President Obama Receives the 2017 JFK Profiles In Courage Award

'I hope that current members of Congress recall that it actually doesn't take a lot of courage to aid those who are already powerful, already comfortable, already influential - but it does require some courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm.'
-President Barack Obama

Last night former president (sniff sniff) Barack Obama took a trip to Boston to make one of his first public speeches since 45 was inaugurated  on Sunday night to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to accept the  JFK Profile in Courage Award.

And as you probably guessed, I was glued to the television for that one.

For those of you who missed it, here's the video of his speech.   It's so nice to see a POTUS that actually has an eloquent command of the English language.

I miss him in DC.

Moni's Made It To Massachusetts!

Finally made it to Boston, or to be precise, Brookline, MA.   Flight up was relatively smooth and I'm ensconced in my room, have made my usual call to Mom to let her know her eldest child is safe and had a chance to unwind for a minute and check out my room , the hotel and the nearby neighborhood.

Good to also know there's an MBTA train station nearby as well.

And year, I'm actually having to pull out my sweaters peeps since the high temp right now ins only 53 degrees F.   Way cooler than what I left this morning.

But looking forward to seeing Dr Pamela Lightsey and everyone connected with this human conference that kicks off tomorrow.   We're having dinner tonight to facilitate those intros, and I need to get out of my traveling outfit and get into dinner wear.

So let me do that so I can be ready at ^6:25 PM EDT to get picked up.

Leaving On A Jet Plane- To Boston Again

Your long time TransGriot readers are probably looking at this post and are wondering, weren't you just in Boston a few months ago?  

I sure was, to pick up that Robert Coles Call of Service Award back in October,

New year, new month and new event that brings me not only back to Boston but on a different Boston collegiate campus.   This time I'll be on the Boston University campus for a human rights conference that will take place tomorrow at the George Sherman Union Building Ballroom.

So that means I need to be rolling from Texas in a few hours in order to be in Beantown for it and not miss the panel discussion I'm participating in and Bishop Yvette Flunder's morning keynote.    

But before all that happens. definitely need to be getting my beauty sleep for the travel day that's about to start in a few hours.

Upcoming 'Our History, Our Future A Multigenerational Conference on Human Rights' In Boston

Heading back to Boston this weekend to participate in a conference that is going to happen on the Boston University campus.

The ' event will be taking place on April 8 in the George Sherman Union Ballroom on the BU campus jointly sponsored by the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and the Boston Theological Center.

Join us on April 8 for a public conference titled entitled, "Our History, Our Future: a Multigenerational Conference on Human Rights."

The schedule includes two plenary sessions, two panel sessions and a workshop offering participants nonviolent direct action training. This is a continuing education event; CEUs will be provided upon request. Registration is free but you MUST register to attend.

Speakers include persons known for human rights activism during the 60s civil rights movement, the crisis in Ferguson and Baltimore, the movement for Black Lives, LGBTQ activism, scholars of the movement and serving as consultants to the White House under the Obama administration. They are gifted in ministry, music and the arts, shaping public policy, writing, peace negotiation and nonviolent direct action.

I'm excited because I get to see and hear the amazing Bishop Yvette Flunder speak again during the morning plenary session immediately before my panel with Ahman Green-Hayes and Karlene Griffiths-Sekou scheduled to start at 11 AM EST.

The conference is free, but you will need to register for it at this link 

 Conference Schedule

9-10am Breakfast, Welcome and Introduction10-11am Plenary One (Bishop Yvette Flunder)11-12pm Panel (Monica Roberts, Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Karlene Griffiths-Sekou)12-1pm Lunch1-2:30pm Nonviolent Direct Action Workshop (Rev. Osagyefo Sekou)2:30-3:30pm Panel (Ruby Sales, Kevin Rigby, Darnell Moore, Tef Poe)3:30-5pm Plenary Two (Rev. Michael McBride)

Address is 775 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, 02215. and I'm hoping to see some of my trans family who can attend be there.

Moni's 2016 PBHA Robert Coles Call Of Service Award Lecture

As many of you are aware of, I went to Boston last week and the Harvard University campus to accept the Phillips Brooks House Association's Robert Coles Call Of Service Award.

