Moni Speaks At The Houston #NMOS14 Rally

Since the local #NMOS14 rally was happening just up the street from me at MacGregor Park, it was a no brainer about whether or not I was going to check it out.  

After it started a little after 6 PM CDT, we had the moment of silence starting around 6:20 PM to commemorate the life of Mike Brown, what the people in Ferguson, MO were going through and all the victims of police brutality and misconduct.

The floor was then opened by organizer of the event Ashley Williams to anyone who wished to speak to do so. 

And yeah, you know once that happened, I was going to take the opportunity to do just that and represent the Houston TBLG community while doing so. 

When my opportunity to speak to the crowd came, I pointed out that I was there on behalf of myself and the Houston TBLG community, and that Black community issues like police brutality are LGBT issues and vice versa.

I then pointed out that trans people are affected by negative policing behavior. and used the Monica Jones case in Phoenix as a example of it before pivoting back to the reason for the event.  

I pointed out that Black women were experiencing death by po-po and not to forget that.   I also reminded everyone that we have an election coming up on November 4, and that is your best tool for societal change before I stepped down.

I hung around to talk to people and listen to more speakers before I finally left about 8:30 PM. 

One of the chants was 'No more!' in reference to not having another unarmed Black child die due to death by po-po. 

But I wondered as I walked toward the bus stop with the MLK statue in my sights if we were on the road to actually making that happen or we'd be gathered once again at another Houston location to mourn the loss of another African-American child due to police brutality.

I hope not.   But we have a lot of work to do to make no more Black kids dying at the hands of police officers a reality.

Race Wasn't Involved In NYPD Garner Killing? Yeah, Right

As my brother Dr. Kortney Ziegler pointed out, in a life imitates art moment, 43 year old Eric Garner's cause of death last Friday, like Radio Raheem in the Spike Lee movie Do The Right Thing, was death by po-po.

Spike Lee thought so as well.   He recently mixed the video of Garner's fatal encounter with the NYPD with the Radio Raheem fictional one from the film.

The father of six was killed by an illegal choke hold after being agitated about being harassed by NYPD police.

Eric Garner's funeral was yesterday, but the firestorm surrounding this latest episode of NYPD behaving badly when it comes to non-white denizens of New York  is just getting cranked up.  

You add to it the ridiculous statement by NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton. who is in his second stint of leading NYPD (1994-1996 was the previous one), that "race didn't have anything to do with the tragic death of Garner."

Seriously?  You may wish to rethink that based on the racist online comments of NYPD officers let loose in the wake of last Friday's murder by po-po of Garner and the negative spotlight once more being shined on the New York Police Department.

When now thirteen people of color have been killed in various ways over the years by NYPD officers, other non-white New Yorkers complain of harassment and less than respectful treatment, and the reaction you have to it is deny you have a race problem, not good.

It damned sure was about race.  It's about the vanillascented privileged mentality that too many white police officers have when they come into our neighborhoods from their gated suburbs and treat us as less than human.  

If you're a bigot with a badge and gun, that is destined to cause a problem sooner or later.       

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the comment of Eric Garner 'bringing it  it upon himself'   In what FOX Noise addled conservaworld did you come up with that specious crap? 

How does breaking up a fight justify death by po-po?

All y'all had to do was let Garner off with a warning and let him go on his merry way. home   But y'all couldn't resist the temptation to go into Officer Oppressor mode, and one of you went too far with the fatal choke hold which BTW, is illegal under NYPD policy..

Meanwhile we people of color keep finding ourselves in the situation of having to bury our loved ones after negative and deadly interactions with predominately white cops fir trivial crap..   

And we're sick and tired of it.

JSmooth On Don Lemon, Race and Respectability Politics

For those of you wondering why Black Twitter, legions of Black pundits and the Black blogosphere went off on Don Lemon (and I haven't put my foot in his azz yet), J Smooth breaks it down in this YouTube video about race and respectability politics.

Did Raven-Symoné Just Come Out?

I wrote a post last May about about people in the Black SGL community needing to quit pressuring the Queen and Raven-Symoné about whether or nor they are part of our chocolate TBLG community because our coming out parameters are different from the white community. 

When the rumors started after she was seen with out lesbian ANTM contestant AzMarie Livingston and the National Liar Inquirer made the conclusion jump she was part of the chocolate SGL family, Raven addressed the rumors at the time by basically saying it was nobody's business who she shared her bedroom with or who she was attracted to.

But this following August 2 tweet occurring after the states of Minnesota and Rhode Island began allowing same gender couples to get legally married raised eyebrows and got those is-she-or-isn't-she rumors aimed at our 27 year old sister cranked up all over again.




She's also quoted in this CNN story as saying this about same gender marriage.

"I am very happy that gay marriage is opening up around the country and is being accepted," the actress said in a statement through her representatives. 

"I was excited to hear today that more states legalized gay marriage. I, however am not currently getting married, but it is great to know I can now, should I wish to," she said.

That was a 'things that make you go hmm' moment.  If that was her way of coming out while trying to keep some part of her private life private, I ain't mad at her. I still love me some Raven-Symoné and always will.

