#O’Shae Sibley

[andrewisdoing]

“Sibley was dancing with his friends at a Brooklyn gas station last Saturday when police say he was stabbed to death in a hate-motivated confrontation.”

I live in a suburb of Washington and I’ve never been scared to dance down the street and I never will be but this incident reminds me every time that in this world, no matter what, if you are black, male and gay, you still have to be so fucking careful because the world is STILL filled with folks who want nothing but to kill your light and make sure you are silenced due to their own ignorance and lack of understanding.

They want us to be invisible and hide. “PLAY THEIR WAY and BLEND IN” but they do not realize that in truth that we cannot and will not dim our light for anyone. It’s impossible to dim light when we are literally stardust from the galaxies above.

Black LGBTQIA folk are the beautiful ones and WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.

[noonesgaylikegatson]

A group of black gay men were simplifying existing and enjoying their lives and company. Happy to the point of dancing freely and openly. Someone decided that was enough reason to kill. O’Shae Sibley was a human being who was killed for being an out and open gay black man who held his head high. Rest in Power!

[wereoz]

‘During the confrontation, one of the men stabbed Sibley, who was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead soon after. Pena, who tried to stop Sibley's bleeding after the stabbing, posted a video to Facebook following his friend's death: “They murdered him because he’s gay, because he stood up for his friends… His name was O’Shae and you all killed him. You all murdered him right in front of me.”’

o’shae sibley is a black, gay man who was recently killed in a hate crime, the murderer and his group of friends harassing o’shae and his group of friends, calling them gay slurs and being anti black towards him. he was only 28 years old.

he deserves justice

[cosmicanger]

Rest in Power, O’Shae Sibley

​

[all-things-cringe-worthy]

I wish that all of BALLROOM would stop with this beyonothing nonsense. Just cause another straight hetero entity (Not HBO), gave y’all another stage. Y’all believe it’s okay to shove that straight hetero entity in our face. If my sources haven’t put an APB out for everyone to attend O’Shae’s murderer’s court appearances; for blood, then don’t mention that straight hetero entity. The fuck is wrong with y’all. There ain’t no black community, their isn’t an LGBTQIA community; what the fuck is y’all doing? 🤦🏽‍♂️

[thoughtportal]

By Hurubie Meko and Wesley Parnell

Published Aug. 8, 2023Updated Aug. 9, 2023, 8:53 a.m. ET

In the days after O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay man, was killed during an altercation outside a gas station in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn, the picture that emerged suggested an explosive combination of homophobia, religious intolerance and racism.

A witness said a group of men that included the teenager charged in the killing used homophobic slurs and told Mr. Sibley that they were Muslim, and he should stop dancing. Some initial media reports picked up that account. Mayor Eric Adams and the police held a news conference at which the mayor stressed that the killing was not evidence of Muslim hatred of gay people.

Now, it appears the man charged with Mr. Sibley’s murder is not Muslim at all. The suspect, Dmitry Popov, 17, is Christian, his lawyer said, altering at least one aspect of a killing that has drawn national attention.

Mr. Sibley’s death had raised concerns about how the charged accusations could hurt relations between two marginalized communities, gay people and Muslims. In fact, the two groups stood together.

At the news conference on Saturday, Mr. Adams, joined by leaders from the city’s gay and Muslim communities, said that both L.G.B.T.Q. people and Muslims have been victims of hate, and the two communities “stand united against fighting any form of hate in this city.”

Mr. Sibley, a dancer and choreographer, was returning from New Jersey to his home in Brooklyn on the evening of Saturday, July 29, when he and his four friends stopped at the gas station, the police said. As the men filled up their car, they played music by Beyoncé and danced, and a group of men approached and told them to stop.

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The men yelled homophobic slurs and anti-Black statements at Mr. Sibley and his friends, according to Joseph Kenny, an assistant chief at the Police Department’s detective bureau, at a news conference on Saturday.

Summy Ullah, a 32-year-old gas station attendant who witnessed the encounter, said one of the young men said, “I’m Muslim. I don’t want this here.”

Within minutes, the heated verbal altercation had turned violent, according to the police. Mr. Sibley was stabbed once in the chest, Mr. Kenny said. He was taken to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Mr. Popov, 17, a high school student from Brooklyn, turned himself in last Friday and was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree murder as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. He was denied bail in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Monday and is being held in detention.

