Two men hold their fists in their air during an anti-police brutality protest in downtown Miami on June 1, 2020. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
It was eerily quiet at around 10:30 p.m. on June 8 when I drove into D.C. from Rosslyn. There were only a handful of cars on the streets as I drove through Foggy Bottom and around Farragut Square. I passed dozens of boarded up businesses and a handful of Metropolitan Police Department patrol cars before I arrived home in Dupont Circle and officially ended my 10-day road trip to South Florida.
It was also eerily quiet at around 6 a.m. on May 29, the day I left the nation’s capital. The city to which I returned was very different.
The stated goal of my trip to South Florida was to work with Yariel Valdés González, a Washington Blade contributor from Cuba who spent nearly a year in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody before his release from a privately-run detention center in rural Louisiana on March 4. My trip was also an opportunity to document a country in the grips of a deadly pandemic that also finds itself at a crossroads.
I had planned to go to South Florida at the end of March, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed this trip by more than two months. I am not yet comfortable on an airplane, so I decided to rent a car and drive. I left D.C. on the same day it entered the first phase of reopening. A then-Minneapolis police officer, who is white, four days earlier kneeled on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, for nearly nine minutes and killed him.
Reminders of the grim human and economic toll the pandemic has exerted in this country were clearly evident in the six states through which I drove. Signs of the national reckoning over racism in response to Floyd’s death that was underway were also palpable.
Awesome Con 2024 (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Awesome Con, an annual convention for science fiction, fantasy and comics enthusiasts, was held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on March 8-10. “Pride Alley” on the expo floor served as a gathering place for LGBTQ fans, artists and representatives of community organizations.
Drag Me to the Disco was held at Howard Theatre on Saturday, March 2. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
District Disco presented “Drag Me to the Disco” at Howard Theatre on Saturday. Performers included Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Jaida Essence Hall, Vanessa Vanjie Matteo and Luxx Noir London of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as well as local drag performers Crimsyn, Cake Pop!, Crystal Edge and Druex Sidora. Music was provided by DJ Camb and DJ Boyyyish.
Miss Capital Pride 2024 performs at the Pride Reveal party on Thursday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Capital Pride Alliance held its annual Pride Reveal party at Penn Social on Feb. 29. “Totally Radical” was announced as this year’s theme for Pride.