ANTI-VIOLENCE GROUP PLANS TO HELP TONE DOWN VIOLENCE

Last year I was attending Brooklyn Gay Pride where I was assistanting Rapper Shorty Roc. Shortly after his performace, we were approached by a guy named Sherman who asked us about attending a meeting at Audrey-Lorde. I signed the list and about a month later, I attended my first meeting and I was suprised to learn about SOS a group that helps provides safety measures for many Blacks and Gay/SGL people living in Urban sections of Brooklyn who are surviving to live and avoid being victims of Gay bashing and Police brutality.
I've heard many stories about people in our community being targeted because we're presumed to be weak and soft, but most of today's Gay/SGL have been fighting back and have been expressing their frustrations with the way we've been treated by many ignorant people through blogging and community activism such as protesting and teaching people in the community what to do if they get caught in a violent situation. There have been many, however who haven't been so lucky including Rashawn Brazell and Michael Sandy, who were killed after meeting people online, and while Sandy's killers were sentenced to major jail time, Brazell's killer has yet to be found. They have also been incidents where many people were attacked after leaving clubs such as The Lab and Splash, and when they asked the managers for help, their requests were denined, while police would arrest the people. Especially if they fought their attackers back. One would think that the managers and police would take action to help the victims during their time of need. Especially since they spend their money to go to pay admission to enter the clubs, while their tax-payers money pays the police's salary.
Well SOS is planning on having it's first Summit which will not only be a way of paying homage to our Gay/SGL brothers and sisters. It will also be a way to help the community and police department come together to learn about the issues we deal with on a daily basis and learn how to help each other without adding extra pieces of violence.