HRC’s Joe Solmonese came out to fight for the Jena Six.
Speaking at which included Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in DC, Solmonese pledged his allegiance to the six youths jailed for their alleged a racially explosive fight:
My name is Joe Solmonese and I represent the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization in the country. Am I am here — we are all here from the Human Rights Campaign — because this injustice cannot stand.
We are here because we know about bigotry. We know about hate. We know the pain in high school of standing apart. Of being taunted. Of standing up, only too often, to be shut down.
…
And I am here because I remember. I remember James Byrd. James was a gentle soul, a special soul. Someone who struggled his whole life with challenges, but was filled with love and was deeply loved in Jasper, Texas.But James Byrd — at 49 — was savagely beaten, then chained to a pickup truck and literally dragged to his death. He was brutally murdered because he was black.
…
So, I stand here today with solidarity. I stand here for social justice. I stand here to free those young men. To say this will not stand. It cannot stand. I stand here for the Jena 6. I stand here today for James Byrd.We will not forget. We will never walk away.
Until the next big civil rights event.
HRC Director of Diversity Donna Payne went to Jena for today’s rally with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
mozzer13
I have to say I’m glad to see any major gay presence at rallies for racial justice. We have a bad habit of not realizing that we’re all in this together. I don’t think this very often, but good for the HRC.
Leland Frances
And the Jena Six and everyone in the state of Louisiana can expect a request for money from Joey and the Human Rights Champagne fund in their maleboxes tomorrow. And another one next month, and the month after that, and the month after that, and….
http://www.queersighted.com/2007/09/18/an-open-letter-to-joe-solmonese-and-the-human-rights-campaign/
hisurfer
More bipolar thoughts from this corner.
1) I’m glad HRC is there. I do believe in solidarity. This is a good thing.
and yet …
2) Shit like “We know the pain of standing apart … We remember James …. (he) was filled with love … we stand here for James” makes me cringe on multiple levels.
Leland Frances
Maleboxes? What was I thinking? Clive Owen in a Speedo maybe….
Dawster
you know… that kid DID get beat up… and he got beat up by SOMEONE.
(but i totally think the “attempted murder” charges are not only inflated, but the result of racism… the beaten-up kid went to a school function later that evening. if he were any man, he would come out and say “these guys beat me up, but i never felt they were trying to murder me… charge them appropriately and stop this madness!!” but he hasn’t… and he won’t)
Jack Jett
Folks should realize that this kid got the shit beat out of him and Rev Alice Sharpton wants all the charges dropped.
Secondly, black evangelicals or just as fucking homophobic as James Dobson and Pat Robertson.
Lastly, how much you bet, Solomese never mentioned the gay word.
It would be one thing if we all worked together but this is just a tad one sided.
Jack Jett
Dawster
i’m glad you mentioned that Jack Jett… because i was thinking i was the only one who thought that dropping all the charges was JUST as racist as the trumped up charges were.
mozzer13
Considering that charges were not filed against the racist assholes who hung the nooses in the schoolyard, nor were charges filed against the white kids who beat the crap out of one of the black football players who dared show up at a mostly white party, I don’t think dropping the charges against these kids is entirely unreasonable considering that they’ve already done a considerable amount of jail time for getting in a school fight.
afrolito
I think they want the ATTEMPTED MURDER charges dropped, which is not unreasonable. This was a school fight involving kids, and should have been handled that way. Also as someone else stated, the victim attended a school function later that night. How many attempted murder victims party later in the evening??
It’s great that the HRC was there, but isn’t that there function anyway? The HR does stand for Human Rights.
Jack Jett
afrolito
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are the Spinal Tap of black politics.
Remember Al Sharpton promised to pay for the college education of the African American dancer that lied about the Duke LaCrosse players raping her. He said that it didn’t matter if she lied or not. What sort of message does that send?
If six men beat the shit out of me, I would want the prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, no matter what color they were. I saw the photos of the cuts and bruises and what the fuck difference does it make if he went to a party that night…….Maybe he needed cheering up or the support of friends.
An NO…the HRC should not take the money from gay and lesbians and then go and support homophobic black evangelicals.