If she did come out, it will mean that our African descended kids have another role model to look up to that shares their ethnic background.

And it gives a whole 'nother interpretation to 'That's So Raven'!

Cheryl Calls Out Some Trans Haters

My trans elder Cheryl Courtney-Evans was forwarded a link to the Anti-Intellect blog post about the Chad Johnson-Amiyah Scott photo that decried the rampant transphobia in the comments and blog posts about it that is sadly a staple of the Black gossip blogosphere.

Cheryl took it a step further in her abitchforjustice post entitled 'Whites AREN'T The ONLY People Who Can Be Bigots!' and put some of the more egregious transphobic offenders on blast.  

Here's a taste of it:

Example: "...it's not that people are Homophobic. IT'S THAT A LOT OF THIS [THESE] TRANNYS take pictures with celebrity men then go on the blogs and radio and say they are fucking, Chingy for example, he took a couple of pics with a tranny and she said they were dating. And people started calling Chingy gay and his career was over. IT'S NOT THE PEOPLE, IT'S THE TRANNYS TRYING TO PLAY GAMES. THEY DID THE SAME THING TO JOJO Simmons. They said he was trying to fuck on Twitter, and come to find out he didn't know it wasn't a woman. this [these] trannys are shady as fuck...". 

This gay man's rant first of all separates transgenders from humanity ("...it's not the people, it's the trannys..." as if transgenders aren't 'people'). Then he's automatically assuming that it has to be a falsehood that the celebs mentioned actually were romantically involved with the transgender women. BUT I'd be willing to BET if it were a gay person "outing" [NOT that it's right in either case] a celeb, he'd be licking his lips at the juicy details...and of course, the gay person didn't "trick" the guy (how easily they forget the defendants who use the "panic" defense when they've murdered or assaulted a gay man)...

And some of the women who posted were especially hateful. It was even interesting how some posts started off innocent [positive] enough, to deliver a "zinger" (example: "I think everyone should be respected. Playing dress up and getting your dick cut off does not make you a woman." To this, I say, "WTF??") Even posters who were expressing like 'allies' were guilty of erroneous pronoun usage in other replies.

You can check out the rest of Cheryl's post by clicking this link.

What Chad and Amiyah Can Teach Us About Respecting Trans Women

TransGriot Note: Interesting article from one of the people I had the pleasure of meeting during OUT on the Hill last year, Anti-Intellect, concerning the ignorance bubbling up once again in the Black gossip blogosphere concerning this recent photo Chad Johnson took with girl like us Amiyah Scott

The guest post at Funky Dineva is entitled 'What Chad Johnson and Amiyah Scott Can Teach Us About Respecting Transgender Women'.   

It's a call for the Black community to chill with the ignorance and disrespect aimed at trans women and start understanding and respecting the ones in their midst.

I agree.  And it needed to happen like yesterday.
I also got a little love in the post, too.

And yeah, ignorance alert in the comment threads. 

Here's a taste of it:    

I look forward to the day when a straight man taking a picture with a trans woman is not an issue. If social media is any indication, we have a while to go before that vision becomes a reality. Over the weekend, a picture surfaced of former NFL player and reality star, Chad Johnson, posing with Amiyah Scott, a trans woman. Judging by the number of ignorant comments leveled at both Johnson and Scott, you would have thought that the two had committed a serious crime, and in a sense, they had. In our transphobic world, a straight man taking a picture with a trans woman is seen as a “crime”. What is the crime, you ask? The crime is respecting a transgender woman.

Media representation has the potential to make us comfortable with people from different walks of life, but it also has the potential to make us see a community in a monolithic way. Trans women have all too often only been seen as predators and/or comic relief. I am here to tell you, however, that the lives of trans woman are diverse and multifaceted. Yes, there are trans women who have not revealed their gender identity, often for good reason, but there are many who live there lives with honesty and openness. Trans women come from all walks of life, and it is long overdue that we start to recognize their diversity within their community. We need to look beyond the stereotypes to see the trans women who are enrolled in college and trade schools, the trans women who are journalists, motivational speakers, doctors, executive directors, hairstylists, actresses, wives, mothers, and almost any other role imaginable.

You can read the rest of it by clicking this link. 

Once Again, How Do I Feel About My Country, And How Does My Country Feel About Me?

Today is July 4, 2013, the 237th birthday of the United States, and I'm not in a celebratory mood as this Independence Day arrives.

The Supreme Court, aided and abetted by a self-hating live version of The Boondocks Uncle Ruckus voted 5-4 to eviscerate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. 

It was one of the potent legal tools we had to keep the conservafools in GOP dominated state dictatorships legislatures in check as they repeatedly attempted to roll back our human rights,  and now it's been fracked with. 

The conservative dominated Rasmussen poll publishes one yesterday which confirms what we already knew about the vanillacentric privileged conservafools.   They ignorantly think Blacks are more racist than whites. 

If you believe that BS I have waterfront property I'd like to sell you between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge, LA along I-10 in the Atchafalaya Swamp. 

