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No one appointed Black Lives Matter (BLM) to act as spokesperson for the entire black community. Much of the public, however, has taken them as representative of an entire race.

I am black and gay, and I do not agree with the divisive tactics adopted by BLM Toronto including its disruption of last year's Pride parade in Toronto, and its subsequent demand that uniformed officers not participate in the event.

In fact, a lot of black people in Toronto and elsewhere don't agree with the group, but they are afraid to speak out. Many are worried about being called an "Uncle Tom" or a "House Negro" for expressing their opinions.

American writer Zora Neale Hurston captured this idea when reflecting on her own disassociation with the black political elite, famously saying, "My skin folk ain't my kin folk."

Hurston was a Republican who was critical of the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision to desegregate schools, which made her an easy target for criticism in the black community. Her point, nevertheless, was that just because people share a racial background does not mean they necessarily agree with each other on certain issues a truth that is often overlooked in commentary about racial issues.

I, like many people who make up what is likely the silent majority, believe that the Toronto police should be allowed to participate in the gay Pride parade in their uniforms. For one thing, more uniformed officers would mean help would be easier to find if someone is in distress and immediately needs assistance.

But beyond that, the Toronto police has worked hard to build bridges with the gay community by formally apologizing for the 1981 bathhouse raids, by regularly participating in Pride parades, by raising a rainbow flag outside headquarters for the first time and so forth. Not allowing them to wear their uniforms at Pride is a step backwards forthe relationship.

Toronto police has worked hard to build bridges with the gay community. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)

What's more, Pride Toronto has worked hard to create safe spaces for gay LGBTQ people of colour. For instance, for the last near-20 years, Pride has hosted "Blockorama" during the weekend of the parade an area specifically for black artists, musicians, writers, singers, dancers and regular folk to celebrate black and African cultures. By contrast, there has never been an official program for LGBTQ people during the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly (and colloquially) known as "Caribana."

Indeed, I can honestly say I feel uncomfortable at Caribana due to black homophobia, which Black Lives Matter casually ignores. I am constantly looking over my shoulder in fear of being attacked, simply because I am a gay man. In recent years, I have stayed away entirely. Yet there is virtually no dialogue about anti-LGBTQ prejudice within the black community.

Black Lives Matter could use their political and social power to actually raise awareness about this issue, but it is apparently easier for them to target the white gay community than it is to tackle black homophobia. And Pride Toronto yields to their requests, as if the black community is a monolithic entity represented by a single group.

In her essay "The Problem of Speaking For Others," feminist writer Linda Alcoff writes about the quandary of certain individuals or groups speaking on behalf of marginalized communities, which she argues can stifle the diversity of voices being heard. Indeed, that seems to be happening here.

Yet no one appointed BLM to speak for the entire black community. The police, Pride Toronto, the media and the public need to remember that.

This column is part ofCBC'sOpinion section.For more information about this section, please read thiseditor'sblogandourFAQ.

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I'm black and gay. Black Lives Matter Toronto doesn't speak for me - CBC.ca

If you ask a social justice jihadi, everyone besides straight white males is oppressed, period. But Leftist groups that don't fit one of those descriptors are lately engaged in a battle for oppression supremacy, which PhD sociologists with no other marketable skills refer to as "intersectionality."

For those of us who prefer fact- and evidence-based reasoning, it's hysterical to watch these Oppression Olympics take place -- such as when Black Lives Matter halted the Toronto gay pride parade to air theirgrievances:

We are calling you out! Alexandria Williams, co-founder of the groups Toronto chapter, shouted through a megaphone as the Black Lives Matter float came to a halt and marchers sat down. Amidrainbow-colored smoke bombs, she accused event organizers of harboring a historical and current culture of anti-blackness -- a curious claim considering how the festival welcomed Black Lives Matter as guests of honor.

Black Lives Matter refused to budge unless pride organizers acquiesced to a list of demands, which included increased funding for black-related pride events, prioritizing black trans women in hiring, and a commitment to more black deaf & hearing ASL interpreters. Surely, these issues -- which are alwaysdemands,never requests -- could have been taken up in a constructive manner before the parade. But dialogue has never been the preferred mode of communication for Black Lives Matter, not even, apparently, in uber-polite Canada.

