“This is a normal neighborhood”:

Six Gay Men Shot in Home Invasion

By Nathan James

I woke up this morning, turned on the computer, and immediately saw a news item which made me sick. In the predawn hours of Sunday morning, at a party in a home in Chicago , six gay men were shot. They fell in a hail of bullets fired by two masked men who kicked open the house’s front and side doors, and started blasting away. The home was a known gay party spot, and there were dozens of New Year’s revelers there. Neighbors told the newspapers that the “gay house” was the frequent site of big, boisterous parties. What the neighbors said beyond that, really made me want to throw up.

One young black man told WGN that “they [gay black men] don’t belong here. This is a normal neighborhood for straight people.” Another asserted that the shooting was bound to happen: “They’re always looking at you like you’re cute. Sooner or later, something was going to happen.” OK. Hold everything. In this “straight, normal” neighborhood, six people get shot in cold blood, and all they can do is blame the victims? Does the idea that a home was brutally invaded, and murder was attempted, even give these young men pause? Who, in fact, are these “normal, straight” people…could they be the ones with guns in their hands, trying to kill the “abnormal” gay men?

While these young gay men lay in hospital beds, (two of them fighting for their lives), has anyone in this pristine abode of normalcy considered that there are two very bloodthirsty men roaming their streets? That they have it within themselves to commit such an atrocity should have the whole neighborhood, indeed the City of Chicago , up in arms. Yet nary a peep has been forthcoming. Even the Chicago Police Department waffled on the shooting, saying they could not determine whether it was a hate crime. Plus, those who should be crying the loudest for the shooters’ arrest, have little to say other than to denounce the “disgusting” victims. Well, how “disgusting” is it to break into a house full of people with naught but murder on your mind?

Gays and lesbians face remarkable trials and challenges in their lives, suffering as they do the persecutions of a society that is conditioned from childhood to hate them. Yet no one finds this sorry state of affairs upsetting. People of color might, in particular, do well to remember their shared history with the gays among them, whom they so often despise. Shared history? Yes, you read that correctly. Forty-five years ago, when Dr. Martin Luther King was locked in nonviolent battle with Jim Crow, it was a black gay man who showed him the way. His name was Bayard Rustin, and if not for his efforts and guidance to Dr. King, Jim Crow might still be very much a social plague for people of color today.

Even in those days, no less an entity than the FBI tried to warn Dr. King away from Bayard Rustin, because of Rustin’s homosexuality. Dr. King demurred, standing steadfastly behind Rustin. Dr. King, a Baptist preacher and Nobel laureate, recognized that Rustin’s help was priceless, and transcended his sexuality. Here we have the seeds of a truly Shakespearean irony: Rustin, a gay man, helps Martin Luther King overturn racial injustice and terrorism, making possible the advances the modern black community enjoys today. In turn, the modern black community reviles and casts out gay black men like Rustin was, upon whose shoulders they stand! The ultimate tragedy is in shootings like the one in Chicago , and the attitudes toward the victims which was displayed.

That the gay shooting victims are, after all, fellow men of color that might have been attacked alongside their straight neighbors, just a few decades ago, seems lost on those who declare their streets to be a place where these same gay black men “don’t belong”. Dr. King, who was beaten, threatened, and ultimately assassinated for bringing his people where they “didn’t belong”, must be spinning in his grave at high RPMs over remarks like that. Likewise, I daresay Martin Luther King might have had a thing or two to tell the pastors of the modern black church, about tolerance. A fiery sermonizer himself, Dr. King’s message was always one of hope for the future, of tolerance and respect. He spoke of his dream: a day when we would all break bread at the table of respect and understanding. Yet, nowhere is there a clearer voice of division and hatred, than from the pulpits of a lot of today’s black churches.

The Rev. Hezekiah Walker once famously decreed, “I don’t want no faggots in my church!” How totally at odds with Dr. King’s words such statements are! Indeed, as Dr. King is considered to be a prototypical black pastor, I would imagine more black pastors would be trying to emulate him, not overturn his message of unity and love. What a horrible fate is in store for the vital, beautiful black community if it continues to tolerate its hatred of the gays and lesbians amongst them! It might be that the next great black leader awaits them. But instead of uplifting and promoting his community, he kills himself (or is killed) because he is a gay black man?

Imagine it’s, oh, say, 1958. Bayard Rustin offers Martin Luther King his help. Dr. King bellows, “I don’t want no faggots in my church!” The civil rights movement in the mid-20th century dies with those words. Imagine how our lives—gay, straight, black, white—would be today, had Dr. King been filled with hate, instead of love and understanding. Everything is intertwined, connected. Yet, today, the promise of 50 years ago is undone, as people of color are shot, as much by the gunmen as by the attitudes of their own, larger community. What we teach our children (and allow them to be taught) is, perhaps, today, more critical than ever.

That’s because our children are doing things that are pretty unspeakable today. It was bad enough to see gay-bashings occur, but now, to be in a house—someone’ s home—and be shot for who you are, is beyond contempt. Those shooters were as vicious as anyone the Nazis had in WWII Germany, and no different in their methods or cruelty. I am quite sure the homophobes amongst us would condone such a thing. That is, until it’s their son who comes out of the closet and is shot. Or, Heaven forbid, they get hit by a stray bullet meant for the objects of their hatred. Hate is a vicious master, uncaring who is hurt by its precepts.

