All-American Presidential Forum

Friday, June 29, 2007
By: Associated Press and BlackAmericaWeb.com

WASHINGTON (AP) A historically diverse field of Democratic presidential candidates -- a woman, a black, an Hispanic and five whites -- denounced an hours-old Supreme Court affirmative action ruling Thursday night and said the nation's slow march to racial unity is far from over.

"We have made enormous progress, but the progress we have made is not good enough," said Sen. Barack Obama, the son of a man from Kenya and a woman from Kansas.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first female candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, drew the night's largest cheer when she suggested there was a hint of racism in the way AIDS is addressed in this country.

"Let me just put this in perspective: If HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34 there would be an outraged, outcry in this country," said the New York senator.

In their third primary debate, the two leading candidates and their fellow Democrats played to the emotions of a predominantly black audience, fighting for a voting bloc that is crucial in the party's nomination process.

One issue not raised by questioners, the war in Iraq, dominated the past two debates. Queries about AIDS, criminal justice, education, taxes, outsourcing jobs, poverty and the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina all led to the same point: The racial divide still exists.

"There is so much left to be done," Clinton said, "and for anyone to assert that race is not a problem in America is to deny the reality in front of our very eyes."

While the first two debates focused on their narrow differences on Iraq, moderator Tavis Smiley promised to steer the candidates to other issues that matter to black America. In turn, the candidates said those issues mattered to them.

"This issue of poverty in America is the cause of my life," said John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee.

Said Obama: "It starts from birth."

Obama criticized President Bush's No Child Left Behind program. "You can't leave money behind ... and unfortunately that's what's been done," he said.

Clinton spoke of her efforts in Arkansas to raise school standards, "most especially for minority children."

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden urged people to be tested for the AIDS virus, noting that he and Obama had done so. Cracked the Illinois senator: "I just want to make clear I got tested with Michelle," his wife, Obama said drawing laughter from the predominantly black audience.

The debate was held at Howard University, a historically black college in the nation's capital.

Black voters are a large and critical part of the Democratic primary electorate, making the debate a must-attend for candidates seeking the party's presidential nomination.

A half century of desegregation law -- and racial tension -- was laid bare for the Democrats hours before they met. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court clamped historic new limits on school desegregation plans.

Clinton said the decision "turned the clock back" on history, and her competitors agreed.

The conservative majority cited the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case to bolster its precedent-shattering decision, an act termed a "cruel irony" by Justice John Paul Stevens in his dissent. The 1954 ruling led to the end of state-sponsored school segregation in the United States.

Obama, the only black candidate in the eight-person field, spoke of civil rights leaders who fought for Brown v. Board of Education and other precedents curbed by the high court. "If it were not for them," he said, "I would not be standing here."

Biden noted that he voted against confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion. He said he was tough on Roberts. "The problem is the rest of us were not tough enough," he said, seeming to take a jab at fellow Democrats. "They have turned the court upside down."

All the Democratic candidates in the Senate opposed the confirmation of conservative Justice Samuel Alito, another of President Bush's nominees. Clinton, Biden and Obama voted against Roberts; Sen. Chris Dodd voted for his nomination.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the first major Hispanic candidate, said race is about more than passing new laws and appointing new justices. "The next president is going to have to lead," he said, vowing to do so.

Dodd said "the shame of resegregation in our country has been occurring for years."

The nomination fight begins in Iowa and New Hampshire, two states with relatively few minorities. But blacks and other minority voters become critical in Nevada, South Carolina and Florida before the campaign turns to a multi-state primary on Feb. 5.

About one in 10 voters in the 2004 election were black, according to exit polls, and they voted 9-to-1 for Democrat John Kerry. In some states, blacks make up a bigger share of the voters. In South Carolina, for example, blacks made up about 30 percent of the electorate in 2004, but were more than half of the voters in the state's Democratic primary.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the country's only black governor, introduced the candidates with a warning that a dispirited GOP "is not enough to elect a Democratic president nor should it be. We need to offer a more positive and hopeful vision ... to run on what we are for and not just what we are against."

Among those in attendance were entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte, congresspeople Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters, Elijah Cummings and John Lewis; National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Children’s Defense Fund founder and president Marian Wright Edelman and noted scholar Cornel West.

“This is really historic," syndicated columnist DeWayne Wickham, who has covered every presidential campaign since 1984, told BlackAmericaWeb.com in an interview before the debate. "In the tradition of the black press, we seek to tell our own stories."

“This debate was relevant. It connected with African American people,” Rep. Jackson Lee (D-Texas) told BlackAmericaWeb.com. She went on to say it was provocative. “It was a real debate, real issues for real people in a black environment.”

Two women in the audience who declined to give their first names said they enjoyed the debate, but wished the candidates could have gone more in-depth.

“Overall, I thought the debate was good, but some of the candidates played it too safe,” said Y. Thompson from California. “Tavis echoed what many in the audience thought. Hilary was an excellent venue for this kind of forum.”

R. Smith from Washington, D.C. said she would have liked to have heard more of what she called the “urban agenda,” but she liked that the candidates dealt with “racial disparity, health issues, Hurricane Katrina and issues pertaining to New Orleans.”

“Clinton was strong on three issues: Health care, Darfur and AIDS,” said Dr. Silas Lee, who joined the Clinton campaign as a pollster from New Orleans, focusing on black issues related to Hurricane Katrina. He said he thought, though, based on conversations with several audience members, that a number of people wished they had heard more about the living wage, affordable housing and health care.

Colorado State Sen. Peter C. Groff, executive director of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver and publisher of Blackpolicy.org, said this debate was the toughest to date for the Democratic candidates.

"One can make the argument that this was the most challenging debate for the candidates since it wasn't all about Iraq. For the first-time to date, candidates were required to consider other critical issues other than the war in Iraq,” Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com in a statement. “The issue of war remained a sub-text throughout, but this debate seemed to satisfy a general hunger for discussion on other major bread-&-butter issues. The forum was a great opportunity for presidential candidates to answer questions about the unique issues facing African-Americans and Africa. It is the first time in the history of the republic that all major candidates for president were gathered -- on an HBCU campus no less -- to discuss these issues."

The Republicans candidates will engage in an All-American Presidential Forum at Morgan State University in September.

"Regardless of what you think about Sen. Barack Obama, Obama was in a unique position," Groff said. "He had to ‘prove’ his authenticity -- a role not required of any other candidate -- while not pandering or acting ‘too black’ for the remaining 80 percent of the electorate. He had to strike a balance between authenticity and preventing general election campaign fodder for his potential GOP rival who could use footage against him as a racial wedge issue.”

“The debate was a lot of conversation of agreement and little clarity of the distinctions between the candidates,” said Dr. David Anderson, radio talk show host and pastor of Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia, Md.

“Clinton was the clearest communicator about the disparity of AIDS, race, health care and had a strong response to the tax burden issue between the wealthy and middle class. Richardson gave a succinct and cogent response to the tax problem by recommending a policy to give tax breaks and holidays for corporations that invest in our inner cities. That was one of the most practical statements of the night, in my opinion," Anderson told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Obama was clear on trade with Africa, which was right on."

"I do think Sen. Obama missed an opportunity, however, when the candidates were asked about Darfur and how America did nothing in Rwanda,” Groff said. “This should have been an opportunity to 'remind' Biden, Edwards, Dodd, Richardson and Clinton of their inaction on Rwanda despite previous influence, and that many remain in those same positions today while faced with genocide in Sudan."

“The night's most disingenuous moment is when Sen. Dodd roundly criticized today's Supreme Court ruling on race in public schools despite his voting ‘yea’ for the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts,” said Groff. “This should have presented an opportunity for both Tavis Smiley and panelists."

Dem Debate at Howard University

I was stuck at work when it happened Thursday night, but I was happy to finally see for the first time in my life a presidential primary debate that tackled issues of importance to my community, even if I did have to catch the repeat on C-SPAN. I did get to see the post debate focus group made up of African-Americans on PBS last night in addition to the C-SPAN interview Tavis did Friday morning.

The 90 minute Democratic debate was organized and moderated by Tavis Smiley and televised on PBS Thursday night. It brought all eight current Democratic candidates for president to the Howard University campus in Washington DC to answer questions on issues that haven't been discussed in the other debates such as HIV-AIDS, criminal justice, education, taxes, outsourcing jobs, poverty, the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and the hours old 5-4 Supreme Court conservative majority decision placing new limits on school desegregation plans.

The other unique feature was that it had African-American and Latino journalists Michel Martin, DeWayne Wickham and Ruben Navarrette asking those questions. The audience was also packed with African-American leadership ranging from entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte, congresspersons Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Elijah Cummings (D-MD)and John Lewis (D-GA)to National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Children’s Defense Fund founder and president Marian Wright Edelman and noted scholar Cornel West.


As to who I'd like to see get the Democratic nomination as of June 2007, it's a toss up between Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with John Edwards running third. That still leaves much room for me to change my mind between now and when the primary elections actually start getting cranked up in February 2008. I'm not making my final choice until probably December 2007 or January 2008. But whoever ends up with the nomination by the time the convention occurs in Denver, I'm pleased with the quality of candidates we have in the Democratic primary and wouldn't be disappointed in the final outcome.

Sen. Clinton already according to some polls has 40% support in the African-American community and did plenty in this debate to ensure she not only holds on to it, but set herself up for the opportunity to build on it.

Sen. Clinton garnered the loudest applause of the night when she stated in a response to a question on HIV-AIDS, "Let me just put this in perspective: If HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34 there would be an outraged, outcry in this country."


Sen Obama has a burden that the other candidates don't. He has to prove to many African-Americans that he's with us on our issues while not alienating his middle of the road predominately white support by not appearing 'too Black'.

African-Americans will be the decisive voting bloc in the Democratic primaries and the 2008 general election. While Hispanics outnumber us population wise, what many people forget is that they don't vote in the consistently high sustained numbers that African-Americans do and that some of that Hispanic population growth is made up of people who aren't eligible to vote yet. In 2004 African-Americans were one of of every ten voters in that election and that vote went 9-1 for Sen. John Kerry. In South Carolina, where an early primary test will be held February 5, African-Americans cast 30% of the votes in the 2004 election and were 50% of that state's 2004 Democratic primary voters.

