A day after 37-year-old Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officer, the Los Angeles Times revisited the Spanish Town’s Parade’s “Pink Lives Matter” controversy and thrust it into the national spotlight.
In February, the parade faced accusations of racism and other criticisms because a float displayed a sign that said #PinkLivesMatter—a take on the Black Lives Matter movement—and a picture of a flamingo with a sign reading “I can’t breathe” around its neck, a reference to the Eric Garner, a black man who died after a New York City placed him in a chokehold.
Another float referred to Freddie Gray, another black man, who also died in police custody, as “Freddie Gray Goose.”
The Los Angeles Times reports some are questioning whether those floats helped stoke racist sentiments. Southern University Law student Shelley Moore is among those who believed the floats crossed the line.
“To accept what I witnessed as the Spanish Town Parade today is to accept outright racism, and I will not stand for it,” Moore wrote in a February blog post. Meanwhile, Bill Brumfield, president of the Spanish Town Parade since 2001, defended the float, saying it was not meant to be racist.
“Our attempt was to say all lives matter—black, white, yellow, pink, everybody. Everybody’s life matters. We don’t draw color distinction,” he said.
The Los Angeles Times has the full story.
