Neighborhood group sounds alarm on gays in Piedmont Park, puts trans prostitutes on YouTube
By RYAN LEE
Jul. 20, 2007
Click here to read the article in Southern Voice.
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My Response:
I applaud your article and the work you contribute to the community via your post with Southern Voice. I am very concerned about the impression that the messages being communicated by MPSA will be taken in large part as racist and discriminatory based on their language and mode of communication. I, like many black gay men here in Atlanta, feel it is important to shed some light on this situation. I want to illuminate the fact that not all black gay men, lesbian, and transgender persons who attend the park on Sunday are related to the ballroom scene. Being a recognized leader in the ballroom community here locally and nationally, I feel its important to rectify and correct any misconceptions surrounding the ballroom scene and its activities. I also feel it would be more appropriate and prudent to address these situations as the isolated incidents that they are as opposed to generalizing the collective. Additionally, while I sympathize with the views and concerns expressed by the MPSA, I must agree with the comments made by Atlanta Police Officer Darlene Harris; vigilante actions on the part of the MPSA are in fact dangerous, especially considering their contention is that "those" people pose a "threat". I would further like to point out that the City of Atlanta has a formal law enforcement component, and in the 7 years that I have lived here, have been aware that the Atlanta Police are responsible for the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of criminal activity in the Midtown area. It seems as if there is some concern on the part of the MPSA of the Atlanta Police Department's efficiency in being able to properly and promptly address criminal activity in the park. In short, I would hope that in the future, since Midtown residents do not live in isolation from the rest of the community and in many ways overlap the population of people they are addressing; that the MPSA would choose more compassionate and partnering ways to address and handle their concerns, instead of stereotyping and generalizing a community that they seem to inherently lack a proper understanding of.
In Service to His Will,
Stephaun Elite Manolo Blahnik
Stephaun Elite Manolo Blahnik
Community Activist-Health Educator-Empowerment Specialist
"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you."- Wayne Dyer
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