Court documents said that a witness heard the group with Mr. Popov say, “Stop dancing here, we are Muslim.”

But at the court hearing and in an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Popov’s lawyer, Mark Henry Pollard, pushed back against some of the initial narrative: Mr. Popov is not Muslim, Mr. Pollard said.

“He’s Christian,” he said in a phone interview. “Somehow they got it confused, he’s not a Muslim. I could understand if there were other friends that were, but he was the only person arrested.”

Right after Mr. Sibley was stabbed, Mr. Ullah tried to chase down the attacker.

“I’m Muslim myself,” said Mr. Ullah, who immigrated from Pakistan. “When I saw them dancing, I was laughing too, but I wasn’t making fun of them. Everyone has their own perspective, gay, transgender. We have gay people in our countries as well. You don’t make fun of them. They don’t say anything to you. They aren’t making fun of you.”

Sayeda Haider, 23, arrived at the gas station shortly after the stabbing and found Mr. Sibley’s friends weeping. She comforted them and told them she hoped their friend’s killer would be caught.

Days later, Ms. Haider, who is Muslim, said she had reflected on the possibility that someone used her religion to justify an act of violence.

“It can’t be because of religion, because we dance,” she said. “We are strict, but we’ll dance at parties.”

In Islam, as in many religions, there are extremists who reject L.G.B.T.Q. people, she said, but she said that she had been raised to let people live their lives as they choose.

“We also came here because of freedom, because of the rights, so let other people have their rights too,” she said.

Soniya Ali, executive director of the Muslim Community Center, who also spoke at the news conference on Saturday, said it was not a “surprise or a shock” that the narrative that the person who killed Mr. Sibley was Muslim spread in the news media. Ms. Ali said she had neither experienced or witnessed any backlash from the gay community since Mr. Sibley’s killing.

She said she spoke on Saturday to show support for the L.G.B.T.Q. community in New York City, who she said were the first ones to reach out after former President Donald J. Trump instituted a travel ban soon after taking office barring visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

What’s important now, she said, is making sure that the focus remains on the tragedy of Mr. Sibley’s “senseless murder.”

“He was murdered. It was a hate crime,” she said. “That’s the gist of it.”

For Beckenbaur Hamilton, 51, a neighbor and friend of Mr. Sibley, the attacker’s religion is not important.

“That part isn’t even relevant,” said Mr. Hamilton, who is gay. “It doesn’t matter if he is Christian, Muslim, Jewish. If a person takes a person’s life he should be held accountable.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The murder of O’Shae Sibley

          O’Shae Sibley was a well-known dancer and choreographer in New York. Last week, he was vogueing in a parking lot in Brooklyn. O’Shae was approached by a group of young men. They hurled racial and anti-gay slurs at O’Shae before a high-school teenage member of the gang fatally stabbed O’Shae. The teenager has been charged with a hate crime. See NYTimes, Mourners Pay Tribute to O’Shae Sibley at the Scene of His Murder.

          While we should not jump to conclusions, it appears that O’Shae was murdered because he was a gay man dancing in public. If true, such a crime is the inevitable result of the drumbeat of anti-LGBTQ propaganda coming from MAGA extremists and politicians, most notably Ron DeSantis. Yet another reason that we must speak out against every anti-LGBTQ piece of legislation and propaganda issued by MAGA extremists.

          As the Times article above notes, mourners have begun to gather near the gas station where O’Shae was murdered. Reader (and friend) Jonathan Atkin is one of the nation’s leading aerial drone photographers. He took the photo below last Friday and granted me permission to publish it. (It is copyrighted, so please respect Jonathan’s intellectual property.)

          The photo is evocative for reasons I cannot fully explain. It is oblique but converges to a point. It communicates the power of the crowd from a distance. (As noted in the Postscript below, the distance is a sign of respect for the mourners.) But most importantly, it illustrates the outpouring of grief, support, and anger provoked by the killing of O’Shae Sibley—whose name deserves to be said and remembered.

          Thanks, Jonathan, for sharing your photo.

