rashawn brazell, the blog movement
Honestly, my impulse is to continue to re-post Saturday's blog about the brutal murder and dismemberment of a 19-year old black man every single day until the world starts to value human life, until the media starts to value black bodies, until the Judeo-Christian tradition starts to value non-heterosexuals.
Is anything changing? Can you point to some legislation on hate crimes, some re-doubled effort to dialogue with the urban LGBT community about safe dating tips, some civil rights organization staging a public protest of how our murders are handled irresponsibly and disrespectfully in the mainstream media (if covered at all)?
Please tell me that you can.
Please tell me that you can.
Please tell me that you can.
'Cause there's a growing body of Americans who die inside when we learn that our bodies do not matter. Gay and straight, black and white, young and old... a part of us dies when we remain silent about these injustices.
So, to everyone who left a comment on Saturday's post: Thank you. This situation continues to fuck me up, and your words, your prayers, your energies mean the world to me (and the community mourners) right now.
Thank you to everyone who's blogged about it:
Steven
Donald (2 entries)
Merv* (2 entries)
Troy
Club 3200
Karsh
SmilingOnThaDl
For the bloggers who share our sorrow and outrage (particularly those of you who responded to the last post), I ask that you devote a blog entry to Rashawn. Steven ranted, Donald wrote a poem, Merv called for action, Club 3200 merely sympathized and provided a link for readers to learn more for themselves. Your post can take any number of forms, what's important is that this story gets out and its injustices are not silenced.
So, this is your call to action.
Matt, with your superior intellect and creative engagement of agency
Pome, with your beautifully striking poetic voice
BruthaFree, with your keen insight and candid introspection
Jazz, with your overwhelming capacity for empathy
My sister Soulful, with your fiery command of the language
My brother Aries, with your thoughtfulness and candor
Shawn, with your glowing spirit and creativity
Basquiat, Starfoxx, Solitaire, Mama JunkYard, Dayrell, Phillipe, Malik, Jaqua, Heru, Bernie, Diggs, Ashon, Gian, PonderingNegro, G. Cornelius Harris, Nikki, HumanityCritic, and all of the other amazingly talented writers whose blogs I enjoy, this is for you, fam.
Needless to say, this is not for me. If you think my motives are self-serving, feel free to ignore the call for action. If you realize that visibility and audibility are key, and that blogs have the ability to serve as a key weapon in the fight against marginalization and injustice, well... write on. .
.
I love you for experiencing this with me and I look forward to the harvest.
posted by Larry D. Lyons II @ 6:52 AM
22 Comments:
I shall blog about it.
I read your first entry on Rashawn and I couldn't comment. I didn't know what to say. All I wanted to say was thank you.
Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Thank you for writing so openely and honestly about something that is causing you pain.
Thank you too for motivating me to do something about it.
Keep strong.
I GOT YOUR BACK!!! I AM MY BROTHERS KEEPER!! YOU ARE FAM.
We must do more than talk amongst ourselves. I've put down some thoughts on my blog.
Done. All I could do right now is make a promise to Rashawn. I will add something else later.
I spread the word on the Havoc board the day I saw your blog and I plan on writing to the police district in order to make sure that they stay on it. We got this...
I will blog about it tonight and link to your poem. I'm Canadian, and I don't know if we can do much. But, I'm all for same sex marriages up here... if that counts for anything.
Disturbingly, I am not able to see any change in the way mainstream media cover crimes against the general population, nor any civil rights organization planning to address it.
I picked up the New York Press' latest issue, and read what I interpreted as an insult to the NYC Police Dept's handling of the case, albeit with the most insensitive sarcasm surrounding Rashawn's murderer. Not worth repeating.
Sadly, this has remained a NY/NJ black gay youth issue, many hetero tri state area counterparts who I consider to be relatively well informed have heard little or nothing of the case. Even as close as MD/DC/VA, among gay and str8 I've found few who have heard of Rashawn Brazell's murder.
Your call to action is defintely needed L, and I also wanna give a nod to blogger Troy - I noticed a post of yours on one or two yahoogroups I subscribe to, detailing the 'safe dating tips' provided on the Anti Violence Project's website. Those groups reach a global, diverse mix of people - some of who may not actively seek out such useful information, and it's important that word get out.
Also, I encourage readers, listeners, and viewers of irresponsible and insensitive media to write and call in to their producers and editors. It may not directly change if and how these events are covered, but the publication of your dissatisfaction reaches many others, who likely feel the way you do, and hopefully promts action on a larger scale.
