Crime

Bay Area LGBT Community Proclaim “Black Lives Matter”

Published

10 years ago

December 31, 2014

Carrying black and white signs, adorned with pink triangles, members of the Bay Area Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community took to the streets on Christmas Eve to make a point that Black lives matter, all Black lives.

The protests briefly blocked Highway 101 at the Octavia Boulevard entrance with nearly 100 protesters chanting and holding signs that read silence = violence. Police followed the march down Market Street towards the Castro District closely behind on foot.

Janetta Johnson, who is a transgender leader, says she joined the protest because if Black men’s lives don’t matter, Black Transgender lives are thought of as even less.

“In our society there is a hierarchy of class and privilege,” said Johnson. “There have been a lot of unsolved murders towards Black and Brown transgender women and it seems nobody really cares.”

Janetta Johnson says if Black men’s lives don’t matter, then Black Transgender lives are thought of as even less”.

“Transgenders are being attacked for solely being transgender and being put in jail for only being victimized and protecting themselves.”

The transgender community is afraid of the police, said, Johnson explaining that if she were ever attacked, she would not call the police to protect her. “For what? To be further victimized? I came out to be visible, to say our lives matter.”

Samson McCormick, popular standup comedian, writer and activist who is openly gay, said that issues related to race and the history of police brutality against minorities, particularly Black folks, have gone on too long and have not been confronted in a manner that leads to change.

“Nobody knows the anxiety that it feels to be a Black person and have to interact with a police officer. We (can’t) just sit around and twiddle our thumbs hoping for some magical change – we have to be visible,” he said.

There will be a San Francisco Black Lives Matter Community Building Symposium at SF City College (So. East Campus: Alex Pitcher room) at 1800 Oakdale Ave., Sunday, Jan. 4 from noon to 3 p.m.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Related Topics:#blacklivesmatter crime lgbt Politics

Up Next

McElhaney Has the Backing to Become Next Council President

Don't Miss

Parade Honors Japanese-American WWII Vets Who Fought in Segregated Units

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

18 hours ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.