FYI to you conservasheep.  Racism=prejudice plus systemic power, something the Rasmussen conservaidiots should have retained from Sociology 101. Black people in the United States have NEVER had the power and population numbers to oppress people and turn their prejudices into legislative oppression like whites have gleefully and repeatedly done throughout American history for over three centuries.

The African-American president, the First Lady and his family continue to get unprecedented levels of disrespect aimed at them and will until they leave the White House on January 20, 2017.

Sometimes I wonder just how many of you white Americans not only say amen to what Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote about my people in the 1857 Dred Scott v Sandford decision but think on this date in the second decade of the 21st century we're still 3/5ths of a human being compared to you?

And just to refresh your memory banks concerning what Chief Justice Taney wrote on March 6, 1857:

"...beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.".

There are days I'm feeling Frederick Douglass' July 5, 1852 speech, but none more keenly than today. 

My transsisters in Washington DC are once again under attack as Deoni Jones' family awaits justice that has now been delayed until April 2014 for her February 2012 murder.. 

A Black woman in Georgia is told that she needs to submit to an invasive medical procedure to prove her femininity just to correct a birth certificate error and a smirking white male who killed an unarmed black teenager is on trial at this moment in Sanford, FL in front of a six person jury with no African-Americans on it.

But just when I feel like I want to leave the United States and never come back, I remember the words of my shero Barbara Jordan who eloquently stated that all we want is an America as good as its promise.

No, check that.  I want an America BETTER than its promise. 

I listen to Marvin Gaye's soulful version of the national anthem he sang at the 1983 NBA all star game or Jimi Hendrix's 1969 guitar solo version at Woodstock and get chills.   I think about the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rep. John Lewis, The Tuskegee Airmen, the Freedom Riders, Four Little Girls and all the people who fought marched, bled and died for me to be in the position to move the freedom torch forward.  It makes me realize I can't turn my back on that history.  I have to fight like they did in their time to make this country better for the next generation and generations yet unborn.

And as my little sis Jordana LeSesne wisely stated, 'no fight is more just than the battle for self-determination of ones own identity.'
 
The battle for trans human rights continues here in the United States as well.  The increased attacks and negativity we're getting aimed at us because we're winning that war right now but still have a long way to go until we see trans human rights become a reality across our nation.
 
 I have a pretty good idea how my country feels about me and all the communities I intersect and interact with as of July 4, 2013.   But how do I feel about my country today?

I'm ambivalent and a little pissed off at the USA because of the regressive human rights path we've been on lately no thanks to a batturd crazy Republican Party that professes to love freedom and democracy, but only when it benefits wealthy conservative white males and the profits over people corporations they run.   

Even though you clueless conservafools and Tea Klux Klan members piss me and my people off at times, I still love this country.   I've just been along with my fellow Americans who are persons of color more thoughtful about how.and why I do.  .

Check with me on July 5 as to how I'll feel about my country tomorrow.  

George Zimmerman Trial Starts Today

While I'll be keeping an eye on Washington DC and Milwaukee for two trials starting there , my still unapologetically Black and trans behind will have my attention focused along with the rest of the country on the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, FL.

The trial of George Zimmerman gets started in Sanford, FL today in which he will attempt to get off for killing 17 year old Trayvon Martin in cold blood for the crime of Walking While Black.

Sarcasm meter off, continuing post.

This trial like the OJ one turned out to be in the 90's is unavoidably going to be an American racial issues litmus test.   We African Americans since the day we heard about what happened have been in 'there but for the grace of God go I' mode every time we see pictures of Trayvon or his parents stoically fighting for justice for their son.

As much as Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin and their attorney have tried to focus the attention on the legal case and getting justice for Trayvon, we can't avoid the overwhelming racial subtext permeating this case.

Those of us who are Black and TBLG and our organizations have a bitter familiarity with the result of what happens when the toxic union of bigotry and violence happens and see it visited upon our people far too often.

We can't avoid thinking about race in this situation especially when the conservafools, their talking heads, and their whiteness uber alles orgs sent cash and rushed to the defense of George Zimmerman. 

And before you even think about e-mailing any comment about Zimmerman isn't white, don't waste your time. He didn't bother claiming that Latino heritage until it was needed.  He had no problem accepting that whiteness and privileged white male status he got from Daddy and was obviously benefiting from by being able to sleep in his own bed the night he murdered Trayvon.

If Zimmerman is convicted, the justice system worked in this case despite the attempts o the Zimmerman family and the vanillacentric conservafool movement to shift the narrative, 'work the refs'  and demonize Trayvon for the fateful decision he made to simply get some tea and Skittles from a local 7 Eleven.

If he walks, we're probably looking at Rodney King levels of anger and pissivity in our community that I hope and pray doesn't explode into what Dr King called it in his 'The Other America' essay as 'the language of the unheard'.    

And what I wrote on March 20, 2012 will sadly be verified.

Once again, it reinforces the fact in the USA that no matter what we do, whether we are the president of the United States or some 17 year old kid just getting a late night snack, the lives of Black people don't mean jack to some people infected with vanillacentric privilege, ignorance and bigotry. 

