The Holidays Can Be Not So Happy For Trans People

One reason that we are on heightened suicide alert when we are interacting with our trans family is because from TDOR to Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, the holidays can be one long  microaggressive pain in the rear for us as the cartoon aptly illustrates.

Between people who are being deliberately obtuse or outright shady about our transitions by refusing to use the pronouns we've told them repeatedly to us  even after years of mounting evidence that 'this isn't a phase', the holidays can be a time that is not so happy for us.

Isn't one of the tenets of the holiday season supposed to be spreading love, peace, goodwill and joy amongst humankind in a world that is sorely in need of it? 

Last time I checked, yeah, it is.    So help a trans person out during this time by acknowledging the person standing in front of you and frankly, doing better than the rest of society    It's deeply appreciated by Trans World, the trans person in particular and their supportive families and friends when you take the time to be a caring person.

If you have room at your Christmas dinner table, or your holiday parties, extend an invite to that transperson who is struggling with the prospect of being alone and disconnected from their families during this time of relentless holiday advertisements and Christmas music singing about home and family .

Trans fam, if you're feeling down , call someone, be it a trusted friend or the hotlines that are standing by and ready to assist you.

And for my Trans family, if your blood family is tripping, their loss.  Spend time making holiday memories and establishing holiday traditions with your chosen one.

A Ten Point Post TDOR Plan

TDOR 2017 is over.  The memorials are done and the last tear has been shed.  The sun is shining on this November 21st day.  So what do we do over the next 365 days to not only help decrease the number of names we read at the 20th anniversary edition of TDOR in 2018, but make the world better for Trans kind?

You just knew I'd have a few suggestions for the question I just asked.   It's not just a few suggestions, either.  It's  a Ten Point Post-TDOR Plan.

First one is collective community self defense.   By that I mean not just self defense courses or arming yourselves with guns or tasers, but employing the buddy system whenever possible.  Have one when walking in neighborhoods, or when going to our cars or public transit stops in the wake of leaving clubs or our community events.  Let trusted people know where and when you're headed out and make it a point to call certain people on a regular basis.

The second one is working with the media and the police to get them to understand that deadnaming our fallen people is not acceptable.   Doing so whether by accident or accidentally on purpose to trans murder victims delays their ability to apprehend the perpetrators of those crimes and get justice for the victims.   Many times we don't know or don't care what the person's deadname was, so if you come to us citing that deadname, we'll look at you with blank stares. 

We also know that the most critical time to solving a crime in in the first 48 hours of it.

Third is continuing the ongoing education of the moveable middle toward unconditional acceptance of our humanity as trans people.  We're not going to flip hardcore Trump voters or doctrinaire Republicans.  But we do have a large population of people who wish to be on the right side of history and do what's decent for trans people.   Let's get to work converting them to supporters of our community.

Fourth is punishing our enemies at the ballot box, rewarding our friends, and running our damned selves for public office.   You gleefully sponsor an anti-trans ballot measure or unjust law aimed at us and out kids, expect swift retaliation at the ballot box in the next cycle.  You work hard to defend our community, expect to reap the earned political reward of unwavering community support.   And if a cis candidate doesn't step forward to take on the transphobe, we do the job. 

If a qualified trans person is running for office help them get elected.

Voting is a trans revolutionary act, and we must do so strategically as trans people in every election cycle. We cannot afford to be politically aloof or ignorant.

Fifth is pushing back hard against people who wish to disseminate anti-trans propaganda like TERF's, fundamentalist 'christians', the Republican Party and any assorted hater by not allowing any anti-trans speech or facts free comment to go unchallenged.  Ignoring them and their hate speech is not an option.  It must be challenged, and we don't have to be nice when we do it either..

Sixth is ensuring our trans kids grow up with healthy self esteem by not only making them aware of the history that people like them helped make, but working with the Mama and Papa Bears to ensure they can just focus on their educations as we battle with the transphobic teachers and administrators to ensure our kids are treated with the dignity and respect in the educational setting

Seventh is ensuring that we trans adults love ourselves.  We need to role model that sixth point I made in our own lives by looking in the mirror and repeatedly telling ourselves that we ARE the amazing men and women we see staring back at us.

Eight is build your expanded family.  If you still have loving and supportive blood family members, that is a bonus in this case.   If you don't have blood family, create one.  While they won't help you totally alleviate the pain of being separated from blood family,  they can go a long way toward helping you fill that vacancy where your blood family once was. 

