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 ...
damn. is gay dating ever going to be safe though?
I don’t hang out in the blogosphere much, but I’ve been catching up on some of the online conversation of the past three weeks about Rashawn Brazell’s murder. I’m humbled by folks’ depth of feeling and passion for action, and proud of the leadership folks like Troy and Bernie have been taking in creating vehicles for folks to respond. I was chatting with Larry Lyons today, as I have with Bernie, Steven and Troy at different points since the murder, and he suggested I make the rounds of the Black Gay blogs to answer Steven’s question, that’s been re-posted on a few sites, about what the New York State Black Gay Network and other groups are doing. The short answer is: some of the same things folks in the blogosphere have.
One group said they reached out to the family and did early advocacy with the precinct, others are thinking of making Rashawn’s murder and dating safety the focus of upcoming programs, another wants to make a contribution to the family, another has been monitoring patterns of anti-LGT violence along the Fulton St. corridor for some time.
One particular idea staff at NYSBGN have been floating to organizations like ALP, AVP, BMX, GMAD and POCC and to some of you is to convene a large community meeting in Brooklyn (LIU and Restoration are two ideas, the latter is in Al Vann’s district) one Friday evening in early April. The meeting would provide a space for us to connect with each other around our grief and anger, and for those in the know to provide accurate updates on Rashawn’s death and the police investigation. It would also be a place for community members to share and organizations and leaders to listen to ideas and concerns about what the murder means and whether it’s connected to other stuff, and to discuss what the best kinds of community responses might be and get started on some of them. Coming together in large numbers will also increase the political pressure on elected officials and the Police Department folks have been talking about. It could also be an opportunity to demonstrate our concern to and build a relationship with the family. Finally, it might be a place to do education about dating and street safety.
Colin Robinson, New York State Black Gay Network
i think this is a really sad thing and i live in califorina and i didnt know anything about it. Its jacked up how people fuck with gay/bi people. Does it make straight people seem tough?
I’m an exhibiting visual artist who deals with Black male incarceration, the American penal system, and issues that deal with Black Americans and our relationship to the American justice system in my work. I’m very interested in speaking with Rashawn’s family and friends, regarding the case, and lack of attention its receiving for an installation that I’m interested in creating. There is no exhibition date as of yet for this piece, but I believe strongly that the lack of attention Rashawn’s case is receiving is reflective, and endemic of a larger problem of our relationship with the law and the lack of attention families like the Brazell’s receive when their families are in crisis. duronjackson@yahoo.com for any family member or friend who may want to discuss this with me.