And in some cases it's justification enough for these bigots to kill us.

We'll see as the court case in Sanford, FL unfolds what happens to Zimmerman and if Trayvon will get justice, or Zimmerman will be given a get out of jail free card for killing a 17 year old Black kid minding his own damned business until he stuck his nose in it despite the Sanford police dispatcher telling him not to. 

'The New Black' Film Festival Tour

The New Black is a documentary film I was cognizant was in the process of being shot, and I'm happy to discover it has been completed and is about to hit the summer film festival circuit.

NBJC is traveling across the country to celebrate an authentic and illuminating depiction of the tension, triumphs and victories that take place at the intersection of religious beliefs and civil rights with the launch of The New Black

It is a provocative new documentary film that powerfully illustrates the story of how the African-American community is grappling with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in light of the marriage equality movement and the fight over civil rights.

It chronicles the recent marriage battle in Maryland and shows activists, families and clergy on both sides of last year's campaign to legalize gay marriage in the state.   It examines homophobia in the African-American community's institutional pillar ---The Black Church-- and reveals the Christian right wing's reprehensible strategy of exploiting this cultural phenomenon in order to pursue their anti-gay political agenda.  

There are some familiar faces in this film like NBJC Executive Director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks and several NBJC emerging leaders such as Samantha Master and Karess Taylor-Hughes and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

The New Black is directed by internationally renowned documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen, who teams with notable producers Yvonne Welbon, producer of Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100, and Emmy nominated Angela Tucker to bring us this story anchored at the intersection of Black American culture and the LGBT equality movement..

So for those of you residing in Los Angeles (June14-16) New York  (June 19-20), Washington D.C. (June 22-23) and San Francisco (June 29)  you'll get the opportunity to check out Tne New Black at your local film festivals this summer.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait until it hits an H-town multiplex near me.

Today Is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2013

Today is the 13th annual National HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.  As someone who has lost two extended family members and many dear friends to the disease, I'm keenly aware of the toll HIV/AIDS had taken on this community.

It was started by the Centers for Disease Control and other grassroots  organizations in 2000 and launched as part of a widespread effort to curb the rate of HIV infection amongst black men and women through “education, testing, involvement, and treatment.”

There are more than one million new cases of HIV infections in the U.S. every year, and nearly half of them are African American men, women, and children. Black men are nearly eight times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white males, while black females are 20 times more likely to be diagnosed than white females.

And sadly, embedded in those statistics are Black trans people.  The Injustice At Every Turn report revealed that 20% of the 381 African American trans respondents to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey  reported being HIV+ and an additional 10% reporting they did not know their status.   There are some major advances that have been made in the fight to defeat HIV/AIDS, and health officials around the world are optimsitic that it can be defeated.

HIV+ infected people are living longer due to netter treatment regimens, more testing despite political interference that catches the disease earlier, and just last month a Spanish research team announced a major medical breakthrough that could lead one day to an effective vaccine against the HIV virus.

But until that glorious day happens and there's a cure for AIDS,  we need to do a much better job of getting our people informed about HIV, getting them tested and making sure people know their status.  It's the only way at the present time we are going to reduce infection rates and eventually eradicate it.

It's Trayvon Martin's 18th Birthday

If it weren't for a February 26 encounter with an armed bigot named George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin would be spending today enveloped in the love of his family, girlfriend, and closest friends celebrating his 18th birthday.

But instead he's six feet underground and the idiot responsible for it is trying to hide behind Florida's ALEC and NRA sponsored Kill A Black Kid With Impunity Stand Your Ground law.

I didn't appreciate seeing this racist tweet from South Carolina Republican (who else?) Todd Kincannon conflating Trayvon and his opinion of Sunday's Super Bowl.   Thanks Wonkette for your commentary on it and thanks TransGriot reader Jason Byrd for bringing it to my attention.

A Southern conservative saying he needed to be put down like a rabid dog?  And you wonder why your party and conservatism in general has only 6% support amongst African-American voters if that much.   .

Racism has spread and metastasized inside the GOP body politic and the festering infected boils on the body surface of it need to be lanced in the 2014 election cycle.

Political rant over.  Time to get back to talking about Trayvon.

Yeah, you conservafools can continue to try to deny it until the end of time, but this Martin case has been about race ever since Trayvon had the misfortune of running into Zmmerman as he returned from his fatal late night run to the store to get Skittles and iced tea.

People may wish to say a few words of prayer for Trayvon's parents Sybrina and Tracy, his family, his girlfriend and everyone else who loved him.  Their family will definitely be feeling his loss and need every ounce of strength they can muster to get through this day.

Stand Your Ground Law Needs To Die, Not Our Kids

Jet magazine in its nearly six decades of publication has had many prominent African-Americans in the worlds of business, politics, sports and the entertainment world on its covers. 

It has had a long proud history of chronicling the inhumanity aimed at our people and especially our children..  Jet published in September 1955 the pictures of Emmitt Till's swollen, disfigured body lying in his open casket during his funeral.   Those photos are credited with galvanizing our community around the Civil Rights Movement and fueling our determination to see it through. 