I think we are all equal and no matter what color your skin might be doesn’t put you above the law.
Now Al, Jesse and Joe whose need for attention out weighs common sense, go to this city, stirs up shit and then leaves behind a mess for the folks there to clean up.
Jack Jett
hisurfer
“the HRC should not take the money from gay and lesbians and then go and support homophobic black evangelicals.” Stop this. Now. How did you find “homophobic black evangelicals” in this story? Are you still stuck on black=anti-gay? If you are you are playing into the right wing’s game of presenting that gay=anti-black. Karl Rove would love you, ’cause you’re singing his song.
BillieXX
Jack,
Shit was stirred up in Jena way before Sharpton and Jackson got involved. Don’t let your dislike of those two color your perceptions about this case.
The bare minimum we should be able to agree on is that the attempted murder charge is a wee bit suspect.
BillieXX
Jack,
“the HRC should not take the money from gay and lesbians and then go and support homophobic black evangelicals.”
Where are the “homophobic black evangelicals” in the Jena Six story? Don’t let your disdain for Jackson and Sharpton to misread a case that has a whole lot of questions (an attempted murder charge?).
afrolito
Whenever black people are mentioned on this site, the term “homophobic black eveangelicals” is sure to follow.
I could give two shits about Rev Al or Jesse. This story is about 6 black kids who are being destroyed because of a fucking SCHOOL FIGHT. Having them punished for beating someone is one thing, but charging them with ATTEMPTED FUCKING MURDER is more than overreaching.
BillieXX
Afrolito,
Yes, some commentators like to throw out the “homophobic black evangelicals” everyday; however, that doesn’t mean the editors of the site are taking it there (unless the phrase fits).
Dawster
we’ll see next time you’re gay-bashed… you might think something different, afrolito.
but SOMETHING is unfair in this town – that is obvious… and that i TOTALLY get.
Heather_L_James
Ok, let’s do a little math people. Those of us in the TLGB (I’m putting the “T” first, damn it, because NOBODY ever does) need all the additional support we can get. In case you havent noticed we just, in 2007, cracked 50% in overall support from the rest of the country according to the latest polls. That means that nearly half of Americans still think being gay or bi or trans is either functionally or fundamentally wrong.
If Joe Solomonese speaking up for the six kids who are being woefully over-charged in this case can garner the support of more people in the African-American community, or anywhere for that matter, then it is a very good thing. We are still in the changing hearts and minds stage, folks. If others see us standing by their side in times of crisis, it is more than likely they will stand behind us when the time comes.
GLBT equality is just one front in a larger war against the oppression of minorities, and we must remember that. The male, white, hetero, christian persons are not the majority in this country, but they retain power because the rest of us are divided. In this war we need all the allies we can find.
Jack Jett
My point is that there is no difference between black or white evangelicals. This is a divisive story, just as the (old) O.J. Simpson story.
Jim Naugle is Florida is supported by black evangelicals.
I must be missing something in this story as I seem to be the only one out of the loop.
I thought a kid got the shit beat out of him. He is the victim. He did not have the power to do anything but prosecute He did. Perhaps some people in Jena who could be bitter about Rev Al bringing down folks to protest and leave their city in a mess. Perhaps they might see Joe Solomese (if he opened up about being gay and I doubt that) as someone that was sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.
I live in the South. We can take care of our selves without Joe, Al and Jesse.
If you want to find out how homophobic black (and white)evangelicals can be, just look up the COGIC, the Church of God in Christ, and you will see.
Where is Joe Solomese with regards to Ja Rule, Issiah Washington?
I agree something is fucked up all the way around with this story. I just think these guys fucked up the town and made it more divided than it was before.
You must ask yourself, why are there so many black republicans? I think (and I could be wrong as many here think) it is due to evangelical homophobic thinking….just like James Dobson…etc etc. Sadly homophobia is color blind.
Last post on this topic for me. I have too many friends of color and have fought too hard to get funding for HIV medications for those people of color that are financially strapped. I don’t want to be painted as any sort of racist for not agreeing with this situation.
