When will queer black lives matter to the masses?

After another gay black man died in Democratic donor Ed Buck’s home, it feels like liberation and equality for queer people of colour still remains nothing more than a far off dream

Centuries of advocacy, bravery and, sadly, many deaths have brought the modern world in to a time where black liberation is no longer a mythical theory whispered in quiet corners, but an active goal whose path is being created by groups of people willing to chip away and put the spotlight on the systemic and global oppression experienced by black people over centuries.

Despite the constant work of and the growing platforms many black Americans have today, in the era of Black Lives Matter and heightened social awareness, black lives remain undervalued as we become desensitized to the continuing trauma inflicted upon black communities.

Especially, the queer ones. Trump’s America has awakened an era of outright hatred and unbridled racism. It has lifted the veil and exposed the bigotry woven into the fabric of American culture that many have failed to grappled with.

2018 was one of the more deadly years for black trans women and it was accompanied by continued homelessness, HIV/AIDs and other social injustices that are still ripping through black queer communities.

Those voices and lives, that exist at an intersection of marginalised identities, have found themselves underrepresented in discussions about LGBT injustices for years, because those with privilege and power have dominated the focus.

Earlier this week, Ed Buck, a political activist and Democratic donor found himself in the press again, when a black gay man (whose identity has yet to be disclosed) was found dead in his apartment. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened.

In July of 2017, a black gay escort by the name of Gemmel Moore was also found dead, naked on a mattress in Buck’s West Hollywood home. Moore himself even kept a journal in which he alleged that Buck was the first person to administer him crystal meth. Moore’s death was ruled an accidental overdose and no charges were brought against anyone.

According to OpenSecrets.org, an website that compiles and tracks political donations, Buck has donated over $100k to the campaigns of Democratic politicians including Hillary Clinton, and even newly elected Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema. To be fair, that amount in the span of a couple decades hardly makes Buck a donor equal in power and access to that the Devos family or Koch brothers, but they are certainly more than the average American can afford.

What’s important is that Buck’s long history as social activist who fights for equality has made him valuable to the communities he is a part of. That value, it seems, has allowed his actions and involvement with the death of two men to go largely unscrutinised.

The lack of response from people in politics and pundits who have made their living bloviating about justice and equality, should make us wonder about their commitment to those causes as well.

The drug-related death of anyone in the home of someone else is a cause for alarm, but when it happens twice in under two years, the sirens should ring even louder. Under most circumstances, Buck’s party affiliation shouldn’t matter, but in this case it does. The lack of media traction and noise made by other liberals highlights how many allies engage and are invested in black lives: in ways that can showcase how morally upstanding they are.

So often, the loudest and most aggressive purported allies of black and queer communities speak out on the death and exploitation of black individuals is when the act can be clearly be viewed as motivated by a racial bias.

When a cop shoots an unarmed black man, it’s easier to speak out against a type of hatred. It seems clearly morally reprehensible. It helps reaffirm how they aren’t racist themselves. It signals and echoes the virtues those who stand proudly Democrat and view themselves as allies to both the black and queer communities know they should stand against. This is the type of virtue signalling that allows people to tweet, post and share their thoughts about horrors of racial violence from the comfort of their apartments in gentrified neighbourhoods.

However, when someone like Buck finds themselves at the centre of a scandal involving the death of two black gay men, it appears that mum’s the word amongst liberals and the media.

Suddenly, the reputation and integrity of the systems seem to matter more than the dignity of those who have died.

The response, or lack thereof, speaks to the way power and privilege have always operated, a system of oppression that allows people (who ostensibly have a history of supporting and advocating for the marginalised) to still exploit those same communities and contribute to their continued trauma.

And it’s precisely this classist and racist form of protection that allows some people to live life with impunity while putting the lives of others who constantly devalued in danger. It has to end.

As long as they are able to evade accountability and justice for whatever involvement they may have in the deaths of black queer youth, liberation and equality for queer people of colour will remain nothing more than a far off dream.

It’s imperative that horrors like those suffered by both Gemmel Moore and the latest victim receive the same level of concern and outrage from everyone who claims to have a vested interest in equality and justice.

Failure to do so, is an affront to the very notion of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.