What's Up With Tona's Carnegie Hall Gofundme Campaign?

Tona Brown's upcoming historic Carnegie Hall concert in New York is one that promises to be one interesting and magical night three weeks from now at the Weill Recital Hall.

Because some promised corporate and organizational funding has yet to materialize and she couldn't waste any more time waiting for it to happen, 29 days ago Tona started a Gofundme crowdfunding campaign seeking to raise the additional $25,000 she would need to pay the balance of the money the Carnegie Hall folks requested and still put on a first class event.

I was stunned to see that as of this writing, she's only raised $325 dollars. 

This is outrageous to me when I see trans people with less melanin in their skin crowdfund that kind of cash for an SRS, top surgery or whatever other purpose no questions asked in less than a week, but you can't get off $5 or $10 dollars for a Black transwoman trying to have an event the entire trans community can be proud of. 

I'll bet if Tona's skin tone had less melanin in it she would have hit that fundraising target and then some a long ago and it would be all over the media about this 'groundbreaking concert for the transgender community'

So what's up people?  It's not like you don't know what Tona is raising the money for because she been upfront and transparent about that.  So that leads me to ask the things that make you go hmm questions such as are other factors at work here that are keeping her from hitting the targeted goal?   

Is Tona Brown's Carnegie Hall concert not worthy of supporting and hitting her fundraising goal?

Because that's what you're saying to me and the trans communities of color at large when she's had this campaign up for 29 days now for a positive event and it has only raised as of this writing $325 dollars.

We have got to do better than this.    And note to the orgs that promised her funding and support and left our trans sister hanging, follow through with your promised commitments

The show is entitled 'From Stonewall to Carnegie Hall' and will feature works of African-American composers.  It will also discuss the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion and the positive effects the transgender community have had on the TBLG human rights movement.

I not only want to see the Weill Recital Hall full on the June 25 night she does the 'From Stonewall To Carnegie Hall' concert, I want her to have the funds she needs to make sure it is a memorable night for all involved and cover any unforseen expenses.

So help her out with a donation and share this post to spread the word about this Gofundme campaign 

 

Naw Mark, Shame On Your Clueless Racism Denying Azz

I wasn't even back in Harris County 24 hours from my empowering BTAC 2014 convention birthday weekend excursion to Dallas last week when I was alerted to an attack piece that 'I'm white not Latino' transman Mark Angelo Cummings aimed at me along with a bigoted tweet from Kelli Busey on my birthday of all days.

I've already put Kelli on blast on my FB page for her jacked up shyt.   It's Mark's turn to feel the wrath of Moni now that I've had a few days to marinate on his loud and wrong as usual bigoted screed.

There's the bell.   School is now in session.  

Naw Mark, shame on your clueless azz for trying to step to me when I was on the eve of testifying on behalf of the entire Houston community again advocating for passage of the HERO. 

Too bad you dismissed Kat Blacque instead of listening to her when she was trying to educate your ignorant behind on the fact that race matters, even in the trans community. 

As a matter of fact I find you borderline delusional for trying to claim that racism doesn't exist.  I'm also laughing my butt off at you for even trying to utter the BS 'reverse racism' conservacrap.  Dude, have several sections of seats in Marlins Park and a nice tall glass of shut the hell up with your Cuban sandwich on that one. 

Since you missed it and seem to be confused about what racism really entails, let Moni try to 'ejumacate' you once again on the topic even though I'm tired of having this discussion of these simple to grasp concepts with you and your dwindling cadre of like minded acolytes that even the GEICO cavemen understand.

Ahem, pay very very close attention:  Racism = prejudice and bigotry + systemic power.  
 
Racism is the systematic discrimination, denial of rights and benefits by whites against non-whites in all areas of human activity.  (economics, education, labor, law, politics, religion, sex and war).

Since non-whites (at least until 2040) are not the majority population in the United States, it is impossible for us to be racist.  We can be bigoted and prejudiced, but we do not have the collective societal power to turn our bigotry and prejudices into societal policy detrimental to the lives of white people.  .  


Once again I ask the question I haven't got an answer to from Mark and his like minded side yet.

What is it about Black trans people owning our power and simply doing the same thing that white trans people have done for decades in terms of building community amongst themselves and determining our own political destiny, that terrifies you so much?

As I've said since 1998 and will not back down one millimeter from nor apologize for, race matters in the trans community. 

The fact that you posted such a racist response to my initial February post critiquing your clueless behind on seeing the Black Trans Renaissance as a 'threat' or 'dangerous to the trans rights movement'  is prima facie evidence why I see myself as Black first, trans second.

