When LaTisha Nixon got a phone call from her son Gemmel Moore, screaming and crying, she knew for sure that something was wrong. Months prior, he had told her stories about a gay, white-man who lived in Hollywood named Ed Buck. Gemmel relayed to his mother that Buck had a fetish where he liked to inject Black men with meth in exchange for money, because he liked to watch how their bodies reacted to the drug.
Gemmel told his mother that Buck injected him with something he believed to be meth, and did not allow him to leave his apartment for several days.
“The story sounded so crazy, that at first, I didn’t believe it,” LaTisha relayed to news reporters at the first press conference she has held since Buck’s arrest.
“After Gemmel called me screaming and crying, I told him to go to the police and the hospital.
His words to me were, he was held in this mans house for a few days and that he shot him up with something and he didn’t know what it was. When he started crying and screaming, as a mother, I’m trying to figure out like, somebody help my kid.”
Although Gemmel did in fact go to the police, he was turned away from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s station according to Nixon. Months later, she received a call from police, telling her that her son had been recovered deceased and naked from Ed Buck’s house.
Since LaTisha lived in Texas, she called around to Gemmel’s friends and searched online for media resources. After getting in contact with someone at LAWeekly, they referred her to Jasmyne Cannick.
Cannick is a familiar face in Los Angeles as a journalist, political strategist and commentator. Over the course of two years, she helped LaTisha to bring public awareness to Ed Buck and what happened to her son. They publicly called for his arrest and warned that if he was not stopped, another person would end up dead.
Less than two years later in January 2019, another Black man, Timothy Dean was recovered from Buck’s home dead from a meth overdose.
Despite two deceased men recovered from Buck’s house, it took for another victim to almost die at the hands of Buck, along with the involvement of the federal government to lead to Buck’s arrest last week.
This case has been a lot for the public and the media to wrap their head around. There are several intersecting factors including race, class and sexuality. The fact that Buck was able to allude being arrested despite various dead bodies in his home, speaks to the privilege that allows white people to escape punishment, as long as their crimes are done against Black bodies.
The third known victim to almost die at the hands of Buck is not the only anonymous person to come forward, alleging heinous crimes against Buck. According to Hussain Turk, Latisha’s Lawyer, there are several other Joe Doe’s who have been presented to the D.A.
“There are numerous Joe Doe’s. In two years, our team worked together to bring 7 or 8 Joe Does to the county. The county interviewed them. They each told their stories about how they were forced to ingest or inject crystal meth in lethal doses; sometimes while they were passed out and not even conscious,” Turk said at yesterday’s press conference.
But because they were Black, gay-men the county did not care to listen to their stories. Because they were Black, gay-men, the county did not choose to follow up on these Joe Doe’s.”
When asked WHY the County finally decided to listen to this final Joe Doe, Turk relayed that since the DEA was on the case at this point, the County of Los Angeles wanted to save face and appear to be working to bring Buck to justice, despite having the information for over two years.
“It wasn’t just this third Joe Doe, this is just the one they chose to listen to. And since there were so many in between, we actually filed an amended civil complaint this morning, to reflect the fact that it took the county more than two years of interviewing Black, gay-men to actually do something.”
LaTisha relayed that knowing her son’s murder has now been added to the charges Buck will face, is a victory that she, along with so many others, prayed for.
The efforts of Jasmyne Cannick in bringing Buck to justice, must be highlighted. Although she is not with any formal news organization, Jasmyne uses her platform and influence to continually fight for marginalized voices, especially within the LGBTQ communities.
As a Black, Queer, woman, Jasmyne used her time, expertise and sometimes even her own funds, to ensure that the stories of gay, Black-men are heard and justice rendered on their lives.
“White men have been given a free pass in society to do as they want … and inflict pain and hurt on minority communities. We are fighting back against that,” said Jerome Kitchen, who is a friend of Gemmel at the press conference.