Nine is get involved in building our community.   Whether it's attending a monthly trans group organizational meeting, getting involved with a non -trans specific cause you support,  or just going out on a regular basis with people you love and care about cis or trans, just do it.

Ten is love one another.   We trans folks are all we've got in many cases.

Moni's 2017 TDOR Thoughts

Today we mourn the people we lost.   Tomorrow we prepare to do what we always do and fight for our very humanity.   And yes, we will win.  Yeah I know I said that in 2007, but I believe it, and I'm going to speak it into existence today.
-Monica Roberts, Moni's 2016 TDOR Thoughts

Another 365 days have passed since last year's commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and this one is quite different from the TDOR we observed last year.

This 19th annual observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance has some elements of it that are depressingly familiar to it.   Once again we are reading off a list of names of the people who were taken from us due to anti-trans violence that is overwhelmingly Black and Latinx.. We lights candles in their memory    Once again many of the people we lost are under 40.   When we not how they died, we are aware of the fact that many of them experienced horrific violence in their last moments on the planet.   And we sadly note that Brazil led the pack in terms of being the most violent nation for trans people 

What's different is that we went from an administration that was unapologetically on our side in fighting for justice for trans people to an unjust one hellbent on oppressing us.

But what these misguided people and transphobes fail to understand is that when you are a people who have to fight tooth and nail just to exist, we're going to fight oppression aimed at us even more tenaciously because it is literally a life or death situation for us. 

In that stark scenario with those kind of stakes for the trans community, we have no other option but to prevail mo matter what kind of challenges are presented to us.

In Texas, we killed the odious SB6/SB3 twice in a regular and a special oppression session.  The attempt to ban us from the US military is being fought out in the federal court system. 

And far from eviscerating us from everyday life and force us back into a closeted existence as our opposition is trying to do,  we are becoming even more visible and more of an integral part of it from media to politics.   We will also have when 2018 dawns trans folks repping their constituents and out community in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Minneapolis City Council. 

So yes, while we trans people, our families, friends and allies on this day think about the over 275 people around the world we lost to anti-trans violence, TDOR is a day more so for those of us who mourn them.   Once we leave the various venues holding the memorial services around the world, we steel ourselves for the challenging at times task of fighting for the humanity and human rights of the people who to borrow the words of Miss Major, are still f*****g here.

The best way we can honor those we lost is to fix society to the point that we make the TDOR obsolete.   We aren't there yet and may not get there in my remaining lifetime on this planet.   But we still have to keep fighting to reduce the number of anti-trans murders in the US and around the world, and ensure that the perpetrators of them do hard time when they are caught..

How fast will that day happens?   Good question.  But I can guarantee that won't happen fast enough to keep me from writing another TDOR post 365 days from now.

Not Happy With SHAPE (And Some Peeps) Right Now

I spent a long frustrating day waiting for a meeting to happen that finally took place at the S.H.A.P.E Community Center Almeda location at 7 PM with myself, and Ashton Wood and Kandice Webber of BLMHOU in attendance.

The hate event is still happening at SHAPE Center as I write this, and if it does, will definitely be getting protested.

But the thing I'm most angry about is the seemingly cavalier dismissal of just how problematically bad Wesley Muhammad and his ignorant hate message is and the concern in Houston Black trans, bi and SGL World about it.

You can put a disclaimer on the website and posters that Muhammad's view don't represent SHAPE Center's values.  But by letting him rent your property for the event, you tacitly endorsed those hateful views.

We see Muhammad's hate event it as an attack upon us.  I'm also pissed off about the timing of it, falling right during Trans Awareness Week just before our local TDOR memorial events. 

And yeah Nation of Islam, where you at?

The Houston Black TBLGQ community and our allies are royally pissed about this.  The animus between the Black community and Black TBLGQ community building since the 2014 HERO passage and subsequent repeal led by the Harris County GOP in concert with sellout Black ministers is a factor.

So what is going to need to happen is a 'come to Jesus' meeting or series of meetings between the Houston Black TBLGQ community and the Houston Black community at large once Wesley's NOI flavored hate carnival leaves town.

How, where, and who shows up at that come to Jesus meeting is still being determined, but one thing I can definitively state is that it's long overdue.

