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A young black boy is killed by police. There is no justice, and definitely no peace for his grieving mother, Dr. Jo Baker. She comes from a long line of researchers, and she immerses herself in science rather than religion to fight through her grief, finally unearthing a family secret that may allow the unthinkable: a way to bring her son back.

This is the setup for Destroyer, a new monthly comic book series that fuses the heartbreak of the Black Lives Matter movement with an age-old story: Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.

The BOOM! Studios comic, written by horror novelist Victor LaValle (The Ballad of Black Tom, Big Machine) and illustrated by Shaft and Incredible Hercules artist Dietrich Smith,doesnt just take cues from Shelleys 1818 novel it continues it.

Dr. Baker is the last surviving family member of the mad scientist who first brought life back to the dead unless you count another descendant: the original Frankenstein monster, who still stalks the earth seeking revenge against humanity. Dr. Baker is seeking vengeance too, furious at the world for the injustice done to her child.

Here, EW presents an exclusive first look at the comic book, plus an interview with LaValle.Destroyerarrives in May.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So this is a modern Frankenstein story literally. Dr. Jo Baker is a descendant of the scientist from Mary Shelleys book.VICTOR LAVALLE: Shes actually a descendant of Edward Frankenstein, the only member of the clan who survived the monsters wrath in the novel. One of the things that always stays with me is the end of the book. While some people think the monster goes off and dies, theres nothing that actually says that clearly.

He just floats awayThats right. He just drifts off. The other funny thing is, there are two different versions of the ending. The one we know is Percy Shelleys ending. Mary Shelley actually had an ending where he pushes away from the shift, but Percy didnt want that because he didnt like that the monster was rejecting civilization. He thought civilization should reject the monster. Its a tiny change, but it makes so much difference.

Youre incorporating both. This is set in the present day, but the monster lives. And he has rejected the world.The other thing that bothers me about the monster in the original novel is the monster is so needy. He needs Victors approval so profoundly. I felt like, okay, at that time I understand. Mary Shelleys a genius and Im not going to question her. But the more modern take on this should be, Why should I ask you for your love when you made me and rejected me? Its the difference between a needy abandoned child and an angry abandoned child.

So whats the mindset of your version of the monster?Hes actually done with humanity. Due to something that happens in the first issue, he makes it his mission to wipe humanity off the face of the earth.

Lets talk about Jo Baker. Her son is killed by police. Hes a young black boy and theres no justice for his mother after his death. Are real incidents like this and the Black Lives Matter movement part of the inspiration for Destroyer?Absolutely. The idea is, Dr. Baker was someone who, in many ways, was totally signed into society. Shes a brilliant scientist. She works at this point for the University of Montana, but shes worked for the government. She has felt like, I finally have my chance to join. This country is willing to accept me.

But it doesnt work out that way.Yeah, then her 12-year-old son is coming home from baseball practice, and his baseball bat and batting helmet are treated like hes holding a weapon. Members of the Chicago police department kill him, and no one is blamed. And this turns her. It flips a switch. Its a theme Im interested in. How close is a good, upstanding citizen to cracking?

Becoming a monster in a way, right?You have great sympathy for her, but when her rage and grief push her to the point where she agrees humanity should be wiped out when does she become that monster? And when do our sympathies change for that type of person?

Theres no shortage of real-life shootings like this, but your story reminds me of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old in Cleveland who was shot while playing with a toy gun.That is definitely a clear inspiration. In the comic, she listens obsessively to the 911 call that is made that gets her son shot, and Im using transcripts from that [Rice] case to try to make it really land. Really hurt.

Lets talk about the individual characters, starting with her son, Akai. How did you choose that name?Hes a 12-year-old black boy, and the no-brainer would have been to name him Tamir. But in a way, it felt too on the nose, and maybe a little ghoulish. Akai Gurley was another black man killed in New York. I feel like his name and his story has been somewhat missed. This was a small way to at least honor that.

What we see is a boy with a cybernetic shoulder and part of his chest and arm. This is different than the old Frankenstein technology. So what has she done to him?She has used nanobots to rebuild the portions of him that were lost. Im always trying to layer in pieces of truth and history, so when we were coming up with the design, I wrote to the original artist, Dan Mora, and I sent him documents from the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson. The autopsy includes a figure where they show all the places where the bullets hit. On Akai, the android parts of him match that autopsy image.

Thats where Akai was shot, and what parts of his body needed to be replaced?Exactly. I want you to be thinking every time you see Akai that this is the proof of how he was murdered. I thought it would be a subtle touch. Most people will look at it and think its just cool and cyborg-y. But I wanted it to have that underlying layer of something with weight and history.