At the newsstands this week will be the latest issue of Jet with Jordan Davis on the cover and an interview with his distraught parents

We're probably on the cusp of seeing the 21st century's 'Emmit Till moment' in the African-American community in terms of being sick and tired of being sick and tired of our kids dying at the hands of another proud accomplishment of the National Rifle Association, the Kill Black People With Impunity Stand Your Ground Laws.

The latest incident in Florida in which a Black teenager died at the hands of a white male assailant now claiming the 'stand your ground' defense is transpiring in Jacksonville, FL.

17 year old Jordan Davis was on his way home minding his own business along with two friends in their SUV outside a Jacksonville gas station November 23 listening to rap music after shopping at the mall during the after Thanksgiving Black Friday sales.  

46 year old Michael Dunn parked in the space next to the vehicle along with his fiance Rhonda Rouer to attend a wedding when they stopped at the store to buy a bottle of wine before returning to their hotel.  They parked next to the SUV containing Davis and his three friends as Rouer went into the store to buy wine to take back to their hotel room.. 

Dunn confronted the teens about their music and demanded they turn it down.   The teens responded by cranking up the volume and according to Dunn's attorney threatened him.   Dunn grabbed his gun out of his glove compartment, claimed he saw a shotgun in the SUV and fired eight to nine shots at the SUV that struck Davis who was sitting in the backseat before driving off. 

Police found no weapon in the teen's vehicle and Dunn was arrested a day later, charged and indicted on December 13 for the first degree murder of Jordan Davis.   Dunn of course is hiding behind the 2005 Stand Your Ground law that Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) and his task force claim there's nothing wrong with.

Tell that bull feces to the parents of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis.  70% of the people who claimed the Stand Your Ground defense went free despite the fact that in 200 cases that were analyzed by the Tampa Bay Times, the defendants initiated the fight, shot an unarmed person or pursued their victim — and still went free.

And I guess Stand Your Ground doesn't work for Black people.  Marissa Alexander is doing 20 years in a Florida jail because she fired a warning shot at an abusive husband who admitted he has a domestic violence history and threatened to kill her during an altercation. 

And bottom line, loud music is no reason to whip out your gun and kill a 17 year old kid.  But as Jason Whitlock correctly stated when he commented on the Belcher-Perkins murder-suicide last month,

"Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it."

 And as Melissa Harris Perry pointed out, when you're a Black male, being who are is threat enough.  

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It's obvious to everyone but the fetishistic vanillacentric privileged gun sales pimps of the NRA that their Kill A POC Kid With Impunity law has got to go.  Jordan's parents Lucia McBath and Ron Davis now know what Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin are going through.   They are vowing to lead the effort to push for federal action to take down the Stand Your Ground Laws in Florida (and 25 other states) that took his life, and we need to join them in that crusade before someone you love is the next victim of it.

The Stand Your Ground Law needs to die, not our kids.  

Black Female Intellectuals Chat About A New Black Feminist Reader

I'm not a feminist and identify as a womanist, but I was intrigued to see the note on Dr Kaila Story's (AKA Niece) Facebook page in which she talked about a chat she'd had with Dr. Yaba Blay and Dr. Brittney Cooper

When they aren't teaching their lucky students at their various colleges, Niece is the co-host of the WFPL-FM radio show 'Strange Fruit', Dr. Blay was featured on the recent episode of the CNN series Black In America, and  Dr. Cooper is one of the co-founders of the Crunk Feminist Collective. 

They discussed the persistence of terrible images of Black women in Hip-Hop music and during the course of that discussion, Professors.Story, Blay and Cooper began a dialogue about the need for an updated anthology of Black Feminist Thought.

That what happens when you get three brilliant and accomplished African-descended women chatting about issues in our community.

I hope if that anthology comes to pass and becomes available, Black feminists will take the opportunity to make it explicitly clear where their movement differs from white-dominated feminism.  I hope they call out the maddening tendency of white feminists to engage in cricket chirping silence when prominent Black women such as First Lady Michelle Obama get misogynistic attacks aimed at them, but are in full throated protest if someone even says a bad word or looks crosseyed at a white female no matter what side of the political spectrum she's on.

I commented in the thread I hoped they would condemn the trans exclusionary radical feminists to that discussion.  It is a Black feminist issue since predominately white TERF's have been pushing virulent anti-trans rhetoric for 40 years that I and other trans people believe fuels anti-trans discrimination, negativity toward our community and the anti-trans hate that leads to our murders.   The people who have taken the brunt of those anti-trans murders have been Black and Latina trans women.

If it does happen, it was suggested by Dr. Story that I write that portion of it   And if they do (or someone else) starts working on that updated anthology, should I get the invitation to write that essay, I most certainly will.

Sage Smith Case Update-Sage's Birthday Approaching And She's Still Missing

Sage Smith's 20th birthday on December 13 is rapidly approaching, and the trans teen that has been missing since November 20 still has yet to be heard from by family or friends.   Someone else that hasn't been heard from besides Erik McFadden, the last person to talk to Sage is the media.

