https://www.popularresistance.org/blacklivesmatter-speaks-out-on-orlando-killings/
In Honor of Our Dead: Latinx, Queer, Trans, Muslim, Black — We Will Be Free | En Honor a Nuestros Muertos: Latinx, Queer, Trans, Musulmanes, Negros – Seremos Libres
It is with pain and heartache that the Black Lives Matter Network extends love, light, protection, and abundance to our family in Orlando, Florida. We love you. Black people are a diverse community, and though the hate-filled rhetoric of the conservative right is currently trying to pit us against our kin — we will always stand with all the parts of ourselves. Today, Queer, Latinx, andMuslim family, we lift you up.
Despite the media’s framing of this as a terrorist attack, we are very clear that this terror is completely homegrown, born from the anti-Black white supremacy, patriarchy and homophobia of the conservative right and of those who would use religious extremism as a weapon to gain power for the few and take power from the rest. Those who seek to profit from our deaths hope we will forget who our real enemy is, and blame Muslim communities instead.
But we will never forget.
Homegrown terror is the product of a long history of colonialism, including state and vigilante violence. It is the product of white supremacy and capitalism, which deforms the spirit and fuels interpersonal violence. We especially hold space for our Latinx family now, knowing that the vast majority of those murdered were Latinx, and many were specifically Puerto Rican. From the forced migration of thousands of young people from the island of Puerto Rico to Orlando, to the deadly forced migration throughout Latin America and the Caribbean — we know this is not the first time in history our families have been mowed down with malice, and we stand with you.
Religious extremism is not new to America and is not unique to Islam. For centuries, religion has been used to subjugate queer people of color and lay the groundwork for our deaths. We live in a society that gasps at mass murder but does little to produce the policies or radical ideological shift needed to keep LGBTQ people and our families alive and safe.
And so we will fight for you. We will fight for a world that celebrates your strength and the creativity of your survival.
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 and Stanley Almodovar III, 23 and Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20.
We will fight for you. For a movement that celebrates Black and Brown Trans women, instead of neglecting their leadership and devaluing their lives.
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22. Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36. Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22.
We will fight for you. We will not allow a false narrative of “Islamic terrorism” to be dictated by white supremacists and corporate media. We know it was bullets and bigotry that killed you.
Luis S. Vielma, 22. Kimberly Morris, 37. Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30.
We will fight for you. We will not allow our movement to be dominated by white progressives that still attempt to define our solutions and limit our leadership. We will not allow the vision to be stunted by a gun control agenda with neither racial context nor a clear history of the relationship between white supremacy and guns in the United States. Yes, there is value in gun control and a ban on assault rifles, but it is not the complete answer. You cannot decry guns without also decrying how those guns were used to take Native land, to enslave Black bodies, to remake “Latin America”, and to redefine the western hemisphere. We need more than legislation, more than vigils and prayers, more than donations — we need a deep transformation at the cellular levels of this nation. And we’re here for it. All of it.
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29. Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32. Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21.
We will fight for you. Like our families and communities, love is under attack. We will focus on healing our communities and ourselves. We remain committed to the internal work of building revolutionary love and resilience. We are lit from within by this love.
- Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25.
- Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35.
- Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50.
- Amanda Alvear, 25.
- Martin Benitez Torres, 33.
- Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37.
- Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26.
- Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35.
- Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25.
- Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31.
- Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26.
- Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25.
- Miguel Angel Honorato, 30.
- Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40.
- Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32.
- Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19.
- Cory James Connell, 21.
- Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37.
- Luis Daniel Conde, 39.
- Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33.
- Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25.
- Jerald Arthur Wright, 31.
- Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25.
- Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25.
- Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24.
- Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27.
- Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33.
- Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49.
- Yilmary Rodriguez Sulivan, 24.
- Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32.
- Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28.
- Frank Hernandez, 27.
- Paul Terrell Henry, 41.
- Antonio Davon Brown, 29.
- Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24.
- Akyra Monet Murray, 18.
To honor our dead, and fight like hell for the living, we need a new vision for safety that prioritizes human rights and does not facilitate deadly violence. We need a world that realizes that the word “terrorist” is not synonymous with Muslim, any more than “criminal” is synonymous with Black. The enemy is now and has always been the four threats of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and militarism. These forces and not Islam create terrorism. These forces, and not queerness, create homophobia. These forces unleash destruction primarily on those who are Trans, and queer, and brown and Black, and we are the first to experience its’ violence. These forces create the conditions for our dehumanization and our death, and we will hold them to account, no matter whose face they may wear. (emphasis mine)
Until these systems are defeated, until anti-Blackness no longer fuels anti-Muslim and anti-queer and trans bigotry, exploitation, and exclusion — we can never be truly free.
But, we believe that we will win.
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