Her Life Had Value and She Will Not Be Forgotten

 

Just last month alone THREE black women of trans* experience were murdered. Did the self-described “LGBT” non-profits, city officials and politicians hold a massive rally, close off streets or express as loud an outrage as they are today for Marc Carson? The answer is no, they did not, yet when a gay male is killed we see an entirely different reaction. 

By pointing out this inconsistency I hope I'm not being insensitive to Marc’s story, because what happened to him is a tragedy. But since most “LGBT journalists” pick and choose what stories to run or priorities to push, even to the point of censorship and distortion of facts, the pattern of devaluing the lives of women of color in the transsexual and transgender communities must be exposed.

The three women murdered in April were:

 Ce Ce Acoff (20 years old),

 Kelly Young (29 years old) and

 Ashley Sinclair (30 years old).

 Their lives mattered.

Over the years I have lost many female friends due to male violence or oppression related causes who were all born with the medical condition transsexualism. When a crisis amongst a minority group includes women being victims of extreme violence and discrimination it is usually referred to as terrorism, but as usual a double standard is applied when it’s the trans* communities who are targeted and it’s just business as usual.

Every month women of color in my community are murdered but the establishment fails to properly act. Instead we are misgendered and segregated to such a stigmatizing degree that it actually promotes dehumanization and violence towards the most vulnerable women in our communities. Black and Latina women who suffer from poverty and employment discrimination, who are denied affirming healthcare and/or who many times lack support from family, education and government institutions and by society as a whole are the majority of names read during the annual Trans Day of Remembrance ceremony. 

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of the young women I personally knew who were taken too soon, some who were like sisters to me. The pain still lingers and the urgency to save lives in our communities grows increasingly stronger. Sending warmth and hugs to all the families who lost a daughter or sister this year due to transphobia and male violence.

Her life had value and she will not be forgotten.

Now That Trayvon Martin's Murderer Is Jailed, We Should Still Keep Up This Momentum And Demand Justice For ALL People of Color In the U.S.!

with little pal Harmony following the March 26th "Million Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin" in downtown Los Angeles

The Washington Post published this photo of me and other activists on Tuesday from the April 9th march in downtown L.A. which demanded Zimmerman's arrest, which happened the next day

The good people’s prayers and demands have been answered. Moving forward, now that 17-yearold Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, is finally in custody and being charged with murder, where do the millions who cried out for justice go from here? How can the millions who marched, rallied, signed petitions, made Justice themed artwork, wrote articles & blogs, prayed, called or wrote their elected officials, utilized online social networking, started or joined causes such as Million Hoodie March , Occupy, Justice For Trayvon Martin and many other movements, and cried, chanted and shouted for Zimmerman’s arrest turn this case into something bigger than one man’s arrest?

We all know this is not an isolated incident. What’s the bigger picture? Shouldn’t we reach higher?

Of course it will be a lengthy trial, so we will have a lot of times on our hands. Why not make the most use and productivity of that time?

Take action! Stay involved! Join one of the many groups who helped organize rallies and marches. Join a local social justice group. Register to vote! Volunteer. Invite friends. Let’s turn this tragedy into a powerfully positive force that we use to accomplish our dreams of a just and peaceful society.

In spite of the condemning evidence against Zimmerman, he was initially allowed to go free. Likewise, many crimes by those in power against minorities, women and the poor go unchecked all the time! Could this case be a starting to point to reform the police departments and judicial systems that time and time against fail the Black, Brown and economically oppressed communities in this country? Many Americans know that this case can be bigger than just Trayvon Martin if the We the People make it so. With all the unrest going on in this country and in the world, this is a prime time to storm the gates and demand a real democracy!

This mobilization is about rightness for ALL the Black and Brown youth around the country who have been in the past, currently are and will continue to be victims of corrupt law enforcement and unjust court systems! We are tired of our young Black and Brown brothers being illegally ‘stop & frisked’ without cause or warrants by racist and classist police officers. We are appalled at the neo-slavery that is enforced through the prison industrial complex in the country that unfairly imprisons Black and Brown men for lengthy periods of times, making the corporations who profit off their labor rich. We are disgusted by the GOP’s war on women’s rights and healthcare, which disproportionally affects women of color and the poor. We can’t believe our ears at the racist propaganda that screams at us from far right media outlets and pundits. We cry out against the laws in Arizona that make racial profiling legal, which obviously target at our Brown brothers and sisters and mirror the Jim Crow days. We protest the exploitment, scapegoating and mistreatment of our undocumented Brown brothers and sisters. Sadly, the list goes on of the systematic oppression of people of color in the “modern” country.

It’s urgent that this momentum does not slow down, but become a massive tidal wave that smashes the system that divides people in this country instead of uniting us together.

“An injury to one is an injury to all!”

It’s important that those fighting for racial social justice become aware and fight against the alarming and growing war against women that has been waged by the Republican Party! 50% of people of color are women, so the GOP’s war on women is also a racial justice issue, especially since women of color will suffer the worst if this current assault on women’s healthcare, contraception rights, well-being and self-esteem waged by the affluent white men who run the Republican Party succeeds. All social justice movements really do need to come together ASAP!

Again, take action! Stay involved! Join one of the many groups who helped organize rallies and marches. Start your own! Join a local and/or national social justice group. Register to vote! Volunteer! Invite friends. Paint a picture of what justice means to you! Write a poem, perform spoken word! Get the message out! Let’s turn this tragedy into a powerfully positive force that we harness to accomplish our dreams of a just and peaceful society.