Jack Jett
Bill Perdue
Jack Jett, I promise not to accuse you of anything except not having all the facts. From what I’ve read the little asshole that got beat was part of a group that hung nooses, a gentle reminder about ‘ Strange fruit on a Southern tree’ in a ‘white only’ area to frighten an African American student.
Second I’d like you to think back over the sea change in the thinking African Americans about racism – they now vehemently and often physically oppose it. If you agree with most of the world that bigots are dangerous filth maybe that will explain the Jena Six. (Now after all that I just hope I had my facts st… um correct.)
Jesse Jackson is backward on GLBT rights but his days of walking into a situation and declaring “Your leader is here†are long gone. He mislaid his potential 30 years ago wallowing in the swamp of the Democratic and Republican Party. Al Sharpton, on the other hand, makes mistakes but learns from them and has a growing influence. He’s not shy about telling people he doesn’t ‘care who slept with who, as long as they’ve got a job to go to when they wake up.’ I like his working class approach and hope he’s clear about Jackson’s failure before he gets trapped. I can think of plenty of people better than Joe Solmonese to represent us but I’m glad some one did. Before out fight is won we’re going to need allies in other communities stung by bigotry and discrimination, unions, and the antiwar movement. We should all urge the gays press and our blogs will pick up on cases where we can intervene so someone actually with a spine can deliver our message of solidarity. (This blog has plenty of stories but many have none.)
And just as importantly, so we can reach out and make friends and allies, and learn stuff, like not all African American evangelicals are bigots bought and paid for by Republican bribes. Some are, some aren’t. We work with our friends where we can find them with out dismissing them before meeting them.
afrolito
Jack Jett, wtf are you smoking?
1. Rev Al and Jesse are not dividing Jena any more than it was already. Like most southern towns, it’s a racist backwater. Just today a CNN reporter stated how they were called “colored”, and had a shotgun pointed at them.
2. The “victim” was part of a group that hung nooses from trees. Hmm, I wonder why?
3. I had no idea there so many black republicans, since I don’t know any in my circle.
Dawster
“we’ll see next time you’re gay-bashed… you might think something different, afrolito.”
What is that supposed to mean? Since when does a school fight equal attempted murder? These are peoples lives on the line, not selective semantics.
wjpugliese
Jack Jett:
1. If you actually read Solomonese’s transcript you would see that he immediately identifies himself as the leader of “the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization.”
2. What black Republicans? 90 percent of blacks voted for John Kerry for President as opposed to only 70 percent of gays.
3. Sure, maybe the kids should be charged with something (i.e. battery) but certainly not with attempted murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison. Were the white kids that beat up the black student charged with anything? Were the students who hung nooses from a tree? Absolutely not.
4. Don’t give me that shit about how hard you’ve worked for “people of color” and getting “them” HIV meds. That’s just as trite as the ever amusing…”I can’t be a racist, because I have a black friend.”
5. All your post really is is a coded attack against blacks because you feel that “they” are monolithically homophobic. I guarantee that if you had ever actually spoken to a black person you would be amazed to find that they, shock of shocks, actually have individual opinions and perspectives and are not monolithically anything.
Jack Jett
afrolita
I apologize if I have somehow offended you with any of my comments.
Just a bit of background. I grew up in a small town in Texas. My parents both picked cotton and shucked corn and were not able to afford schooling. My parents worked side by side with many black people. I have seen the ugliness of racism as much as a white person can.
I haven’t been to Jena, but if it is like the small towns that visit in Texas, the racial issues are the same as they are in a large city…just on a smaller scale. My mother is now in a senior’s home that is mostly black.
So let me just leave it like this. No matter what I am smoking, I don’t dig evangelicals. I think religion is the root of all evil. I don’t give a fuck if that evangelical is black, white,
or sterling silver……….most, I have found are homophobic. That is just my finding……
I don’t know any of the folks in Jena so I retract anything I have said about the situation there. I thank you Bill for correcting me in a kind way.
Afrolito….You ask of Dawster…..when does a school fight equal attempted murder? ask this question, when does any fight that has a 6 to 1 ratio equal attempted murder? I would think the answer is…..when the victim survives it is attempted…..if they die, it is a murder.
Jack Jett
Jack Jett
Again, I obviously have not explained myself here and I am in a no win situation.