In September there will be a similar Republican forum at Baltimore's Morgan State University for the Republican candidates. That will be the only debate featuring the GOP candidates I'll bother watching. It'll be fun to see them squirm while having to answer questions that address African-American concerns they've ignored.

Sicko

I'd heard about Sicko when it was in production about two years ago. I have several friends in the health-care industry who reported to me that they'd been told by their supervisors NOT to talk to Michael Moore.

So what's the health care industry 'scurred' of? Universal single payer health care and this movie, which opens in 440 theaters nationwide today.

It has been a mild irritant to me that other industrialized nations such as Canada, Great Britain and even Costa Rica have universal free health care for their citizens and the richest country on the planet doesn't.

That lack of universal health care is costing us.

When you buy a new car for example, $1000 of the cost of it goes toward paying for health insurance. One of the reasons US car companies are getting their butts kicked in the world marketplace is that Toyota and Hyundai don't have to factor health-care costs in their pricing.

But back to Sicko. I went to a press event this morning in front of the Baxter Avenue Theater (where it's being shown in Louisville) staged by a coalition of groups that are pushing for universal single payer health care. HR 676 authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) seeks to establish such a system. In addition to being co-sponsored by 75 members it is supported by 13,000 doctors and businesses.

The bill is currently in the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources Committees.

I'm definitely planning on heading over to the Baxter to see it this weekend.

Black Music-A Forceful Sound For Change

I wrote earlier this month in a post that Black music is a powerful, multi-generational, creative force.

Black music is also a powerful force for change and social consciousness as well. It's demonstrated every time someone sings the Civil Rights era theme song 'We Shall Overcome' at a protest somewhere in the world.

From Billie Holliday singing her haunting anti-lynching song 'Strange Fruit' (that you can watch a video of her performing it by clicking on it in TransGriot Video) to rappers, protest and socially conscious lyrics have been an integral part of Black music.

I can remember hearing Edwin Starr's 'War' and Freda Payne's 'Bring the Boys Home' on the radio. Both songs were written when the Vietnam War was raging and got frequent airplay. As the Iraq War becomes more unpopular those songs are making a comeback as well.

The struggle for civil rights and the awakening of Black pride is exemplified by James Brown's 'Say It loud I'm Black and I'm Proud' and the Impressions Curtis Mayfield penned tune 'Keep On Pushing'.

Marvin Gaye got ecological issues on Black America and the world's radar screens with 'Mercy Mercy Me The Ecology' and other socially conscious tunes. Parliament-Funkadelic's early stuff was political and you'll catch me humming a 80's era anti-war ditty called 'Bullet Proof' from time to time as well.

But the master of writing socially conscious songs has to be Stevie Wonder. Stevie has tackled subjects ranging from apartheid ('It's Wrong'),the push for a MLK national holiday ('Happy Birthday')to discrimination ('Cash In Your Face').

Stevie wasn't the only one writing socially conscious lyrics in the 70's. Some of the Philly International artists contributions were songs such as Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' 'Wake Up Everybody' with Teddy Pendergrass singing lead and McFadden and Whitehead's 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now'. The Isley Brothers 'Fight the Power' is another anthem of mine. There's even a Village People song called 'Village People' in which it talks about the emerging gay rights movement. Janet Jackson and Prince have written some as well on various albums.

I can't sleep on the original rapper, Gil Scott-Heron. One of my favorite songs from him besides 'Johannesburg' and 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' is one that slams the Reagan administration on his 1981 Reflections album called 'B-Movie'.

Speaking of rappers, Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message' still resonates with me and I absolutely love Public Enemy. Where do I start with them? There are just too many PE songs to choose from that fit the bill but a few of my favorites are '911 Is A Joke, 'Can't Truss It', and 'Burn Hollywood Burn'. I like Queen Latifah's 'U-N-I-T-Y' which commented on the negative language used to describe women a decade before Don Imus got sacked for using one of those terms.

You don't have to be a multi-platinum selling artist to create a song that grabs people's attention either.

Houston-based rapper The Legendary KO penned a song that symbolized the anger of African-Americans over the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the glacial response to it. He fittingly remixed Kanye West's 'Golddigger' and titled it 'George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People'. The song ended up getting downloaded by 2.5 million people worldwide.

So when it comes to getting Black America's message out, if the mainstream media won't do it, you can bet that you'll hear it on one of our R&B stations. It'll be the song we'll be dancing to with a slammin' track and socially conscious lyrics.

Unpretty

You can buy your hair if it won’t grow
You can fix your nose if he says so
You can buy all the make-up that MAC can make
But if you can’t look inside you
Find out who am I, too
Be in a position to make me feel so damn unpretty


TLC has a dynamite song from their Fan Mail CD called 'Unpretty' that talks about self-esteem. All women from time to time have those issues and transwomen are no exception.

Since we transpeople get bombarded by so much negativity from society, if you don't have the self-love and rock solid self confidence you can easily fall victim to negative karma in terms of how you feel about yourself inside and out.

Combine that with the knowledge as African-Americans that our women are regarded as some of the most beautiful on the planet. You can easily see where that can lead one to fall into the trap of believing that you can't possibly measure up to that standard. It also causes some transwomen to do things like inject free silicone in our bodies in an attempt to live up to that beauty standard as well.

The unpretty feelings are especially acute in the early stages of your transition when the hormones haven't had time to work their magic on your body and you are very much caught between the male and female realm.

Even after you get through the rough spots of early transition and have lived your life for several years as a female, there are times when some snide comment, an unfamiliar situation, dating, a negative comment questioning your gender identity or looking at government-issued ID documents that have a gender code on them that don't match your current gender presentation can reawaken all those awkward, depressing, unpretty feelings all over again.

I've been transitioned for over a decade now and I still have my moments from time to time. I can't imagine what it's like for the transkids now.

Then again, maybe I can.


I remember early in my transition when I told some friends that I wasn't going to allow myself to get caught up in that 'obsessing over my beauty' mentality. It didn't take long before I was sitting in the nail shop twice a month, getting the hair done, doing facials and clay masques once a week and all the other things that sistahs do to make themselves look presentable to the male species.

Combine that with the fact that I come from a long line of historians. I'm acutely aware of the role that African-American women played and continue to play in not only shaping our society but looking fly while doing it. To know that's part of the legacy that you are now charged with representing honorably can be daunting at times and leads me to wonder if I'm doing enough to uphold it.

I guess because I lived the first quarter of my life stuck in a male body I'm a little more sensitive to the outside packaging and care about presenting a good image both inside and out. Early on I felt like I had to be on my 'A' game in terms of my gender presentation. As I got more comfortable in my skin and learned who Monica was and what she stood for, I gradually got away from putting that kind of pressure on myself.

For the most part I do a pretty good job of living up to being the Phenomenal Transwoman that I am but I have to be honest. I have my moments when I fight to avoid feeling unpretty and fail.

Sometimes I end up wallowing in it for a day or so, scarfing up Blue Bell homemade vanilla and listening to Sade CD's. Other times I just call my homegirls who give me a swift kick in the rear, a verbal pep talk and tell me to get over it.

With the constant beauty messages that we are bombarded with, it's hard not to feel unpretty at times, but as long as you love yourself and are satisfied with your life those unpretty periods don't last long.

Old School vs. New School Music – What Defines Them? And What Exactly is ‘Middle School?’

Monday, June 25, 2007
By: Patrice Gaines
From BlackAmericaWeb.com

Right smack in the middle of the discussion about old school versus new school music is Monie Love.

One of the premiere female rappers from the late 1980s and early ‘90s, Monie Love once had a Grammy-nominated hit called “Monie In The Middle.” Today, the mother of three is touring the country hosting True School parties sponsored by True School Corp., an organization of seven brothers that promotes the music Love believes is being ignored.

“Middle school is a completely unrepresented era of music -- whether it's hip-hop or R&B -- almost to the point that radio would want to convince us it does not exist,” Love told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

She said younger people who follow acts like Pretty Ricky, Bow Wow and B2K have places to go and radio stations where they can hear their favorite songs.

“There is a place for my mother to go when she wants to listen to Barry White, Anita Baker and James Brown,” said Love. “There is no place for me and everybody in my era to go hear our music."

She is talking about the music of the late 80s, 90s and the early 2000s “all the way up to about 2004.” That roll call of artists includes Guy, then Blackstreet, Brownstone, SWV and Total. “You don’t hear those songs,” said Love.

While Love seems clear on what "middle school" is to her, just how to define old or new school depends on who you ask.

“Old school can be Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Master Flash, or for some other people, it may be 2pac,” said Farai Chideya, host of National Public Radio’s “News & Notes,” which is doing a series on hip-hop this month. It was Chideya who suggested in an interview with Love that the music she was describing could be called middle school.

“To me, old school is Eubie Blake, old blues, though that is far before my era,” Chideya told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “It depends on your cultural reference.”

But political activist Kevin Powell, a writer and hip-hop historian, avoids using the terms old school and new school.

“I just like black music period,” Powell told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Looking at my iPod, I have Ella, Duke, Stevie, as well as the Tommy Boy collection of hip-hop. I’ve never gotten into that dividing of our music into categories. I think it’s a way to discard very vital parts of our musicial tradition.

“I say classic hip hop like others say classic rock. I say classic jazz. I don’t want to say what Duke and Ella and Miles did was old school. We need to see as it all as a flowing of our tradition.”

While DJ Nabs, the XM radio host of “The Product and The Power," agrees in philosophy with Powell, he told BlackAmericaWeb.com that he doesn’t have a problem using the terms.

“Old school is timeless music,” said Nabs, who is based in Atlanta. “It’s everything that stands the test of time. New school is the younger generation’s interpretation of Old School -- and they don’t even know it. There are images and ideas that are new to younger people. What they have really done though is just built on to what has been here before.”

To Steven Ivory, a freelance music journalist based in Los Angeles, old school is simply the soul music he grew up on.

Ivory, 51, said he listened to “Motown, the O’Jays, the Philadelphia sound, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Five, Temptations and Gladys Knight. The stuff before that was referred to as the golden oldies."

Ivory told BlackAmericaWeb.com he recognizes that record companies need to brand or title music, but he points out how meaningless titles can be.

