S M A R T H E A LT H
All Black Lives Matter How can the LGBTQ community support the movement? By DARYL SHORTER, MD
The horrific murder of George Floyd under the knee of a Minnesota police officer on May 25, 2020, illuminated for the entire world the pestilence of police brutality and systemic racism in America. Sadly, it didn’t end there. Since the death of George Floyd, there have been even more incidents of bodily harm and death visited upon Black and Brown people at the hands of out-of-control police officers. Tony McDade, a Black trans man in Tallahassee, Florida, was killed on May 27. Sean Monterrosa, a 22-year-old Latinx man in Vallejo, California, was killed on June 2. Rayshard Brooks, a Black man shot in a Wendy’s restaurant parking lot in Atlanta, was killed on June 12. And then there are the numerous documented and video-recorded episodes of physical violence directed against activists, protesters, and private citizens by police across the country. These police-involved killings are not the only cause for outrage. In the last month, the lives of two Black trans women have been lost— Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, age 36, and Riah Milton, age 25. According to the Human Rights Campaign, this brings the number of transgender or gender nonconforming people killed this year to at least 15. Black trans women are being disproportionately impacted by this violence. And as if that weren’t enough, attention has now turned to a suspicious pattern of hanging deaths among Black men, supposedly 18 JULY 2020 | OutSmartMagazine.com
due to suicide. In all of the four known cases, the victims were found hanging from trees in plain sight. The body of a Houston Latinx man was discovered hanging from a tree limb on June 15. Given the terrible legacy of lynchings in this country, it isn’t hard to imagine why people might be suspicious of the details surrounding these recent hangings. At a minimum, it speaks to how the lens of racial identity can complicate our understanding of events. It also highlights the need to promote mental-health and wellness resources, as well as suicide-prevention hotlines, in marginalized communities.
What’s Next?
This current iteration of the Black Lives Matter movement has developed against the backdrop of a community already reeling from the medical, economic, and psychological fallout of a worldwide pandemic. Now, with the near-constant focus on racial injustice, people are feeling ‘all of the feelings’—overwhelmed, infuriated, exhausted, and terrorized. LGBTQ people have been asking them-
selves what they should say and what more they can do to fight racial injustice. Despite our reluctance and fatigue, pressing forward with these conversations is vitally important. We must come to terms with the systemic racism that has festered within our schools, organizations, and companies as we work for real change, because lives are at stake. While our LGBTQ+ community may have sidestepped conversations about racial injustice in the past, we are again being called to reckon with the ways that racism impacts us, both as individuals and as a community. It is no longer sufficient to simply say that “I’m not a racist” or acknowledge the privileges from which we benefit. Frankly, this mere lip service is what has gotten us to this point. The work of anti-racism requires action. Ask yourself: What am I willing to do to actively dismantle the entrenched systems of racism?
Walking the Walk
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Black community is exhausted from hearing so many empty promises made for so many years. Talk isn’t enough. There are concrete steps we can
