Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
Kidd Creole née Nathaniel Glover, founding member of the Hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, has been charged with second-degree murder without bail after fatally stabbing a homeless man.
Glover believed that 55-year-old John Jolly was making a sexual advance as they passed each other on the street. The man allegedly said, “What’s up?” Glover thought the stranger delivered the comments in a threatening fashion and, in response, Glover loosened a steak knife he was carrying concealed in his sleeve and stabbed Jolly twice.
Surveillance footage shows the victim walking back to the spot where he had been standing to pick up his beer, then walking about a block until he collapsed. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center but died there. Glover had tossed the knife in the sewer but police arrived at his home that night to arrest him.
Displays of toxic masculinity such as this are certainly not a new phenomenon. Instances such as these have occurred for decades, intensifying the stigma against queerness, particularly in the people of color community. According to the Anti-Violence Project, last year (2016) was the deadliest year on record for the LGBTQ community with a 17 percent increase in homicides.Out of those effected, 79 percent were people of color and 68 percent were transgender people.
With that being said, why aren’t more queer men standing up for violence against trans people?
Hate crimes plague queer and trans communities alike; however, when trans people are murdered, it seems very convenient for the LGB to forget the T. When crimes such as the one Glover has committed occurs, it offers a chance for cis queer people to reflect on how cis queer and trans communities can band together in order to combat the systems that lead to fatalities of queer and trans people and those who are gender non-conforming.