I guess it is bash Jack day because this comment….
4. Don’t give me that shit about how hard you’ve worked for “people of color†and getting “them†HIV meds. That’s just as trite as the ever amusing…â€I can’t be a racist, because I have a black friend.â€
is offensive as hell and to you I say Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, because that is a slap in the face I don’t need.
Read these post and let me know where I have personally offended any of you and then look at the ranting you gave me.
I must assume that one must not speak ill of Joe Solomese on this blog.
Then to further insult me..you say “if I ever spoke to a black person” and my post are “coded attacks against black people”….
So far from the truth and so fucking offensive.
I don’t think my verbiage has ever been so misunderstood and it seems the more I try to explain it, the more verbal bashing I get.
I think I have apologized 3 times for any misunderstanding.
Jack
Heather_L_James
Here we go with the divisiveness, “The Man” wins again.
This isn’t about color or gender or orientation, it is about standing up for what is right, regardless of any false karass (read your Vonnegut) to which we assign ourselves. Before all of us are straight, gay, trans, black, white, muslim, christian, hindu, American, Irish, Polish, Democrat or Repuplican we are humans first.
There is serious inequity in the way the white students in Jena were dealt with when compared to the black students. Turn the tables, what if instead of black the students were gay? What if the hetero students attacked a gay student, then spray painted the side of the school with “kill all queers”? What if a group of gay students responded by attacking one of their tormentors, and were charged with attempted murder, while the homophobes went unpunished? How would you feel then?
Dawster
no Bill Perdue, i’ve not read where this guy was one of the group that hung the nooses. THOSE guys were caught, and they were punished with three days suspension.
no down the guy (the victim of the beating) could have been egging on or what-not… but that has never been the argument, nor has it been brought up.
this white guy… got the shit beat out of him. don’t try and link it, or justify it. it was wrong. the racism was dealt with a suspension while the beating up was dealt with by a criminal charge. i DO think attempted murder is a little much… and there is something fishy with the town…. we can ALL agree to that.
but “drop all charges or you’re a racist” attack has got to stop… it does nothing for the town, and does nothing for civil rights… gay, black, or otherwise.
BillieXX
Jack,
It’s not beat up Jack day, but come on man. You blame Sharpton and Jackson for making things worse in Jena when, according to all reputable news reports, life in Jena was complicated way before Jackson and Sharpton came on the scene.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14238568
You then talk about the number of black Republicans without giving any numbers. According to the folk at Pew Research in 2004, only 14% of black evangelical Protestants gave their vote to Bush.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/573/religion-presidential-vote
In 2004 88 percent of black folk gave their vote to Kerry.
query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE7D7173CF937A35752C1A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
Some of your ideas simply are not supported by the numbers. Now if you want to have a conversation about homophobia in the black community, lets go at it; however, you have to expect some heat if you are going to make charges that have no support.
BillieXX
Jack,
You are getting grief from me because some of your ideas are not at all supported by facts. You ask the question about why there are so many black Republicans, but there are not a lot of black Republicans.
According to the Pew Research people, only 14 percent of black Protesetents gave their vote to Bush in 2004.
http://people-press.org/commentary/display.php3?AnalysisID=103
Also in 2004, Kerry got 88 percent of the overall black vote.
Now these numbers contradict a whole lot of your ideas. If you want to talk about homophobia in the black community, let’s go at it. But don’t expect me to not to take you to task for saying things that are simply not true.
Bill Perdue
For anyone interested, there’s a thorough treatment of these events in the online Advocate entitled ‘What’s in the Jena Six Case for Us?’
For Dawster: Egged on by southern baptist, catholic, protestant, and mormon parents who put away the sheets but not the politics of the KKK, thuggly little bigots are going after gays, African Americans, and anyone they can lay hands on. That creates communal fights that get ugly.
You just have to decide which side you’re on. I don’t care if some racist piglet gets caught up in the violence his kind began. I’ll never be on the side of the bigots. I don’t like violence or victimization but as a rule we don’t start it. Neither do African Americans, Latinos, Indians, or trade unions. Our brothers and sisters are the victims here, Dawster, not the bigots.