It's also why I advocate for transpeople of color to have our own blogs, advocacy groups and supportive community infrastructure because we can never be certain of when  vanillacentric privileged white trans peeps like you will throw us under the bus to get your lost levels of white privilege back.

And yes, there is ample precedent of the white trans community doing precisely that.  Riki Wilchins sold out the community and backlobbied her own GenderPac Lobby days in 1998-1999 to curry favor with an HRC then hostile to trans human rights issues.  She then took GenderPac out of the trans rights lobbying fight at the federal level to embark a a failed 'gender rights' approach that led to the 1999 formation of the multicultural NTAC to fill the unexpected trans advocacy void.   

Because NTAC was led by nonwhite executive directors who weren't drinking the 'HRC is our Friends' blue Kool-Aid and had no problem calling out the Equal Sign Org on their transphobic BS, it was savagely attacked by white trans people claiming NTAC 'didn't represent them' to the point they formed NCTE in 2003.

That sorry history is one of the reasons why we are closing ranks and building community in African-American trans spaces now because we are tired of being ignored, dismissed and treated like an emasculated junior partner in mixed trans company. 

We are unapologetically Black trans grown folks determining our political destiny, building community and making informed decisions about who we will and will not ally ourselves with. Can you hear us now?

So yes, white trans people's past penchant for throwing transpeople of color under the bus, ignoring our issues and concerns, and failing to include us in the senior leadership ranks is why I and other trans African-Americans are in the 2K10's executing a multipronged advocacy strategy whether you like it or not.  
And yeah, our people have been doing this for over two centuries, so this is nothing new or shocking to African descended trans people.  

And as long as TransGriot exists, I'm going to articulate those concerns of African descended transpeople here in the United States and across the African Diaspora.    

Mark, since you and your like minded friends have not given us a reason to confidently feel you have our backs or our best interests in mind in national trans advocacy since the late 90's, we're going to be unapologetically pro-Black, seek out allies of all ethnic backgrounds, and build up our community while simultaneously advocating for trans rights for ourselves and the human rights of all.

As the HERO battle is making clear to us in Houston, we have trans issues education to do with our own people, and we African-American trans people are the folks best positioned to do that as we take leading roles in helping push its passage.

I and other African-American trans people are puzzled to hear that our long overdue communal need to close ranks, build unity and pride in being Black trans people in conjunction with our Black trans masculine brothers, build community so that we can be a stronger partner to the entire TBLG community and all the ones we interact with is considered 'a threat' or 'dangerous' to white trans people.

Seriously?   We in Black Trans World are only replicating what the white trans community has done since the late 80's.  Why is it 'a problem' or 'a threat' now?    

I am an unapologetic Black trans community leader, and Black leadership has different parameters from garden variety white trans leadership.  

Because you white trans peeps are already well represented at those leadership tables, and far too many times I may be the only trans POC sitting there, you damned skippy I'm going to make sure the needs of POC transpeople are in the conversation.  I'm also going to be determined in making you aware how we POC's view any proposed trans human rights legislation or how any policy initiative being discussed impacts us.     

The racism and bigot eruptions in the trans community along with the racist misogyny aimed at trans women of color have also fueled this push for us to own our power just like our parents, grandparents and great grandparents have had to do once upon a time.   


As some of you have made crystal clear with your hate pieces and bigoted tweets aimed in mine and the direction of other trans leaders of color, it is impossible for us to exist in Trans World separated from our race and ethnic background.

Neither do I nor any transperson of color wish to operate in any space that demands we separate ourselves from our Blackness just to be a part of a collective group or because us being our  unapologetically Black selves makes you white trans peeps uncomfortable.

We Black trans people can't be 'just trans' because of the deep seated hatred for blackness and Black people that also infects Trans World and you are exhibiting unmistakable signs of.  We are deeply aware of the fact we trans people of color are judged by our skin color first before we can even begin to tackle the trans issues that impact us.

If you don't like the fact I'm unapologetically Black, and I will not allow you or ANY fauxgressive and bigoted trans person or 'ally' to deter me from calling out the bigotry and racism that exists in trans world while seeking to expeditiously root it out of our ranks, then you (and errbody else) that shares your delusional opinion that racism doesn't exist or 'I'm angry' for daring to talk about it can kiss my 'angry' Black trans ass.

By the way Marky Mark.   You and your white trans friends boringly repetitive attempts to tear me down not only reveal your own racist ignorance, but validate what I've been saying and writing about for the last decade and a half concerning your sector of the trans community.  