Now we are bound up by the atrocious doings of a pair who felt their victims were fit only to receive hot lead. Beyond the need for the black community to rebuke this as the foul incident it is, I wonder where, oh, where the gay community will be on this. I’ve already spoken with outrage on the lack of support the gay community shows when one of their number dies brutally. Are gay people really, truly, content to go to the next party and ignore these ongoing threats to their survival? I hope not, for that only means the next party they attend may be held at the morgue. However, I’m not encouraged by the number of gays and lesbians attending protest marches when they do occur.

Six gay men get shot in a house, at a legal, legitimate party they had every right to attend? Every gay person in Chicago who is able, should be blocking State Street tomorrow, demanding action! For those of you who say that’s unrealistic, I will remind you that they close State Street five times a year for parades. It can be done. I will be watching the news to see what happens. So will the ghosts of Bayard Rustin and Dr. King. Like the events of 50 years ago, this is one of those moments our future depends on.

Nathan James

http://www.nathanjamesonline.com

Sad,disgusting and some people are cheering them on and think no big loss.

Everyone will get theirs in the end , if not before.

edie

Sad,disgusting and some people are cheering them on and think no big loss.

Everyone will get theirs in the end , if not before.

edie

I was hoping for more comments on this issue. Even negative ones would have been interesting.

I read it and had a conversation about it at work, I just didn't post here.

I can't even pretend to understand the mores of the black community, but I do know that homosexuality is particularly negative. Of course I'm speaking in general terms, I have no first-hand experience. But I do have a gay friend who is black, and I've heard from him for about 8 years how it's bad enough to be gay, but to be gay and black is damn near taboo. But that's really a sidebar, and being said it excuses nothing.

Author's voice comes across a little... not sure naive is the right word. Definitely written with a bias, so I can make some guesses about the Nathan James character. I'm not at all familiar with him, never heard of him until I read this, but some of his opinions or statements give me the impression that his perspective is not entirely realistic - be it intentional or un-. I don't think children are necessarily conditioned to hate gays. If I had been conditioned to hate gays, I would hate gays. But I don't.

"but now, to be in a house—someone’ s home—and be shot for who you are, is beyond contempt" - sorry, but that's nothing new. People have been in someone's home and shot because of who they are - well - probably for as long as home shootings have occured in recorded history.

You probably know my thoughts about hate crimes, but I don't think the "it's the responsibility of all minorities to band together and fight oppression" is necessarily the right answer. I think it's a naive ideal.

Alas - sometimes I wish more people had more Naive Ideals. It would be a much nicer world.

I tend to agree that minorities SHOULD all band together against intolerance and hate - and that those of us who are NOT in the minority should join them whenever and wherever possible.

The world has gone straight to hell because most of us just wallow in apathy and wait for somebody else to do something about it. I have been guilty of that myself - but I am trying to do better.

It's not just race relations - but crime and education and everything else.

I think the founding fathers of this nation would spin in their graves if they could see what we have allowed our politicians to do to the Constitution... but that's another firey debate.

We all need to spread a little more love in the world, to speak up against intolerance. To Vote.

To ACT instead of waiting to see what happens.

Just my 2 cents.

I tend to agree that minorities SHOULD all band together against intolerance and hate - and that those of us who are NOT in the minority should join them whenever and wherever possible.

I agree with just about your whole post.

In regards to what I quoted, I recommend the Academy Award Winning Movie "Crash" for all those that have not seen it.

Its theme is that people who are in groups which are discriminated against are no less likely to discriminate against other groups.

You don't have to be gay to find this distrubing, only human. People like this need someone to blame for being different. A few years ago there were people who used the same victims are guilty when a woman was raped. Before that it was interracial marriage, before that blacks not "knowing thier place"....the hate just goes on.

Now homosexuals can't even have peace in thier own homes. Aids is the "gay plague" and gay marriage is going to bring the end of the world.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most is when those I know and love "come out" to me and then expect ME to shun them. They are always shocked that I just don't care. It is only fair though, they didn't kick me out of thier lives for being....GASP....straight....and....OH GOD...FAT

out of my mind now...please leave a message....cat

I know it's an unpopular opinion to believe that being a minority does not obligate you to "fight" for other minority groups. I think it would be great if it happened, don't get me wrong, but I don't think there should be any expectation or pressure to do it.

I've been told on this site before, essentially "shame on you for not supporting her, she has a band too". Now of course the issue in question was not a band issue. So why would I support someone just because they had the same type of surgery I did, if I personally didn' tbelieve they were "right"? Doesn't make sense to me.

I have always had gay friends and I come from parents who were, as we now say, gay friendly. In the case of my mum, this was no surprise for she was a bohemian Brit. In the case of my father it was very surprising; he was east European and very, very macho but he was also a Jew and he viewed homosexuals as occupying the same space as Jews did during the Holocaust. He figured that you were born a Jew, you were born homosexual and that is the luck of draw; why, then, should you be persecuted by others?

I have since come to realise that my father's attitude was quite unusual. The more prevalent attitude of those who are oppressed is to come home and (metaphorically speaking) kick the family cat or dog. This seems to be how human psychology oh so often works. Those who are oppressed often do not acquire empathy with others who are similarly oppressed but seek to get their own back by acting in the role of the oppressor as soon as they are able.

The blood bath reported by TOM is truly appalling. I have heard from friends and have also read that this business of coming out is infinitely worse for people of colour. Their home communities are much more rooted in the values of the macho. I have a number of gay Muslim friends who live in Paris and in Canada who have chosen to estrange themselves from their families; they are unable to come out to them, you see.

From what I have heard Black communities are not cool to homosexual members. As an example: Canada, my country, wanted to ban entry to a popular Jamaican singer last summer because some of his songs were explicitly homophobic.