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August 31, 2005
Fund-raiser brings in $2,500 in memory of slain Brooklyn teen
The New York Blade reports on the success of the scholarship launch party. Read the complete story here.
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August 30, 2005
Remembering Rashawn
The Gay City News provides images from the Sunday, August 28th scholarship launch party. Read the complete story here.
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August 08, 2005
You're Invited: the RBMS launch party
Join us on Sunday, August 28th as we celebrate the life and legacy of our brother and friend Rashawn Brazell. Luke and Leroy, one of Rashawn’s favorite places to party, will proudly host “Brighter Days”, the official launch party for the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Scholarship. The requested donation is a mere ten dollars, every cent of which will be used to support the college education of a New York City student committed to the fight against racism, sexism and homophobia.
For more information, sponsorship details or to make a tax-deductible donation, contact:
The Rashawn Brazell Memorial Scholarship Fund
P.O. Box 211
New York, New York 10037-9998
E-mail: RBScholars@aol.com
Fax/Voicemail: 206-339-5449
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August 05, 2005
Black Pride Amidst Crisis
Black Pride Amidst Crisis Summit, Weekend Events Geared to Ending HIV Menace, Anti-Gay Brutality
By DUNCAN OSBORNE
In 2001, a group of black gay men met in New York City to discuss what they saw as the shortcomings in science and studies about the lives in their community. There was not enough research on the lives of African-American gay and bisexual men and what little there was tended to focus on HIV and AIDS.
The men, now part of an organization with 20 members titled the Black Gay Research Group, will hold their second summit meeting August 4 and 5 that will draw 200 academics, health care and social service providers, researchers and others to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Brooklyn.
The two keynote speakers this year are author Keith Boykin, whose most recent book, “Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America,” made it onto to The New York Times bestseller list, and Dr. David J. Malebranche, an assistant professor at the Division of General Medicine at Emory University’s School of Medicine in Atlanta who has authored a number of studies on black gay men, HIV and how those men view doctors.
Boykin said he will talk about recent violence directed against gay and lesbian African-Americans including Sakia Gunn, Arthur Warren, Wanda Alston, Dwan Prince and Rashawn Brazell.
“In light of recent events, including violence against black gays and lesbians and homophobic remarks by black ministers, I’m going to use the speech to black gays and lesbians to call on them to stand up and be counted in this debate and not participate in our own oppression,” Boykin said.
Read the entire article at Gay City News.
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August 04, 2005
A Harlem Gathering to Fight Homophobia
NYS Black Gay Network leads clergy, political leaders at Riverside Church rally
By HANNAH SELIGSON
On Sunday, July 31, leaders in the gay and lesbian community, clergy members and elected officials hosted a meeting at Riverside Church to call attention to a series of violent attacks against African-American lesbian, gay and transgendered people in what the event’s organizers are calling a state of emergency.
In the first half of this year, two particularly brutal crimes garnered the city’s attention. On June 8, three men attacked Dwan Prince, a building porter, on a Brooklyn street. The three shouted anti-gay epithets and punched, kicked and stomped the 27-year-old victim, who is HIV-positive, leaving him semi-paralyzed after he emerged from a coma in Brookdale Hospital. Steve Pomie has been arrested in the case and faces bias-related assault charges. The two other men are still being sought by police.
On February 17, transit workers discovered the dismembered arm and two legs of Rashawn Brazell, a 19-year-old murder victim, stuffed in a plastic bag on subway tracks in Bushwick, Brooklyn. A week later, Brazell’s torso was discovered at a Greenpoint recycling plant. His other body parts are still missing and police have yet to discover the scene of the gruesome dismemberment. The murder remains unsolved and his mother, Desire Brazell, a social services worker, has become—like mothers of other slain gay and lesbian children—an advocate for tolerance and non-violence. Brazell attended Sunday night’s gathering in Riverside’s Assembly Hall, but left early after becoming overcome with emotion.
Read the full article at Gay City News.
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