+

Jonathan Atkin took the photo of the O’Shae Sibley mourners using an aerial drone. Drone photography is highly regulated and should not be attempted by amateurs, especially near crowds. Jonathan describes his precautions as follows:

Drone flight completed with the following safety protocols:

a.) FAA "B4UFLY" checked and indicated airspace was "free to fly.” (A convenient sliver of airspace in busy NYC.)

b.) Google maps showing Coney Island Ave & P Street were consulted the night before, showing no aerial obstructions.

c.) Wind aloft: minimal. Flew Under 150 feet altitude.

d.) Notified NYPD Aviation as per my recognized practice with a "Situational Awareness Notice," similar to each notice I send for over 26 years producing aerial photographs of large ships, with crewed helicopters in the Port of NY/NJ).

e.) Flew at the site with a "V.O" (visual observer for safety)

f.) Utilized a powerful but small drone with a telephoto lens, providing an oblique angle to ensure I would be distant and not overhead of the gathered crowd.

g.) Chose my launch site behind a barricade in a protected spot. Drone prepped in advance with fully charged batteries on both drone and Remote Controller, to fly as minimally as possible to get the iconic image.

h.) Flew about 8 minutes; understanding drone usage might invoke negativity or provoke concern as drones often do particularly where emotions are high.

i.) Wore a highly visible red windbreaker to be transparent.

j.) The NYPD 66th Precinct was considerate and helpful.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[juliansdiary2]

O’Shae Sibley Update!!! This one is hard for me

[cyarsk5230]

A ball is happening at the gas station where O’Shae Sibley was killed.

[trascapades]

💔#ArtIsAWeapon

"Nobody's free until everybody's free." - Fannie Lou Hamer

#OshaeSibley's murder is senseless, heartbreaking and terrifying.

Image reposted from @gala_la

Reposted from @nativesonnow Our Lives Matter.

Rest In Power O’Shae Sibley!!!

@nytimes Reported:

“O’Shae Sibley was at a Brooklyn gas station with friends late Saturday night, filling up a car and blasting music by Beyoncé when a group of men approached and told them to stop dancing, according to friends.

The men began using slurs and Mr. Sibley, 28, a gay man who was a professional dancer and choreographer, confronted them, according to his friends and a video of the altercation. The argument escalated and one man stabbed Mr. Sibley, according to the police. Otis Pena, one of Mr. Sibley’s best friends, pressed on his wound to stop the bleeding before he was taken to Maimonides Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.”

A hate crimes task force is investigating.

Justice for O’Shae Sibley!!! ✊🏾

Prayers up for O’Shae’s family and friends. 🙏🏾🤎🕊️

#JusticeForOShae #OShaeSibley #Queer #Justice #Community #HateCrime #LGBTQ #OurVoice #OurStory #OurPower #NativeSon

Thoughts penned by writer/theologian @candicebenbow

"Debate your deacon and talk about it with your trustee because I don’t want to hear it.

O’Shae, may the fiercest and flyest of the angels carry you to your rest. And may your memory be a blessing to all who knew and loved you."

#Homophobia #Transphobia

[noonesgaylikegatson]

July 31, 2023

O’Shae Sibley was at a Brooklyn gas station with friends late Saturday night, filling up a car and blasting music by Beyoncé when a group of men approached and told them to stop dancing, according to friends.

The men began using slurs and Mr. Sibley, 28, a gay man who was a professional dancer and choreographer, confronted them, according to his friends and a video of the altercation. The argument escalated and one man stabbed Mr. Sibley, according to the police. Otis Pena, one of Mr. Sibley’s best friends, pressed on his wound to stop the bleeding before he was taken to Maimonides Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

“They murdered him because he’s gay, because he stood up for his friends,” Mr. Pena said in a Facebook video that he posted hours after the killing on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood. “His name was O’Shae and you all killed him. You all murdered him right in front of me.”

No arrests had been made by Monday, but the police said that the hate crimes unit was involved in the investigation.

The killing has devastated Mr. Sibley’s family — he is one of 11 siblings — and unnerved the city’s gay community. While the motive remains under investigation, the attack was a reminder of the biases that L.G.B.T.Q. people face.

The Anti-Defamation League and the advocacy group GLAAD issued a report in June indicating an increase in harassment and violence against gay and transgender people, including online bullying, gatherings of armed protesters outside drag shows and bomb threats against hospitals that provide gender transition care. In the first three weeks of June there were 101 such incidents, more than twice the number during the same time period the year before.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a gay state senator in New York, said he was “heartbroken and enraged” over Mr. Sibley’s killing.

“Gay joy is not crime,” he said on Twitter. “Hate-fueled attacks are.”

