March 2005 Archives

Friday, March 25, 2005

6:30pm

Nostrand Ave Station (A/C Train)

This Friday, March 25th, 2005 there will be a candle light vigil held for the remembrance of Rashawn Brazell who was brutally murdered in February here in New York City.

The vigil is open to all who wish to attend and will be held at Nostrand Avenue Subway entrance at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, eastern standard time. No special speakers are expected or slated to be there, and nothing is required for those that want to be there and share in remembering Rashawn Brazell. Our prayers and thoughts and positive actions are in the hopes that we this may never again happen to any one, no matter who they are, at any time.

We propose at that time, to light one candle, in Rashawn Brazell's memory and saw a few words as we think about and offer hope to a better day and change in the way we live and how we live in our different but linked communities.

Please stop by and show your support in recognizing this one life ended due to violence and hatred in our world. You and your prayers can change things if we each of us come together as one.

For more information, email troynotorious@yahoo.com or rashawn@nysbgn.org.

Here's the only mention of Rashawn Brazell on Gothamist.

I signed into Typepad to post a comment there yesterday, but it curiously hasn't appeared. So, I'd like to present it here in it's entirety.

What, no appropriately non-copywrited cartoon image to associate with any one of the many Nicole duFresne-related articles? Well, now it's clear to me why: this article (and Gothamist's publisher Jake Dobkin's asinine assertion that the graphic "reports the facts of the story") pretty much eradicates any respect or admiration I had for Gothamist or its crew. It's like it's okay for you guys to dehumanize someone who's Black and gay because someone who's Asian wrote the story. That's more than enough to delete my bookmark; one less Black reader for you to offend.

I would wish you continued success, but ... *cues Celie's last words to Mister*

Another day, early morning
freshly scrubbed
put on lips
just a little too thick
I don't give a fuck
The moisture is locked, softening
and beautiful.

Besides, maybe he'll notice me
on the train, on the way to work
at work, across the counter, at lunch
eating
reapplying

He put on lips
Just a little too thick
But of course
It's a picture, honey
and a picture is forever.

Maybe he'll look back
at this yearbook
and see these lips
and remember to call me
on Valentine's Day
Mamma don't need to know yet
until he loves me.

Now it's been three weeks.
No one really knows you
or what you wanted
or what happened
oh, 19
took me 45 minutes to tell her
but how could she not know?
and you never had the chance
all they see is lips
not a face or life.

And all I can see in the faces
on the train, on the street
in Luke & Leroy's, on Adam4Adam
is your murderer.
Someone I wanted
who maybe wanted you
someone who has broken my heart.

Remember those limbs that transit workers found a couple of weeks ago in a Brooklyn subway tunnel? It looks like they belonged to a Black gay man named Rashawn Brazell. He was murdered and hacked apart; investigators are finding what may be his other body parts strewn all over Brooklyn. It's possible that the killer might also be a Black man. Police suggest that the precision used to cut Rashawn's body apart shows that the killer has some medical knowledge.

Related links:

• Brooklyn's 79th Precinct
• Councilmember Albert Vann of the 36th City Council District
• Gay City News: 1 | 2
• Newsday
• New York Times
• The Anti-Violence Project offers General Tips for Safe Dating
• About.com's Safe Gay Online Dating Tips
• Human Rights Campaign's Resource Guide to Coming Out for African Americans
• Know any other relevant resources? Please comment, trackback or send it to me ...