By Luis Meiners ISL United Estates
On the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, tens of thousands took the streets once more. The Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality brought back the spirit of rebellion against oppression and the state institutions that enforce it. Pride and rebellion took the streets. The call to defund, disarm and dismantle the police, and for Black Trans Lives were the most widespread demands of the march.
The march was organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition which stands in the tradition of the Stonewall uprising, understanding that Pride has always been a protest against a system of oppression. The Coalition calls to march “against the exploitation of our communities for profit and against corporate and state pinkwashing, as displayed in Pride celebrations worldwide, including the NYC Pride Parade.” And has a complete program against all forms of oppression and economic inequality.
In a situation marked by the rebellion against systemic racism, the struggle against the institutions that enforce oppression has come to the forefront of demands. This has taken particularly the form of a massive nationwide rebellion that demands the immediate defunding of the police, and aims towards its dismantling. In this sense, the march demanded “a fifty percent reduction in the NYPD budget with a fifty percent reduction in the police force. Those funds must be dedicated to services including housing, healthcare, education and reparative and restorative justice for Black and Brown communities.”
The right wing agenda of Trump´s government has included an assault on the rights that the LGBT community has gained through decades of struggle. The most recent example of this is a direct attack on Trans people. Trump rolled back on a rule that prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender identity in healthcare. Trans Black Women are faced with the most brutal forms of oppression. On June 15 tens of thousands of people took to the streets around the country, with a huge rally in Brooklyn, for Black Trans Lives, following the murder of two Black Trans Women, Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells, 27, of Philadelphia, and Riah Milton, 25, of Cincinnati, Ohio. This was also one of the central demands of today’s march.
These recent massive actions confirm that a new situation is developing. The ongoing rebellion has radicalized thousands. It is a moment to fight back against all forms of oppression. We must continue the struggle against the institutions that enforce them, fighting to disarm, defund and dismantle the police. To end oppression we have to fight against the capitalist system reproduces them. This is an exceptional moment to get organized for this goal.
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