The award has been given out since 2007 and it didn't occur to me until arrived at my hotel in Cambridge to see to hit Google and see who the past winners of this award were.

That's when I discovered that i was in some pretty serious company in terms of past recipients of it.   Marian Wright Edelman won the inaugural award in 2007, Vice President Al Gore and BLM co founder Alicia Garza last year.

I also discovered that I am the first trans person ever to receive this award.

Here's a link to the transcript of my 2016 PBHA Coles Award lecture, and the video.  I also answered some questions from the audience concluding the lecture before yielding to a panel of local advocates.



Thanks once again to Maria Dominguez Gray, Shaquanda Brown, Robert Bridgeman, David Dance, Jalem Towler, Dean Katherine O'Dair and the students of the Phillips Brooks House Association for making my time on the Harvard Yard a memorable time.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to come back for a future visit.
.

Having A Wonderful Harvard Visit

Have enjoyed my visit to Boston so far.   To be correct, I'm actually staying in Cambridge, MA,  close to the Harvard University campus.  My hotel room has an amazing view of the Charles River, and from time to time I can see members of the Harvard rowing team going up and down the river..

I've also enjoyed the fact it's been much cooler here than it has been at home, and the first night I was here the temp dropped to 30 degrees and had to turn the thermostat up in my room and grab the extra blanket out of the closet.   I knew this was possible before I flew up here, so I was prepared for it.

Packed my coats and sweaters and deliriously happy I'm getting a chance to wear them.

I always forget something on these trips, and this time what I forgot was my umbrella.   It figures that the one time I leave it back in Houston we get rain here in the area.   Hasn't been heavy, but just enough to be an annoyance.

Also had an amazing visit to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum today, and a mini tour of Boston that took me past Fenway Park, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Berklee College of Music, UMass, and MIT.

Interestingly enough, on my mini tour of Boston I passed by the Roxbury area apartment at 397 Massachusetts Ave. that the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr lived in from 1952-53 when he was a doctoral student at Boston University.

The other interesting point about that is Maria Dominguez Gray, the executive director of the Phillips Brooks House Association and one of my gracious hosts here, once lived in that first floor apartment for several years and told me some amusing stories about that time in her life.

My Phillips Brooks House Association hosts and the various student leaders I've had an opportunity to meet have been amazing and eager to discuss their various student led programs they offer, and last night I got an opportunity to tour the drop in facility they provide for homeless youth

It's something I would love to see replicated across the nation to help alleviate the LGBTQ homeless youth problem

The business end of my trip happens later today when I actually get to step on the Harvard Yard and be presented with the Robert Coles Call Of Service Award.  I give a lecture and participate in a panel discussion.

Time to get some sleep.  I'll need it for the busy day still to come.

Leaving On A Jet Plane -To Boston

Once again the Air Marshal is sitting at Hobby International Airport waiting to board a Southwest 737 headed to Boston.   This one is a nonstop going up there, but coming back I will be running through Dallas Love Field before I finally get back home..

May need to roll through the Whataburger in that terminal on the return trip if I have enough time to do so.  What's even cooler is I'm leaving out of the new international wing of Hobby gates on Gate 1

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm headed there to receive the Robert Coles Call of Service Award from the Harvard based Phillips Brooks House Association on the 28th.

May also if I have time try to knock out another visit off my Presidential library bucket list and go to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum there.

Well, here;s hoping this plane leaves on schedule so I can get there a little after noon local time, get to the hotel and get settled.

Heading To Boston Wednesday

Next week I'm heading to New England and staying in Boston for the first time since my trip to the NABJ Convention in 2014 and Fantasia Fair last year.

The purpose of this upcoming trip is I'm heading up to Harvard University to receive the 2016 Phillips Brooks House Associations Robert Coles Call of Service Award

The Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) was founded in 1984, and it is a student led nonprofit organization at Harvard that engages 1,600 undergraduate students in 83 social service and action programs that benefit over 10,000 low income people in the Boston and Cambridge, MA areas and beyond.