Lets talk about Dr. Bakers look. Shes in a white coat with a bloody smock. I see a little Bride of Frankenstein white in her hair.Yes! Yes, I thought that was the best little nod. Half Storm, half Bride of Frankenstein [Laughs].

The white streak is always the sign of being a little bit crazy.Thats right. Its like, youve seen something. You went past the threshold of the veil and you came back. You have too much knowledge.

Is there anyone else in their lives, or is it just her and her son?We meet the father of Akai, who works at a place called The Lab, which long ago learned about Victor Frankensteins experiments and have been trying to master the art of eternal life ever since. Dr. Baker and her husband used to work there. She went on the run because she felt at a certain point, What were doing is wrong, but her husband did not. He basically felt, Well, its kind of evil, but they pay well. [Laughs] And I like making money! Im an up-and-coming black man.Why dont I get my shot?

She chose the good side then.She chose the virtuous route and became a university-funded scientist. He stayed with The Lab. Neither of these things, neither of these ways of becoming upper middle class, protected their son. All that accomplishment, all that brilliance, it doesnt change anything if your son is walking alone on the street on a bad night.

The original Frankenstein monster is still livingbut has exiled himself to Antarctica at the start of Destroyer.Part of the reason he goes mad is hes been living in Antarctica, given up on humans.

The monster he looks worn out. Hes got the Hulk ensemble. Just the pants are left.I didnt think anything would last in Antarctica for that long, but he needed pants because we couldnt have his dk swinging around the whole time. Too much Doctor Manhattan! [Laughs]

Now were getting into Young Frankenstein territory!Thats right! [Laughs]

Hes been alive for centuries. Does he have extra-human abilities?Well, two things: He cant be killed. And his rage and strength hes an unstoppable force. You cant kill him, and hes willing to kill anyone.

What did you want for his look?I sent the artist two images I wanted him to find a way to meld into our monster. It was Iggy Pop and Moses. I think he did an amazing job of giving me both.

Then theres the missing nose, which makes him very corpse-like.Thats a nod to what may be lost to frostbite even on him, living 225 years in the Antarctic.

As he journeys north to encounter Dr. Baker, he is indiscriminate in his hatred of humanity even people helping him.I wanted to get at this question: If you go far enough into rage and grief, you start wrestling with the question, is any humanity worth saving at all?

Are we worth it?Are we worth it! That is actually the question of the entire comic. Dr. Baker, in many ways, doesnt know. The monster decides no. Her revived son is still young enough that he thinks the answer is yes. Butshes still in the middle, trying to decide which side sways her. If she sides with the monster, they could pull off mass destruction. If she sides with the son, theyre going to have to fight the monster.

Destroyer debuts in May from BOOM! Studios and will have a six-issue arc.

For more news, follow @Breznican.

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Destroyer comic book fuses Black Lives Matter with Frankenstein - EW.com

A group of longtime Vancouver LGBT activists and community pioneers have launched a petition to counter Black Lives Matter Vancouvers request to have the police removed from the Pride parade. These activists are concerned that the voices of older generations who helped found the communities and worked hard to develop relationships with the police are being ignored, in addition to others.

The counter-petition was launched on February 12.

The organizers of the petition are Velvet Steele, a Vancouver trans and sex worker rights advocate who was a member of the Trans/Police Liaison committee in the early 1990s; Gordon Hardy, a co-founder of the Vancouver Gay Liberation Front in the 1970s; Sandra Leo-Laframboise, a trans queer activist and Mtis Two Spirit elder; and Kevin Dale McKeown, Vancouver's first out gay journalist and an LGBT columnist for the Georgia Straight in 1970s.

The petition cites the history of the relationship between the Vancouver Police Department and local LGBT communities.

Vancouvers LGBTQ community has a long history of positive engagement with the Vancouver Police Department, from the first Gay and Lesbian/Police Liaison Committee in 1977, through the 1980s with the work of community leaders like Jim Deva, Jim Trenholme, and Malcolm Crane, and continuing today as the LGBT/Police Liaison Committee. We've been doing this work for 40 years now.

The petition organizers also note that the VPD and RCMP have participated in the parade since 2002, which signifies the progress we have made in our struggle for LGBTQ equality.

Just as the Vancouver Pride Society operations executive director Kieran Burgess told the Georgia Straightthat their approach would differ from Pride Torontos to reflect the different history and population composition of Vancouver, the counter-petition organizers expressed a similar sentiment.

While the objections that Black Lives Matter Vancouver makes against the presence of the Vancouver Police Department in the Vancouver Pride Parade reflect historic and ongoing injustices against the black communities in major American and Eastern Canadian cities, they do not reflect relationships between Vancouvers LGBTQ communities with local law enforcement.