It took only 30 minutes for festival organizers to surrender to this bullying. Gay rights activists are adept at challenging authority. Beginning with the very act of coming out, gay liberations whole gestalt is defiance. Thats easy to do when it comes to a government denying you basic equality. When their interlocutors are people claiming to be more oppressed, however, gay progressives are at a loss. Out-radicalized, theyre utterly helpless.

This is part of the self-created problemthat Leftists don't seem to really grasp an answer for at this point: how to unite when you believe ina hierarchy of oppression. Their belief in intersectionality means some supposedly marginalized groups have it worse than others, meaning a group considered higher on the scale will be treated as just another oppressor.

Black Lives Matter has made it abundantly clear that it only views itself as important. The linked article contains other examples of BLM's petulance regarding gay pride parades -- including one group refusing to take part because there would be police there.

At some point, the Left will need to figure this kind of thing out. Are blacks more oppressed than gays? What about women? Would Black Lives Matter stop a women's march until they complied with their demands?

Read the original here:
Black Lives Matter Halts Toronto Gay Pride Parade - PJ Media

At a hearing in Eureka City Hall on Wednesday, it was determined that Humboldt Bay Firefighter Matt McFarlandwill not be permitted to continue wearing a Black Lives Matter pin on his uniform.

Its on the news every night, McFarland said at the June 6 hearing. There are systematic problems for people of color who are hesitant to approach anybody with a badge, anybody in a uniform.

He had been wearing the pin since November 2016 when in March of this year Chief Bill Gillespie ordered him to remove it.

We work to stay neutral, Chief Gillespie has said about his orders. We dont take a side or a stance on any kind of a movement because while it may support some members of the community, it may offend or put off other members of the community.

According to the Humboldt Bay Fires uniform policy, only one pin may be worn and it must be related to fire service and in good taste.

McFarland feels that his BLM pin meets the standards set.

Baton Rouge cop sues DeRay McKesson over BLMrally

My pin is without a doubt related to my service as a firefighter because recent political events have created an environment of heightened fear and anxiety among communities of color, and increased distrust of law enforcement. This sentiment is highly detrimental to our ability, as emergency responders, to do our jobs well, said McFarland.

He went on to say, Nobody is safe when a large portion of our community is reluctant to engage with emergency services when these services are needed. We can choose to continue to deny or ignore the difficult experiences of the people suffering most in our communities or we can choose to listen to them, believe their lived experiences, and work together to improve the systems we share. I believe that this is a discussion worth having, and I want to live in a community that is courageous enough to have these conversations, even when they are messy, uncomfortable, and imperfect.

This is sickening that one man wants to take a stand in this community and everybody goes against him, said community member Kim Trevillion. Im standing firm. I will stand with him in solidarity, and this community needs to come together.

Jason Campillo, a fellow firefighter has a different take.

While I support Matt as my union brother, I always support my brothers whether its the streets, in a fire, whatever. I do not support him on this. Campillo stated. I will not I can not stand for it. Im a strict constitutionalistpolitically, but this is no place to espouse your political views.

See the article here:
Officer wearing 'Police Lives Matter' pin and firefighter wearing 'Black Lives Matter' pin clash - The Grio

By Errin Haines Whack, The Associated Press

A leading journal of political philosophy took up the Black Lives Matter movement in its June issue without a single contribution from a black academic, triggering an outcry from African-American scholars.

Many black scholars said they felt insulted and ignored, and some took to social media to express their indignation. Two wrote open letters to the Journal of Political Philosophy.

The journals editors were apologetic for what they conceded was an especially grave oversight and vowed to increase diversity on its editorial board and in its pages.

The episode highlights what some intellectuals say is a lack of diverse voices in the influential research journals where getting a paper accepted is often vital to getting ahead in the publish-or-perish world of academia.

The omission left many wondering: Do black minds matter?

