An Open Letter to the HRC →

July 13, 2013
February 16, 2014
December 5, 2014

Dear Human Rights Campaign,

Where is the outrage?

Do something. At the very least, say something. I started to send this letter after Zimmerman was acquitted after killing unarmed Trayvon; I started again to send this letter after a grand jury declared a mistrial in Michael Dunn’s killing of unarmed Jordan Davis; and now, the non indictment after Darren Wilson’s killing of unarmed Michael Brown. This whole exercise has become a sickening exposition of this country’s ongoing and escalating brazen racial terrorism — a perverse, unending mad-lib of innocent Black murders met with White impunity:

”__________________ (unarmed black man’s name) was shot and killed by ________________________ (white police officer’s/ or white private citizen’s name) and was ____________________ (not charged, not indicted, acquitted [circle one]) and walks free. “

And that’s not even mentioning Akai Gurley who was killed “accidentally” by an officer in a Brooklyn stairwell; and that’s not even mentioning the killing of Tamir Rice in Cleveland with his toy gun. And that’s not even mentioning Eric Garner who was choked to death in Staten Island over loose cigarettes. And that’s not even mentioning all the names of the Black and Brown innocents whom we don’t know. Because presumably, for every name that is publicized, there are many more names of innocents that aren’t and never will be. It seems callous and blind to celebrate gains in marriage equality on one hand while in the very same moment, the civil rights of a major section of the LGBTQ community are being grossly violated. The Human Rights Campaign’s visible, vocal support would be momentous in bolstering the sustained national critique and reinforcing the “in the streets” protests that are happening all around the nation. Our civil rights are under attack.

Especially given the 2012 Gallup’s recent finding that non-whites are disproportionally more likely to identify as LGBTQ, I’d expect that our leading “equality” organizations would take an aggressive stance and wield the voice of its expansive membership; and lend its expansive legal networks, political cache, and financial resources to the struggle to change the “Stand Your Ground” law and other flawed legislation like it.

The HRC should be just as vocal in its dissent about racial injustice as it is in celebrating the coming out of celebrities. If we are ever going to overcome the artificial divide between the African-American community and the LGBTQ community (which have been overlapping communities with common goals and the shared dream of equal citizenship in this country from Bayard Rustin onward) now is the time to fortify and publicly announce that solidarity. Imagine the power in knowing that a hate crime committed against a Black person would necessarily incur the scrutiny and political response of the entire LGBTQ community, and conversely that a crime committed against a LGBTQ person would necessarily incur the scrutiny and political response of the entire Black community.

What does it matter if we can marry or be openly ourselves if the children raised from our unions cannot be protected? The repeated judicial and legislative failure to hold individuals and institutions accountable for the value of Black lives represents not just an attack on Black and Brown people, but is an attack on LGBTQ people. HRC should take immediate action to defend and affirm the members of its community. If it really is one struggle — one civil rights movement — then let it truly be ONE movement. Let’s stand together on all fronts. We must speak up for each other. I’m urging HRC to please…. do something.

It is not enough to ACT UP, but we must ACT UP all the time.

Respectfully,
Dee Rees

Here’s a challenge; Be more #tolerant, #patient, & #compassionate than u were the day b4. Do this everyday!! #IceBucketChallenge #Ferguson

— Christian L. Aviance (@angelindiskies) August 21, 2014

The sum of us equals...

On Sunday, June 29, 2014, I got to March with HIV= in the NYC Pride March.  It was amazing to say the least; I had never Marched before.  I was really nervous for some reason when I arrived at the location where our group would meet; after a few members introduced themselves and I as given a tank-top to wear I quickly became a wallflower; speaking to anyone was difficult so I hid behind my camera or my mobile phone.  Isn’t it amazing how certain technological advances are meant ‘connect’ us really just help us more with isolating?

A few more introductions and small talk with members and listening to instructions from our group leader didn’t really loosen me up at all; I wanted to run.  Then something happened…

A man, an older gentleman with white hair, dressed in white and bejeweled with various pins feature rainbow colors.  This Sage asked me directly about HIV=.  I do not work for the organization however, I gave him this answer,  "…HIV does not discrimination and neither should we…“  By the way, from moment he stepped up to me he had been using his point and shoot digital camera to record video of our conversation.  He was excited from my answer and expressed how he thought what we were doing was wonderful.  He then began to tell me that his best friend had died at the age of 32.  His friend had contracted HIV at 28 years and did not seek treatment; "He let himself go,” is how he explained.  Still pointing his camera directly at me he proceeded to tell me how his lover had also died from complications due to AIDS.  He began cry and his voice cracked and he wasn’t able to finish what he was saying.  I put my hand on his arm to comfort him.  He lowered his camera and began to step back and away.  I thanked him for sharing his story. In that moment I realized that this was not about me.  