The counter-petition is a reaction to BLM Vancouvers petition launched on February 7 to request, for a second time, that the Vancouver Pride Society have the VPD withdraw all of its uniformed, armed officers from the parade.

By phone, Steele told the Georgia Straight that the counter-petition was launched in reaction to the Toronto police announcement that they would not be participating in Torontos Pride parade, which raised concerns that the same thing could happen here.

Steele concurs that Vancouver is different from other Canadian and U.S. cities. Although BLM Vancouver spokeperson Daniella Barreto told the Georgia Straight that her group perceives the VPD as representative of police institutions elsewhere, Steele disagrees with such a perception.

As Canadians, we cant compare ourselves to the States or make ourselves similar to that, she said. We have a very rich and diverse Asian community here in Vancouver and I think we need to be celebrating all different cultures and backgrounds and ethnicities and things like that, and the fact that we are living together so cohesively and so well and loving each other and enjoying the differences and the variations and everything else, that to me is exciting.

She also expressed concerns about how the older generations who helped develop the local LGBT communities, including indigenous and Asian Canadian individuals, are being systematically ignored and pushed out of the whole situation.

Steele herself experienced discrimination from the police in both Toronto and Vancouver. In the 1990s, she said, Toronto police displayed a lack of response to physical assaults she experienced, including being stabbed or having her fingers broken, and made comments about her lifestyle, clothing, BDSM paraphernalia,and appearance. She also witnessed police discrimination against trans friends and acquaintances.

When she began to meet LGBT police officers and began to learn about their challenges, she became more involved in helping to educate them.

It just strengthened my resolve to keep on working forward to educate them and sensitize them.

Steele has worked with the Vancouver police in various capacities, ranging from appearing in the VPDs Walk With Me video to working closely with the VPDs LGBT liaison officer and more.

Its holding them to task and keeping them held to task and keeping them at the table, keeping them included in whats going on, Steele said. The lack of inclusion of the negotiations here at the table is not a resolve. Its not a process to solve anything or to move forward into the future.

She said she now believes VPD is one of the most progressive police forces in the country that is willing to work for resolve and work towards the future and to be very much a part of our community.

Thats why she feels strongly that the police should be a part of the parade.

The fact that they have come that far along in terms of acceptance and working hard to be by our side, they should have every opportunity to be there as well, she said.

In comparison to how Steele and others worked to resolve relationships with the police, there are two aspects to identify in BLM Vancouvers request.

One is BLM Vancouvers objective, which is to raise awareness about issues of systemic racism, violence, and oppression within or by police institutions against black people.

The second aspect is how they have chosen to address these issues, which is their proposed solutionthe removal of armed, uniformed police from the parade.

This approach is different from, for example, expressing concerns of discomfort and asking the VPS and the VPD to come up with a solution, or to propose to work with these groups to educate them and figure out a solution together.

Steele said she agrees with the first aspectthat anti-racism and anti-oppression work is important and needs to be addressedbut is opposed to the way in which BLM Vancouver is asking the VPS to agree to their solution.

Its not open-minded, she said. Its demanding. Its almost acting in a bullying manner.

She said she is also offended if critics tell her she cannot express her opinions because she is privileged simply because she is white. She said she experiences transphobic discrimination on a daily basis, has been denied employment, and has been isolated in hospitals from other patients because she is trans.

Unlike how the situation has been addressed in other cities, Steele said she would rather see Vancouver lead by example and set a precedent.

The counter-petition is available on the change.org website. The petition will be delivered to the VPS.

The petition will close on February 20, the day before the VPS is scheduled to meet with BLM Vancouver members on February 21.This year's Vancouver Pride parade will be held on August 6.

When theGeorgia Straightasked the Vancouver Police Department for an interview about their involvement in Pride, VPD spokeperson Sgt. Randy Fincham issued the following statement on February 10:"The VPD is looking forward to working with our community partners with Black Lives Matter and the Vancouver Pride Society, and unless requested otherwise, have our volunteers and civilian and sworn staff walk with pride for our 21styear in the 2017 Vancouver Pride Parade, to show support for the entire LGBTQ2+ community."