Mr. Sibley had moved from Philadelphia before the pandemic, hoping New York would provide more auditions and opportunities, said an aunt, Tondra Sibley, 49.

“It was a senseless crime,” she said. “O’Shae has always been a peacemaker. All he wanted to do was dance.”

She recalled him as a small boy, “gyrating and jerking” to Missy Elliott. When he got older, he honed his skills at the Philadelphia Dance Company and, on the advice of instructors, began ballet, taking advantage of his long, athletic frame.

Kemar Jewel, a 31-year-old choreographer and director, met Mr. Sibley in Philadelphia 13 years ago at the Attic Youth Center, where gay teenagers could go for after-school programs and activities. They were only a few years apart, but Mr. Sibley saw him as a mentor. “He was like, ‘You’re my uncle. I’m going to call you uncle,’” Mr. Jewel said.

Goofy and fun-loving, Mr. Sibley was serious about his craft. He would hunker down at Mr. Jewel’s apartment until 3 a.m. to study dance videos, from vogueing to the modern techniques introduced by Martha Graham and Lester Horton, American dancers and choreographers born around the turn of the 20th century.

“O’Shae was so well versed. He was great at tap, ballet, hip-hop,” Mr. Jewel said. “He was an incredible visual learner. I’ve seen him watch someone do something twice and then just do it.”

Mr. Jewel, who is in London working on a show, said he was sleeping on Sunday morning when Mr. Pena called to tell him what had happened.

At the gas station, Mr. Sibley and his friends had been playing “Renaissance” by Beyoncé and vogueing, a style of dance that began as an imitation of fashion models in the 1980s and has evolved as an expression of pride and protest.

That is when the group of men approached, calling them names, Mr. Jewel said, recalling the account of Mr. Pena, who could not be reached for comment.

Both Mr. Sibley and Mr. Pena told them, “Stop saying that. There is nothing wrong with being gay.”

Mr. Sibley fought with them, and he was stabbed as Mr. Pena ran to intervene, Mr. Jewel said.

At the Brownsville building where Mr. Sibley lived alone in a studio, his neighbor, Beckenbaur Hamilton, 51, said he had warned the younger man against being so open about his sexuality. Mr. Hamilton, who is also gay, recalled attacks he had suffered in his 20s when going out to clubs, and said that he has recently been overhearing comments on the street about “all these rights” gay people have.

“O’Shae wasn’t afraid of being who he was,” Mr. Hamilton said. “He would defend his friends.”

They loved dancing outside and delighted in drawing a crowd. “But I’d see how people looked at them,” Mr. Hamilton said. “There was a worry in the back of my mind.”

In his video, Mr. Pena described Mr. Sibley as his brother and said the two were “always out and loud.”

“We as a community don’t deserve this,” Mr. Pena said. “We may be gay, but we exist. We’re not going to live in fear. We’re not going to live hiding.”

[wereoz]

i already knew about o’shae sibley’s murder, but saw a tiktok about o’shae saying that we shouldn’t just know about him, we should mourn him. and for me, mourning is remembering all the good things about them, how happy they make people, what they bring to the world. essentially, honour their memory. so i went to see what his friends and family said about him, and it was heartbreaking. they loved him so much, the cruelty of all this is just so overwhelming. justice for o’shae sibley

[cyarskaren52]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Reecie @BlackWomenViews (@reeciecolbert)

reeciecolbert Heartbroken over what happened to O’Shae Sibley. We live in such a cruel, vile world. Rest in peace O'Shae 🙏🏾

Reposted from @keithboykin O’Shae Sibley was a 28-year-old Black gay dancer who was murdered for dancing to a Beyonce song at a New York gas station Saturday night.

His 51-year-old neighbor, who is also gay, had warned Sibley about being so open about his sexuality, but Sibley was not afraid of the homophobes.

It’s sad and outrageous that we live in a world where masculinity is so fragile that it will not allow people to live their lives freely.

[protestforchangeorganization]

I wanted to share an update with you all.

•

The man who brutally stabbed and killed O’Shea has been charged with murder as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon.

•

O’Shae Sibley deserves to be here. Voguing shouldn’t be a death sentence. Being gay shouldn’t be a death sentence. Being Black shouldn’t be a death sentence.

•

We must continue to push for Justice for O’Shae. These charges alone aren’t enough. Keep sharing his story. Keep speaking up. Keep educating. Keep fighting for change!