The programs run by PBHA also include Y2Y Harvard Square, the nation's first youth-run homeless shelter for young adults, many of who are members of our LGBTQ community.

I'm receiving the award on October 28, and so looking forward to breaking out some of my sweaters on this trip, meeting with the PBHA staff and seeing some of my Massachusetts fam.

May also try to go to the JFK Presidential Library while I'm there as well.

See y'all Wednesday.

Boston LGBTQ Activists Of Color Protest Holds Up Pride Parade

Been talking about the fact that far too often, the LGBTQ community in its public face and in the folks that get paychecks to be 'professionally gay' as demonstrated in the HRC internal report, are overwhelmingly white gay male  with an occasional white lesbian thrown in.

Bi and trans people?  Even rarer, and rarer still in those ranks are LGBTQ people of color.

In Boston, LGBTQ people of color got #WickedPissed about it and decided to do something to highlight and draw attention to the problem.

A dozen TBLGQ activists and our allies sat down at the corner of Boylston and Charles Streets in Downtown Boston yesterday and halted the 45th Boston Gay Pride Parade for 11 minutes.

The 11 minutes they chose to delay the parade was for the eleven trans people that have been murdered in the US in 2015.  A statement was also released prior to the sit in that noted the success of bringing same sex marriage to Massachusetts while failing to respond affirmatively to the murders of trans women of color.

Some of the early trans murders that got attention, like the Chanelle Pickett and Rita Hester cases, happened in the Boston area and involved trans women of color.  Hester's 1998 murder, which is still unsolved, was the catalyst for the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

"We are a group of Black, Latin@, Asian, and white people, queer and trans allies who are interrupting this annual party to declare that all our struggles are interconnected. We won’t wait for the advances of the most privileged of our community to trickle down to the rest of us. We live in a society that has declared war on Black people, women, immigrants, trans people, poor people, and—at the intersection of all that—trans women of color. It is the duty of the entire LGBTQ community to stand united and prove that all of our lives matter,” read part of the statement.

The statement also made demands of Boston Pride to diversify its all white board (gee, that sounds familiar) adjust the parade route to include communities of color, adjust fees so smaller non-profits can march in the parade, and stop prioritizing corporations with a record of bringing harm to communities of color

Demands were also made of the Boston LGBTQ community that called in the statement for more LGBTQ leaders of Color (including Transgender individuals of Color) in senior management positions at LGBTQ organizations, more resources to support LGBTQ organizations of Color, inclusion of transgender specific medical care in MassHealth and asked for an intentional efforts by the larger Boston community to acknowledge and do more to respond to racism in the city.

Will there be progress in Boston as a result of this protest?   That remains to be seen, given the historical anti-trans attitudes that arre embedded in elements of the local LGBT community.  

Some of the most notorious TERF's in Janice Raymond and Elizabeth Hungerford call Massachusetts home, and a bill to fix the unjust trans rights law that didn't include public accommodations when it passed in July 2012 is mired in the state legislature.

So it remains to be seen if the protest manifests itself into real gains for the trans community of color in Massachusetts.

Trans*H4CK Boston Happening Now!

While some of us are gathered in Dallas for the Facing Race Conference, at this moment there are teams of people in Boston busily working at the Harvard Innovation Lab attempting to create apps and programs to solve real world trans social justice problems.

It's Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler's latest edition of Trans*H4CK, his innovate melding of technology and social justice into an hacking event.

I had the pleasure of witnessing the first wildly successful one in Oakland, and there was another one held in conjunction the the Trans 100 unveiling in Chicago earlier this year.    Now Dr. Z has brought it to Beantown and the Harvard Innovation Lab, and you can follow what's happening at the #Transh4ck  hashtag.

My sisters Angelica Ross,  Lourdes Hunter and Allyson Robinson are also in the Trans*H4CK Boston house as well.

You can bet that today's tech panel discussion will be an informative and enlightening one, and it will be  interesting to see what apps come out of this edition of the tech social justice event.

And can't wait to find out what locale Trans*H4CK hits next.

Trans*H4CK Boston Coming Soon

Dr. Kortney Ziegler is getting ready to take Trans* H4CK on the road again, and this time the innovative hackathon and speaker series is headed to New England.

