Entries from March 2005 ↓

It’s that time of year again! College basketball championship season. And as a Syracuse alum, it couldn’t be starting off any better.

Hakim Warrick (pictured) had 20 points and 13 rebounds — his third double-double in three games — as the No. 16 Orange won the Big East tournament for the first time since 1992 with a 68-59 victory over West Virginia on Saturday night.

Warrick, the conference player of the year, was selected the tournament MVP.

The third-seeded Orange (27-6) won their fourth Big East tournament title under coach Jim Boeheim in 12 championship game appearances.

The loss at Madison Square Garden ended a history-making run for West Virginia (21-10), the first No. 8 seed to ever reach the championship game. No team had ever won four games to take the title and the Mountaineers fell one game short in winning their first conference championship since winning the Atlantic 10 in 1984.

West Virginia had never gotten past the quarterfinal round before this season. But by advancing to the Big East championship, they just may have played their way into the NCAA tournament.

Sunday, the field of 64 is announced. I’ll have an update in the sports section then.

19-year-old Found Hacked to Death in Brooklyn and
30-year-old Murderer of Sakia Gunn Accepts Plea Bargain

WASHINGTON, DC (March 10, 2005) – The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s Black gay civil rights organization, mourns the death of Rashawn Brazell, a 19-year-old Brooklyn resident whose body was grotesquely hacked apart and found in several pieces across Brooklyn last month. Investigators have not classified the Brazell murder as a hate crime and are still searching for a suspect.

February 17, a transit authority maintenance worker found two legs and an arm stuffed in a bloody plastic bag jammed against the tunnel wall of a subway track in Brooklyn.

An aspiring Web designer who lived on Gates Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant with his parents, the young man left on the morning of Valentine’s Day, ostensibly for a meeting with a tax preparer and never returned.

Investigators have not classified the Brazell murder as a hate crime and are still searching for a suspect.

Last week, the killer of 15-year-old Newark teen Sakia Gunn, was allowed to plead down from a murder charge to aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and bias intimidation. Richard McCullough was charged with the 2003 stabbing death of Gunn as she and a 17-year-old friend waited for a bus after spending the evening hanging out in Greenwich Village. McCullough had made unwelcome passes. The girls responded that they were lesbians and not interested, which prompted the men to begin hurling homophobic insults. The argument escalated and McCullough grabbed one of the girls around the neck, he said. McCullough stabbed Gunn once in the chest when she came to the girl’s defense.

“The perpetrators of violent anti-gay hate crimes seek to divide us from the American family,” said NBJC Strategic Director H. Alexander Robinson. “These terrorist want to send a message to society that devalues our lives. We must reject their message of hate and send a clear message of our own. Congress and our nation’s legislators must ensure that all state and federal hate crimes laws protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.”

“It’s unfortunate and sad that these types of crimes occur,” commented Sonya Shields, New York board member of NBJC. “However, it’s important that like the deaths of Matthew Shepard and Brandon Teena, that we talk about this in our communities and began to look at and address the issues that contributed to these deaths, including homophobia.”

According to a report released in November by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, antagonism toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability prompted crimes against 9,100 victims during 2003. Hate Crime Statistics, 2003, showed that all but 4 of the incidents were classified as single-bias (involving only one bias motivation). A breakdown of the single-bias incidents by the type of bias revealed that 51.4 percent were motivated by racial bigotry and 16.6 percent were the result of a sexual-orientation bias. Among the 14 bias-motivated murders reported by law enforcement, 6 homicides were committed because of a sexual-orientation bias and 5 were the result of racial prejudice.

Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have laws against hate crimes. Of those, twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have hate crimes statutes that specifically cover crimes based on the real or perceived sexual orientation of the victim. Seven of those states and the District of Columbia also cover gender identity.

About the National Black Justice Coalition

The National Black Justice Coalition is a civil rights organization of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and our allies dedicated to fostering equality by fighting racism and homophobia. The Coalition advocates for social justice by educating and mobilizing opinion leaders, including elected officials, clergy, and media, with a focus on Black communities.

More interested in solutions than just verbalizing my outrage, I spent part of today thinking of what else can be done to raise the level of public awareness about the murder of Rashawn Brazell and create the type of dynamic tension needed to get authorities to agressively pursue this case. I’ve came up with five ideas.

1. Write to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. I firmly believe you should start at the top and work your way down when trying to get people to pay attention to you. This is an election year and politicians get nervous when large constituencies raise their voices. Let’s make him nervous.

2. Write to NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. Police brass also jump when groups of people question their effectiveness.

Here’s the email I sent to Bloomberg and modified for Kelly.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I would like to know the status of the police investigation into the murder of Rashawn Brazell, the 19 year old Black gay Brooklyn man whose dismembered remains were found in the subway tunnel along the A train line in mid-February.

As a tax paying resident of this city who also happens to be a Black gay man, I was at first shocked and saddened by this senseless killing, but also disheartened by the fact that since the initial news accounts of the case, little else has been reported. I hope this is not indicative of a lack of urgency about this case by the NYPD, and hope you will provide me with some assurance to the contrary.

