As of this morning, June 15, 2020, members of the LGBTQ+ community are officially protected from being fired due to their sexual orientation or gender identity under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This comes after a trying and tumultuous week for members of the LGBTQ+ community with the Trump Administration’s recent attacks on transgender folxs’ rights and the tragic deaths of two Black trans women, Riah Milton and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells. Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservatice Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the Supreme...

Last night, the Louisville Metro City Council voted unanimously to ban no-knock warrants, the type of warrant that was used when Breonna Taylor was killed by the Louisville Police Department. The legislation, which comes just a few days after what would have been Taylor's 27th birthday on June 5, will be titled Breonna’s Law in her honor. Bre, this is for you! 🙏🏾 #BreonnasLaw not only BANS no-knock warrants in Louisville, but also requires the use of body cameras by anyone executing a search warrant. Thank...

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet since May 25, which hopefully you have been, you’ve probably heard the demands to defund and abolish the police quite a bit. The fact of the matter is, many are weary of these phrases and do not fully comprehend what they mean, nor do they understand that terms like “police reform” and “demilitarize the police” are not enough if we want to create a future free from police brutality and racial injustice at the hands of cops. Earlier this...

For the past year or so, the state of Virginia has been caught in a number of controversies, such as its Governor Ralph Northam’s use of blackface in a medical school yearbook. But one of the women making headlines and actual change in Virginia is Jennifer Carroll Foy. As of May 27, 2020, Carroll Foy is the first black woman to running for statewide office in Virginia. If elected, she could be the first black woman governor in the entire country. This crisis has forced us...

Last night, American political activist, philosopher, professor and author Angela Davis appeared on the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 News to make a statement on the Black Lives Matter movement that can only be described as “immense,” as one Twitter user put it. Perhaps best known for her 1981 book Women, Race, and Class, Davis has been a force in civil rights, feminism, and prison abolition from the 1970s to today. this feels immense, to hear Angela Davis say these things https://t.co/i92XBVIbCG — jes skolnik (@modernistwitch) June 9,...

On Tuesday, June 2, Ella Jones became the first-ever Black Mayor-elect of Ferguson, Missouri. Six years ago, this Missouri city gained national attention when a white police officer killed a Black teenager named Michael Brown. Protests erupted throughout the city seeking justice for Brown, propelling the Black Lives Matter Movement to the forefront of national consciousness. Today, protests are once again taking place in Ferguson as well as around the world, this time in the name of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and police...

In the midst of the civil uprising of Black Lives Matter, on June 1, 2020, a Black trans woman was attacked in Minneapolis, MN. BUST has chosen to not embed or share the video as we do not wish to provoke pain or trauma, but it is widely available. The trans woman in the video is 21-year-old Iyanna Dior. She was attacked by a mob of 20-30 mostly Black cis men in a Minneapolis gas station, reportedly after a fender bender. Dior was able to escape...

Much of the civil uprising across the country under the Black Lives Matter movement is due in part to the callous murder of George Floyd by four police officers in Minneapolis, MN on May 25. However, far too few are as familiar with the killing of Breonna Taylor. Back on March 13, 2020, the 26-year-old EMT was fatally shot in her home in Louisville, KY by Louisville Metro Police Department officers. As the New York Times reported, the LMPD was investigating two suspected drug dealers. A judge...

Jane Fonda really has been and forever will be that b*tch. The 82-year-old Academy Award winning actress, perhaps best known for her stand-out rolls in films like Barefoot in the Park, 9 to 5 and Book Club, has never been one to keep quiet about injustice. Just last year, Fonda was arrested on numerous occasions in Washington D.C. for her “Firedrill Fridays,” where she and many of her celebrity friends would stand in protest of big oil and climate change. Her activist work did not...

While today marks the first day of Pride Month, it is important to continue recognizing and speaking out about racial injustice, systemic racism, and the police brutality that is being protested across the nation today. The Stonewall Riots, which are often attributed with kicking off the greater queer liberation and LGBTQ+ rights movements were, at their core, a protest and rebellion against brutality at the hands of the police. Many of the participants at Stonewall, now more often referred to as an uprising or a rebellion,...