“When I listened to the music being called neo-soul -- Maxwell, D’Angelo, Musiq Soulchild, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu -- it reminded me of listening to Marvin, Aretha, Stevie, Curtis Mayfield, the architects of that music," said Ivory. “I decided these kids are not making something new. They are making something old.”

In all of African music, since the beginning of time, until now, there has been a continuity in rhythms, emotions and creativity, everyone agrees.

“There are things Smokey Robinson, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White and especially Al Green did when I watched them in concert on TV, and I saw the same traits watching Jodeci perform,” said Love.

Of course, there are music fans and critics who dismiss any new music that uses synthesizers or drum machines instead of real instruments. These critics totally discard any music created by sampling, the practice of reusing a portion of an earlier recording as an instrument or element of a new recording. Sampling is common practice today, especially among hip-hop & R&B artists.

In the 1994 book "Black Noise" by Tricia Rose, Eric Sadler of Public Enemy fame offered an explanation of his process of composing, using sampling. “You got stuff darting in and out absolutely everywhere,' he said. "It's like someone throwing rice at you. You have to grab every little piece and put it in the right place like a puzzle. Very complicated. All those little snippets and pieces that go in, along with the regular drums that you gotta drop out in order to make room for it."

Sampling came out of the inner city, when young rappers used inexpensive digital technology to rework old compositions and create new music.

“If you broaden the consciousness, you will see that people were sampling in the 1800s and 1900s,” said Chideya.

“Black people have used whatever we have at our disposal to make music,” said Powell. “Today, one of my friends uses his Mac book to make sounds. People will use ultimately what is at their disposal.”

People who dismiss sampling, said Powell, “ignore the tradition of African people to make something out of nothing.”

“Hip-hop sampled from every kind of music, which is why it took over,” said Nabs, who also plays saxophone. “If you don’t understand the production side, you can think they just took something, and that was it. If you listen, you get it.”

Nabs and others say record companies, some radio stations and the media must bear responsibility for any lack of creativity seen in today’s music. Most radio stations play the same type of music over and over, and major corporations market and push a narrow selection of what is made, they said.

“The music industry is ... about disposable music, about the hit records and not creating concept albums,” said Powell. “Could Nina Simone really exist in these times? Would Prince really exist in these times? I don’t think so.

“I was listening to great 1960s reggae music the other day, and it had nothing to do with Bob Marley. I can’t refer to that music as old school. It’s just great, great black music. When you listen to James Brown music, you can’t tell me his music isn’t timeless.”

“The big picture is that we black people don’t own much,” says Nabs. “We don’t control our music. The frustration of hip-hop is it that it is being presented as if it is one-dimensional. I’m 38, and I still vibe with Mos Def, and he’s not on BET or commercial music stations.”

“I think it comes down to no matter who is making the music or how old they are, the music is either good or bad,” said Ivory. “You can put any title on it, but the people who bought Gladys Knight buy D’Angelo. I have decided I am going to choose to see the classic R&B I grew up with as classic music, a framework for newer music, as vital and important as Beethoven and Brahms. We have so changed modern culture through our music. We should revere it.”

Monie Love will do her part to make sure people don’t forget the not-so-old music. She's inviting everyone to have a middle school music party in their community.

“It might be a naive thought, but with these traveling parties and interviews, hopefully, this music will pick up, and radio programmers will start picking it to be played,” said Love, who is mother to three children, ages 16, 10 and four.

“Everybody has a soundtrack for their life," she said. "There was a song on the radio when you lost your job and got in the car and turned on the radio. When everything is grim and the outlook looks dark, music is the only thing that makes you feel good.”

In Need of Statesmen (and Stateswomen too!)

By Cornel West
From the Covenant With Black America Blog
April 25, 2007

We are facing a crisis in the quality of leadership in our country. Our people and our country need more statesmen (and stateswomen), as statesmanship is qualitatively different than the garden-variety leadership that we’re experiencing.

Statesmen take seriously the ability to be themselves, as opposed to the many spinsters who are willing to pose and poster, to pander to a particular group, rather than be real. Opportunism is pervasive and has left us with just a few folk who will not allow themselves to be grinded up by a mechanical formulaic structure. There are some who are shaping the climate of opinion; they’re our thermostats and not thermometers. They’re not satisfied with simply recording, but shaping the dialogue. Our brothers and sisters who are engaged in that kind of education elevate the citizenry of this country.

The continuing challenge at hand for statesmen and stateswomen is to operate above the political fray, to preserve their integrity. True statesmanship is rooted in the hopes and aspirations of the people, and is also informed by the voices of the people.

Throughout our history, ordinary people who believed enough in themselves to try to transform the cynicism and the threat to statesmanship have been the crux of social movements. As a people, we are capable of producing great social change. Look within and you will realize that YOU are the leaders you’re looking for.

So, how many statesmen and stateswomen are in the house?

—Cornel West

July Ebony Magazine Explores Culture of Disrespect

If you haven't done so or don't have a subscription to Ebony magazine, you may want to head to your nearest bookstore or magazine rack and purchase the July issue.

I've already read it. One of the must read articles is by my fellow Houstonian and frequent CNN commentator Roland Martin, who writes an essay about why certain terms are strictly in house things that other cultures can't say.

But I'm not going to spoil the fun of reading one of our iconic magazines for you. I strongly urge you to get this issues and read it for yourselves.

Transgender Athletes Get Into The Game

My love of sports also includes me participating in them as well. I played Little League baseball as a kid and was on my high school's varsity tennis team my senior year. I also played basketball pick up games, tennis and bowled until I started transition. After I moved to Louisville I played softball on my church team in 2002 and recently started bowling on a regular basis again.

So as a transgender sports fan I was pleased to hear about the International Olympic Committee's decision to allow transgender athletes to participate in the Olympics starting with the 2004 Athens Games. Under the Stockholm Consensus, the IOC allows transgender athletes to participate in their new gender two years after they've undergone genital surgery. If the operation took place before puberty, the athlete's gender will be respected.

In the case of a post-puberty gender transition, the athlete must undergo complete genital surgery and get their gonads (their ovaries or testes) removed before they can compete. They also have to get legal recognition of their chosen gender, complete hormone therapy to minimize any sex-related advantages and wait two years before they can become eligible to apply for a confidential IOC evaluation.

While most transwomen are okay with the new policy, transmen understandably bristled at the genital reconstruction requirement. Jamison Green in a 2004 CNN.com interview criticized the genital reconstruction completion requirement.

"I don't think that needs to be a criteria," said Green, who sits on the board of directors of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. "Many female-to-male people can't afford to have genital reconstruction, so I think that's an unreasonable penalty."

That thought is echoed by Keelin Godsey(left in photo), who is a transgender track and field star at Bates College has a goal of making the US Olympic team and competing in Beijing next year. The transman is delaying his transition in order to make it happen.

Transgender athletes are not a new issue. Stella Walsh, the Polish-born 1932 100-meter Olympic gold medallist and 1936 silver medallist dominated women's sprinting during the 30s and 40's. The naturalized American citizen was revealed by an autopsy to have male genitalia and XY chromosomes after she was killed by a stray bullet during an 1980 armed robbery in Cleveland.

Renee Richards battled the USTA during the 70's and filed suit in 1977 for the right to play at the professional level as a woman. Mianne Bagger recently underwent the same struggle in the golfing world. Canadian mountain biker Michelle Dumaresq has been on the receiving end of biowomen complaints, Hateraid and petition drives to bar her from competition after she started winning races.

The IOC, dogged by persistent rumors in the world press of dominant Eastern European athletes such as Irina and Tamara Press of the Soviet Union being men competing as women and fears of women being fed male hormones for competitive advantage like the East German women were during their 70's and 80's runs of international sports dominance, instituted a mandatory gender verification test starting with the 1968 Mexico City Games. It was interesting to note that the Press sisters, despite winning gold medals in Rome and Tokyo and setting a combined 26 world records never again competed for the Soviet Union at the international level once the gender verification test was made mandatory.

The IOC gender test was initially a gynecological exam that evolved into a chromosomal test called the Barr Test. It was invasive, unreliable and was scrapped before the Sydney Games in 2000. It led to some awkward situations such as 1964 Olympic gold medalist sprinter Ewa Klobukowska from Poland being ruled ineligible for the European Cup women's track and field competition in 1967 because of 'ambiguous genitalia'. She was stripped of her Tokyo Games gold and bronze medals by the IAAF but gave birth to a child years later.

A year later 1966 Austrian downhill skiing world champion Erika Schinegger failed the test after it revealed she was chromosomally male, making her ineligible for the upcoming 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France. Erika later transitioned and reemerged on the international skiing scene as Erik Schinegger. While the test has been scrapped at the Olympic level, in December 2006 at the Asian Games being held in Qatar, 800 meter silver medallist Shanti Sounderajan from India failed a post race gender test and was stripped of the medal she'd earned.

Some of the issues against transgender athletes stem from ignorance or jealousy. In 1996 a Thai volleyball team made up primarily of gay and transgender people nicknamed the 'Iron Ladies' won the Thai national championship and was immortalized in two Thai films of the same name. Thai governnment officals barred two of the transpeople from joining the national team and competing internationally out of fears and concern for the country's international image. Canadian mountain biker Michelle Dumaresq is constantly accused of having an 'unfair advantage' by biowomen especially after she began to frequently win events on the Canadian mountain biking circuit.

The 'unfair advantage' argument is actually a bogus one and medical science is increasingly backing that up. Even though a transwomen grows up with testosterone coursing through her body, hormone replacement therapy takes the muscle building advantage away over time. A genetic female skeleton is lighter, so a transwoman has the handicap of lugging around basically a heavier skeleton with FEMALE musculature.

The IOC was followed by the Ladies Golf Union (Great Britain), the Ladies European Golf Tour, Women’s Golf Australia, the United States Golf Association, USA Track and Field, and the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association in crafting policies governing transgender athletic participation in events sponsored by their organizations. The Women’s Sports Foundation, United Kingdom and the United States-based Women’s Sports Foundation have issued policy statements supporting the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport. Other international governing sporing federations have followed the IOC's lead when it comes to determining eligibility of transgender athletes in their sports

Curiously the NCAA, in a policy that is under review, requires that transgender athletes compete in the gender designated on their official government documents, for example, driver’s license, birth certificate or passport. As of yet no high school governing bodies have announced policies addressing the participation of transgender athletes.

