Pride Month and Black Lives Matter Solidarity Statement

dear beloved Caribbean LGBTQ+ community,

In 2020, we can still celebrate the liberties and merriment of PRIDE owing to the advocacy efforts of Black & Brown LGBTQ+ people protesting police brutality and discrimination against Black bodies.

In 1969, two Black and Brown Trans women, Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera decided, 51 years ago, to RISE UP and take a resolute stand against homophobia, transphobia, racism, and police brutality during the Stonewall riots. This is where the Queer and Trans Liberation movement was birthed, and even during a pandemic, we are still forging ahead in the fight for LGBTQ equity and racial justice.

What would have usually been a festive season of advocacy, Caribbean LGBTQ+ visibility, and renewed hope and pride, we are now collectively faced with one of the biggest challenges that we’ve ever encountered in this generation. Yet, we continue forward, together, on one accord as a Caribbean LGBTQ+ immigrant family towards equality and fair treatment for our most vulnerable community members.

To move forward, it would be remiss of us to neglect to remember that we are all together in this fight to become unchained from the shackles of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and to break down white supremacist barriers and obstacles to our Black and Brown Caribbean intersectional growth and progress.

We will also take this time to heal, open dialogue, and unshackle ourselves from the open wounds left behind by the abject disrespect and violence inflicted upon Black and Brown bodies since the colonizers uprooted us from our respective Mother Lands.

We stand in solidarity against racial and gendered violence, what supremacy, state-sanctioned violence, patriarchal systems of oppression, and mass incarceration in Black communities.

Thank you to our partners and allied organizations for the collective activism being done in New York City and around the world to advance the efforts of racial justice and equity in an imbalanced democracy (and whatever form your government appears in).  

The resistance continues, for this fight is NOT a sprint, but a marathon. And the marathon continues.

Take Pride in Being Counted! Complete your 202 Census: my2020census.gov.

Your Vote IS your Voice. Register to vote at WhenWeAllVote.org

If you live in New York, you are able to request an absentee ballot, which allows you to vote from home for the June 23rd primary. To request an absentee ballot, please visit https://www.elections.ny.gov/VotingAbsentee.html. If you live in New York City, you can request your absentee ballot online at nycabsentee.com. The deadline to request your absentee ballot is June 16th, 2020. Remember, we need to VOTE for leaders that will bring about needed social and racial justice changes.

Have questions? Phone us at (347) 709-3179 or email us info@CaribbeanEqualityProject.org.

To learn more about the Caribbean Equality Project & for regular updates on our work connect with us on YouTube, Twitter @CaribEquality and Facebook and Instagram at @CaribbeanEqualityProject.