It’s about We.  You and me, You and I, Us.  It would be some hours later that our group would be Marching down Fifth Avenue following that lavender line, and I, with my camera, looking through the lens at so many of us living.  Living with pain, sorrow, heartache, happiness, illness, love, joy, hope.  Living with HIV.  

This epidemic changed the way we love; it made some of us afraid to love. HIV itself does not tell you who you can love; it does not tell you to hate either; it will not tell you not to build a home or what neighborhood you can live in; it cannot tell you that you are less than or great than the person next to you; it does not know the color of your skin or how much money you have; it does not care about who you love. Society may try to impose some of these limitations on individual groups but HIV is all inclusive. This disease has touched so many lives; regardless of race, creed, religion, profession, gender identity, social standing, sexual preference, or HIV status we are all living with HIV.  

What do we do?  Stand together, regardless of status.  Fight the stigma; educate our youth and all those who are misinformed about HIV and on how to prevent the spread of the virus; if you don’t know your HIV status, then get tested.  Don’t be afraid to ask a question.  Protect yourself!

Together with compassion, education, perseverance, tolerance and love the sum of us equals LIFE.  A life where HIV/AIDS has been eradicated.  

PS: I stopped being so nervous… HIV= leaders are an amazing bunch of men and women trying to bring on change for the lives of those living with HIV… that means All of Us [a global scale].   Through my lens I could so many people living with something and that’s OK… I don’t have to run and they don’t have to run from me.  Thank you Sage for showing me your heart and helping me see that we are all equal.

18 Things White People Seem To Not Understand (Because, White Privilege) →

1. White Privilege is being able to move into a new neighborhood and being fairly sure that your neighbors will be pleasant to you and treat you with respect.

2. White Privilege is being able to watch a movie, read a book and open the front page of a newspaper and see yourself and your race widely represented and spoken for.

3. White Privilege is being able to seek legal, financial and medical help without having your race work against you.

4. White Privilege is living in a world where you are taught that people with your skin tone hold the standard for beauty.

5. White Privilege is never being told to, “get over slavery”.

6. White Privilege is having the prevalence and importance of the English language and finding amusement in ridiculing people of colour/immigrants for their accents and their difficulty in speaking a language that is not their native tongue.

7. White Privilege is arrogantly believing that reverse racism actually exists.

8. White Privilege is being able to stay ignorant to the fact that racial slurs are part of a systematic dehumanization of entire groups of people who are and have historically been subjugated and hated just for being alive.

Related Thought

Explaining White Privilege To A Broke White Person…

Years ago, some feminist on the internet told me I was “Privileged.”

9. White Privilege is not having your name turned into an easier-to-say Anglo-Saxon name.

10. White Privilege is being able to fight racism one day, then ignore it the next.

11. White privilege is having your words and actions attributed to you as an individual, rather than have them reflect members of your race.

12. White Privilege is being able to talk about racism without appearing self-serving.

13. White Privilege is being able to be articulate and well-spoken without people being surprised.

14. White Privilege is being pulled over or taken aside and knowing that you are not being singled out because of your race/colour.

Related Thought

White Privilege From A White Dude’s Perspective

15. White Privilege is not having to teach your children to be aware of systematic racism for their own protection.

16. White Privilege is not having to acknowledge the fact that we live in a system that treat people of colour unfairly politically, socially and economically and choosing, instead, to believe that people of colour are inherently less capable.

17. White Privilege is not having your people and their culture appropriated, romanticized or eroticized for the gain and pleasure of other white people.

18. White Privilege is being able to ignore the consequences of race. 

Weather Woman Fired After Defending Natural Hair And Black Kids Has No Regrets →

It’s been more than a year since Rhonda Lee (pictured) was fired from her meteorologist anchor position after defending her natural hair and Black kids on her station’s Facebook page. Take our poll…

This is appalling!!!

I cannot really speak on black women’s hair however, this idea that beauty is straight-haired and lighter-skinned is not healthy for our young girls of color.  We are basically telling them they are not good enough.  Change your hair, get a weave, make your nose narrow, lighten your complexion; all of this is just wrong.  You are beaut and made perfect by whomever you call God/Goddess.  

I see so many, still young, black women who have lost their natural hair because of the products they use so they fit into what society/media says is acceptable and beautiful.  The weaves and extensions are causing hairlines to recede.  Our hair was not made to carry so much weight for such long periods of time.  It is a myth that it makes hair grow faster.  Let your scalp breathe, give your hair some sun, don’t let anyone tell you that there is something wrong with your naturally tightly curled locks.  

The more we teach our beautiful black daughters that natural is beauty, then maybe less people will go touching and grabbing their hair with fascination (not realizing that they are offending them) because it would become the norm for our girls to wear their black hair with pride.