Transgender Veterans Fought For Your Right To Hate Them

One of the things that I discovered when I transitioned and became a member of several trans support and social groups was the large number of veterans in them.

Trans people have always served our country.  In fact trans people are twice as likely to serve our country at a higher rate than our cisgender counterparts.  Christine Jorgensen was a US Army vet, and many of our trailblazing leaders like Phyllis Frye, Monica Helms, Amanda Simpson, Brynn Tannehill, and Logan and Laila Ireland, all have in common in addition to being trans having served or are currently serving in the US Armed Forces.

They have served in peacetime and fought in our country's wars from World War II, to Vietnam, to the Cold War and Afghanistan.   They have served with distinction in many cases. 

With 15,500 active duty transpeople in it, the US military is also the largest employer of trans people in the country.

With Veterans Day happening tomorrow, just needed to point those important facts out.  .

After fighting for years to get that hard won ability to openly serve our country, the Trump misadministration at the behest of of its faith based haters wants to take that ability to serve our country it away from us. 

Nope, not without a fight will we let that happen.  Neither are those of us in Trans World who love and respect these vets for their service.   They took the leadership lessons they learned in the military and are now applying them to help our community advance their human rights.

So while you transphobes hate the right to hate on trans veterans, we have the same right to support their efforts to ensure that those 15,500 trans people stay part of the biggest baddest military on the planet and our trans kids have the option of choosing military service when they are of age to do so.  .   

Thoughts and Prayers Won't End Mass Shootings- Gun Bans Will

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.James 2:26

We are tired of after every mass shooting Republican politicians expressing their 'thoughts and prayers' ad nauseum for the victims of mass shootings, lowering flags to half staff, and then obeying their NRA masters and doing nothing about what will really stop the epidemic of mass shooting in this country.

Banning assault weapons.

This latest mass shooting in Texas happened in a church, so 'thoughts and prayers' weren't enough.

It's past time for legislative action that we know will stop these killings.  An assault weapons ban combined with instant background checks when guns are purchased.

These are the works that are needed to demonstrate that your faith is sincere.   If you can't do that, or start mouthing off a bunch of NRA talking points,  then we already know you are part of the GOP dry as dust religion and will not act to stop gun violence.

And I suspect the only thing that will move you from that do nothing position that gets you an A rating from the NRA is you or a family member being caught up in one of those mass shootings.

And even if that scenario happens, then I doubt that you GOP legislators will do anything to stop mass shootings except flap your gums about it.  '

What we need in this critical period in American history are legislators tough minded enough to pass those laws, judges who are willing to swat down the inevitable NRA lawsuit designed to kill that law, and people even more tough minded enough to enforce them.

FRC Is Deploying The Kneegrow Sellouts Against You What's Your Response TBLGQ Community?

Myself and other Black TBLGQ people have been warning people in the white TBLGQ ranks for years that if you didn't start actually hiring Black TBLGQ people for your organizations, that one day the hatemongers would notice and exploit your willful racial blind spot to use against you.

That day has now come to pass.  In a Washington DC press conference held on the steps of the Supreme Court, the conservakneegrows were cooning it up for conservamassa in advance of the Masterpiece Cake 'religious liberty' SCOTUS case that will be argued in front of the SCOTUS on December 5.

Of course the conservakneegrows tried to once again push the tired line that the African American Civil Rights Movement and the TBLGQ rights movement aren't the same.

Well, duh conservafools, that's already a given because both have different goals. 

But there sure is a lot of overlap.  And while the movements are different, the oppression and the oppressors we face are the same, and they have been emboldened to act now that Trump is in office.

Where they are also similar is that we are fighting in Tony Perkins and his dishonorable friends the same white right wing Bible thumping fundamentalists who opposed Dr King then and currently oppose our 21st Century human rights fight as TBLGQ people.

And to back up my point about who it is we're fighting, the person circled in red speaking at this  Louisiana Council of Conservative Citizens (the remixed White Citizens Councils) meeting that Dr King and others fought in the Civil Rights Movement days is none other than the FRC's Tony Perkins.

So naw, conservakneegrows, you are not 'standing up for you faith, you are traitorously colluding with our longtime human rights enemies and cosigning white supremacy if you have Jack's back.

To quote 1 Timothy 5:8   Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

And note to you useful fools: it has always been the coal of the conservative movement to drive a wedge between the Black and TBLGQ communities.  There are more similarities than differences in the two movements, and that's a point that civil rights warrior John Lewis made sometime ago but bears repeating.