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Vancouver LGBT pioneers launch petition to counter Black Lives Matter's bid to remove police from Pride parade - Straight.com

The documentary, I Am Not Your Negro

The Little Theatre is getting ready to show a powerful film called I Am Not Your Negro. Here's how the filmmakers describe it:

"In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his new endeavor: the writing of his final book, Remember This House, recounting the lives and successive assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin was not able to complete the book before his death, and the unfinished manuscript was entrusted to director Raoul Peck. Built exclusively around Baldwin's words, Peck's I Am Not Your Negro delves into the complex legacy of three lives (and deaths) that permanently marked the American social and political landscape. Framing the unfinished work as a radical narration about race in America, Peck matches Baldwin's lyrical rhetoric with rich archival footage of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and connects these historical struggles for justice and equality to the present-day movements that have taken shape in response to the killings of young African-American men including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Amir Brooks."

Our guests discuss the film, and this particular American moment. In studio:

Continued here:
Connections: Previewing Black Lives Matter Day at the Rochester City School District - WXXI News

Norman Miller Daily News Staff @Norman_MillerMW

FRAMINGHAM Although often portrayed as a terrorist or anarchist organization by its opponents, Black Lives Matter exists to give a group that has been ignored and treated like second-class citizens a voice, a member of the group said on Saturday.

Speaking at a Black History Month program at the Greater Framingham Community Church, Martin Henson of Black Lives Matter-Boston, the groups existence is necessary.

We took this month where we want to make sure there is a black voice heard, said Henson, speaking to about 30 attendees. Black Lives Matter exists because its something we need to survive. Im not going to give the world as it is to my daughter. Im not going to do it.

Saturdays event featured artwork from Framingham elementary and middle school students that celebrated Black History Month, as well as Black Lives Matter.

It also featured a community reading of an abridged version of Frederick Douglass 1852 speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro, led by Fran Smith of Mass. Humanities, a human rights group based in Northampton.

Black Lives Matter started in 2012 after George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida, Henson said. Since then, Black Lives Matter has changed.

It started as a hashtag, then turned into an organization and then turned into a movement, said Henson. Black Lives Matter is inclusionary. There is no standard of what you have to look like, the way you have to act or what you have to think.

Black Lives Matter is an abolitionist group it wants to abolish the current prison system and the current way of policing that all too often targets blacks and minorities, Henson said. He called prison one step away from slavery.

When asked if there werent prisons, what would happen, Henson said there has to be a better way for society to treat people.

I know for sure what we do now is inhumane, he said. I know Im going to focus on stopping what is inhumane.

Rev. Anthony Lloyd, the pastor for the Greater Framingham Community Church, spoke about KKK flyers that were dropped off at several Framingham homes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

He said, when it occurred, he was contacted by reporters for comment. But, he said, he is not the right person to talk to.

Im not here to say black folks are upset by the KKK, said Lloyd. You dont need to call me about that. You have to call the white folks who live in Framingham and see if thats the type of community they want to live in. Part of the solution is to see how they feel about this.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. Follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

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Black Lives Matter gives a voice, speaker says in Framingham - Wicked Local Framingham

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Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders has acceded to demands from the local chapter of Black Lives Matter and agreed that the force will not participate in this years gay pride parade.

In his explanation, Saunders referred to divisions within the LGBTQ organizers of the multi-million dollar event.

We understand the LGBTQ communities are divided, he said in a statement. To enable those differences to be addressed, I have decided the Toronto Police Service will not participate, this year, in the Pride parade.

Those divisions center on objections from Torontos Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists who want to minimize the presence of their sworn police enemies.

Last years parade made more news than usual after BLM protested the presence of police and temporarily halted the event. It only resumed after the executive director of Pride Toronto, Matthieu Chantelois, agreed to BLM demands that included a future ban on police floats.

Chantelois later claimed that he only signed the document to stop the protest.

Then in January at their annual meeting, Pride Toronto members voted in favor of the BLM edict, with no one saying for certain whether that included police officers as well as floats.

The absence of police in the parade still leaves BLM feeling unsatisfied.

They are trying to flip the narrative and make it seem as if they are choosing to pull out of Pride when in fact they were uninvited, said spokesperson Syrus Marcus Ware.

Ware said the police chief failed to mention such issues as anti-blackness and policing and carding a standard practice of patrolling dangerous sections of town that BLM insists is aimed a non-whites.

On Friday, Pride Toronto suggested the police forces decision not to participate in the parade was a positive development.

Pride Toronto is committed to continuing the important dialogue that has taken place with our membership and the broader community. We are listening. We will listen. What we have seen from the Toronto Police Service is that they are also listening, the organization said in a statement.

A former Conservative member of the Ontario legislature, Phil Gillies, told the Toronto Sun Saturday that the decision by police chief was very unfortunate. I can understand the police being upset after the decision that was taken at the Pride annual meeting. However, I think its unfortunate. We need our police to be involved with the community.

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Toronto Police Accede To Black Lives Matter Gay Parade Demands - Daily Caller