2012 is not the end of the world as the Mayan calendar suggests, it’s the BEGINNING of a new dawn, the people’s dawn! Haven’t you noticed that people all around the world are rising up against tyranny and economic injustice all at the same time? There is also this global human consciousness awakening that many feel happening, a universal enlightenment. So much promise and positive energy is here and awaits us. And of course, right here and NOW is the time to take a stand!

A favorite chant of mine from the Trayvon march:

“Ain’t no power like the power of the people cus’ the power of the people don’t stop! Say what? Ain’t no power like the power of the people cus’ the power of the people don’t stop!”

Justice for Trayvon! Justice for All! Justice for Now! Justice for Our Future!

I met the cutest little trooper for Justice on the steps of L.A. City Hall on March 26th following the Trayvon Martin march

Trans Maryland's Education Rally at The Supreme Court Exposed the Gay & Lesbian Community Using the TS/TG Community as a Political Bargaining Chip

Washington Blade photo by Michael Key

Trans Maryland’s education rally Tuesday night was such an inspiring moment, as a crowd of human rights activists marched to The Supreme Court to show solidarity with their transsexual and transgender brothers and sisters in Maryland whose basic civil rights are being denied. Around 35 people attended, and members of Get Equal DC and the International Foundation for Gender Education showed up to support. Half of the attendees were not Marylanders, but since this dangerous bill could affect us all if passed, we stood in solidarity with them.

Washington Blade photo by Michael Key

The education rally was a huge success. I learned a lot when Trans Maryland’s Media Director, Jenna Fischetti spoke to the crowd about why HB235 needs to be purposed in its original format. Denise Leclaire, Executive Director of International Foundation for Gender Education also spoke.

Jenna Fischetti told SheWired.com after the rally:

“Trans Maryland is overwhelmed by the support and solidarity shown by our local and national peers and allies this evening. We wish to thank them all. We marched up 1st Street, past The Cannon House Building, on our way to the Capitol Grounds across from the Supreme Court. The destination was 1st and Maryland. In exercising our 1st Amendment rights, We members of Maryland’s transsexual and transgender communities made a statement that We Own Our Voices, that House Bill 235 in the Maryland House of Delegates needs to be amended, and that going forward, it is OUR community’s responsibly, in conjunction with supportive allies when needed, to educate our legislators and the population as a whole.”

Trans Maryland hosted this education rally to draw attention to the butchered HB 235 bill which has had public accommodations protections deleted. As usual, the gay and lesbian media was silencing or misrepresenting many of Maryland’s TS/TG community’s points of view, and portraying this issue just how Equality Maryland would advise them to. Yet due to Trans Maryland’s education rally, the gay media was pressured to actually tell the other side of the coin, something one would think most responsible journalists and news sources would do, yet in the land of LGB”T” media, that’s hardly the case when it comes to TS/TG issues.

Transsexual and transgender people need these rights immensely, and the gay and lesbian leadership via Equality Maryland had no right to do a backroom deal that chopped away these lifesaving protections.

The butchered version of HB 235 is not only unconstitutional, but absurd. If the bill is passed in its compromised form, a transsexual woman may gain the protection to keep her job as a nurse at a Maryland hospital, but she could be denied emergency room care in the same hospital she is employed at if the staff were transphobic. For instance, Tyra Hunter was refused care for serious injuries by EMS worker Adrian Williams, and later by the physician. As a result, she died. Without public accommodations protections, this bill has no merit.

Jenna Fischetti emailed Trans Forming Media today and wrote:

"I felt honored to be in the presence of real voices, speaking out for themselves without the filter of privileged peers or shell organizations, cold and callus to our needs seeking to delete and censor us. It is our experience which must carry the message to potential allies and legislators. The responsibility is on us"

If you say "LGBT", then actually mean it. If you don't sincerely mean it, then do us all a favor and just say "LGB", this way, the TS/TG/IS can be represented accurately and fairly. We are not property of Gay Inc, nor political bargaining chips of state and national gay “equality” organizations. (Thanks to Robyn Webb of Maryland for making such a cool sign!)

Cathy Brennan, a former associate of Equality Maryland/Free State Justice, and who had a significant part a decade ago in preventing TS/TG Marylanders from anti-discrimination protections, was not too happy about Trans Maryland’s rally.

She posted in the comment section of my previous blog:

"...I've never seen a more hapless bunch of activists…"

I did not know why a simple education rally would provoke Cathy Brennan to engage in such immature and unprofessional behavior. I was also curious if she even knew what “hapless” meant.

I replied:

"FACT CHECKING: Hi Cathy, I’ve noticed you on numerous social networking sites or blogs engaging in your trademark name calling. It’s interesting to see you finally make your way to Trans Forming Media.

So, we are now “hapless” according to your latest rant?. Do you know what “hapless” even means?

Hapless: 1) pathetic 2) dependent 3) victim-like

1) PATHETIC:
If we were so pathetic, we would not have mobilized, stood up and marched to The Supreme Court and rally to be heard

2) DEPENDENT:
No, we are not “dependent”. In fact, it’s because we are choosing to be INDEPENDENT and not be treated as unwanted stepchildren and property of Gay Inc , and actually speak and represent ourselves, that has you, Equality Maryland and many who seek to keep us colonized in a fit (Just like how Equality Maryland cancelled their transgender working group)

3) VICTIM-LIKE:
If we were victims we would roll over and let this tainted bill go forward in its problematic form. If we had victim mentality we would believe we were only good enough for the crumbs you and your cohorts believe we deserve. So no, Trans Maryland standing up to discrimination means they are not victim-like, but that they are REFUSING to behave like victims

I hope you have appreciated English class today; it’s the first time I had to teach one on my blog. Don’t be late to class next week, where we will be discussing transphobia in the gay and lesbian community."