There are a great many people in this city who want to believe that the lives of murdered Black teens are as valuable as those of murdered aspiring actresses and that the New York City Police Department will investigate this death as vigorously.

3. Write to Fernando Ferrer and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. Besides being prominent public officials, they are both running for mayor against Bloomberg. A flood of letters to both a) keeps pressure on Bloomberg in fear of this becoming a campaign issue, and b) lets them both know there is a sizeable constituency they need to be aware of if they want to win. (Freddie Ferrer already knows we exist. We endorsed him last time he ran.)

4. Tell everyone you know about this case. Especially people outside our community. This can’t just be a Black gay issue. A horrible, violent act has been committed against another human being and everyone should understand how terrible it is.

5. Organize a reward fund. If everyone who has blogged about this or commented on a blog, contributed $50-100, we’d easily have several thousand dollars. That money might get someone to come forward with information. It would of course be given only to the person providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of Brazell’s assailant, to keep crackpots and money grubbers from calling in phony information.

Finally, it is important for all of us to realize our own vulnerability to violent crimes, whether they are hate crimes or the result of unsafe dating practices. Despite what some people think, this is not a time to go back into hiding or live life even more on the DL. Instead we need to be visible and more open about our lives, so people know we’re everywhere and aren’t going away.

You can’t defeat an enemy hiding in a closet. And no one will be able to come to your aid if you’re creaping around. Letting other people fight the fight you should be a part of is cowardice under fire. We all have a stake in this.

“When they came for the communists, I was silent, because I was not a communist;
When they came for the socialists, I was silent, because I was not a socialist;
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest, because I was not a trade unionist;
When they came for the Jews, I did not protest, because I was not a Jew;
When they came for me, there was no one left to protest on my behalf.”

Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

Much is being written across the blogosphere about the brutal, savage murder and dismemberment of a young Black gay man, Rashawn Brazell. Body parts of this outgoing, well-liked 19 year old were found in mid-February by New York City Transit workers along subway tracks in Brooklyn. Police believe he may have been going to meet someone possibly met on the Internet, although his mother has told reporters he was going to have his tax returns done. Friends who knew Brazell are distraught not only over the senseless manner of his death and the loss of someone they knew to be kind and caring, but over the larger issue of society’s seeming indifference to this story.

Ironically, just days ago, the killer of 15 year old Newark, NJ teen Sakia Gunn, was allowed to plea bargain down from a murder charge to aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and bias intimidation. Richard McCullough was charged with the 2003 stabbing death of Gunn as she and a 17 year old friend waited for a bus around 3:30 am, after spending the evening hanging out in Greenwich Village. The now 30 year old McCullough made unwelcome passes at them. They told him they were lesbians. Perhaps he felt his manhood called into question.

What seems to bother most people about these two cases, in addition to the loss of our Black lesbian and gay sisters and brothers, is that as far as most of the mainstream media is concerned, they were barely a blip on the radar screen. This is especially true in the wake of other similar murders that occurred which seemed to garner far more media attention.

When Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old White gay man, was brutally beaten and left for dead in a Wyoming pasture in 1998, it drew nationwide attention. Documentaries, a stage play, print and television articles were produced and now a foundation has been established in his name. By comparison, the Sakia Gunn murder just five years later, was seen mostly as a local news story, getting just a fraction of the national attention and only sporadic local news coverage.

When 28 year old aspiring actress and Minnesota native Nicole duFresne was killed by a gang of teenagers on a New York street in January, it was just the sort of story the media thrives on. She died in her boyfriend’s arms and the combination of a love story, mixed with urban violence, ending in tragic death, was too good for them to pass up. The story was front page news for days, right up to the capture of her assailants. The glare of the media spotlight no doubt contributed to a quick resolution of this case.

No one is discounting the pain felt by the families and friends of Shepard and duFresne over their loss. Our sense of outrage is not directed at them. But it is aimed at a news media that continually places Black lives on the back pages, dismissing our deaths as somehow attributable to an unhealthy “lifestyle” or just “the ills of the inner city” and thus we should all move on.

Despite claims at diversification, the newsrooms of America’s newspapers, television and radio stations are still overwhelmingly middle-aged, middle class, White and male. The daily decisions about what is news are evaluated through the prism of their life experiences, values and world perspective. When Nicole duFresne was gunned down senselessly, they no doubt thought, “That could have been my daughter.” The amount of space devoted to her story was proportionate to the amount of sympathy they felt towards the victim.

Conversely, when Rashawn Brazell’s remains turned up in plastic garbage bags, and the theory of the case raised the possibility this may have been the tragic result of a gay liaison gone awry, those same news decision-makers may have looked at it dispassionately. Subconsciously their thoughts may have been, “I can’t relate to this and doubt my readers will either,” and it became a one-day story.