To be precise, Trans*H4CK Boston will be taking place at the Harvard Innovation Lab November 14-16, and spaces for the latest version of it are filling up fast.

Trans* H4CK Boston in partnership with the Harvard Innovation Lab will also continue the conservations about diversity and entrepreneurship in the tech world that sadly continue to ignore the contributions of trans people.

So for those of you in the Boston area, if you   haven't signed up for it yet, you may wish to do so. 

I witnessed and was a judge for the inaugural Trans* H4CK in Oakland last year and it was an amazing experience.  I enjoyed watching teams of hackers of all genders, social justice advocates , developers,  and designers building apps and applications to solve real world trans problems over a weekend.

Just bring your laptops and your ideas.   Trans*H4CK will provide the amazing speakers, the food, the encouragement and mentors to help you turn your ideas into something that empowers our tech savvy trans community.

And you'll have a lot of fun and meet some amazing people if you do check out Trans*H4CK Boston.

Two Trans POC Involved Events This Weekend

As I've stated more than a few times on this blog, intersectionality is an important value for trans people of color.   We are keenly aware of the fact that our skin color makes our transitions different from our white trans counterparts and we can't (nor do we wish to) separate our ethnicity from our trans status. 

We are also quite aware of the fact that issues that affect our Black and Latino communities also affect us.as trans people who also are members of those communities.    

There are two events happening on different coasts that involve elements of our diverse trans community. 

Here in H-town members of the Trans Latin@ coalition will be in full effect at the FLAS 20th Anniversary Gala that will take place tonight starting at 6 PM CDT at the Hilton Southwest Hotel. 

FLAS stands for Fundacion Latinamericano de Accion Social, a Houston based organization that provides health services and social programs for the Latin American community.

FLAS has provided education, HIV counseling and testing and treatment referrals for Latinos affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as STD referrals. Throughout the community, we host education seminars and health fairs at a variety of locations, including churches, civic organizations, consulates and even on-street corners
 
For those of you in the Houston area that may wish to join the TransLatin@ coalition and attend this event, the hotel is located at 6780 Southwest Fwy.  If you need more information call Elia Chino at 713-772-2366.

In Boston, the transbrothers are there and in full effect for the LGBTQ Health and Wellness Weekend that is running through tomorrow.  It started last night with a dinner in honor of birthday boy Rev. Louis Mitchell.

The event is sponsored by Body Image 4 Justice, TPOCC and long list of orgs.  It will feature a keynote speech from Fallon Fox, our fave MMA fighter and trans human rights warrior in keeping with this year's theme of LGBTQ Athletes And Sports.

The Health And Wellness Weekend features seminars, panel discussions, live demos and more at two venues.  Emerson College's Max Mutchnick Campus Center will host Saturday events, and the Holmes Sports Center on the Simmons College Residential Campus will be the venue hosting Sunday events. .

For those of you in those areas, hope you can attend and support these events orgs that are also supporting our community.

Heading Back Home From Boston To H-town

I've had a wonderful time here on my first trip to Boston for the NABJ convention, and the best part it is has been 15 degrees cooler than my home sweet humidity I love so well.

I'm in bed as you read this, and I get to write the words my fellow Houstonians love to see when the Air Marshal takes flight from the Lone Star State and I leave Harris County:  

I'm headed back home.

I have to get up early to catch my train and my 9:05 AM flight out of Logan back to H-town.  I was fortunate enough on the leg up here to get a non-stop that got here early, but no such luck on the return.  I will have to connect through MDW to get back home to HOU.   

That's airline codespeak for Chicago-Midway and Houston-Hobby airports.

I'll have a 1.5 hour layover in MDW, and if my laptop decides to recognize a WiFi connection along the way, will try to Tweet or comment about stuff on the return trip back.   Otherwise I'll just do it the old fashioned way and take notes for the recap post later.   

NABJ Trans Panel Discussion Today

The convention kicked off while I was enroute to Boston with an opening address from Gov. Deval Patrick,  but my participating in it starts today. 