This is not an abstract philosophical question. There are real goods at stake when we talk about which voices count, said Yale University philosopher Chris Lebron, who recently wrote a book on Black Lives Matter and wrote one of the letters to the journal.

The journal is a peer-reviewed academic quarterly that explores topics such as sociology, history, economics and race. It devoted part of its latest issue to a symposium on Black Lives Matter, inviting three white scholars to contribute articles on racial bias, law enforcement and the right to personal security.

UCLA political scientist Melvin Rogers, one of the black scholars who raised objections with the journal, called the lack of black voices especially egregious in this case.

You have a major social movement that comes about because of police violence and a failure of the state to respond effectively, Rogers said. You put together a symposium and construct it in such a way that replicates the very problem the movement is trying to respond to. The signal this sends to scholars of color that care about this is that they, too, are invisible.

The journal editors responded: We accept the point eloquently and forcefully made by our colleagues that this is an especially grave oversight in light of the specific focus of Black Lives Matter on the extent to which African-Americans have been erased and marginalized from public life.

In April, the American Historical Review apologized after allowing a professor with views seen as supporting white supremacy to review a book on school segregation.

Rogers said he sees a dearth of minority scholars in major journals. But he added that because of the common practice of blind peer review where articles considered for publication are submitted and critiqued anonymously, something that was not done in this case there is no clear way to know whether bias is to blame.

Some scholars suggested that journals are reflecting and compounding a larger problem in academia: the small number of black scholars. Two percent of faculty members at the nations top institutions are black, according to Ivory A. Toldson, editor of the Journal of Negro Education.

Toldson said black scholars also must contend with the long-held belief among some whites that blacks cannot write about race with objectivity.

Were taught that youre supposed to separate yourself subjectively from the matter youre researching to prevent bias, he said. But that belief can really become a tool of oppression itself. What sense does it make for someone to tell us that were less qualified to speak to matters that we have a personal connection with?

Megan Ming Francis, a black political scientist at the University of Washington, said she has been asked to do peer reviews, especially in her area of expertise black social movements during the lynching era. She complained that black scholarship is sometimes seen as less rigorous.

On topics such as black history or politics, Francis said, we have to make our case a bit more than others.

Toldson said the journal incident has exposed a huge racial blind spot that goes beyond one publication.

Its pervasive throughout the academy, said Toldson, a psychology professor at Howard University. Journal editors are gatekeepers. They can make or break someones career. And theyre making decisions they dont want to admit are loaded with racial biases.

The rest is here:
Journal criticized for not consulting black scholars on Black Lives Matter movement - The Denver Post

Well this is disconcerting.

So today #blacklivesmatter stopped the D.C. Pride parade. pic.twitter.com/tFlhfLPcIO

Fras (@DangerCW) June 10, 2017

Hey hey, ho ho. These racist cops have got to go.

K.

Its seriously like one group has to out-victim the other just like all progressives they will eventually start eating one another.

After all, there can only be ONE victim of evil white straight people, right?

Intersectional af https://t.co/sXPKIMqLKr

Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) June 11, 2017

So is Black Lives Matter, bigoted or Equality March, racist? This is SO confusing.

Why cant we all just get along?

Ha!

When two groups on the same side of the political spectrum conflict with each other. The left is crumbling from within #libtards

Connor O'Brien (@Planeman95) June 11, 2017

But you gotta admit, that's one sweet police car

John Comer (@chickandchuck1) June 11, 2017

Dude. Right?

pic.twitter.com/Uts4Lf1yjm

Jared Summers (@Jared_Summers) June 11, 2017

HA HA HA.

It's a tolerance off

Joseph Teklits (@joe_boots) June 11, 2017

Or is it a victim off?

Related:

MOCKtacular! Sean Spicer parody trolls entire #EqualityMarch with 1 tweet and its HILARIOUS

Eye-ROLL: HAWT storefront honoring artwork from WWII bombers triggers RAGEY SJW

Go here to read the rest:
'Intersectional AF.' Black Lives Matter stops Equality March in DC because gay cops are racist - Twitchy