To swing the pendulum the other way, to get people who are not from our community to care and report on our lives, requires that we care enough to raise the issue. Regardless of what they may feel personally, news reporters and editors will always respond to a large and visible public outcry. Letters to the Editor, phone calls, faxes, emails, press conferences, demonstrations, marches and rallies are all legitimate news events they can’t ignore.

Most of what appears in your daily newspaper is the result of someone making a concerted effort to get the story in there. Government, corporate and private public relations professionals, lobbyists, organized community groups, and others with a vested interest in the subject matter, have editors’ names and numbers on speed dial.

If we want the world to know and care about the lives of Sakia Gunn, Rashawn Brazell and other things going on in our community, we must learn how to work the media as expertly as everyone else. We have an obligation and responsibility to be a constant presence in the minds of news editors. We must let them know that we won’t go away and demand to have our stories told.

Below is a list of the leading news organizations in New York City, with links to how to contact the editors, news directors and assignment editors. Use this list. Snail mail is the best way, but regardless of how you contact them, doing something is better than doing nothing.

Newspapers

New York Times
Daily News
NY Post
Newsday
New York Sun
Village Voice
AM New York
Amsterdam News
New York Blade
Gay City News

Television

NY1
WCBS Channel 2
WNBC Newschannel 4
WNYW FOX 5
WABC7
WWOR UPN9
WPIX WB11

Radio

WBGO 88.3FM
WNYC
WQHT Hot97
WRKS 98.7KISS-FM
WBAI
WBLS 107.5 FM
WCBS Newsradio 880
1010 WINS

Keep political pressure on the Brazell case as well. He lived in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, which is in the 36th City Council District. Albert Vann is the Councilmember. Contact him. Demand action.

Rod asked:

1. Favorite college hoops team and why?

Surely you jest? There is only one team we root for, and have rooted for, since our undergraduate days some 27 years ago. The 2003 National Champions from the best damn conference in college basketball.

2. Your favorite actor and role?

Such a list would be far too numerous to mention them all. There are dozens of actors from film, television and the theatre whose work I have loved in various roles. Some of them influenced my decision to act, others just delight me every time I watch them. The late Jack Lemmon was my all-time favorite. He could do comedy and drama equally well, a rarity among performers. On stage, Phylicia Rashad and Viola Davis never give bad performances. Never.

3. Your ideal role. Why?

I’ve always wanted to play Gitlow in Purlie, the role that made Sherman Hemsley famous on Broadway. I’d also like to play Sgt. Waters in A Soldier’s Play and I might even be old enough to play Sam in Master Harold…and the boys although I’d probably get cast as Willie. There may also be a Walter Lee Younger in me just so I could say I did it, and I’d kill to be on The Wire.

Bonus question:

3a. Who would be your dream director?

Anybody that understands actors and acting and can guide and support without being overly dogmatic. The wrong director can be a nightmare.

And who said you get to ask a bonus question?

Lashundra asked:

1. What’s your favorite food to eat?

Another hard to answer question. The short answer is I eat everything except Mexican food (I just find it uninteresting). But I love seafood in all its derivations, in any cuisine, especially lobster, shrimp, mussels, scallops, flounder, striped bass, and swordfish.

2. Do you have any goals that you have set and have completed, if so what are they?

Yeah. My 11 year full-time acting career was an example. I’d wanted to be an actor since I was a little kid, but allowed well-meaning adults to steer me towards a “sensible career.” Once I was able to shed myself of a 9-5, I pursued it with a fair amount of success and fun. My present pursuit of a culinary education is another one. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time too and last year enrolled in school and now I’m nearing the end. The next goals are to start my food service business (not entirely sure in what area though), buy a house, and maybe even adopt.

3. What’s your weakness?

Depends on what you mean by weakness. If you mean what am I not good at, I have no head for numbers. Never ask me to do your books, they won’t come out balanced.

If you mean weakness as in faults, I’m incredibly lazy. I can procrastinate all day long. Then right before the deadline I spring into action. I don’t know why I put myself through that stress.

If you mean weakness as in something that has complete control over me, it’s Edy’s Whole Fruit Sorbet and Whole Fruit Juice Bars.

The LoveHater asked:

1. Where would you go for a Fantasy Vacation?

I don’t take a lot of vacations and haven’t really been a whole lot of places. The simple answer is, I’d just like to be able to sleep late again, but I know that is a fantasy.

Some part of me would like to visit England, China and South Africa, but I don’t feel pressed to make any of them happen.

2. If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

I think I already live there. I’ve spent my entire life a resident of New York State and can’t see any other place I’d rather call home. After last year’s elections, there’s a whole red section of the country that just doesn’t appeal to me for political reasons. I can’t see living in a place that has no respect for who I am as a human being. For all its faults, New York (the state, not the city) has a more tolerable climate. But I am not a big city person by temperament and so I’ll probably be moving back upstate when I get business plans in order.

3. What unconventional place would you/have you had sex?

I’m fairly conventional as sex goes, and with whom is more important to me than where. But in the past, on the New York State Thruway. I was driving at the time.

Do not try that at home.

Thank you all for playing.