Pink-washing. Violence. Colonialism. White supremacy. A short list of things that the Vancouver Pride Society have chosen to value over the safety, security and comfort of Black queer and trans...
“Pink-washing. Violence. Colonialism. White supremacy.
A short list of things that the Vancouver Pride Society have chosen to value over the safety, security and comfort of Black queer and trans people.
Months of emotional labour by Black Lives Matter Vancouver presented the VPS with an opportunity to drastically unlearn anti-Blackness and shift the focus of their parade from institutions and corporations to real marginalized communities. Instead, they chose police. The Vancouver Pride Society has failed us.
Worse still, are the police themselves. Yes, we feel betrayed and angry with VPS but we understand that their ultimate goal is to plan events for the LGBTQ/2S community. The police, globally and locally, are an oppressive institution that have no place in a parade for marginalized groups.The Pride movement was created in opposition to the institution of policing due to the violence it inflicts on the LGBTQ/2S community. With a history of gay-bashing, bar raids, sexual assault and brutality against queer communities in Canada it really begs the question… WHY are the police so insistent on marching in the Pride parade?
Police, VPD or otherwise, are part of a white supremacist system that serves a state intent on criminalizing the most marginalized among us (Black, Indigenous, PoC, queer, trans, sex workers etc)
By participating in the Pride parade, they are simply infiltrating our safer spaces, gaining some people’s trust and turning us against one another
By donning rainbow feather boas and handing out free sunglasses, they are attempting to erase centuries of violence and convince certain communities that they are no longer to be feared…
… but they are! They are still killing us. They are still sexually assaulting us. They are still unlawfully and unjustly assaulting and detaining us. They are still making white neighbourhoods “safer” by erasing Black people. They are still throwing Black 16 year-old girls to the ground with a knee in her back. In 2017, they are still doing this.
Yet, queer communities are choosing police over queer & trans Black people. Because, by marching in pride parades and wearing rainbows (aka pinkwashing) they have successfully pulled the wool over people’s eyes and convinced organizations like the VPS to choose them over Black bodies.
Being white, being cisgender, or being straight allows many privileges but does not guarantee complete safety from institutions that are inherently violent. (Think, for example, how the VPD have not signed the Trans Equality Now campaign pledge - this impacts trans people regardless of race). Therefore, by allowing police to permeate our (purportedly) safe communities, we are all exposed to the dangers of their violence.
That’s why the police want to march - to retain ultimate control and domination of all citizens. This is a police state and no one is free from that fact.
This conversation should be one of civilians against police (VPD, RCMP, Corrections, Border Control) rather than “Pride vs Black Lives Matter”. Those institutions fail ALL of us and by supporting them (as VPS has done), we fail one another.
White supremacy today also lives under the guise of inclusion and dialogue: we were not involved in this decision-making. VPS did not contact us after our meeting on February 21. They chose to hold discussions about this decision only with police; a disappointing and exclusionary move. Further, the “LGBT Liaison” himself will be armed as he participates in the parade.
Nothing has changed under this decision except a few performative tweaks. Crafting the illusion of anti-racism & anti-oppression is easier than actually doing the work required to be anti-racist & anti-oppressive. Appeasing stakeholders and the violent armed wing of an illegitimate colonial state is more important to VPS than uplifting marginalized racialized (Black/PoC/Indigenous) queer people, even if framed otherwise. #NoPoliceinPride
“I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.” - James Baldwin”
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