But with the increase in transgender kids transitioning at earlier ages, it's time to discuss the issue of transgender athlete eligibility to participate in school-based sports before it goes to court. New York's Harvey Milk High School for GLBT students was in 2003 considering starting athletic teams to play in the New York Public Schools Athletic League.

But best of all, the IOC ruling validates us as people. Athletes all over the world have a common dream of standing on that top step and receiving an Olympic gold medal. One day it may be a transgender athlete that is standing there being recognized as the best in the world. It would also be cool to see a transgender athlete hit the winning basket at the buzzer, score the winning goal or win a race.

The best part is that it may happen in my lifetime. If Michelle Dumaresq is correct about the 110 stealth transpeople already competing at Olympian levels, it may have already occurred.

What's Wrong With My Comets?

photos-Crystal Smith hustling for ball, Comets coach Karleen Thompson, Tina Thompson, Michelle Snow and Sheryl Swoopes.

One thing about me that didn't change with transition is that I'm a huge sports fan. And one of the sports that I love is basketball, be it college or pro.

I'm also a huge WNBA and Houston Comets fan. I frequently attended Comets games when the WNBA started play in 1997 before I finally got smart and purchased my season tickets before the 1999 season. I enjoyed being in Compaq Center's Section 126 watching the Comets dominate the league by winning four straight titles from 1997-2000.

I knew going into this 2007 WNBA season that it might be a tough one despite the fact they made it to the Western Conference finals before falling to Sacramento. There were a lot of changes in Cometland during the off season. A new owner in Hilton Koch. With Van Chancellor leaving to take the LSU women's job Karleen Thompson got elevated to become head coach and general manager. There were new faces in the lineup like first round draft pick Ashley Shields and vets Latasha Byears and Crystal Smith. But I was also comforted by the fact that we had Olympians Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson in the lineup.

The 2007 version of the Comets started off losing their first 10 games before they finally broke through to beat the LA Sparks 74-64 on June 20. They followed that up by beating down the Washington Mystics 95-85. They had two games coming up with the Phoenix Mercury, who would have to play both of them with all-everything player Diana Taurasi serving a two-game suspension and Cappie Poindexter suffering an injury.

So the Comets bad luck was finally changing, right?

Nope. I caught today's broadband broadcast of the game and saw why they are losing. Inconsistent defense. Poor basketball decisions at various times and especially down the stretch. Too many forced shots. They play like the old champs with aggressive energy and suffocating defense for stretches of the games, but disappear at critical times.

Ashley Shields is a talented ballplayer but her shot selection is horrendous. You have the WNBA's second all-time leading scorer in Tina Thompson on your squad and she barely touches the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Michelle Snow has yet to become the dominant player she has the talent to be. She's 6'5", dunked in college at Tennessee, but sometimes is just too passive when the Comets need her to be a nasty, shot blocking, snatch-the-rebound-off-the-glass inside the paint force, especially at crunch time.

One thing I do give them credit for is the Comets play hard and never quit. That's all you can ask as a fan. I have no doubts that Karleen Thompson is going to be a good coach in this league. She played at USC with Tina Thompson and LA's Lisa Leslie, was an assistant with Michael Cooper's LA Sparks teams that won WNBA titles in 2001-2002 and has been on Van Chancellor's last two staffs. She's learned from two of the best coaches in the game and I know nothing would please her more than getting the Comets back to elite level status. Sheryl being out for the next two to four weeks with a back injury hasn't helped either.

I love my girls, but they have major work to do just to get into the top four teams in the Western Conference to qualify for the playoffs. Even if they do, it'll be a short stay. I don't see it happening unless they start playing 40 minute ballgames and not 10, 20 or 30 minute ones.

Designer Transition-A Sistah's Wish List

Rapid scientific progress is being made in terms of mapping human DNA thanks to the Human Genome Project. It has unlocked the secrets of which parts of the DNA strand control various aspects of human development, personality, gender and even which base pair combinations trigger susceptibility to certain diseases. It has led to gene based therapies to combat those diseases as well.

And for better or worse, its opened the door to human cloning as well.

I'm in a sci-fi kinda mood today. Let's presume that scientific knowledge has progressed to the point where I can not only transition, but look like any woman on the planet past or present and keep my personality traits. I'm happy with the way I look (about 99% of the time) but if that option were available to me, who would I choose to resemble excluding friends or family members?

My Top 30


1. Halle Berry

2. Beyonce

3. Phyllis Hyman

4. Jayne Kennedy

5. Dorothy Dandridge

6. Lena Horne

7. Diahann Carroll

8. Florence Griffith-Joyner

9. Vanessa L. Williams

10. Phylicia Rashad


11. Tyra Banks

12. Beverly Johnson

13. Meagan Good

14. Gabrielle Union

15. Jasmine Guy

16. Coretta Scott King

17. Toni Braxton

18. Pam Grier

19. Jada Pinkett Smith

20. Vivica A. Fox


21. BernNadette Stanis

22. Denise Matthews (aka Vanity)

23. Yolanda Adams

24. Aaliyah

25. Janet Jackson

26. Iman

27. LisaRaye McCoy

28. Toccara Jones

29. Sade

30. Mpule Kwelagobe

The Miss Black America Pageant

As I mentioned last month I'm a pageant fanatic. My love for them also extends to an event that was 'must see TV' when I was growing up, the Miss Black America Pageant.

The pageant was created by J. Morris Anderson as a protest noting the dearth of African-American contestants in the Miss America pageant. The first one was held on August 17, 1968 and went national the next year with contestants from 42 states participating. A decade before Vanessa Williams broke through and won Miss America, sistahs were showing the world their grace, beauty, intelligence and talent on the Miss Black America stage. Many Miss Black America contestants have gone on to greater success in other arenas, such as Oprah Winfrey, Kathleen Bradley, T'Keyah Crystal Keymah, BernNadette Stanis and CeCe Peniston. The 1969 pageant, held at Madison Square Garden served as the venue for the Jackson 5's first national television performance.

I also love the Oath of Positivity that all Miss Black America contestants take that was also penned by pageant founder J. Morris Anderson:

My physical appearance will always reveal my positive mental attitude toward life.

My head held high will indicate the mental and spiritual strength that lives within me.

My straight, cheerful manner of walking will exemplify the positive direction my life has taken.

My eloquent manner of talking will always relate the positive mental, spiritual and physical forces that reside within me.

My illustrious smile will always express the pleasure I receive from living.

The positive look in my eyes will always indicate the self confidence and positive spirits inside me.

THEREFORE:
I CAN perform any task;
I CAN sell any product;
I CAN succeed in any job;
I CAN cause any relationship to thrive;
I CAN overcome any obstacle;
I CAN accomplish any objective.
I AM a positive mental, spiritual and physical person.
I AM spiritually capable of succeeding.
I CAN successfully compete on any mental level;
I WILL succeed on any physical level of activity in which I engage.

It was also great for kids of my generation to see the women that they grew up with recognized for their beauty and talent just like the white women whose images we were bombarded with on a daily basis.

The pageant was sorely needed in an era where you still had some Black parents who idolized white standards of beauty. Some forced their kids to walk around with clothespins constricting their noses in an attempt to get the 'narrow' white nose instead of our broad African ones. Too many of us growing up heard the comments of our elders and our peeps in which dark-skinned people were shunned and light skinned people with 'good' hair were the beauty gold standard.

The pageant helps remind all of us that all Black women are beautiful, no matter whether our skin color is vanilla creme light or ebony dark.

The Race Enters With Me As Well

photo-Anna Julia Cooper

One of the things I'm most cognizant of, whether I'm writing my column, posting on this blog, or speaking in front of various groups, that whether I like it or not I represent not only myself and the transgender community, but the entire African-American community as well.

I was reminded of this yet again when I was a recent guest on Tranny Wreck radio back on May 2.

The show was discussing the topic 'Is Everyone Racist?' and as anyone who's ever read this blog or listened to my archived shows on Ethan St. Pierre's TransFM will tell you, I'm blunt, authoritative and passionate about the things I talk about, especially when it comes to my people.

Well, one person posted a comment in the remarks about that Tranny Wreck show that I pissed him off.

Good.

The reason Rebecca invited me on the show in the first place was to inject a different viewpoint on race and racism in the wake of the Don Imus comments. Being that I am unabashedly a proud African-American transwoman I have seen and experienced things in my lifetime that give me a perspective on racism that is far different than one a white, Latino or Asian person would have.

This person also insinuated that I spoke for the entire African-American race in their haste to criticize me. I'm not overly sensitive to criticism, that's part of the territory as a columnist and an activist. I accept the fact that some peeps aren't going to agree 100% with everything I have to say, even within the African-American community.

The problem is that because we are rarely called upon in either the mainstream or the GLBT community to add our commentary in the media to things that happen in society at large, anyone who does get that shot has it in the back of their minds the famous quote of Anna Julia Cooper.

When and where I enter, then and there the entire race enters with me.

That's why when I'm commenting on various issues, I have to be on point with my commentary. I'm not just braying my opinions like an Ann Coulter or a Rush Limbaugh does. I don't have that luxury. My commentary has to be backed up with facts, logic and reason since we African-Americans are automatically assumed by American society to be less intelligent.

So when some peeps in the mainstream community run across African-Americans who are intelligent, smart, and can string multisyllabic words together in a sentence some of them have a major problem with that.

That's your failing, not mine. I'm not going to apologize for my God-given intelligence or being a Phenomenal Transwoman.

If you can't deal with that, too bad.

The 20 People Who Changed Black Music Forever

Blackamewricaweb.com in honor of Black Music Month has been doing an exclusive series of articles on the twenty people who changed Black music.

