Roots Pride, which was formed out of protest of Delta’s decision to invite Iggy Azalea as its headliner for this year’s pride festivities, will include a town hall meeting, an “Intergenerational Paint Party,” a protest of Azalea and a “Healing Circle and Riverwalk.”
“We wanted to do a protest but also do an after party,” explains Michael David Battle, a Roots Pride organizer. “We’re talking about more than just partying. It’s about celebrating our lives and lived experiences.”
Dissatisfaction with Delta’s pride celebration has prompted several LGBT-friendly groups — as well as City Council President Bruce Kraus — to denounce Delta’s choice of Azalea as well as level systemic critiques of the organization.
But not everyone in the local black LGBT community agrees on how pride should be organized. Members of Pittsburgh Black Pride, who are celebrating that organization’s 20th anniversary this year, protested at the Roots Pride press conference and got into a shouting match with Roots Pride organizers as the announcement was wrapping up. “To create a a pride that already exists,” says Black Pride founder Flecia Harvey, “it’s a slap in the face … our pride is for the whole black community.”
For more from the Roots Pride announcement, here’s some video:
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2015.
