Photo credit: Milwaukee Pride
In a recent conversation with Broderick Pearson (aka Montell Infiniti Ross), I asked about the circumstances behind his organizing the 2020 Pride March for Black Lives Matter. I also asked whether he would march again this year. Pearson confirmed that plans are made and later that day formally announced the “One Year Anniversary March for the March with Pride for #BLACKLIVESMATTER Movement.”
Last year, in the midst of the first horrific months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and just days after the extrajudicial killing of George Floyd by members of the Minneapolis Police Department, Pearson had tried to engage local leadership to act in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and organize an event. The city’s annual Pride celebrations, both PrideFest and the Pride Parade had, after all, already been cancelled due to COVID. The resources were available and the convergence of the Black Lives Matter protests and occasion of Pride month itself presented the perfect opportunity for the LGBTQ community to embrace its revolutionary roots and rise up in support of social justice, racial equity and human rights. As obvious and opportune as the moment seemed to Pearson, the response he received was tepid at best.
Floyd’s murder struck local LGBTQs of color differently and certainly much more intensely than it did their white brothers and sisters. The urgency to do something in response among the latter was simply not there. It’s always a bit awkward for diverse cultures to coalesce around a continuing tragedy that affects one more emotionally, socially and psychologically than the other. Cue the Martin Niemoeller poem, “First they came…”
History of Segregation
To be fair, it’s no surprise given Milwaukee’s history of segregation, the LGBTQ community’s less than stellar record of inclusion and its complacent inaction vis-à-vis matters political. Besides, watching George Floyd exhale his last breath under the crushing pressure of a cop’s knee as a white person, even a compassionate one, did not elicit the same personal response as it did for any person of color.
Following the events as they unfolded at the time, I watched as Pearson, rather than wait for others who seemed content to do nothing at all, acted decisively on his instincts and launched what would become, less than 72 hours later, the “March with Pride for # BLACKLIVESMATTER.” An estimated 5,000 participants marched that day. The dramatic sequence of the events ended in what one might describe as the re-politicization of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community and its first mass political demonstration of the 21st century. Its impact would be immeasurable. I’m sure it did more to confront and raise awareness of the realities of the hate and racism perpetrated by the former regime, and, more importantly, to get out the vote to unseat it, than any prior or subsequent action on the part of our LGBTQ leadership.
Bigger, Better
Meanwhile, according to Pearson, this year’s March with Pride for #BLACKLIVESMATTER promises to be “bigger, better and more organized than before!!!” With a month of planning (rather than the first event’s 72 hours) before the march takes place, it likely will be. Pearson is also enlisting the support of a broad range of LGBTQ organizations. This time, it appears, they are ready and willing to enthusiastically support his effort.
While still very much in the planning stages, Pearson expects the March will take place on Milwaukee’s traditional Pride weekend June 5 or 6. Details will be announced on Montell Ross’s Facebook page.