The Prolific Prince, the Fearless, Peerless Rock-Soul Star

Pop Darling Whitney Houston, Queen of the Ballad

James Brown, The First, The Last, The Legend

Veteran Label Executive Sylvia Rhone, the Star-Maker

Revolutionary Poet Gil Scott-Heron, the First Rap Rebel

Famed Pianist Nina Simone, the High Priestess of Soul

Wild Child George Clinton, Funk’s Fearless Godfather

Jazz Trumpeter Miles Davis, the Personification of Cool

Soul-Stirrer Luther Vandross, Balladeer Extraordinaire

Funk Songstress Chaka Khan, the Stand-Out Singer

Michael Jackson, the Child Star-Turned-Adult Enigma

Motown First Lady Diana Ross, the Quintessential Diva

Pioneering Exec Clarence Avant, the Master Mentor

Visionary Artist Stevie Wonder, the Master of Songcraft

Chuck Berry, the Blues Man-Turned-Rock Architect

Rock & Roll Royalty Tina Turner, the Whole Package

Smokey Robinson, the Velvet Voice and Quiet Force

Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, the Standard Bearers

Teddy Pendergrass, R&B’s Romantic Mood-Setter

Operatic Angel Minnie Riperton, the Voice of Perfection

Check it out. It'll definitely give you some insight on some of the artists and behind the scenes peeps that we love. It'll also give you a taste of the variety of elements that encompass Black music.

The (LIE) Impact Leadership Coalition-Lying For Da Man

One of the things that has really irritated me over the last decade is the emergence of the group of conservative Black sellout megachurch ministers who do the dirty work that their white fundie paymasters can't.

When the Reichers opposed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act they called upon go-to homobigot Harry Jackson and his fellow Negro ministers in the Hi Impact Leadership Coalition back in April to browbeat the Congressional Black Caucus into withdrawing support for the bill. That group included Grammy-winning gospel artist and Detroit minister Marvin Winans.

The Congressional Black Caucus is not known as the 'Conscience of the Congress' for nothing. The CBC members and their staffers thankfully saw through the lies that Jackson and his merry band of homohaters were pushing. The homobigots pastors were taking their talking points from James Dobson and asserting that passage of HR 1592, which is now pending in the Senate as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Bill would keep them from expressing their First Amendment rights to preach anti-gay sermons and open them up to prosecution.

You know something, maybe people should file civil suits against you idiots if it's proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that your anti-gay diatribes inspired someone to go run out after the bendiction and kill a GLBT person.

The bottom line is that Jackson and his band of bigots are straight up prevaricating. There has been no law ever enacted in United States history that curtails First Amendment free speech protections and this one is no exception. In fact, the ACLU noted that HR 1592 "has stronger protections for free speech than any other federal criminal law now on the books."

How dare these so-called men of the cloth even part their lips to parrot James Dobson's false witness on this bill. Are you that joined to the hip and pockets of white fundamentalists that you can't even come up with your own creative BS in an attempt to kill this bill?

By the way, you failed. The House passed it 237-180 and it's now in the Senate.

Y'all are on the wrong side of history and this issue along with your Reicher buddies. 68% of the country is in favor of passage of this legislation, and that support according to a June 10-13 Gallup poll is BIPARTISAN. It even includes your homobigot base.

The evidence is crystal clear that bias crimes committed against transgender people are rampant and something needs to be done about it. I posted earlier about today being the seventh anniversary of the Amanda Milan killing in New York. It should be of great concern to you so-called Black preachers that your fellow African-Americans are disproportionately affected by it. Since 1999 70% of the over 300 victims posted to the Remembering our Dead list are predominately people of color.

So why in Hades would you oppose a bill that has the support of law enforcement personnel, prosecutors and the NAACP when you as an African-American know better than anyone what it's like to live life with a target on your back?

Amanda Milan Anniversary

black and white photo of Amanda and Nicole by Brian Lantelme.


Today is the seventh anniversary of the brutal killing of Amanda Milan.

In the early morning hours of June 20, 2000 25 year old Amanda met some friends at a McDonald's on the corter of 8th Avenue and 43rd Street. Around 4 AM she left and crossed 8th Avenue as her friends watched to catch a cab back to her Central Park West apartment in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

It would be the last time her friends got a chance to hang out with her.

She encountered a 20 year old man by the name of Dwayne McCuller. He saw the tall, buxom and beautiful African-American transwoman pass him and for whatever reason made a derogatory comment that escalated into a heated verbal exchange.

"Why would you say something like that to me? You don't even know me." she replied to the initial insult.

McCuller reportedly shot back, "I know what that is between your legs, you're nothing but a man. I'm going to shoot you."

Milan evidently replied, "Don't say you're going to shoot me. You want to fight me? Fight me like a man."

"Get away from me, you faggot," McCuller said, according to Milan's friends.

That exchange was typical of Amanda's feisty nature. She was a transwoman proud of who she was and didn't take crap from anybody. She was born Damon Lee Dyer in Chicago in 1974, moved to New York and transitioned in 1992. She was well-liked in the New York transgender community and often helped people down on their luck. The media played up the jet-setting escort aspect of her life but ignored that she had dreams of becoming a fashion designer.

According to a June 20, 2001 Salon.com article, her friend Patra, who is a transwoman of Jamaican descent explained Amanda's guiding philosophical principles. "Her philosophy was, ameliorate yourself from mental slavery, stand up and be who you are, play that role," said Patra. "She said all of us have an abiding reality and death is the only judgment on how a life is lived. She believed there is no justification in living a life of lies if deep down in your heart you know who you are."

Six months earlier she was lamenting the deaths of Kim and Simone, two of her closest transwomen friends. They'd been tight for 10 years, and Kim was found dead at the foot of a cliff in Australia. Simone was thrown from a fifth floor window a few months after she left New York and moved in with a man in San Francisco. She made the statement that 'things happen in threes' reflecting the belief in African-American culture that deaths occur in clusters of threes, fearing that she was next.

That statement turned out to be prophetic.

She headed to a row of cabs in front of the Port Authority Terminal after the verbal exchange. McCuller was told by 26 year old Eugene Celestine that he had a knife in his possesion which he handed to McCuller. He ran to catch up with Amanda and slit her throat. It severed her jugular vein, larnyx and cartoid artery and several people tried to stop the bleeding. With Amanda choking on her own blood she was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead at 5:10 AM.

One of the disturbing things that hasn't been confirmed but had become legend in the retelling of this story is that the cabbies, street vendors and other people in the vicinity that night allegedly cheered as McCuller cut Milan's throat.

The murder outraged and galvanized the New York transgender community. A memorial service was organized three weeks later for Milan on July 23 that was attended by 300 people. The crowd at the Metropolitan Community Church on 36th Street included fashion industry people, national and community transgender activists and the general public. (I'm still pissed to this day that I was unable to attend it).

Her friend Octavia St. Laurent (of Paris Is Burning fame) gave the eulogy. "Amanda was a transsexual. She was killed because she was a transsexual. Her neck was slashed and her story went unreported because she was Black and a transsexual,"

She had plenty to say. Her eloquent, heartfelt, angry and passionate eulogy earned her a standing ovation from the assembled crowd when she was finished. She spared no one in her commentary and indicted bigots, sexists, the ignorant, the media and the mainstream Black community.

"The Black community is the worst," St. Laurent said. "They who have suffered from prejudice in this country have treated us worse than any other people."

"Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. "How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?

McCuller was convicted in November 2002 of Milan's murder and sentenced to 17 years in prison. The New York transgender community was additionaly outraged that it wasn't classified by NYPD as a bias crime despite the fact that several witnesses heard McCuller hurl anti-transgender statements and threats to Milan.

David Anderson was convicted of hindering prosecution and received a sentence of one and a half to three years in prison for attempting to help Dwayne McCuller leave New York after the killing. Eugene Celestine, the man who handed McCuller the knife that was used to kill Milan went to trial in 2003.

Milan's mother Adaritha Dyer stated in a New York Amsterdam News interview, "Damon was the joy of my life. The Lord saw fit to bless me with a son of many talents. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, my everything, the Lord looked down upon me 25 years ago and realized that I needed a gift and a treasure that I could enjoy and rejoice in. So he blessed me with you. I love you, and you will be my memory."

Milan's aunt, Diane McKee, who ironically lived several blocks away from the murder location, stated, "I gave him unconditional love."

Octavia was right when she stated at the memorial service, "Death will not be the last word for Amanda Milan." Amanda's death became like the Stonewall Riots in 1969, the spark that once again galvanized the New York transgender community into action.

May Amanda rest in peace.

Letter To My Fellow African-Americans

Dear Fellow African-Americans,

As one of your transgender cousins who shares your ethnic heritage I am moved to ask this question.

What the hell is wrong with y'all?

What has caused some of y'all to take leave of your senses and work with white fundamentalists who only 40 years ago were not only opposed to us gaining our civil rights but didn't want you, your kids or your grandkids to marry their sons and daughters?

It's pathetically sad when you have a group of African-American ministers go up to Capitol Hill to lobby against the passage of the Hate Crimes Bill at the behest of the same group of white fundamentalist preachers who fought our inclusion during the Civil Rights Movement.

It's also mind numbing and sad to ponder that the baby daughter of the greatest American our country has ever produced, the man who eloquently stated that 'injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere' is associate pastor of a megachurch in which the senior pastor is one of our oppressors and has made anti-gay statements herself.

Why do some of you hate us so much that you will kill us, brutalize us and vote against your own political and economic interests to put people in power to curtail GLBT civil rights? Why are you tossing us out of our homes and churches, ostracizing us within our families, demonizing us inside and outside the African-American community and selectively twisting Biblical scripture to justify it?

Please spare me the 'love the sinner but hate the sin' bogus scripture BS spin line that some of you will use as an excuse to justify your ignorance and hatred. The real deal is that y'all have allowed a bunch of white fundamentalists to jack with our historic community unity by injecting a false issue into our community debate. We have far more pressing issues to deal with than whether Adam and Steve or Tanisha and Markisha get married. We have allowed The Forces of Intolerance to not only gain a foothold in our churches and our communities, but allowed them to distract our churches from their ongoing historic mission of seeking justice for our people and speaking truth to power.

And for what? So a few selfish ministers who aren't fit to shine Dr. King's shoes can chase faith-based bucks and lust for power.