"I fought too long and too hard to end discrimination based on race and color, to not stand up against discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As your representative in Congress, I work daily to combat injustice and fight for equality.

Human rights, civil rights, these are issues of dignity. Every human being walking this Earth, whether gay, lesbian, straight, or transgender, is entitled to the same rights. It is in keeping with America’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Human rights, civil rights, these are issues of dignity. Every human being walking this Earth, whether gay, lesbian, straight, or transgender, is entitled to the same rights. It is in keeping with America’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Another civil rights warrior who also had something to say about the civil rights and TBLGQ rights movements is Coretta Scott King.

"I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination.

"My husband, Martin Luther King Jr., once said, 'We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny... an inescapable network of mutuality,... I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be.' Therefore, I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people." 

Tony Perkins and his conservakneegrow auxiliaries want to quote the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr out of context and hoodwink and bamboozle you into forgetting this point, but duh, Black TBLGQ people exist.   And we are more than just backdrops for your fundraising photos for your predominately white and LG orgs to fundraise off of. 

Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry wee major though leaders and influencers for the Black civil rights movement.   Rustin and Baldwin were thought leaders for the TBLGQ one as well

Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry were major thought leaders and influencers in the Black civil rights movement  who are also part of the TBLGQ community

Sadly, it seems as though our white TBLGQ siblings want to forget at times we exist, especially when it comes to getting paid for this community's human rights work or who is seen as spokespersons for it. 

But the reality is glaringly apparent that for our orgs to be at maximum effectiveness in fighting the right wing tyranny aimed at us by the Christohaters, they must be as diverse as this community in order to beat back these cynical attempts to play racial wedge politics that pit the Black and TBLGQ communities against each other.   

So what are you gonna do, now that the haters are deploying kneegrow sellouts against you?    

You Are Beautiful, Black Trans Women

'I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman.  I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.'-Lucy Hicks Anderson

One of the things that we all struggle with at times as Black trans women is dealing with the dysphoria that whacks us from time to time.

Yes, we know that we are women, too, but whether you're pre, post or non op, there are times the 'that;s a man' insults that seems to come at you from all directions stings harder on some days than others.

And yes, we trans women can be some of our own harshest critics when it comes to scrutinizing ourselves and how we stack up with our trans sisters

You come in 24 different skin tones from light bright and damned near white to deepest darkest ebony.  Your fine brown frames come in all shapes and sizes.

It also doesn't help that we cis and trans Black women are also dealing with a beauty standard that never had us in mind when whiteness and white supremacy decided to elevate white women as the penultimate example of beauty, femininity and fertility that all women should aspire to. 

Deep breath, everyone.

I know it is a challenging time for us and the trans community.  We're under sustained attack by the Forces of Intolerance with a hostile Republican controlled federal government in place.   We have Black cis women in our own ranks sounding like white cis feminine TERF's.   You have days when your mood goes up and down with your hormones, and you feel like you can either conquer the world or wish you could just crawl back under the covers and not deal with crap today.

But remember, you are Black trans women.  You can accomplish anything you put your minds to.

You helped kick off a movement at Stonewall.  You stood up to oppression repeatedly at Compton's Cafeteria in 1966, Dewey's Lunch Counter in Philadelphia in 1965, and Cooper's Donuts in LA in 1959.  Sometimes you did it alone, sometime in coalition with others.

You have Black trans women who blazed trails and defiantly fought for your right to exist from Mary Jones to  Lucy Hicks Anderson  to Marsha P. Johnson    My generation picked up that leadership torch from and are now carrying it for you until it is time for y'all to accept it from us.

One of us got elected to a state legislature in 1990.   One of us is about to be featured in Playboy as their first ever playmate.   You are cutting edge thinkers, leaders, educators and trailblazers in this movement.   You stylishly rock fashion runways and red carpet.   You write New York Times best selling books like Janet.  You slay pageants and balls.  You grace our television screens like Amiyah and Laverne and you sing like angels all the way to Carnegie Hall like Tona Brown.

You have Black trans women who are not only running for office in Minneapolis, you are making trailblazing steps to shape the direction in which one of our major political parties will go as Marisa Richmond will do as a DNC member.   You are handling your business when it comes to getting your education, and you are desired and wanted as a life partner in a long term relationship.

