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In reply to the discussion: Black Lives Matter Toronto stalls Pride parade [View all]Saviolo
(3,280 posts)And they acted like activists. I've got friends who were in the parade, and they were very annoyed at being held up for "what felt like an hour and a half." (but was really half an hour)
Pride is, and always has been a political event. It's a festival to fight against the erasure of queer space from the public eye. If you want a pretty good representation that Pride is still necessary, look at that ridiculous #heterosexualprideday hastag that went around Twitter recently, and also this article about the Dyke March in Toronto the day before the Pride Parade:
http://www.citynews.ca/2016/07/02/video-dyke-march-a-political-event-this-year-as-opposed-to-a-party-or-celebration/?show_id=0
See that headline that says the Dyke March will be political "this year?"
It's always been political.
Toronto doesn't have nearly the problems that I see in places like Florida, Missouri, etc... but POC are still being killed here. Sammy Yatim, Andrew Loku, and Jermaine Carby were all shot to death by police in situations that could have been handled differently. Andrew Loku's killer will not be charged: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/andrew-loku-siu-1.3498266
Sammy Yatim's killer is facing sentencing later this month.
Jermaine Carby's killer faced no misconduct charges, either: https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/05/10/inquest-into-jermaine-carby-sheds-light-on-police-shooting.html
Pride has always been a protest against those who would erase us (LGBT), so let LGBT POC protest, too. They've released a list of demands which is very strong, but that's only an opening position. Now comes meetings, and negotiations. They likely won't get everything they asked for, but it's important to make the attempt, to really get in there and work at it. Don't let an inconvenience of half an hour on a lovely sunny Pride day in Toronto overshadow the deaths of POC at the hands of police.