Where were you Hi Impact Leadership Coalition members and sympathizers when our right to vote was being jacked with in 2000 and 2004? Oh yeah, y'all were cheesin' for the cameras at the GOP conventions and the White House. Where were you in August 2005 when our people were dying in New Orleans? Y'all constantly flap your gums to rail against GLBT peeps from the pulpit but your silence was deafening then.

As for speaking truth to power, you megachurch posers and wannabes are more concerned with photo ops, building arena-sized churches and acquiring expensive clothes and cars than fighting for the civil rights of ALL African-Americans and speaking out against injustice. Instead of leadership we get posturing, posing, doublespeak and hate-filled soundbites from anti-gay sermons instead of ones like Dr. King's 'Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution'.

Hate sermons mind you that result in the creation of a climate of intolerance, ignorance and fear that resulted in the killings of African-American GLBT people such as Sakia Gunn, Rashawn Brazell, Amanda Milan, Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis. I wonder what DC church the African-American EMT attended who allowed a fellow African-American named Tyra Hunter to bleed to death after a 1995 traffic accident because he discovered that she was a pre-op transwoman? He stopped treating Tyra, but had the time to insult and crack jokes about her.

If you insist that every African-American life is precious and we don't have a person to waste, then that by extension includes same gender loving folks and transpeople as well.

We are your sisters, brothers, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors and co-workers. We are also proud African-Americans who work, vote, go to church, serve in our nation's military and pay our taxes. All we're asking for is the same thing that any African-American wants, which is respect and dignity to live our lives without unnecessary bullcrap and be contributing members of society.

How many deaths, how much spilled blood, how much pain and suffering and how long will it take before you get that message, my fellow African-Americans?


Respectfully yours,
Monica Roberts
The TransGriot

Happy Juneteenth!

Happy Juneteenth TransGriot readers!

So what the heck is Juneteenth? Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Texas was the westernmost part of the Confederacy and President Lincoln's January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation had little to no effect there until the Civil War ended in April 1865. On June 19, 1865 Major General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, TX with a contingent of 2000 Union troops and read General Order Number 3 from the balcony of Ashton Villa.

"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

The reaction of African-American Texans (and my relatives) ranged from stunned silence to pure joy at the news. Starting in 1866 the day was celebrated by us as a unofficial holiday with barbecue, strawberry soda pop, picnics, church services and parades and became known as 'Juneteenth'. While some white landowners interrupted Juneteenth celebrations demanding that their laborers return to work, others not only gave people the day off but made donations of food and money for these celebrations as well.

As African-Americans in Texas and elsewhere became property owners land was eventually either donated or money was pooled to purchase property for these celebrations such as Emancipation Park in Austin, TX. In 1872 under the leadership of Rev. Jack Yates a fundraising drive collected $1000 that purchased Emancipation Park in Houston. A similar effort in Mexia, TX (Anna Nicole Smith's hometown) resulted in the purchase of Booker T. Washington Park. It became the hub of Juneteenth celebrations in that part of the state in 1890 with as many as 20,000 people participating in them.

As African-American Texans migrated to other parts of the United States and the world they took the holiday with them. But at the turn of the 20th century interest in celebrating the holiday among the youth declined because of its connections to slavery. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's revived the desire of African-American communities to celebrate our heritage and the holiday experienced a new surge of interest.

On January 1, 1980, Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas through the efforts of African-American state legislator Al Edwards (D-Houston). House bill 1016's successful passage and signature by Gov. Williams Clements (R-TX) in 1979 made Juneteenth the first emancipation celebration granted official state recognition.

Today there are 17 states that recognize the holiday. Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Wyoming. Juneteenth is also celebrated in other parts of the world, including China, Ghana, Israel and Japan.

So happy Juneteenth y'all. Gotta go to the store and get some strawberry soda pop and barbecue to chow down on.

Can A Sistah Get a Quality Black TV Show on DVD?

I've mentioned the fact that I own an extensive music CD collection. The same is true of my ever expanding DVD collection. It runs the gamut from classic Black movies like Carmen Jones to my recently added Daddy's Little Girls.

I have classic and current TV shows in my DVD collection as well and I'm looking forward to adding Ugly Betty to my collection when they release it in August.

There are a couple of shows I would love to add to my collection. Unfortunately it seems that for some reason these shows have been glacially slow in getting put on the shelves of my local retail outlets. My question is what's the holdup in terms of making available additional seasons of quality shows like A Different World, Soul Food and Living Single?

I have the first seasons for all three and plan on purchasing The Cosby Show seasons as they become available. But A Different World was on for six seasons, Soul Food for five seasons and Living Single was on for five seasons as well.

So what's keeping me from being able to purchase additional seasons of my favorite shows? In the case of A Different World and the Cosby Show they were being distributed for Carsey-Werner Productions by a company called Ventura/Urban Works.

Season 2 of A Different World was originally supposed to come out May 30, 2006. It got pushed back to July 11, was delayed again until September and then the release was indefinitely put on hold to the frustration of fans of A Different World like myself. Even though I own it, I don't like the Anne Beatts produced first season of A Different World and I'm more jazzed about owning Seasons 2-6. After Debbie Allen became producer of the show it actually had the flavor of an HBCU, better scripts and more realistic, topical storylines that dealt with the issues of that late 80's early 90's time period. As a bonus you also get to see the Dwayne-Whitley romance evolve.

It turned out that Ventura/Urban Works got bought out by First Look Entertainment and had to renegotiate the licenses with Carsey-Werner. Don't know what the holdup is with Soul Food and Living Single and I'm not into pushing conspiracy theories. But it's irritating to me and makes you wonder when BS shows like Flavor of Love hit the shelves almost instantaneously after they finish airing and you have to wait years for quality shows like these to be available for purchase.

No 'Game of the Century' Rematch

UCLA released their 2007-2008 basketball schedule and I was disappointed to learn that UH was not on it.

There has been a major push from UH and some UCLA alums to have the schools play each other on the 40th anniversary of the game that changed college basketball forever either at the Dome or Reliant Stadium, which will be the site of the 2011 Final Four.

Before January 20, 1968 you didn't have college basketball games, be they regular or postseason, televised nationally or played in domed stadiums. The NCAA Tournament in those days only invited 24 teams not 65. And we don't have a dynasty in our era that even comes close to the John Wooden-era UCLA Bruins.

At the time they played my alma mater in the Astrodome they were 18-0, the defending national champions, just beginning a streak of seven straight national championships, were ranked number one in the nation, were on a 47 game winning streak and had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) occupying the middle of a devastating team that included Lynn Shackelford and Mike Warren (of Hill Street Blues fame.)

My Coogs weren't kitty litter either. They were 13-0 and ranked number two in the nation. We countered the UCLA juggernaut with legendary coach Guy V. Lewis, future NBA Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes, Don Chaney and 1968 Olympian Ken Spain at center. The Coogs also had a 48 game home winning streak of their own to protect in addition to wanting to avenge the 1967 NCAA tournament semifinal beatdown they took at UCLA's hands.

In front of a then record basketball crowd of 52,693 and a nationally televised audience Elvin Hayes scored 39 points to help the Cougars upset mighty UCLA 71-69. That win cemented the University of Houston's status as a basketball powerhouse and elevated Guy Lewis stature as well. It's still a mystery to me why Guy V. Lewis, a man with 592 career wins, who coached in 5 Final Fours (with two of them being title games in 1983-1984) and who integrated college basketball in Texas and the South as well ISN'T in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.

What many Cougar alums were hoping was to see a replay of that game at the Dome on the 40th anniversary of what's come to be known as 'The Game of the Century'. We wanted it to happen while many of the key participants such as coach Wooden, coach Lewis and many of the players were still alive to be a part of it. Tom Penders and the folks at UH are willing and eager to play the game. The resistance is allegedly coming from UCLA's coach Ben Howland.

It's sad because this would definitely be a great way to mark a historical milestone in men's college basketball. Without this game, you don't have national TV contracts, March Madness, domed-sized crowds at NCAA tournament games, et cetera. It's an irritant to UH alums that UCLA is playing Texas as part of the Big 12-Pac 10 Challenge, and UT doesn't come close to having the basketball history and tradition that we have. Texas just happen to be on a cycle where they've built up a good program right now (with Houston area talent) and UH is coming out of the post-legendary coach funk that UCLA experienced after John Wooden retired. UH has signed some great recruits, has starters coming back from the team that fell to Memphis in the C-USA tournament championship game and has a three year starter in Lamar Smith coming back.

Maybe Ben Howland is 'scurred' of another Cougar upset of UCLA ;)

Here's hoping that Coach Howland changes his mind and adds that game to his UCLA Bruin schedule.

We're Winning

During the drive back from Washington DC to Louisville in the aftermath of our recent lobby days, I was doing some thinking after I finished my turn at the wheel through western Maryland and most of West Virginia.

I thought about what we'd recently accomplished versus what the Forces of Intolerance tried to pull in DC before we got there and it hit me.

We're winning.

Our opponents went up to Capitol Hill in April bullying and browbeating legislators while we put together reasoned, thoughtful arguments as to why they should pass hate crimes and a transgender inclusive ENDA. It also didn't hurt that Newsweek published its article on gender the very day we started Transgender Lobby Week and 20/20's Barbara Walters did her story on transgender people a week afterward.

We have more and more increasingly positive news coverage. More states are prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in addition to the long list of cities that already do so. Hollywood and popular culture has started to take our stories seriously instead of as a joke punchline. Transpeople are getting elected to public office or running close races to get there. The next generation of college kids and high schoolers is on our side. In fact many of those high school and college kids are embracing the reality in their lives and transitioning themselves as early as their elementary school years.

Even the scientific trends are leaning our way. With each passing year the Human Genome Project and other scientific research, despite the best efforts of the Forces of Intolerance to discredit their work continues to make discoveries about gender and how it's not a rigid binary system as previously thought but more fluid and complex.

But despite these positive trends, we still have some work to do and dark days to come. We have the undivided attention of the Religious Reich. They will use every dirty trick, falsehood and lie to prevent the inevitable from happening just as they tried to do during the 60's Civil Rights Movement and failed.

We will lose more transgender people to violence. The Remembering Our Dead list will get longer. The anti-transgender rhetoric coming from their acolytes will get nastier and more hateful. They will try to spin and twist Bible verses to favor their immoral positions. But in the end the result will still be the same and the neo-fascists will lose.