Kinda sad that if you Google 'Sage Smith', links to my blog posts pop up.   I shouldn't be one of the few peeps commenting on it, a point GLAAD's Daryl Hannah made in his HuffPo post he wrote about the lack of media coverage in this case 

Yeah, I'm not happy about this, but I'll put my pissivity about this indifference toward this young POC transperson's life on pause and turn the focus of this post back toward finding our trans youngling.

A vigil and walk is happening later today starting at 6:30 PM EST.   If you live in the area and can support the family and this event, please do so.

The Vigil and March, will begin at 6:30pm Saturday at 731 Orange Dale, we will start with prayer, then words of reflection from family and friends,. Then we will walk from Orange Dale, down 9th street, up the 9th/10th street connector, right on Main street, than down to the Train station ending at around 7:30. This will symbolize the lantern shining to help Dashad find his way home, as well as the light which must be shined on his disappearance, to find out what has happened to Dashad. We also will have media there to help in spreading the word. We need peoples help in supplying the candles. We have gotten support from at least 3 area churches so far, and are trying to enlist other civic leaders.

If anyone has eyeballs on Erik McFadden or you have any pertinent information relevant to this case, please call the Charlottesville, VA Police Department at 434-977-4000.

And let's continue to pray for the safe return of Sage to her family.

Don't Forget Kasandra

We're going to hear all about 25 year old Jovan Belcher, the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who tragically murdered his longtime girlfriend and committed suicide in front of head coach Romeo Crennel at the Chiefs practice facility Saturday.   He'll be remembered and eulogized by his teammates from the Chiefs, his collegiate days, his high school and all the people who loved him.

But the person we haven't heard enough about is Kasandra Michelle Perkins, the 22 year old woman and mother of his three month old daughter Zoe that he killed.

I talk far too often for my tastes on this blog about the violence aimed at African-American and Latina transwomen.  But I'm also reading stories about cis women who are killed in incidents by the people they are in relationships with.

I'm sick of reading about gun violence intruding in relationships and it's one of the reasons I despise the NRA and their incessant devoid of logic prattling about 'Second Amendment gun rights'.  

How is owning a handgun as Jason Whitlock pointed out in his column going to protect little old individual you against a government equipped with predator drones and tanks?

Tell that bull feces to the family, friends and parents of Kasandra Perkins, who are going to have to experience something no parent should have to go through in terms of the unexpected pain of burying their child just before Christmas. 

Tell that to young three month old Zoey, who is going to grow up without both parents in her life.

Being an NFL player doesn't excuse Jovan Belcher from the deserved condemnation he needs to get for taking Kasandra's life.   I also agree with the premise that had the handgun not been available, the domestic dispute between Belcher and Perkins wouldn't have escalated into a situation in which both people are now dead and their child is orphaned. 

As Whitlock said in his column, "Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/02/3945601/costas-advocates-for-gun-control.html#storylink=cpy

And it's past time Americans get that point.  .

Here's a story from the Kansas City Star about Kasandra, whose friends wanted to make sure she didn't get overshadowed and forgotten in the crush of media coverage that the unblinking media eye will aim at Belcher.

Here's a Facebook memorial page someone created for my fellow Texan (she was from Dallas) as well

Alice Robb, Why You Tripping About The POTUS Calling His Daughters Beautiful?

One of my readers brought an article by Alice Robb of the Oxonian Globalist to my attention in which she criticized the part of President Obama's victory speech last week in which he said this about the First Daughters:

“Sasha and Malia, before our very eyes, you’re growing up to become two strong, smart, beautiful young women, just like your mom, and I’m so proud of you.”

While the rest of the world, the TransGriot and Black America loved this comment, check out what the third year Oxford University's Keble College student from NYC had to say about it

Obama’s comments beg the question of why a girl’s beauty should be source of pride for her father— and why beauty should be a value lauded alongside strength and intelligence.  The President may have been directing his comments at only two people, but he had the ears of the world, and on a day that should have been a triumph for women, his remarks stung.

Alice, since you didn't grow up as a Black female and don't interact with this world with a Black female body, allow me to break it down for you and demonstrate just how clueless and vanillacentric privileged your comment is.

The beauty standard you rail against is one that exalts women who look like you as the measuring stick that all women should aspire to.  

That same beauty standard that lifts white women and white girls like yourself up as the penultimate beauties is conversely the same one that is used to denigrate non-white women, and especially Black women and girls. 

Lets not pretend that the Black 'unwoman' demonization meme aimed at Black women and girls doesn't exist.  If you think I'm kidding about that, Exhibit A of it is the jacked up Satoshi Kanazawa May 2011 article entitled 'Why Black Women are Ugly.' that I had no problem putting on blast like I'm doing your comments right now.

Note that when you pick up any fashion magazine not named ESSENCE  that all you see in them are glamorous fashion photos of white women.   Same with television shows, movies, commercials, print ads or beauty products that predominately feature white women in them.  In your hometown of New York, one of the world modeling hubs, during the spring and fall Fashion Week shows the numbers of Black models strutting those runways are so minuscule you can count them on one hand.

