Last Friday, 29 year-old Michael Sandy of New York, an interior designer for IKEA, was brutally attacked by a group of white men who lured him to a parking lot to rob him. The men severely beat him and then chased him into traffic. He died for being gay or for being black or for being both.So I ask, where’s the outrage?

The Crime
According to police, on Sunday night, October 8, 2006, John Fox, 19, and Ilya Shurov, 20, posed as gay on an Internet chat room in their search for a person to rob. They lured Michael Sandy to a parking lot near Sheepshead Bay with that in mind.

Chat messages between Sandy and the men were reportedly found on his home computer. A printout from his computer showing directions to Plum Beach, a popular cruising area, were found in his car.

Sandy was robbed and beaten by four men. He managed to break free but was chased onto the Belt Parkway, where he was struck by a car and severely injured. He never regained consciousness and died on Friday, October 13, after his family decided to remove him from a life support respirator.

The attackers were white and it’s still unclear whether or not Sandy was targeted for his racial identity in addition to his being gay.

Anthony Fortunato, 20, one of the four suspects arrested, has already been released, while John Fox, 19, Gary Timmins, 16, and Ilye Shurov, 20, have been charged with assault and attempted robbery, both during the commission of a hate crime. They have been arraigned and are being held at Rikers Island without bail.

The Response
Although there are groups in New York organizing around Sandy’s death, throughout the black community generally, there’s been relatively little said about this senseless and tragic murder. Why?

If Michael Sandy were heterosexual, would the Black America of the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have come out in strength? Would the NAACP and for other black civil rights groups have taken notice? I am beginning to think so.

Michael Sandy was a black male whose life was taken from him prematurely in an act of hate. Black people from coast to coast should be outraged and demanding justice. It doesn’t matter that Sandy was gay; he was a brother.

And at the same time, it’s up to the black same-gender loving people around the country to raise this issue as well and to challenge our black leadership. Our lives do in fact matter. Our lives do matter! Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to any of us.

The least we can do is make sure we don’t encourage these types of murderous acts through our silence.

Michael Sandy deserves better from the black community.

Ask yourself, would you want people to carry on with business as usual if your life were taken from you because of your race or sexual orientation?

When Matthew Shepard was murdered, the world stopped. Why? Because whites across this country made the death of that white gay boy an issue the media, politicians, and community groups had to address. Do we care enough do the same?

Where’s the outrage?

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Jasmyne Cannick is a co-founder of the Nat’l Black Justice Coalition, the nation’s Black gay civil rights group and co-chair of Nat’l Stonewall Democrats Black Caucus. She writes a daily blog at jasmynecannick.com and at myspace.com/jasmynecannick.