Why do I say that? Because unlike the Forces of Intolerance I not only have unwavering faith in God that this will happen, I also have unwavering faith in the intelligence, fairness and goodness of the American people. You present the American people a logical case and they in time will sort through the lies, half truths. disinformation and spin to do what's right.

We transpeople hold the moral high ground as well. How can people who CLAIM to be 'ministers' or 'christians' be on record as favoring efforts to deny people their civil rights or openly working to oppose them? How can they be working to throw shade at people who are trying to deal with a medical condition they didn't ask for and assert their fundamental right to control their bodies to deal with it? How can they turn a blind eye to people being viciously beaten, assaulted or killed because they are transgender? The Reich also knows that there are no Biblical scriptures specifically mentioning or opposing transsexuality so they are busily trying to spin Paul's words (a conservative's favorite tactic) to make it appear that way.

We are the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement. We transpeople are their spiritual heirs. Our opponents are the Bull Conners. J.H. Jacksons and Orville Faubuses of the world. They have an established losing track record when it comes to opposing freedom and human rights.

Like their bigoted and hate-filled predecessors, the transphobes will lose.

Few School Districts Have Rules On Transgender Students

By John Wright of the Dallas Voice
May 11, 2007

From a 6-year-old kindergartner in Florida who wears dresses to school to a 17-year-old senior in California who ran for prom king to 15-year-old Rochelle Evans of Fort Worth, trangender kids are gaining acceptance in the nation’s public education system.

But discrimination and harassment are still widespread, some experts say, and very few U.S. school districts have written policies related to transgender students. Although the Fort Worth Independent School District reportedly agreed last week to allow the 15-year-old Rochelle, formerly known as Rodney, to identify as a girl at Eastern Hills High School, FWISD is not one of those few.

Neither is the Dallas Independent School District, which has a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity. DISD spokeswoman Ivette Cruz Weis said administration officials are not aware of ever having had an openly transgender student in the district.

Meanwhile, some districts, like Los Angeles’, have gone a step further than merely prohibiting discrimination and harassment against transgender students — they’ve laid out extensive guidelines covering everything from restroom use to dress codes to names and pronouns. Transgender is used to describe those whose outward appearance and internal identity differs from their sex at birth, regardless of whether their biological characteristics have changed.

“For any district to prepare for their staff to deal with situations they’re going to face is going to be helpful,” said Sue Spears, director of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Educational Equity Compliance Office.

“It’s always better to be proactive,” Spears said, adding that the district has a handful of transgender students. “How do you hold people accountable when you haven’t clearly articulated your expectations for behavior and response?”

The LAUSD, second-largest in the U.S. with more than 720,000 students, has a seven-page reference guide requiring district staff to identify students by the names and pronouns they prefer; allow students to dress in accordance with the gender they assert; and either allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they assert or provide reasonable alternatives.

Rochelle has said she was suspended by FWISD for refusing an assistant principal’s order to remove a wig and high heels. The incident resulted in a controversy that wasn’t resolved until attorneys stepped in on her behalf. One of those attorneys, Jerry Simoneaux Jr. of Houston, said he believes if the district had a policy in place, the whole thing could have been avoided.

“It would have been so easy for an administrator to point to a policy and say, ‘Excuse me, this is the policy on transgender people, and you can’t be harassing her,’” Simoneaux said.

However, he added he’s not optimistic districts in Texas will be drafting such policies in the near future.

“I think a written policy on transgender students would probably scare a lot of parents,” he said. “Maybe later on, as society becomes more aware of transgender people, I hope to see policies in place. We have to do this one step at a time.”

Despite the lack of a written policy, Simoneaux said Fort Worth ISD officials agreed during a meeting May 2 to allow Rochelle to return to school as Rochelle and use a single-stall bathroom in the nurse’s office as opposed to a boy’s or girl’s room.

“The good thing is that they were totally open to hearing what we had to say,” Simoneaux said “I think it was embarrassing for Fort Worth ISD to have this situation arise.”

FWISD administration officials did not respond to a request from the Voice this week for more information about practices related to transgender students. Members of the district’s Board of Education also did not return phone calls seeking comment.

But the district’s apparent decision to allow Rochelle to identify as a girl in school reflects a growing national trend, according to Shannon Minter, a member of the board of directors of the national Transgender Law & Policy Institute.

“What we’re seeing is that increasingly schools around the country, even if they don’t have a formal policy, they are generally, on the whole, doing the right thing and accepting transgender students,” Minter said. “There’s still a lot of the violence, and there’s still a lot of discrimination and harassment and fear. For the first time, we’re also seeing really significant progress.”

This is largely due to the fact that districts that don’t accept transgender students face the specter of lawsuits.

In 2000, the Massachusetts Superior Court ruled that a middle school could not prohibit a transgender student from expressing her identity because it would violate her First Amendment right to free expression and constitute sex discrimination. While the Massachusetts ruling does not apply to other states, there is also a possibility that transgender students are protected by federal Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in public education.

One good way for districts to avoid legal problems would be to adopt written policies.

“I think having a written policy and training helps things go much more smoothly,” Minter said. “Probably most districts aren’t even aware that this is something that they need to be thinking about. We’re trying to get the word out.”

The Dallas Voice sent an e-mail to all nine members of DISD’s Board of Trustees inquiring about the issue, but received no responses. Weis, the DISD spokeswoman, said administration officials told her they are unsure how the district — the 12th-largest in the country with an enrollment of about 159,000 — would respond to a transgender student.

“We would deal with these issues on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “But not having had a preceding case, it would be hard to make an assumption.”

Elisabeth Withers

I was introduced to this talented artist by one of the members on my Transistahs-Transbrothas group.

Tia had adopted Elisabeth's song 'The World Ain't Ready' from her It Can Happen To Anyone album as her theme song. She told us about her in a post to the group. When I checked out Elisabeth's website and listened to the lyrics of the song, I can see why. I was blown away by it and plan to buy it next payday along with the Daddy's Little Girls DVD when it comes out June 12.

Elisabeth states that the song 'The World Ain't Ready' was inspired by a transgender high school classmate in her Joliet, IL hometown. She recalled in a BET.com interview that she had amazing skin, a woman's body and would dress as a girl at school but as soon as the bell rang would run to the bathroom, change clothes and go home to her family as a boy.

When I heard her last name I immediately made the assumption that she was related to the great Bill Withers, but at this time Elisabeth hasn't revealed whether she is or not. But based on her bio and her Tony Award winning performance as Shug in Braodway's The Color Purple she is poised for stardom. If you're headed to the Essence Fest in New Orleans this year you're in for a musical treat.

Where Have All The Instrumental Songs Gone?

One staple of Black music over the decades has been the slammin' instrumental tracks that populated many R&B records over the 60's and 70's. Whether it was 'Cleo's Mood' by Junior Walker and the All Stars, 'Machine Gun' by The Commodores, 'Q' by the Brothers Johnson, 'Number One' by Patrice Rushen, Chic's 'Savoir Faire' or 'Go For Your Guns' by the Isley Brothers just to name a few, you could count on some R&B or soul album having a funky, slamming instrumental track to groove on or just chill out with.

As I've mentioned before in other posts I have a massive CD collection. One of the things I've noticed over the years is the dearth of instrumental tracks among the new breed of R&B artists similar to what I grew up on in the 70's.

Why is that?

Back in the day music was produced in a recording studio by MUSICIANS who were proud of it. They'd paid their dues, were creative and competitive peeps who liked to stretch out and flex their musical muscles from time to time. They also liked having one or two tracks on a album where they didn't have to sing, they could just simply play.

And boy did they ever.

Nowdays anybody with a computer, great software, a premium quality mike and a quiet room can record. I also think that another reason that you have the dearth of instrumental songs in R&B is because many districts as cost-cutting measures took music education out of public schools during the late 70's. While many R&B artists did get their start in the church choir, it does hurt if what's being taught at church or Vacation Bible School isn't reinforced in a classroom setting at the elementary school level or at home. If they aren't in the church choir, many kids now don't get introduced to music unless they are in the school band or the choir in their middle and high school years. The recording industry also doesn't take time to groom their artists and give them the opportunity to get better in their craft.

As for the home part of my theory, in my neighborhood alone we had three different bands when I was growing up. My across the street neighbor Jared Edison was a drummer in one band who used to gather at his house and practice until 1 AM in the morning. Another neighbor played guitar and the third band was down the street in Kennedy Heights. Talent shows at Thomas Junior High and Sterling High (or any Black high school in Houston) were competitive affairs. The Jackson 5 once competed in one in their hometown of Gary, IN. I would daresay that the situation I observed in Houston replicated itself in many Black communites across the nation.

One tradition I would love to see them bring back is at least one instrumental jam on an R&B/soul groups record. Until then I'll just keep popping my 70's CD's in and hoping the recording companies get the message.

Time To Elevate Our Game

This is a post I wrote for Angelica's blog;

--------------------------------------------------------------

Back in 1979 an African-American transwoman by the name of Justina Williams graced the pages of Jet magazine.

With classy elegance, despite the trials she was facing at the time, she expressed her hopes for the future on the pages of one of our community's iconic magazines. She helped destroy the myth in the African-American community that transition was just a 'white thang'.

Almost 40 years later Justina has accomplished many of the goals that she'd set for herself, but in terms of the African-American transgender community at large it has been a mixed bag of success and failure.

We have successful transsistahs (and increasingly) transbrothas doing positive things to uplift our community. Unfortunately we don't hear about many of these success stories because they have chosen to live stealth lives. The lack of media coverage of African-American transwomen who are succeeding in other arenas besides the pageant world has led to a skewed impression among our transkids that the only thing they can do or become is an entertainer or an escort.

While the stealth transpeeps are in isolation to avoid the violence directed at transpeople not only in our community but America at large, it is a contributing factor to the skewed impression I talked about in the previous paragragh.

When I was growing up in the 70's how I would have loved to have seen African-American transgender role models like the ones we have now. People such as Jordana, DJ Miss Honey Dijon, Lorrainne Sade Baskerville, Dr. Marisa Richmond, Kylar Broadus, Dawn Wilson, Valerie Spencer, Jada Tracy O'Brien, Dioone Stallworth, Rev. Joshua Holiday, Tracee McDaniel and Angelica Love Ross are emerging as positive role models for our community along with some of our pageant superstars. (okay, I'll toot my own Trinity Award winning horn as well.)