What I flew from the Lone Star State for is an #NABJ14 panel
discussion entitled Transforming Media: Fairly and Accurately Reporting On Black Trans Americans. 

I get to share the Hynes Convention Center stage with Kellee Terrell and Kenyon Farrow of this Tiq Milan moderated panel that kicks off at 2:15 PM EDT in Hynes 310.   You can follow the discussion at #NABJTRANSFORM.

 I'm beyond excited to make a personal dream come true thanks to GLAAD in attending the NABJ.  Then again, that's been happening a lot for me this year.   I'm also honored that I was invited to be part of this panel.  I appreciate getting another chance to represent our community and be able to authoritatively talk about media coverage of Black transpeople with this group of distinguished journalists who share my ethnic background.


There will probably be some fangirl moments for me as I walk the halls of the Hynes Convention Center and run into some of my fave African descended journalists.

You can also follow the  rest of today's scheduled conference action at #NABJ14

I'm In Beantown!

Well after my nonstop flight up here and navigating Boston's T, I have finally made it to my home for the next two days. 

I'm checked in have a spectacular view from the 31st floor, have gotten the lay of the hotel and the route I'll need to take to the Hynes Convention Center that's close to the Back Bay hotel. 

Fenway Park is near here as well, but won't be watching the Red Sox play  even though they are on a homestand and play the Toronto Blue Jays tonight.

I did get up here just in time for another hatefest between them and the New York Skankees Yankees, but that series starts Friday.   

And I'm probably not going to have enough time on this in an out trip to check out the JFK Presidential Library.   Oh well, maybe next time.

At any rate, time for me to enjoy the view from this room, relax and get ready for this panel  that's happening tomorrow.   

   

Hey CNN, The Boston Bombers Weren't 'Dark Skinned Males'

Funny, they were light-skinned males who looked remarkably like you, John King.

Countdown to how fast the media, Fox Noise, the conservative movement and right wing talk radio try to other and paint the now captured naturalized American citizen Dzhokar Tsarnaev and his deceased green card holding brother Tamerlan as lone wolves in this Boston Marathon bombing attack that killed three people and wounded hundreds on Monday.

But you're 'scurred' of allowing Haitians, Mexicans, continental Africans, citizens of other Caribbean nations besides Cuba, citizens of other Latin American nations, and Asians into this country and giving them the opportunity they would appreciate to earn US citizenship and legal status.  

Yeah, I'm happy to see that the Tsarnaev brothers were speedily identified, little brother was captured quickly, big brother was shot to death before anyone else could be harmed last night  and Dzhokar will be brought to justice for their  heinous crime. 

But one thing that pissed me off was how quickly the wingers and elements of the news media tried to pin this on 'Islamic terrorists' or 'dark skinned males' in order to politically flagellate President Obama with as being 'soft on terror'. 

We know from our recent history that terror attacks in the United States have an overwhelmingly white male slant to it.  

Think I'm kidding?  Let's scroll back through recent American history if you think I'm being harsh shall we?

The Klan since their 1866 founding. 'Dynamite Bob' Chambers during the civil rights era.  The September 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Church in Bombingham Birmingham.  The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.  The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park attack.  The abortion clinic bombings and assassination of Dr. George Tiller.  The 2010 Austin IRS building suicide airplane crash.  The various mass shooting attacks at the University of Texas in 1966, Columbine HS, Aurora, Newtown...
      
 But once again we have a domestic terrorism incident conducted by a white male (or in this case as the conservative media will strenuously point out) a pair of European immigrant white males.  

We also have the white male dominated media (and conservative movement) trying to deflect attention from the fact that it is predominately white right wing conservafool voting males who comprise the bulk of United States domestic terror groups.   Those groups have only grown in number since President Obama took office and have gotten even angrier since his re-election in 2012. 

These right wing 'terriss' have the long reprehensible track record and the will to act as domestic enemies to the United States government, so why aren't we dedicating the same federal resources to crack down on these groups as was done in smashing al Qaeda?

Is it because these groups are part of the Republican base now?

Going to interesting to see how this story plays out over the next few weeks and months now that we know that the Boston Marathon bombers weren't dark-skinned men.