You are all that and ten bags of barbeque chips.   And our Black trans feminine teens like Trinity will do even more amazing things as they grow to adulthood and I hope I'm around to see it. 

And yes, I need to say it, since Black trans women don't hear it enough.   You are beautiful, my Black trans sisters.   You are enough, to borrow your trans brother Kye Allums' words.

You are valid.  You are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.  You undeniably exist no matter how many times our right wing and TERF opposition try and fail to denigrate our humanity.

You are fabulous and you are my sister, no matter where you live across the Diaspora.  Whether you live in Brazil, the Caribbean, the USA, Europe, or on the African continent, we are connected through our DNA, history and being Black on a planet that universally reviles Blackness.

Never forget that.  Never forget  that you are beautiful, Black trans women.

National Coming Out Day 2017

Happy National Coming Out Day everyone.

Today's 2017 edition of National Coming Out Day is a bittersweet one because of the incompetent jerk in the White House.   The incompetent jerk has unfortunately surrounded himself with even more incompetent people who are hostile to my existence as an unapologetic Black trans person

Because that incompetent, unqualified  jerk got elected, we went from having an attorney general in Loretta Lynch who had our trans backs to one in Jeff Sessions  who wants to put a knife in those backs before shoving us back into the closet.

Nope, going to fight him, 45, the faith based haters, the TERF's and his reprehensible crew every step of the way.  I will outlast this latest round of GOP tyranny. 

And news flash for my Texas trans hatemongers Dan Patrick and Lois Kolkhorst, I'm not going back in the closet or using a men's bathroom.


You may be asking yourself  why come out during a time like this?  It's the same reason Sylvia and Marsha did so.  It's the same reason that Christine Jorgensen transitioned.  It's the same reason why other trans masculine and trans feminine people throughout our history have done so. 

It's the same reason why my people have fought for liberation against the anti-Blackness that has plagued us for over four centuries.

Because in order to live your best life, you must come out to start the process of becoming your true self, living your best life and being unapologetic about it.

If you want that quality life, you have to fight for it.   Being trans (or bi, lesbian, gay...) is a revolutionary act.   It is also one that not only will free you to live your best life, but is one that will help you own your power as my NBJC sister in the struggle Sharon Lettman-Hicks loves to say.

Us being unapologetic about who we are scares our loud and wrong opponents.  We are unapologetically walking in our truth that we are undeniably part of the diverse mosaic of human life on this planet,  while our opposition is hiding from theirs that they are angry human rights oppressors.

They also resent the fact that we are comfortable in our skins or are well along the path of becoming that way and want to throw obstacles in our way to make us as miserable as they are.

This is a journey that is not for the faint hearted or one to undertake if you aren't 100% certain you are ready to walk down this path.   Because to borrow a line from Star Wars, once you start down it, forever will it consume your destiny.   You need to be absolutely certain you are one of the letters in the TBLGQ  community before you take those first concrete actions to come out.  . 

And if you are, come out on your timetable.  Just because this is National Coming Out Day doesn't mean you need to do so today.

As for me, I was one of those people who didn't come out on National Coming Out Day.  It took me a while to get to the April 1994 point in my life that I finally did so, and haven't regretted it.  If I have regrets, it's basically not being able to start the process sooner as so many of our trans kids are able to do now.

I have gotten to meet some amazing people along the way inside and outside the TBLGQ community.   Some are fellow activists, some aren't, but the are people who I have mad love and respect for.

I'm blessed to have a diverse sistah circle who have no problem checking me when necessary.  I'm blessed to have friendships that cross international borders. 

That probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken that first tentative step into Terminal C and went through that first nerve  wracking week as moi.

While my life has also been challenging at times, the wonderful experiences outweigh those times my my smooth ride down the highway of life hits a pothole.

As for our trans and SGL  kids, know you are loved, you matter to me and your trans elders, and we fight the powers that be so you'll hopefully have a better life than we did or won't have to make multiple trips to Austin to kill bad anti-human rights bills

Happy National Coming Out Day!    And happy first step to writing the next chapter in your amazing story.

Happy 25th Anniversary To The Obamas!

Today is the day back in 1993 that the skinny kid from Hawaii with the funny name got married to a brilliant statuesque sister from the South Side of Chicago.

