Thank You For The 2012 NYC Black Pride Heritage Award

TransGriot Note: I'll be in New York next week for GLAAD's POC Media Institute, but not in time for tonight's awards event that is taking place at the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture and is a kickoff event for NYC Black Pride.  

In case you missed the earlier post I wrote about it, I'm getting a NYC Black Pride Heritage Award from Gay Men of African Descent in their Literary Excellence Category.   I also wanted to congratulate my homegirl Tona Brown who is getting the Marsha P. Johnson Award as well. 

So here's my acceptance letter and thank you GMAD for the honor.

It is indeed an honor an a privilege to be receiving this unexpected award for Literary Excellence from GMAD.   Ever since I stated TransGriot in 2006, I have strived  to live up to the mission statement and the name of this blog, to be a 21st century griot for our community.

I wish I could be there in person at the Schomburg Center to pick up that award for a variety of reasons.  I would have loved to have sat in the same place where my late historian godmother spent many hours during her time as an NYU student.   It would have been mice to meet many of you in the New York area who have let me know throughout the time I'm been publishing the blog how much you love and appreciate it and my tell it like it T-I-S is Afrocentric flavored commentary on unfolding events in the world around us. 

And finally, it's a chance to go to New York!   

I'm honored and touched that GMAD thinks so highly of my work chronicling the history of the African descended trans community here and across the Diaspora.  I believe it is vitally important now just as it was on January 1, 2006 when I founded the blog that we African-American transpeople had a FUBU space of our own on the Net that unapologetically refleced our culture, our heritage, and began to fight back aginst the ignorance and lies propagated aout us inside and outside the rainbow community.

It was also critically important for our young trans people to know they have a proud history, and heroes and sheroes to look up to.  It was important as well for African-American cisgender people to know that transsexuality isn't a 21st century phenomenon.

So to GMAD, thank you once again for bestowing this 2012 NYC Black Pride Heritage Award on me for Literary Excellence.