And finally Dawster, I think three the 3-day suspension, later revoked by the racist school authorities, was pathetic. Here, from our friends at Pam’s House Blend is how the same thing was handled much more fairly:
“In response to speculation regarding the dismissal August 24 by Germantown City Administrator Patrick Lawton of three employees assigned to the Germantown Performing Arts Centre, the following information is provided.
All parties involved in the incident were questioned and given the opportunity to explain their involvement. Lawton was told that the ropes were tied in that manner to keep them off the floor while it was being refinished and that those who tied the nooses were practicing knot tying. Separately, a fourth employee acknowledged that one of the three had placed his own head through one of the nooses. The three professed ignorance of the racial overtones associated with nooses. The City of Germantown found their professed lack of awareness to be implausible.
The City does not condone or tolerate any action or behavior that creates a hostile work place for its employees. It will not exempt or excuse employees from the consequences of their inappropriate behavior. As a result one full-time employee, Matt Strampe, and two part-time employees were discharged.’
If the bigots who run Jena and much of the nation had done what the folks in Germantown, Tennessee did then none of this would’ve happened. But bigots only do good they’re having massive coronaries or stroking out.
stancel
I applaud Joe Solmonese for speaking in support of the Jena Six. THis is great and it shows how we can build a black-gay system of mutual solidarity.
Jack Jett, Sharpton and Jackson are involved but they are not the issue itself nor the entirety of the movement. Furthermore, I do not believe that Sharpton and Jackson are homophobes. I know Sharpton said some things in the past, but he recently shown to be tolerant of gays. I think Jesse Jackson was the same way, Harry Hay, the father of the American gay rights movement, was part of the foundation of the Rainbow Coalition which had the rights and dignity of homosexuals in mind.
You don’t know the facts of the case. the white kid who was attacked made racial taunts including slurs and also taunted a black kid who had been beaten up days before, bragging about how him (or at least his white friends) had beaten him up. And then there’s the noose incident. The white kids who beat up the black kid didn’t get any punishment. Also a bunch of white kids pulled a gun on a black kid and he was charged with theft after he wrestled the gun away from the white kid threatening him. So what we have here in Jena is an anti-black legal system and society. And gay people of all colors must support not only their LGBT black brothers and sisters, but their black brothers and sisters of all sexual orientations because we need to build links between oppressed groups and fight discrimination, together united we will win. Black-gay unity is what needs to happen.
Dawster
first of all… i agree with you, bill.
but the “noose” incident was well over a year (year and a half?) ago.
the beating was late last year. there was a lot of time between the two incidents. in which case there were SEVERAL incidents of black kids attacking white kids, white kids attacking black kids (at a party with a bottle) – back and forth, back and forth.
you’re assumption is that the white kid was a pig. you’re assumption is that this all happened rather quickly. in fact this took place over a year ago and over a period of time.
the “final” factor is that this white kid got beaten to UNCONSCIOUSNESS and yet they continued to beat him. it’s a little different than the previous reported incidents of pushing and shoving.
EVERYONE in the town is at fault. the rumblings had been going on for a long, long while. No one did anything. punishments to the white kids seemed generally less harsh… I GET THAT.
But for ANYONE to come up with the “free the Jena 6” when, in fact… they are half the problem is wrong… the “attempted murder” comes from the report that they continued to beat the kid after he lost consciousness. what kind of remarks could he possibly have said to justify that?
did they want to kill him? i don’t think so. THAT is a trumped up charge. THAT should have been dropped.
but there is no “good” side here. and i still say the assumption of “drop all charges or you’re a racist” is a flawed mentality.
(it reminds me of the Michael Lucas’ all Muslims will kill you generalization). there are very little ACTUAL incidents of “all or nothing” in the world.
fightingwords
Point of order: the noose incident was one year ago.
SeaFlood
Second point of order: Stop the “tacit understanding” that all “gays” are white and all “blacks” are straight.
Question: For those of you who believe this is only an act of “political gain” — to align “the gays” and “the blacks”, how do you explain making B/black gay people invisible or creating “gay” as something “only white people are”… and if you aren’t white… what then?
Sheesh people, I need you all to keep some things in mind and grow a little!