But our work is far from over. While we have more people coming out at earlier ages, we still have to grapple with the old problems of fragmentation and separation based on where we live and what segment of the transgender community we occupy. I can't forget about the violence we face across the African diaspora, whether it's here in the States, Jamaica or the rest of the African continent. 70% percent of the names on the Remembering our Dead list are people of color.

As Public Enemy once rapped, 'It's playoff time.' We must as transpeople of African descent do what our ancestors have always done, tackle problems in our community head on with prayerful contemplation, far sighted vision and maximum effort. We have to do it not only for ourselves but our transkids and our brothers and sisters in the rest of the Diaspora as well. Nobody's gonna care about us but us.

I would like to see African-American transpeople one day successfully running for public office, running businesses and taking more active roles in securing our civil rights. Better yet, if necessary to accomplish our goals as a community, if we encounter resistance from so-called allies, let's cut out the middleman and do it our damned selves.

Those dreams will become realities if we stand up, take pride in ourselves, embrace our proud heritage, our spirituality and boldly step forth to claim our God-given place in society.

Happy Birthday Monica!

Just in case you're wondering, I celebrated my birthday a month ago. The Monica I'm wishing a Happy Birthday to is one who is no longer with us, but is still very special to me in my heart.

Her name is Monica Monet Holloway-Barrett and she was born on this date in 1962 in Mobile, AL.

So how did a native Houstonian get to meet this Alabama girl? Her grandparents lived in Houston and during her spring break in 1980 she traveled to H-town to visit them. HISD was still in session at the time and my classmate and her friend Virginia Tucker lived next door to Monica's grandparents.

Virginia invited Monica to hang out with her for the day at Jones and Virginia was in my trig class. When she and Monica walked through the door she had my undivided attention that day instead of my math teacher Mr. Stevenson.

Intelligent people tend to gravitate to other intelligent people and I picked up on that. My 'twin' liked smart sistahs. Monica was about 5'6", had a flawless light caramel colored skin tone and shoulder length jet black hair framing her face.

We exchanged contact data and I was even more smitten with her after I discovered her birthday was June 4, which also happens to be my late Grandmother Tama's birthday as well.

Through the summer of 1980 we traded letters but as the demands of my census enumerator job increased and her summer classes at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute demanded more of her attention we gradually lost contact with each other. When my own freshman year at UH approached and subsequently my transgender issues demanded resolution during the spring semester she faded from my memory for a while.

Over the years I wondered what happened to the girl I met during the last months of my senior year and developed a serious crush on. One day I was flipping through the Houston Chronicle and stumbled across her wedding announcement that her grandparents had placed.

It caught me up on her life up until that time. She'd graduated from Duke in 1984, pledged AKA and had become a doctor after graduating from medical school in 1990. I also discovered that she was now living in Houston. I'd seen the announcement too late to attend the wedding, was a little jealous of the guy she was marrying, but at the same time was pleased to know that things were going well for Monica. I was also happy to know that she'd found someone special to spend the rest of her life with.

In April 1998 I was once again perusing the Houston Chronicle when I was shocked to see something I didn't expect.

Monica's obituary

It didn't mention how she died, but Dr. Monica Holloway-Barrett had become nonetheless an Ivy Beyond The Wall. That obituary also updated me on the final chapter of her life before she was called home April 9. She'd given birth to a daughter in 1993, was teaching classes at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and was involved in a long list of local organizations at the point of her untimely passing.

I cried for a few moments after reading it and realizing that she was only 35 when she died. Once again I was seeing it too late to attend and pay my last respects and I was a little upset about that. It's also ironic and frustrating to me that our paths could have crossed before she passed away. One of the schools that we used to do Trans 101 seminars at was Baylor College of Medicine and the first one I was part of took place in February 1998.

I took some time to remember the beautiful girl I met in my math class that day who'd become an outstanding woman. I clipped that obituary, scanned the picture (which is on my other computer, darn it) and stored it in my high school memory book.

She's one of the reasons that when it came time for me to choose a feminine name when I transitioned in 1994, I chose Monica.

My name today is a reminder to myself on multiple levels. I wanted to honor her memory, so I strive to carry myself in the same way that I remember her as a classy, beautiful and intelligent woman. It's also a reminder to myself to make every moment count and make quality use of the time that you're allotted. Unlike the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica, we only get one shot at living our lives and you don't get multiple practice runs until it's perfect.

Happy birthday, Monica. Say hello to my grandmother Tama for me.

Black Music Month

photos-Duke Ellington, Denyce Graves, 'Jimmy Jam' Harris and Terry Lewis

Since 1979 the month of June has been celebrated as Black Music Month in the United States. At the urging of legendary songwriter and record producer Kenny Gamble, President Jimmy Carter designated June as Black Music Month.

A quarter century later, President Bush like all American presidents since then have issued an annual Black Music Month proclamation to celebrate the occasion.

It's a time when we look back at the various forms of music that we either created, such as jazz, the blues, gospel music, rap, and hip-hop.

There are music genres that we've enhanced with our talents such as disco and the opera world with singers such as Leontyne Price, Denyce Graves and Kathleen Battle.

We also celebrate our rich musical tradition that we brought with us from the African continent.

We remember our legendary artists like Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Luther Vandross, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, B.B. King and Duke Ellington just to name a few.

We also celebrate the heirs to their legacy in our current artists like Alicia Keys, John Legend, Jill Scott and others.

Black Music Month is a chance to celebrate the huge imprint that we have left on American music and indeed, the world musically since we arrived on these shores in 1619. We get reconnected with some of our pioneers, such as Thomas A. Dorsey, the 'Father of Gospel Music.'

We give props to the legendary producers such as Motown's Holland Dozier Holland, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Gamble and Huff and the folks following in their giant footsteps.



We also marvel at how our music gave up hope in dark times for our people, celebrated our successes, helped us dance on Saturday nights and get our praise on during Sunday morning worship services.

It was the soundtrack for our youth, our love making, instilled pride in our heritage and motivated us (and the South Africans) to fight for our civil rights.

It even inspires athletes to perform at championship levels. Ask the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates or Sister Sledge if you think I'm kidding about that.

Black music is a powerful, multigenerational, creative force.



Every now and then George W. Bush gets something right. Here are his words from the May 31, 2002 proclamation declaring Black Music Month in the USA.



I call on Americans of all backgrounds to learn more about the rich heritage of black music and how it has shaped our culture and our way of life, and urge them to take the opportunity to enjoy the great musical experiences available through the contributions of African American music.

I plan to help y'all out this month in exploring Black music. As far as I'm concerned, EVERY month is Black Music Month.

Now where's my Parliament-Funkadelic CD?

June 2007 TransGriot Column

Chuck Knipp + SQL + Minstrel Show = Racism
Copyright 2007, THE LETTER

Just in time for pride I’m calling out all you GLBT racism enablers.

Racism enabler? Moi? Yes, you!

You peeps who silently sit through racist rants that would make the local KKK Grand Wizard proud. It also includes you peeps who paid good American money to see and support a racist minstrel show like some of y’all did on May 5 during Derby.

A minstrel show mind you that perpetuates stereotypes dating back to the 1830’s and has as much humor in it as Don Imus’ April 4 ‘nappy headed garden tool’ comments that got him canned from his multimillion dollar radio gig.

Stop rolling your eyes and muttering under your breath ‘there she goes again.’ I’m just as sick and tired of ‘splaining to y’all why Chuck’s minstrel show is offensive to the African-American SGL community. For the record, it’s disrespectful on multiple levels to single mothers, economically disadvantaged peeps, women and African-Americans.

Spare me your latest ‘It’s free speech’ SQL defense line. With free speech comes responsibility and consequences as well. Free speech cuts both ways. Just as Chuck has the right to say things and insult my people in his ‘act’ I have a reciprocal right to protest and call him out for performing a 'show’ with stereotypes rooted in slavery.

And no, Chuck doesn’t get a ‘dodge criticism’ free pass because he’s gay. Isaiah Washington and Tim Hardaway didn’t (and still don’t) get them from the gay community for their one-time comments, so a serial offender like Chuck doesn’t get one either.

Let me also put an end to Chuck’s disingenuously fallacious statement that by performing SQL he’s fostering a discussion on race relations by getting us to laugh at them.

Bull feces.

Chuck is exacerbating racial tensions, not healing them. Using a blackface image with 400 years of negativity associated with it doesn’t exactly lend itself in African-American eyes as a starting point for a civil discourse on race relations. In 2002 we African-Americans had a major problem with those blackface images in Spike Lee’s ‘Bamboozled’ movie. You know we’re gonna be highly perturbed with someone standing on stage in blackface who is not only gay and should know better, but comes from the same ethnic group and gender that enslaved our great-great grandparents.

That little ‘12 Days of Kwanzaa’ ditty Chuck composed that’s posted on every white supremacist website on the Net also puts an abrupt end to that ‘I’m a racial healer' fallacy as well.

Finally, let’s get one thing straight (pardon the pun). The white community gay or straight doesn’t get to determine what we African-Americans should or shouldn't be offended by. The African-American community collectively does and it’s the height of arrogance for you to think that you do. Trotting out RuPaul, the mysterious African-American ‘friend’ who’s allegedly an SQL fan (yeah, right) or anyone else for Chuck to hide behind ain’t gonna work either. RuPaul has less credibility in the African-American SGL community nowadays than Condoleezza Rice.

It should be obvious after 5 years of protests, show cancellations, denunciations from African-American activists, African-American GLBT columnists and bloggers, GLBT organizations, our gay and straight allies and other concerned citizens of various ethnic backgrounds where we stand on the SQL issue. The more intransigent you get about SQL, the more you risk losing the African-American GLBT community as an ally
in the GLBT rights struggle.

Yes peeps, it’s that serious.

This was always more than just us complaining about a lousy minstrel show. This is being viewed by some in the African-American GLBT community as a litmus test to see just how serious the white GLBT community is about dealing with issues that we deem important.

And right now you’re in danger of failing that test.