25 years ago on October 3, 1992 Barack Obama and Michelle LaVaughn Robinson got married at Trinity Church of Christ in front of 200 guests.   They had two lovely and amazing daughters in now 19 year old Malia and 16 year old Sasha, and as y'all know, in 2008 he became the 44th president of the United States and she became our first African American First Lady.

I wish they were STILL living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. but that's a ranting post for another day.

Happy 25th Anniversary Mr. President and Madame First Lady! 

Over the eight years you were living in that nice house in Washington DC our ancestors built with their unpaid labor, you became the shining examples of enduring Black love and our relationship role models.

And damn, y'all still look good together.

Moni's Thoughts On Vegas Terrorist Attack

I woke up this morning to discover this 62 year old thug, Stephen Paddock opened fire from his 32nd story room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on an outdoor country concert across the street from his hotel.

Paddock killed 50 people, and injured or wounded another 400 before killing himself in the worst mass shooting terrorist attack since last year's Pulse one.

It's sad that every time I hear about a mass shooting, the first though that crosses my mind is "please don't let the shooter be a person of color'  (or enter your marginalized group here). 

The way the white dominated media covered the shooting told me everything thing i needed to know about it before I even saw a picture of the alleged perpetrator.    The reluctance to call it a terrorist attack.   The insistence of the use of 'lone wolf' to describe this terror attack.   The reluctance to immediately put a photo up of the terrorist or call him that.   The attempt to humanize the perpetrator and refrain from demonizing him like they would if the person executing this attack was anything but a white male. 

So what does this say about white males and their propensity for violently shooting people?   When will Congress open up an investigation about that?

This Las Vegas terror attack also speaks volumes to non-white Americans about how the media and conservative politicians have racialized terrorism

Let's call it what it is and not sugarcoat it because a white male is involved.   It was a terrorist attack executed by another radicalized white male seeking to Make America Great Again when it comes to our unmatched ability to rain death upon our fellow citizens by stupidly allowing anyone with a pulse at the behest of the National Racist  Rifle Association to own an assault weapon. 

When police entered his room they found ten rifles and magazine and ammo

Spare me any chatter about 'this isn't the right time' to talk about banning assault weapons?  When will be the right time?  When you lose a loved one to the next terrorist attack executed by some radicalized white male?

Tell me when is the 'right time' to talk about gun violence?  Because it seems that the right time to talk about it for you ammosexuals and mass shootings overwhelmingly being committed by white males is 'never'.

And once again the Republican Party will do nothing.  They will 'offer prayers', then will back then up with the same inaction that we have seen for over a decade, and then wring their hands when the next terrorist attack involving assault weapons happens.
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It's Not Necessary For POC's To Say 'Not All White People Are Racist'...

When we as non white people are discussing the very real ways we have been negatively impacted by racism.

We non white peeps are well aware of that 'not all white people' point and have that in the back of our minds as a given before we even start trying to have that race conversation.

Saying 'Not all white people are racist' becomes a problem when we are trying to have that grown folks conversation about race and racism in mixed company, and you as a white person will with regularity defensively drop that comment in there or deliberately do so in an attempt to derail the conversation.

And we can't fix the racism problem in the US if we can't have an intelligent conversation about it.

Please don't even get me started about that BS Webster's Dictionary definition of racism that is not based on reality and damned sure wasn't written by a person of color who has been negatively impacted by it.

And you white peeps don't use a dictionary when you're debating other topics, so why is it that when race and racism is the issue and the discussion is happening in racially mixed company, the POC eyeroll inducing next thing that happens is that the dictionary definition of racism gets deployed by that white person or badly misquoted?

FYI, If you deploy it in the midst of a grown folks convo about race, it's akin to Godwin's Law.  You have automatically lost, and on top of that have shown yourself in the eyes of the person's of color in that race discussion to be clueless about racism.

Just so we're clear about what racism is, I'm using this Sociology 101 definition of it.

Racism is bigotry and prejudice PLUS systemic power and population numbers used by a majority group to retard, roll back or eviscerate the societal progress of a minority group.

An example of what I'm talking about would be the voter ID laws passed by Republicans to keep Black and Latinx people from voting.

So when non white people say that we cannot be racist, they are correct in that statement.  Non white people can be bigoted and prejudiced, but we do not exist (at least until 2040) with the population numbers to consistently turn our bigotry and prejudice into societal policy.

