“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

― Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

No truer words have ever been spoken, guys, and it’s officially Pride Month 2020 starting today so there’s no time like the present to talk about injustice and inequality albeit of the race variety in light of what is happening in the US right now. 

What’s that got to do with the LGBT community, you ask? 

It’s because we have African-American LGBTQ brothers and sisters and if we actually look closely, we’ll find that whether it’s about injustices, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination, or racism, we’re all in this together. In spite of the many things that differentiate us, be it the color of our skin, our socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, the continents and oceans that keep us physically apart, each one of us is not a separate entity, but rather we are part of the same fundamental whole. 

This is why Adam4Adam blog will dedicate this first week of pride month to the black LGBTQ community and allies by celebrating and highlighting the lives of important black LGBTQ people and allies in our community.

Adam4Adam blog readers who do not know yet what is happening right now, George Floyd protests are currently raging in the US. If you are unaware of the incident and have been staying away from the news and social media lately, George Floyd was a 46-year-old African-American who died last Monday, May 25, 2020, in the hands of a Minneapolis Park police officer. 

Multiple reports said that several Minneapolis Park police officers who were responding to a 911 call arrested Mr. Floyd on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill which the latter allegedly used to buy a pack of cigarettes at Cup Foods, a convenience store in south Minneapolis. One of the officers named Derek Chauvin—who had since then been fired (including three other police officers who responded) and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter—kneeled on Mr. Floyd’s neck as he was pinned chest down to the ground. Mr. Floyd, who was already handcuffed, was unarmed and could be heard pleading repeatedly, saying, “Please,” “I can’t breathe,” “Mama,” “Don’t kill me,” and “I’m about to die.” 

In the video shown above, it can be seen that “Chauvin kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.” According to the copy of the complaint that CNN had gotten ahold of, “Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for three full minutes after Floyd stopped moving and nearly two minutes after he apparently ‘ceas[ed] to breathe or speak.'” Further, the complaint said that “another officer even checked Floyd’s wrist for a pulse and said he couldn’t find one—and yet Chauvin still did not immediately move.” 

Today marks the first week since Mr. Floyd’s senseless and tragic death. The incident has sparked demonstrations demanding justice not only across the United States but on the streets of London, Berlin, and Toronto as well. Emotions are running high and the outraged citizens have already had enough. Mr. Floyd, after all, is just “the latest in a too-long list of black men and women who have died at the hands of white police officers.” 

There was 12-year-old Tamir Rice who was shot by officer Timothy Loehmann while “throwing snowballs and playing with a toy pellet gun in a Cleveland park” on November 22, 2014. And on March 13, 2020 at around 1AM in Louisville, Kentucky, police barged into the home of 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor and shot her 8 times. According to a lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family, the officers—who were serving a “no-knock warrant” to search for illegal drugs—arrived in her apartment in “plainclothes and unmarked cars and did not announce themselves.”

Adam4Adam Team was shaken to hear the news and would like to send our sympathy to the family, friends, and everyone in the African-American community. You are an important part of A4A and please know that you are in our hearts and prayers. Please know that while we live on the other side of the world, we are with you in spirit. We see you, we hear you, we feel you.   

We would also like to take this time to remind everyone that racism is not tolerated here on Adam4Adam. We have a zero tolerance policy on racism which means that racist users will be instantly banned on our platform. You can report them by simply providing us with the details of the racist incident and by clicking the “report this user” button on the person’s profile so that our team can quickly investigate and take the appropriate action. 

Having said all that, those who want to support the Black Lives Matter movement may check here to find out what you can do to help the cause.

We would like to finish this post with another quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Adam4Adam Team would like to wish you all peace, safety, good health, and love wherever you are in the world. Send light and love, guys, light and love.

Happy Pride Month 2020, y’all!

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