President Obama is a parent of two daughters first and foremost.  The First Lady, Sasha and Malia have been attacked and had the Black unwoman meme frequently flung at them by a cavalcade of right wing idiots (something white feminists have been cricket chirping silent about).

You damned skippy he's going to do everything in his power like any Black father would do to push back against the negative forces working on the self esteem of his daughters by telling them (and his wife) at every opportunity, including his victory speech that they are strong, smart and beautiful young women.  . 

So Alice Robb, why you tripping about President Obama calling his daughters beautiful?  You mad because he took a few moments in a speech that went around the world to show his daughters some love? 

There is nothing wrong with what President Obama said about his daughters because, frankly, Sasha and Malia ARE strong, smart, beautiful young women that I'm happy will be residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four years.

Operation Lemonade Has Commenced In Florida

Florida Teapublicans went to a lot of trouble, effort and spent cash to suppress the Black vote in the state by employing shady methods to attempt to make it harder to execute that hard won constitutional right.  

Their goal was to shave enough votes like they did in 2000,  to swing the state in Mittens favor.

Since today was the first day of the Florida early voting period they tried to either eliminate or severely cut back, Black clergy and the Rev. Al Sharpton led National Action Network organized a massive GOTV effort in the Sunshine State they are calling Operation Lemonade.

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This was triggered by President Obama's historic 2008 election.   In Florida African-American voters swamped the early voting polls, prompting then-Gov. Charlie Crist (R) to issue an executive order to keep the stations open longer.   Early voting in Florida lasted a total of 120 hours over 14 days in 2008 and Obama carried Florida and subsequently won the presidency as a result of that victory.

The conservafools were determined not to have that happen in 2012, so the Republican controlled Florida Legislature responded by capping early voting hours to a maximum 96 hours over eight days. It also eliminated early voting the Sunday before Election Day, when African Americans would vote in droves as part of their “souls to the polls” turnout tradition that began with the advent of early voting in 2002.

What that blatant racist attack on our voting rights did was piss off and motivate us instead  

Florida Black people considered it an insultingly bitter lemon they were handed by their legislature, so as Rev. Victor T. Curry said, “They gave us a lemon by taking away the Sunday before the election, but we’ve decided to make lemonade.”

The Republican early vote limitations have black voters fired up — and ready to vote, Curry said.
"Last time it was about making history," Curry said. "This time it’s personal."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/15/3051419/operation-lemonade-started-by.html#storylink=cpy

Yes Florida voters, get mad, get angry, be offended by it, take it personally.   Then take that righteous anger and make it your mission to take your soul to the polls and a few other friends as well.

Make it your mission to fire every Republican legislator who voted for those restrictions and support Florida ones who stood up for our community.   

And when you're done voting Florida peeps, have a tall cold glass of lemonade after you do so to celebrate.

WFPL-FM 'Strange Fruit' Show Premieres

I'd heard this show was in the works, but WFPL-FM 89.3, Louisville's public access radio station is kicking off a brand new podcast radio show dedicated to the issues facing the local community.

It's entitled Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture and Black Gay Life  (after the Billie Holiday song) and features as its hosts two of my fave people in my other hometown in Dr. Kaila A Story and Jaison Gardner.  And yes, in the interest of journalistic integrity 'Nephew' Jaison refers to me as Auntie Monica..

But back to the post. 

The first episode is entitled, "Does Your Mama Know?" and looks at the coming out process for LGBT people of color.  They started a roundtable discussion with young people who have come out to their families, talked to some mamas about their reactions to their children coming out, then had a conversation with Lisa C. Moore, editor of Does Your Mama Know?: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories.   

You can keep up with what's happening on Strange Fruit via Facebook and Twitter, and the show's hosts  enthusiastically welcome your feedback.  They post a new podcast episode each Saturday; so stay tuned.

I know I definitely plan on doing so, and congratulations Dr. K and 'Nephew'.   May your show be a major success.

Stephanie and Ukea-Ten Years Later

TransGriot Note: I was originally just going to publish this piece here, but decided it needed a major signal boost.   Since HuffPo Gay Voices extended me an invitation to write for them, I decided to have it posted there as well since the 10th Anniversary of the execution style killings of Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis and the fact their killers are still walking around free needed to be pointed out.

On August 12, 2002 on the same 50th and C Street corner in SE Washington DC in which the car accident occurred that eventually took Tyra Hunter's life due to medical transphobia, transteens Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis died in a hail of automatic gunfire.

Ten years later, this double murder still hasn't been solved.  It saddens me and other DC area transpeople who remember that horrific crime that it hasn't..

As I said in the 2011 post I wrote at my home blog on the 9th anniversary of this despicable murder:

These young sisters died because somebody hated them so much for transitioning that they felt they had the right to violently terminate their lives.  I don't want people or the trans community to forget what happened to these young African descended transwomen or why they are no longer here on planet Earth with us.

I also want the wastes of DNA who committed this heinous crime to be brought to justice not just for me, the trans community of DC and around the world, but Stephanie's mother as well.    .