Because of your white skin and sitting at the top of the societal totem pole for centuries and majority population numbers, you have accumulated privileges above and beyond what a person of color has

That is also true in TBLGQ world that we have racist white peeps in our ranks.

And yes, there are racist white people who wear Brooks Brothers suits and Jimmy Choo pumps. They aren't carrying tiki torches, Confederate flags or giving Nazi salutes in public, but they are far more dangerous to non-white people because they wear police badges, sit on judicial benches or have the power to write legislation at the local state and federal level.

Or are sitting in the Trump administration as policy advisors.

And nope, haven't forgotten about the 53% of white women who voted for Trump last November, or who like Tomi Lahren and Megyn Kelly open their lipstick coated lips and get paid mad loot to spew racist crap out of them on national TV networks like FOX Noise.

Just because you are dating, married to or having sexual relations with a non-white person doesn't mean you get to hold your partner up as a human shield to attempt to absolve you of some racist crap you may have done or said.
  
That's reality that elements of you in the white community are unrepentant racists.  Any non white person talking about that reality and how it affects them personally, or the salient point backed up with numerous tiki torch bearing examples that far too many of your white skinfolk are gleefully racist is NOT racism, and y'all need to chill with that conservabullshyt.

So the next time a person of color starts taking about racism, know this salient point before you dive in to comment white peeps.

We non white folks are already aware of the fact before we even open our mouths to intelligently critique whiteness and white supremacy that some of y'all white folks are doing the work to dismantle white supremacy in your own lives, and we applaud you for that.  We just need y'all to get your misguided cousins and have those hard conversations with them.

We also don't need you saying 'Not all white people are racist' in a mixed company conversation that we need to have in the public sphere and on social media about how bad racism is and how it negatively impacts our POC lives  .

Karma Kicks UT In The Behind

While rolling up to Austin along 290 yesterday for the SB 4 rally that Ana Andrea Molina was speaking at,  noted a lot of cars with burnt orange clad passengers and UT bumper stickers headed in the same direction.

That's when it hit me that 23rd ranked UT's season opener was happening with Maryland under their new head coach they stole from us at UH, kept us out of the Big XII and fired Charlie Strong after three seasons to make room for Tom Herman.

Anticipation was high because Herman in his short time at UH went 22-4, won a championship in the American in his first season (13-1) on the UH campus, beat top five ranked teams such as Oklahoma, Louisville and Florida State in the Peach Bowl and returned the swagger to UH football that we had when I was going there in the early 80's.

With the H-Town Takeover in full effect, UH became once again a serious and cool recruiting destination for local high school talent considering where to play college football.

They also underscored their renewed commitment to keeping our best players in the 713 by recruiting Ed Oliver, a marvelous defensive tackle that was coveted by Power 5 schools like Alabama who people were shocked when he signed to play and stay here.  

Oliver has become a nightmare for offensive lines across the AAC and the college football landscape.

So anticipation was high with the Longhorn fanbase that Herman and his coaching staff that included former UH defensive coordinator and interim head coach Todd Orlando would bring that success to Forty Acres.

Well, Herman's debut game in front of the Longhorn faithful at DKR-Memorial Stadium didn't go so well.   The Longhorns shockingly lost 51-41 to an underdog Maryland team at home that was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in their Big 10 East division.

Guess it's gonna take longer to fix UT's problems than they thought, huh?  The arrogant and impatient UT fan base was throwing stuff on the DKR-Memorial Stadium field after the game.

FYI Longhorn fans, Charlie Strong won his debut game yesterday at USF 31-17.

As a Cougar alum, I laughed all the way back to Houston when I heard the news.   Serves them right for screwing Charlie Strong the way they did.   At least he never lost a home opener while he was UT's coach.   And yeah, my dislike of everything burnt orange runs back to when we were members of the dearly departed Southwest Conference and I was walking UH's campus.

One of the other things that Herman and others (Kevin Sumlin) who have used UH to get Power 5 head coaching jobs elsewhere tend to forget is that UH sits in the middle of the most talent rich area for Texas high school football talent in the Houston metro area.  

UH is also a school with a chip on its shoulder.  We have always been condescendingly looked down upon by the UT's of the world.   We were supposed to be part of the Big XII during its 1996 formation but were screwed out of it.  

Being dissed by the Big XII last year only increased the size of that chip on UH's shoulder.

