XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, rec.arts.tv.comedy.colbert-report   
   XPost: dc.politics   
   From: nancy.pelosi.democrat.nambla.stooge@disney.com   
      
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   Ed Buck, a prominent California donor to politicians, was   
   arrested and charged last week with operating a drug house just   
   days after a third gay, Black man overdosed in Buck’s house. The   
   arrest comes after local Black and LGBTQ activists tried for   
   years to bring attention online to the deaths of two men, Gemmel   
   Moore and Timothy Dean, who died in Buck’s home. Federal   
   prosecutors charged Buck last week for the murder of Moore.   
      
   The 37-year-old who overdosed most recently in Buck’s home   
   survived and gave investigators evidence that in part led to   
   Buck’s arrest. But the men’s deaths and the two years that it   
   took to start holding Buck accountable is yet another example of   
   erasure of Black people.   
      
   I have always been aware that the intersection of my identity as   
   a gay, Black man makes me especially vulnerable to violence.   
   Before coming out to my family, I often mentally rehearsed what   
   I’d do if they kicked me out—or worse. While traveling in the   
   Philippines for three months, I accepted a ride from police   
   officers. I sat in the backseat, terrified of the possibility   
   that they may try to harm me and wondered how long it would take   
   to find my body.   
      
   Statistics, too, reflect the vulnerability of Black, LGBTQ   
   people. When reporting hate crimes to the police, Black   
   survivors are 1.3 times more likely to experience police   
   violence than non-Black survivors. Young, gay Black men are   
   among those most affected by HIV and AIDS, which can be   
   contracted by sharing needles.   
      
   The case of Buck and the gay, Black men who died in his home   
   reminds me of the 11 Black women killed by Anthony Sowell in my   
   home city of Cleveland, Ohio. The victims included sex workers,   
   drug addicts, or runaways, and it’s difficult not to question   
   whether Cleveland police could have worked harder to find them.   
      
   The first death reported in Buck’s West Hollywood home, that of   
   Gemmel Moore in 2017, was initially ruled an accident. Among   
   Moore’s possessions found at the time was a journal with damning   
   entries. But when local homicide investigators encouraged   
   prosecutors to press charges against Buck, prosecutors declined   
   on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Two years later,   
   Timothy Dean died of an overdose.   
      
   One of the most troubling allegations to emerge about Buck’s   
   behavior is that he would lure in gay, Black men for sex work   
   and force them to do “slave play” before injecting them with   
   large amounts of methamphetamine. It seems that Ed Buck believed   
   that his whiteness and wealth gave him claim to the lives of   
   beautiful, gay Black men. In his journal writings, Moore   
   described how his addiction and pain became Buck’s   
   entertainment. “Ed Buck is the one to thank, he gave me my first   
   injection of chrystal [sic] meth,” Moore wrote. “It was very   
   painful but after all the troubles I became addicted to the pain   
   and fetish/fantasy…”   
      
   In an anti-Black world, Black people, especially Black LGBTQ   
   people, can disappear so easily and never be found, as if their   
   pain warrants little or no justice. This is why the work of   
   allies and other members of the LGBTQ community is so important.   
   Among those who fought for the gay, Black men victimized in   
   Buck’s home were their families. Gemmel Moore’s mother, Latisha   
   Nixon, filed a lawsuit against Buck’s attorney and LA County   
   District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, for failing to properly   
   investigate her son’s death. In a recent video, Nixon stated, “I   
   just asked for [Jackie Lacey] to do her job. Everything was in   
   front of her. We tried to deliver ballots. They treated us like   
   we were criminals. Jackie Lacey wouldn’t let us into the office.”   
      
   Jasmyne Cannick, a co-founder of National Black Justice   
   Coalition, has been increasingly vocal in recent years about   
   Buck’s predatory ways. Cannick connected with family members of   
   the men who overdosed and exposed incriminating facts about   
   Buck. Jerome Kitchen, a godbrother to Moore, regularly went to   
   nearby neighborhoods to pass out flyers to local men to warn   
   them about Buck.   
      
   In a criminal justice system that profits off of the erasure of   
   gay, Black men, the organization of Black community members and   
   allies to hold Ed Buck accountable was vital. When Black people   
   unite to protect ourselves and others, we liberate ourselves   
      
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