with the Vancouver police in various capacities, ranging from appearing in the VPDs Walk With Me video to working closely with the VPDs LGBT liaison officer and more.

Its holding them to task and keeping them held to task and keeping them at the table, keeping them included in whats going on, Steele said. The lack of inclusion of the negotiations here at the table is not a resolve. Its not a process to solve anything or to move forward into the future.

She said she now believes VPD is one of the most progressive police forces in the country that is willing to work for resolve and work towards the future and to be very much a part of our community.

Thats why she feels strongly that the police should be a part of the parade.

The fact that they have come that far along in terms of acceptance and working hard to be by our side, they should have every opportunity to be there as well, she said.

In comparison to how Steele and others worked to resolve relationships with the police, there are two aspects to identify in BLM Vancouvers request.

One is BLM Vancouvers objective, which is to raise awareness about issues of systemic racism, violence, and oppression within or by police institutions against black people.

The second aspect is how they have chosen to address these issues, which is their proposed solutionthe removal of armed, uniformed police from the parade.

This approach is different from, for example, expressing concerns of discomfort and asking the VPS and the VPD to come up with a solution, or to propose to work with these groups to educate them and figure out a solution together.

Steele said she agrees with the first aspectthat anti-racism and anti-oppression work is important and needs to be addressedbut is opposed to the way in which BLM Vancouver is asking the VPS to agree to their solution.

Its not open-minded, she said. Its demanding. Its almost acting in a bullying manner.

She said she is also offended if critics tell her she cannot express her opinions because she is privileged simply because she is white. She said she experiences transphobic discrimination on a daily basis, has been denied employment, and has been isolated in hospitals from other patients because she is trans.

Unlike how the situation has been addressed in other cities, Steele said she would rather see Vancouver lead by example and set a precedent.

The counter-petition is available on the change.org website. The petition will be delivered to the VPS.

The petition will close on February 20, the day before the VPS is scheduled to meet with BLM Vancouver members on February 21.This year's Vancouver Pride parade will be held on August 6.

When theGeorgia Straightasked the Vancouver Police Department for an interview about their involvement in Pride, VPD spokeperson Sgt. Randy Fincham issued the following statement on February 10:"The VPD is looking forward to working with our community partners with Black Lives Matter and the Vancouver Pride Society, and unless requested otherwise, have our volunteers and civilian and sworn staff walk with pride for our 21styear in the 2017 Vancouver Pride Parade, to show support for the entire LGBTQ2+ community."

.

Go here to read the rest:
Vancouver LGBT pioneers launch petition to counter Black Lives Matter's bid to remove police from Pride parade - Straight.com

Connections: Previewing Black Lives Matter Day at the Rochester City School District – WXXI News

The documentary, I Am Not Your Negro

The Little Theatre is getting ready to show a powerful film called I Am Not Your Negro. Here's how the filmmakers describe it:

"In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his new endeavor: the writing of his final book, Remember This House, recounting the lives and successive assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin was not able to complete the book before his death, and the unfinished manuscript was entrusted to director Raoul Peck. Built exclusively around Baldwin's words, Peck's I Am Not Your Negro delves into the complex legacy of three lives (and deaths) that permanently marked the American social and political landscape. Framing the unfinished work as a radical narration about race in America, Peck matches Baldwin's lyrical rhetoric with rich archival footage of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and connects these historical struggles for justice and equality to the present-day movements that have taken shape in response to the killings of young African-American men including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Amir Brooks."

Our guests discuss the film, and this particular American moment. In studio:

Continued here:
Connections: Previewing Black Lives Matter Day at the Rochester City School District - WXXI News

Black Lives Matter gives a voice, speaker says in Framingham – Wicked Local Framingham

Norman Miller Daily News Staff @Norman_MillerMW

FRAMINGHAM Although often portrayed as a terrorist or anarchist organization by its opponents, Black Lives Matter exists to give a group that has been ignored and treated like second-class citizens a voice, a member of the group said on Saturday.

Speaking at a Black History Month program at the Greater Framingham Community Church, Martin Henson of Black Lives Matter-Boston, the groups existence is necessary.

We took this month where we want to make sure there is a black voice heard, said Henson, speaking to about 30 attendees. Black Lives Matter exists because its something we need to survive. Im not going to give the world as it is to my daughter. Im not going to do it.

Saturdays event featured artwork from Framingham elementary and middle school students that celebrated Black History Month, as well as Black Lives Matter.

It also featured a community reading of an abridged version of Frederick Douglass 1852 speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro, led by Fran Smith of Mass. Humanities, a human rights group based in Northampton.

Black Lives Matter started in 2012 after George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida, Henson said. Since then, Black Lives Matter has changed.

It started as a hashtag, then turned into an organization and then turned into a movement, said Henson. Black Lives Matter is inclusionary. There is no standard of what you have to look like, the way you have to act or what you have to think.

Black Lives Matter is an abolitionist group it wants to abolish the current prison system and the current way of policing that all too often targets blacks and minorities, Henson said. He called prison one step away from slavery.

