Hello, friends.
Before I get into the meat of tonight’s issue, I have a favor to ask of our American readers: please call your local government representatives and make sure they are funding your local police forces at a rate that matches your values, particularly relative to other services they provide. Odds are, they are not. Odds are, lots of vital, community-sustaining services are seeing huge slashes but your police budget remains hearty. If you spent the amount of time I did this morning watching videos of police terrorizing peaceful protesters and members of the press, I cannot imagine that funding model will sit well with you. If you did not and care to catch up, this Twitter thread collects around 30 videos from protests throughout the country and I think you should watch them, if you can bear to— and try, if you’re white, to inspect really carefully the question of what you can bear. If you’ve been terrorized by cops yourself, you are unlikely to need any reminder. But if you haven’t, the scope of egregious behavior that occurred this is hard to imagine if you don’t see it and I say that as a white person who came into this week with very little love for the cops.
For many local governments, the fiscal year ends on June 30th, which means that the budgets for the coming year are being finalized right now. If you think giving a huge portion of your tax dollars to an institution that, for example, willingly gasses peaceful protesters to clear the way for a spiritually empty photo op, you can visit commoncause.org/find-your-representative/ to get the names and contact info of your local, state, and federal representatives. Call them up and let them know how your feel your tax dollars should be spent. Here in Boston, we’re asking that all money normally allotted to police overtime be directed instead to our black and brown communities— a script you can easily adapt to apply to other cities. That may or may not be the appropriate solution for your town— check in with your local Black Lives Matter chapter and see what policies they are advocating for. But please call. Let’s stop giving these irresponsible bullies the money to buy weapons, body armor, and tear gas they cannot be trusted to use.
In Further News: Welcome to Pride Month!
never forget: Stonewall was *also* a riot caused by police misconduct
As you may have realized thanks to the comically ill-judged gestures of corporate solidarity, today marks the beginning of Pride month, our annual celebration of the Stonewall Riots that sparked the gay rights movement here in America. As TBD’s resident queer Dame, I am taking that as a reason to focus my recommendations this month on queer-created culture that I think is particularly worthy of your attention. First up: Season 3 of CBC’s Uncover Podcast, The Village, the rare true crime podcast that feels truly humane.
Beginning with the arrest of Bruce McArthur, a man since found guilty of murdering eight gay men in Toronto’s Gay Village between 2010 and 2018, this podcast does not focus on the gory details of the mens’ deaths, or the tense cat-and-mouse dynamic between a genius serial killer and the dogged detectives on his tail. Instead, it tells the story of how societal marginalization impacts a community— of what happens when we agree that certain types of people are expendable. How ignorance and indifference may have allowed McArthur to murder many, many more queer men between 1975 and 1997 while police, instead of seeking him, terrorized the queer community he preyed upon right alongside him. And it tells the story of the way a community persecuted and derided by those in power came together to protect its own. While we’re confronting the ways policing shapes our communities, it feels like an exceptionally worthwhile listen.
Although the podcast is not always light, it is so attuned to the humanity of everyone featured that it never feels grim or exploitative— possibly because Justin Ling, the reporter whose investigative work drives it forward, is both queer and Asian, like many of the men whose murders he investigates. His answer to the question of how he avoided the pitfalls of sensationalism despite is instructive:
I think it's simple, but maybe easier said than done: You've got to keep the people affected by this story at the forefront. If you start chasing this story without respect for the people who have to live with it every day, then you're not helping. You get to leave the story at the office, lots of people impacted by this don't have that luxury, and never chose to be a part of this.
I think this series is really special and well worth your time. I hope you try it out and find that you agree. And, in the meantime, please have a music video that, while not by a queer artist (as far as I can tell), is exceptionally queer in terms of message and aesthetics:
XOXO/Dame M