August 30, 2015

Statement from Tasha Amezcua, Safe OUTSide the System Coordinator

We have survived and are currently surviving racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny in Bed-Stuy. Audre Lorde said we were never meant to survive, but through our resilience and resistance, we are here, and we will resist, strategize, and strengthen our communities. As capitalism, white supremacy, and the state work to displace us, lock us up, deport and disappear us, and police our gender we will find each other, love each other, protect each other, and build communities, homes, and safety rooted in our rich and beautiful cultural traditions.

The Safe OUTside the System Collective hosts Bed Stuy Pride annually as a non-corporate community and family event, rooted in Bed Stuy’s Black cultural legacies of pride, resistance, and resilience. We build space to honor our ancestors we lost to homophobia, transphobia, racism, and the state, and to remember Bed Stuy’s history of resilience and resistance in the face of violent oppression.

We uplift the long legacy of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans, and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color cultural work, such as art, performance, and healing, that has been a part of our neighborhoods, families, and communities long before gentrification, colonization, and the displacement of indigenous communities, and is a testament to the resilience of our people.

We are all we need to survive!

Thanks to all the artists, jewelry makers, healers, chefs, performers, poets, organizers, neighbors, and SOS members who made this Bed Stuy’s biggest pride! We hope you’ll join us next year. For more information, email sos@alp.org.