Someone in that neighborhood knows or heard something that will facilitate the arrest and conviction of the people who did this.   They belong in jail, not walking around in society.

19 year old Stephanie and 18 year old Ukea's lives were extinguished before they even had a chance to live them.  Both of them would be approaching their thirties right now.  I wonder what dreams and aspirations they had for themselves they never got to fulfill?  What kind of contributions to our society did we lose because somebody hated Stephanie and Ukea enough to kill them for openly living their trans lives?

That's what angers me every time I contemplate their loss and the loss of every transperson to anti-trans violence.  It's also what drives me to ensure that no more mothers like Queen Washington have to witness their trans child being buried or mothers who have trans children fearing the same thing will happen to their kids.

Stephanie and Ukea, know that you ladies are not only not forgotten by the trans community and all who loved you.  The trans community in Washington DC and around the country won't rest until the people who killed you are brought to justice. 

We also won't rest until we create a world in which trans youth can come out, dream big dreams and simply live their lives just like any other cisgender kid does

.

Damn, Can A Gold Medal Winning Sistah Enjoy It?

Gabrielle Douglas was a major part of the first USA women's gymnastics team Tuesday night effort to win the team competition gold for only the second time since the 'Magnificent Seven' pulled off that feat in Atlanta in 1996.  

Gabby then followed it up on Thursday by making more history.   She became the first African-American gymnast to win the all around title and the first American gymnast to win the team and all-around gold medals in the same Olympiad.

Serena Williams dominated the Olympic women's tennis singles competition field at 'Williams'-don so throughly she only dropped a total of 17 games and didn't lose a set.

In the gold medal match it took her a mere 63 minutes to win in dominating 6-0, 6-1 fashion over Russia's Maria Sharapova.

In the process Williams became the first tennis player ever to win golden slams in singles and doubles.

She and her big sister Venus go for a golden repeat title in Olympic women's doubles on Sunday against the Czech Republic's duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the gold medal match.in a few hours. 

But did whiteness and white supremacist addled people give these women or their proud African-American community a chance to celebrate their hard earned victories in peace?  

Hell naw.   Black female trailblazing athletes are always catching hell from somebody that has a problem with them on some level .

First came the snide comments from some quarters because reigning gymnastics world champ Jordyn Wieber failed to qualify for the all-around competition and her tears were beamed all over the world.   I'll admit I even felt sorry for Wieber for a moment until some of the online conversation and even the media started trying to minimize Gabby's contributions to that Fab Five's win.

Then I got pissed. 

That was rapidly followed by ignorant knee-grow Twitterverse peanut gallery obsessing about Gabby's hair which whiteness then picked up on.

It was folowed up on Thursday night by NBC's clueless running of a promo commercial for one of the fall shows it's heavily promoting called Animal Practice which featured a monkey doing ring gymnastics.

Cute commercial, only one major problem.   NBC ran it immediately after Bob Costas had just done a  segment commenting on Gabby's historic all around win that was tape delayed in the US to show in primetime.



What's the problem with that?  Plenty.  It may have been unintentional, but when Black people of both genders have been disrespectully compared to animals for over four centuries, that was a seriously problematic timing for that ad somebody in the production truck should have caught. 

Combine that with people already being pissed off about how far too much of NBC's televised coverage for the London games has been tape delayed.  

NBC apologized for it, but yeah, as much as I riff on Fox Noise for their racism and I'm about to do again, I have to call it out when questionable race related stuff happens even on networks I watch on the regular. 

Now moving on to Serena.  She celebrated in the aftermath of her microwave tennis win by doing the crip-walk dance before changing into her USA warmup suit and receiving her hard earned gold medal.

Cue all the Williams haters and the racist idiots at Fox Noise trying to stir some stuff up I've gots to call their  vanillacentric privileged hater tots chomping behinds on.



Fox Noise has been hatin' on Serena Williams for a while and took the opportunity to swipe at her again courtesy of a Reid Forgrave article posted on their website..

Seriously Reid Forgrave?  You conservafools are really trying to live up to your hatin' on Black folks reputation.

You GOP propagandists trying to claim that Serena's crip-walk dance celebration of her Olympic singles gold medal is 'embarrassing the USA in front of the UK and the world' is laughable.

Hell, even Gabby briefly danced the Dougie after her wins.

Let's be real for a moment. Your boy Mittbot caused far more embarrassment to the United States in front of the UK and the world on that travesty of a foreign trip last week to the UK, Israel and Poland than a few seconds of Serena happily dancing for a few seconds after celebrating her well deserved golden win ever will.   Serena's celebratory dance didn't inflame Middle East tensions, piss of the Palestinians, Prime Minister David Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson, and cause multiple international incidents like Mitt Romney cluelessly did.

Y'all are just pissed off that the Williams sisters, despite injuries, the constant micro and macroaggresive racist drama y'all put them through continue to kick the butts of your eastern European tennis glamazons on the world tour on a regular basis and are unapologetically Black while doing so.

But damn, can a gold medal winning sistah enjoy it?