That chip on their shoulder attitude also filters down to the folks who eventually come to UH to play football there.  UH gets the kids who were overlooked by the Big XII and SEC schools who want to prove they are as good as those 4 and 5 star recruits that go to UT, Texas A&M and other Big XII and SEC schools who are part of the entitled football elite.

It's why Herman was able to go 13-1 in his first season and were in the running last year for a spot in the College Football Championship before injuries and a three game losing streak dropped us from being ranked number 6 in the nation to out of the polls.  

We do have talent here at UH.   If we could keep a quality coach as long as we did Bill Yeoman it would be able to sustain that success  It's probably why every time UH finds that coach the Power 5 schools steal him.

It's probably why the Big XII is 'scurred' to make us members because they know a UH that is a member of a Power 5 conference will be instantly competitive and the non-Texas Big XII schools are afraid they will never have a shot at recruiting Houston area talent if we are.

Ask Oklahoma about that.   I repeat, the UH player has a chip on his shoulder, is hungry for success and will work harder to beat the so called elite Power 5 player at Texas or A&M who because they play in the Big XII or SEC assume they are better than someone who plays in a 'lesser conference'.

And you can't replicate that 'us against the collegiate football world' mentality you have at UH and took advantage of to get your Power 5 conference school job with the phat contract.   It will be interesting to see if Herman can do so after becoming the first coach since John Mackovic to lose his UT debut game.

But until then. I'm going to enjoy watching karma kick UT in its burnt orange behind.

Right On, Ashlee!

If I haven't said it lately, I have much love and respect for Ashlee Marie Preston, my trailblazing Left Coast based sis who made history on June 28 by being tapped as an out Black trans woman to be the editor in chief of Wear Your Voice.

Since that announcement, she has been busy running Wear You Voice in addition to calling out Charlamagne Tha God about Lil Duval's transphobic Breakfast Club comments

This weekend she put Caitlyn Jenner's problematic behind on blast, and in the wake of this I heard elements of White trans feminine world criticizing Preston on social media for doing so.

If Ashlee was calling out some TERF, right wing anti-trans politician, Black fundie pastor or assorted transphobic gay men like Milo, the peeps criticizing her now would be saying, 'Yay Ashlee!"
But since it's Caitlyn's behind that was being chewed on by a Black trans woman , y'all wanna trip.

I need y'all to chill with the tone policing and think long and hard about the inconvenient fact that some of y'all in White Trans World aren't happy with Jenner's long list of gaffes and WTF level comments as a trans Republican either, especially since she's a trans woman with your ethnic heritage. .

If you're wondering where I stand on this issue, it's with Ashlee.   I and others in Black Trans World saw the video of what happened post LA Trans Chorus event as a needed and necessary dragging.

And before y'all go there, my support of Ms. Preston is not because I've had my own issues with the WTF level commentary Jenner has uttered since coming out.

My support of Preston in this case is rooted in the understanding that as someone who has been a Black trans leader for nearly 20 years, she is role modeling the tenets of Black leadership as outlined by the late University of Maryland political scientist Dr. Ron Walters.

Dr. Walters defined the task of Black leadership as providing the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.

Those goals according to Walters are freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires and results in you as a Black leader disturbing the peace when you speak truth to power.

It also makes some people uncomfortable and causes controversy at times as well.

And as Black trans leaders, we not only have those Black leadership principles set forth by Dr. Walters to uphold, but some that are specific to us as Black trans people if we are going to properly represent our community. 

But the salient point I wish to bring up here is that as a Black trans leader, Preston is representing a different trans constituency in Black trans people who at times have issues and objectives that don't always neatly line up with or may be opposed to what peeps in White Trans World think or want.
When placed in those situations, we as Black trans leaders are compelled to call out situations that occur when what some of you want and support in White Trans World (like a Trump presidency) is harmful to our Black trans community.

Pro tip: Full throated support of Dolt 45 and his white supremacist administration by you as a white trans person is one of those issues that will get your wig snatched by me and every Black trans leader that's paying attention.

We will not give a rat's anus when we call your azz on it because we are repping our community. You can be mad and stay mad about us calling you out for supporting an administration that has declared war on transgender people.  Those anti-trans policies will have a disproportionate negative effect on the Black trans people we represent and other trans people of color.

So right on Ashlee!   Keep speaking truth to power, pointing out crap, and calling out injustice aimed at our community by friend, foe and frenemy.

And looking forward to the day I get to finally meet you in person.