When asked if there werent prisons, what would happen, Henson said there has to be a better way for society to treat people.

I know for sure what we do now is inhumane, he said. I know Im going to focus on stopping what is inhumane.

Rev. Anthony Lloyd, the pastor for the Greater Framingham Community Church, spoke about KKK flyers that were dropped off at several Framingham homes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

He said, when it occurred, he was contacted by reporters for comment. But, he said, he is not the right person to talk to.

Im not here to say black folks are upset by the KKK, said Lloyd. You dont need to call me about that. You have to call the white folks who live in Framingham and see if thats the type of community they want to live in. Part of the solution is to see how they feel about this.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. Follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

See the original post here:
Black Lives Matter gives a voice, speaker says in Framingham - Wicked Local Framingham

Toronto Police Accede To Black Lives Matter Gay Parade Demands – Daily Caller

5476600

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders has acceded to demands from the local chapter of Black Lives Matter and agreed that the force will not participate in this years gay pride parade.

In his explanation, Saunders referred to divisions within the LGBTQ organizers of the multi-million dollar event.

We understand the LGBTQ communities are divided, he said in a statement. To enable those differences to be addressed, I have decided the Toronto Police Service will not participate, this year, in the Pride parade.

Those divisions center on objections from Torontos Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists who want to minimize the presence of their sworn police enemies.

Last years parade made more news than usual after BLM protested the presence of police and temporarily halted the event. It only resumed after the executive director of Pride Toronto, Matthieu Chantelois, agreed to BLM demands that included a future ban on police floats.

Chantelois later claimed that he only signed the document to stop the protest.

Then in January at their annual meeting, Pride Toronto members voted in favor of the BLM edict, with no one saying for certain whether that included police officers as well as floats.

The absence of police in the parade still leaves BLM feeling unsatisfied.

They are trying to flip the narrative and make it seem as if they are choosing to pull out of Pride when in fact they were uninvited, said spokesperson Syrus Marcus Ware.

Ware said the police chief failed to mention such issues as anti-blackness and policing and carding a standard practice of patrolling dangerous sections of town that BLM insists is aimed a non-whites.

On Friday, Pride Toronto suggested the police forces decision not to participate in the parade was a positive development.

Pride Toronto is committed to continuing the important dialogue that has taken place with our membership and the broader community. We are listening. We will listen. What we have seen from the Toronto Police Service is that they are also listening, the organization said in a statement.

A former Conservative member of the Ontario legislature, Phil Gillies, told the Toronto Sun Saturday that the decision by police chief was very unfortunate. I can understand the police being upset after the decision that was taken at the Pride annual meeting. However, I think its unfortunate. We need our police to be involved with the community.

Follow David on Twitter

Excerpt from:
Toronto Police Accede To Black Lives Matter Gay Parade Demands - Daily Caller

Black Lives Matter gives a voice, speaker says in Framingham – MetroWest Daily News

Norman Miller Daily News Staff @Norman_MillerMW

FRAMINGHAM Although often portrayed as a terrorist or anarchist organization by its opponents, Black Lives Matter exists to give a group that has been ignored and treated like second-class citizens a voice, a member of the group said on Saturday.

Speaking at a Black History Month program at the Greater Framingham Community Church, Martin Henson of Black Lives Matter-Boston, the groups existence is necessary.

We took this month where we want to make sure there is a black voice heard, said Henson, speaking to about 30 attendees. Black Lives Matter exists because its something we need to survive. Im not going to give the world as it is to my daughter. Im not going to do it.

Saturdays event featured artwork from Framingham elementary and middle school students that celebrated Black History Month, as well as Black Lives Matter.

It also featured a community reading of an abridged version of Frederick Douglass 1852 speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro, led by Fran Smith of Mass. Humanities, a human rights group based in Northampton.

Black Lives Matter started in 2012 after George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida, Henson said. Since then, Black Lives Matter has changed.

It started as a hashtag, then turned into an organization and then turned into a movement, said Henson. Black Lives Matter is inclusionary. There is no standard of what you have to look like, the way you have to act or what you have to think.

Black Lives Matter is an abolitionist group it wants to abolish the current prison system and the current way of policing that all too often targets blacks and minorities, Henson said. He called prison one step away from slavery.

When asked if there werent prisons, what would happen, Henson said there has to be a better way for society to treat people.

I know for sure what we do now is inhumane, he said. I know Im going to focus on stopping what is inhumane.

Rev. Anthony Lloyd, the pastor for the Greater Framingham Community Church, spoke about KKK flyers that were dropped off at several Framingham homes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

He said, when it occurred, he was contacted by reporters for comment. But, he said, he is not the right person to talk to.

Im not here to say black folks are upset by the KKK, said Lloyd. You dont need to call me about that. You have to call the white folks who live in Framingham and see if thats the type of community they want to live in. Part of the solution is to see how they feel about this.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. Follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

Read more here:
Black Lives Matter gives a voice, speaker says in Framingham - MetroWest Daily News