I don't get why people are so mad at #BlackLivesMatter and their direct action during PRIDE. It's absolutely laughable that people are accusing #BLMTO of being "exclusionary" when the movement has been the definition of inclusionary from the start.
Too often Black people have put themselves front and center of social justice issues only to be left behind. Wanna know who the main beneficiaries of Affirmative Action have been? White women. Why is that? Because we live in a White Supremacist society where the rightness of Whiteness is an absolute and anti-Blackness is the foundational fulcrum of White Supremacy. Indeed it's that "rightness of Whiteness" and everything in between that's lead to the "model minority" myth. Another problematic roadblock in "solidarity" between marginalized groups.
In a White Supremacist society, Whiteness in and of itself is an unassailable virtue.
That's why you'll have someone stroll into a Black church, murder 9 Black people who were praying for and with that person, leave a manifesto behind saying he killed those Black people for political reasons...then have the "White" media twist themselves into pretzels trying to "understand why" and numerous think pieces and "exposes" showing how "normal" this stone cold terroristic murderer was. As if his hatred and extremist politics were an aberration and not the logical conclusion to all he had been taught.
It doesn't matter who you are or what you do...as long as there are "niggers" in a White Supremacist society there will always be someone to place ahead of them...even when they commit the most unspeakable crimes.
This is also true in the LGBTQ community. Since when it come to race politics Whiteness > Gayness. When #BlackLivesMatter held up PRIDE with a sit-in on Sunday, they were booed, had bottles thrown at them, dragged to hell in the media for "holding PRIDE hostage"...for 25 minutes. It took longer for me to get a taco at TacoFest or a rib at RibFest.
There were aggrieved White gay people coming out all over, asking why BLM was holding up "their" parade, not realizing (or perhaps not caring) that organizers of BLM are members of the LGBTQ community themselves.
Nor taking heed to the fact that the modern PRIDE movement started at STONEWALL, which was an uprising started by Black & Brown trans members of the LGBTQ community who were tired of...police harassment. Sound familiar?
THIS is the face of PRIDE: Poor. Black. Trans.
At the time, being an "out" trans woman of colour made one ripe for abuse by authorities. This is no different than Oklahoma cop Daniel Holtzclaw who systematically targeted poor Black women for rape because he knew in this society they would be the last one to get justice.
The fact of the matter is, far from "holding PRIDE hostage", #BlackLivesMatter embodied it's essence. Loud. In your face. Self affirming. Political...and not giving a fuck about your "feelings".
Far from perfectly sculpted queens in hot pants and holding waterguns, the face of PRIDE is one alot of people to this day are uncomfortable with and that's why what Black Lives Matter did was so vital.
KB