Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Dear Lambert House Youth:
Lambert House LGBTQ Youth Center recognizes that racial, ethnic, class, educational, gender, sexual orientation, and other identities intersect in our youth, families, volunteers and paid staff. We also recognize that many of us in the Lambert House community experience multiple forms of oppression and privilege. That said, today I want to focus narrowly on the fact that Black LGBTQ+ Youth Matter.
In the last week we have collectively experienced two killings by police of Black people including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Tony McDade, a Black trans man in Tallahassee. Earlier in May the shooting deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Nina Pop, a Black trans woman, gained widespread attention. Numerous other trans women of color have been murdered in the U.S. this year. We also saw Christian Cooper, a Black, gay, Harvard-educated birdwatcher in Manhattan’s Central Park threatened by slanderous, race-baiting lies to the police fabricated by a white woman.
At the same time, Black people are experiencing disproportionate sickness and death from COVID-19. Black Americans have been traumatized for 400 years, but, particularly for Black people, the endless killings, especially by police who wield the power of the state, make this time an emotional burden, demoralizing, exhausting.
Lambert House stands in solidarity with our Black LGBTQ+ youth. We remain committed to being a space where you feel welcome and unafraid. We are committed to ending the systemic racism that Black people face daily in the world and the White Supremacy beliefs that fuel it. We recognize your right to live without fear of violence, discrimination, and prejudice and to be included fully in our programs.
To take decisive action to address the racial trauma and injustice that we continue to witness, and that people of color continue to experience, please register to vote. Exercise that most precious and defining right of a democracy - the right that gives each individual power - so that your elected officials will represent your values. The first way to enact laws that protect Black people and LGBTQ people is to vote. LGBTQ+ communities must make our voices heard by supporting racial and sexual minority affirming policies and politicians.
Also see the resources linked below to engage in anti-racist work and for people of color who are processing and feeling the weight of current events.
We urge youth and volunteers to reach out if Lambert House can help make you safer. If you would like us to create an online LGBTQ+ youth group specifically to help you process your thoughts and feelings about racial violence, please email brandon@lamberthouse.org to express your interest.
Take care of yourselves, and one another. Black LGBTQ+ Youth Matter.
-Ken
Ken Shulman, MPA
Executive Director
Lambert House LGBTQ Youth Center
(he/him/his)