Black Lives Matter Vancouver has published a public letter to ask the police to withdraw their participation in the upcoming Vancouver Pride Parade.
If the police choose to do so, it will be seen “as a symbolic gesture and actual sign of support for Indigenous, PoC and Black communities, and an attempt to bridge the divide that the effects of institutionalized racism impose on our daily lives.”
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The group’s letter comes within weeks after Black Lives Matter Toronto issued a similar letter with the same list of demands.
BLM Vancouver point out that having police on the ground for civil services is understandable, but participating on a float and marching in the parade is insulting to protesters.
We acknowledge that in certain contexts police presence to perform a job of civil service may deter acts of homophobia and violence, especially at designated queer events such as Pride. However, we cannot divorce the policing institution from its historical and continued violence against Indigenous and PoC communities, racial profiling, or inaction around our missing Indigenous women. We stand with BLM-Toronto and many other BLM chapters in their discontent with police being involved in the parade itself.
The letter further states that Black Lives Matter Vancouver will not attend the annual Pride Parade as the event no longer represents “community action, resistance and revolution.”
We will not be taking part in the Pride parade, by participation or protest, and have instead chosen to focus our energy elsewhere. The Dyke March responded positively to the recent events in Toronto and, with compassion and dignity, have invited BLM-Vancouver to lead as Grand Marshall this year as part of their contribution to Pride.
Photo: GoToVan / Flickr
