Pride 2020 - Reflection, Jasmine Flores

What does Pride mean to me?

Jasmine Flores, UA Barista and UNO Student

This month of pride in 2020 is different from many of its predecessors. There is an unparalleled turmoil, an urgency that calls all of us. Itis not enough to be out and proud this year. We are obligated by the sense of justice that has been ingrained in our community ever since the first riots in the 1980s began, fighting for the right to exist for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people - for all of the people who grew into and out of queerness - protesting and pushing the whole way through. This push for rights is the work black trans women, who have been leaders to us, though our community is heavy with the same oppressive prejudices that straight cisgender people wield in order to silence their voices. 

We must all recognize their loss, their humanity, and celebrate those who live despite that, leaders like Miss Major who fought for my right to be here right now in front of you, saying these words. We look now to black leaders, who guide and direct during this time of anger and grief and turmoil. We open our hearts and minds, we show our solidarity through providing resources, through providing bodies, through speaking out when injustice lives and breeds in our communities. Pride this year returns to its roots - to protest, to loud voices that scream for life, to not standing by and allowing hate to cloud our vision and hold us hostage. 

To hold pride in our community is to act now, to recognize police brutality is a product of the disease - the racism that lives within the foundation of our nation. We cannot ignore it, because this is what pride is about - it is about standing up for justice, for equality, for love and for life. No lives matter until black lives matter. This includes black gay lives, black trans lives, black queer lives - some of the most vulnerable, the most courageous, and the most exhausted people in our community. Now is the time to come together, to uplift their voices and stand strong beside them, to protect them and hold them in our hearts. 

Pride has never been about the parade - it has never been about rainbows or corporate sponsorship, either. Pride exists whether we celebrate or mourn, whether we cheer or cry, Pride is about embodying the ideals our elders set forth before us. We will not celebrate pride this year with a parade, but a protest. All that I ask of you now is to stand up for justice - but be conscious of your health and wellbeing. Listen to black people, to black leaders, read literature, educate yourself, donate money and supplies, do what you can, dear Urban Abbey. Now more than ever it is time to look within ourselves and ask: what am I fighting for? This is what pride means to me.