Please keep me posted on your developments in this intiative L.
Is it possible to set up a blog ring for this particular issue?
I know you can set one up via Ring Surf. A ring will act as a central point for all those who are blogging about this.
You can create a button that member bloggers can display on their blog so that other people can find out more.
If you do want to set this up and need a hand with anything let me know.
Echoing Bernie's statements, we need to get the word out to the major media junkets; it's obvious that relying on them to seek out the story on their own won't work. I'm going to draft a template letter; Larry, let me know if you need any help on any further resources.
will do...give me a day...
I gotcha...I'll keep you posted
thanks for posting about this.
it's such a poor reflection on the media that i had to find this situation out from a blog.
it's so sad...i am sitting here at my computer crying thinking about it.
thanks for keeping people informed.
after reading all the stuff that you and soulfularies wrote about this, i blogged about it too.
i am shamed that a fellow human being could do something so horrible to another.
i am praying for justice.
and i will not forget.
Larry, I read your Saturday post and it put me, all the way here, in Australia in a state of disbelief. I spoke to my friends and family about what happened. The cruelty, the sadness and the tragedy of the killing and now the affects.
There are so many comples issues here, and I believe yourself and the blogging community are doing what is important in getting your voices across. Getting Mr. Brazell's silent voice across.
I hope he won't be forgotten. I hope that those who continue to live and face the prejudice wont be forgotten.
...i posted the story to my blog...it's on last saturday's posting i believe...
i posted a few words. i've been mulling it over for a few weeks now, ever since i saw your first post on him. i'm sorry it took me so long, and i'm sorry there isn't more i can say or do. thank you for bringing rashawn's story to light.
i posted a few words. i've been mulling it over for a few weeks now, ever since i saw your first post on him. i'm sorry it took me so long, and i'm sorry there isn't more i can say or do. thank you for bringing rashawn's story to light.
i posted a few words. i've been mulling it over for a few weeks now, ever since i saw your first post on him. i'm sorry it took me so long, and i'm sorry there isn't more i can say or do. thank you for bringing rashawn's story to light.
i posted a few words. i've been mulling it over for a few weeks now, ever since i saw your first post on him. i'm sorry it took me so long, and i'm sorry there isn't more i can say or do. thank you for bringing rashawn's story to light.
Hello my name is Desire Brazell I am the mother of Rashawn Brazell I just want to thank everyone for their support and I hope everyone will be there for the city hall meeting I don't know the date yet but I'm sure it will be reveal soon. I will not stop until my son muder is solve thank you once again for giving my entire family support
My Condolences to Ms. Brazell and her family.
I was with you at the Town Hall Meeting on Monday and left with so much pain in my heart. WHO your son is is A HUMAN BEING; a child of the universe. While we all await the City Hall date, we can turn our anger, pain, outrage and sorrow into a POSITIVE AND LOVING ACTION....
I ASK ALL WHO ARE READING TO TAKE 2 MINUTES AND EMAIL MAYOR BLOOMBERG AT:
E-MAIL:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)
FAX (212) 788-2460
REQUEST HE GET INVOLVED AND DEMAND HE RAISE THE CRIME STOPPER REWARD TO AT LEAST $10,000.
Express your outrage and let's clog up City hall with all the pain we are feeling. THIS MUST NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.
In the mist of everything I am
mourning the murder of my nephew
rashawn brazell .That dont stop me from wanting the monster who killed my nephew caught. please contiue to keep this story alive
until this monster is caught.
thank you
Hi Larry; I just learned about Deshawn on AMW.com. I was so horrified by what happened to him that I did some Google searches and read everything I could about the case.
My sincerest love and support goes to his mom Desire.
I totally agree that this case should be solvable. I'm not going to armchair cop the case, but here's my thoughts:
1) There's a great deal of conflicting information out there. Larry, or Desire, could you make sure that the information about the case on America's Most Wanted web site is correct? The web site says that a bag of bloody tools and drill bits were found. However, in another interview last year, a NYC Detective says the "blood" was really rust, and the bits were probably unrelated.
2) I hope to dear god that the Police tracked every single call from his cell phone records. Surely, DeShawn must have had some sort of cell contact with his killer.
3) The cell phone companies also track which cell phone towers connect to a cell phone, which could have helped reveal the location of his cell phone after he went missing. This tracking is not perfect, but would give the general area.
God bless...
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