At NYC pier
LBGT youths of color protest harassment
By Minnie Bruce Pratt
New York
High-stakes real estate is transforming Greenwich Village in
New York City. And it is driving out young people who gather
there in order to carry on the long tradition of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and trans communities gathering in the West
Village.
But young people are organizing and fighting back.
Some 200 people, mostly youths of color, rallied Oct. 16 at
the site of the Stonewall Rebellion in Sheridan Square, and
marched through police down Chris topher Street to the piers.
They chanted, "Stonewall means fight back!" and carried signs
reading, youth need beds, not jails."
Stonewall was the 1969 uprising against police brutality led
by transgender, gay and lesbian young people. Most were people
of color, homeless and forced by poverty into prostitution. The
piers have served for generations as shelter and home to such
youths.
The group Fabulous Independent Edu cated Radicals for
Community Empower ment--FIERCE--organized and led the Oct. 16
protest. FIERCE is a community organization formed in 2000 by
trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, Two-Spirit, queer and
questioning (TLGTSQQ) youths of color in New York City. FIERCE
battles police brutality and discriminatory arrests of youths
of color. It organizes for housing, employment, education and
healthcare for homeless and low-income youths. And it provides
training in community leadership.
Scapegoating youth of color
The rally and march were part of the FIERCE "Save Our Space"
campaign to protest "the displacement and criminalization of
TLGTSQQ youth." Young people, mostly of color, are hit with
police harassment and street sweeps in the efforts to "upscale"
the Village as giant real-estate interests engineer their
"beautification" campaign.
In a multi-million-dollar real-estate boom, high-rise
apartment buildings are climbing in the West Village, designed
by internationally known architects such as Robert Meier and
Philip Johnson. The wealthy are buying apartments at
astronomical prices. For instance, there's the penthouse just
bought by the Olsen twins, actors Mary-Kate and Ashley, for
$7.3 million. (New York Times, July 11)
Hand in glove with real-estate financiers, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg's administration is developing the Christopher Street
pier as part of the Hudson River Park, at a cost of $330
million. The old piers are advertised as "islands of repose in
the midst of our vibrant city."
First with Mayor Rudolph Guiliani's "Quality of Life"
campaign, and now continuing with Bloomberg's "Operation Clean
Sweep," LGBT young of color have been arrested for acts that
affluent white Village visitors or residents commit with
impunity--like "noise" and "loitering."
Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional
Association of New York, pointed to the racist profiling of
such arrests in a comment on people held in the arrest pens:
"One of the things that's startling is how rarely you see a
white face. And the great majority of charges ... are quality
of life charges." (Village Voice, April 30, 2002)
At the closing rally on Oct. 16, Kenyon Farrow, a FIERCE
ally, drew a parallel between the "Black Codes" of Recon struc
tion and the "Quality of Life" campaigns. Both, he pointed out,
were intended to restrict people of color in public space, and
to entrap them into prison. He demanded the city end the curfew
on the piers.
Heather Horgan, organizer trainee for FIERCE, led chants and
said, "We're friends, family and we're not going nowhere!"
Stonewall veteran Bob Kohler praised the youths: "You do have
the power--the power to organize!"
Transgender lesbian activist Leslie Feinberg said at the
rally, "Real quality of life means housing, jobs, education and
health care, freedom from racism and police brutality." The
only "job" offered now to many young people, Feinberg pointed
out, is to kill or be killed as soldiers in Iraq. Feinberg
asked the crowd, "Are you going to go?"
Youths shouted back: "Hell, no!" and began chanting, "Bring
the troops home now!"
Aries Delacruz, FIERCE organizer, con cluded: "Queer youth,
homeless youth, youth of color, have been in the Village and on
the pier for 40 years, before everyone else. Now we are losing
one of the few places we have had to build community. They are
telling us to go away, and providing no help, no services. It's
a class struggle."
Reprinted from the Oct. 28, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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