With every bigoted keystroke you aim at me, you make yourself more irrelevant.  When they see these unwarranted and vicious attacks leveled at me, it also pisses off people in the trans communities of color and our allies who have mad love and respect for me and what I do human rights wise inside and outside the trans community.

And FYI, for every attack you level at me, to quote Maya Angelou, and still I rise.  

So no Mark, shame on you for being bigoted and foolish enough to continue to repeatedly do something so monumentally stupid, and being arrogant enough to think you can get away with doing so without me calling your azz out on it. 

We Have A Black President And This Country Is STILL Racist

One of the things that has irritated me lately is when I get into conversations online is when some conservafool starts trying to deny that racism American style exists by deploying the 'We have a Black president' line followed by reciting the usual conservabullfeces and talking points. 

The bottom line is this country is still racist, and no matter how much you wallowing in vanillacentric privileged 'proud conservatives' want to deny it, this country is as racist as ever, and I submit it's gotten worse since 2008. 

Hell, you conservafools have demonstrated foaming at the mouth hatred of the POTUS and severe cases of Obama Derangement Syndrome since November 4, 2008, so it's disingenuous for you to try to hold him up as your justification in your minds that racism doesn't exist. 

The bigot eruptions from Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling blow that lie up along with the ranting of Limbaugh and all of your hive mind radio and FOX Noise commentators. 

I haven't even addressed the dog whistle racist comments of  Rep. Paul Ryan and his fellow Teapublicans who continue to execute Southern Strategy 2.0 and foment racial animus in white conservative ranks for political gain.

Race matters.  Racism exists in the United States, it is systemic and as Justice Sonia Sotomayor so eloquently stated in her recent blistering dissent in the Schuette vs Bahm Michigan affirmative action case:

"In my colleagues' view, examining the racial impact of legislation only perpetuates racial discrimination,” Sotomayor said. “This refusal to accept the stark reality that race matters is regrettable. As members of the judiciary tasked with intervening to carry out the guarantee of equal protection, we ought not sit back and wish away, rather than confront, the racial inequality that exists in our society."

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination,”     

And until the out of touch and willfully clueless in this country grasps the point that Justice Sotomayor made, and get serious about tacking the systemic racism in this country beyond cosmetic measures, these problems will continue.

BTAC Needs Support, Too

We are rapidly closing on the April 29-May 4 dates for the third annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference in Dallas, and I'm looking forward to seeing my trans peeps and our allies there at the Doubletree Campbell Center.    But I was bothered by this e-mail that was shared on the BTAC page.

Email response to invitation to BTA Awards.
_______________________
"I don't know why I am receiving these e-mails. I am a transwoman, but I am white. I am sure that I wouldn't be welcome at you Gala in May." ________________________

You Are Sure of it?????My friends, racism exist. We are here to help end it! We get so much of this but on this one, we are sharing it so that we can grow from it together.

It is not racist to affirm black and trans identity. IT IS racist if you don't support it and exclude yourself from programming based on the affirmation of race. Please know that Affirming Black and Trans Identity, Black Trans Community Organizing, Black Trans Advocacy is a GREAT thing and takes us all to support for full equality to exist. Our goal is to obtain full equality and to become instruments of social change. If you support equality, make it a priority to get involved. It is counterproductive of our cause if you exclude yourself from our programming. All are invited, welcomed, needed and loved. One Earth. One People. One Love. #btac2014  

The point I'm going to make in this post is that the Black Trans Advocacy Conference needs support, too.  

Just as you would like for me and the rest of the non-white trans community to support events like Southern Comfort, First Event, and countless other regional conferences and panel discussions that you organize that don't reflect our culture or at times the issues of importance in our communities, we expect reciprocal treatment when we organize or host events such as BTAC that may not reflect yours. 

If we don't see your face in the Doubletree Campbell Center place because you incorrectly assumed as a white trans person you're not wanted at BTAC,  how else are you going to learn about the issues that affect my community, meet some of the people who are working to tackle and solve those problems, and have substantive conversations with the people who are our Black trans leaders? 

You're going to miss this year's keynote speeches from Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler and Cheryl Courtney Evans.  You'll miss the Black Diamond Ball in which awards to our community's heroes and sheroes will be handed out.  You'll miss the tell it like it T-I-S is commentary in our town halls and panel discussions.

And you'll miss a golden opportunity to network with not only people in our community, but our allies who do show up to support the BTAC and help us get our learn on.  

And you'll miss your chance to settle what is sure to be one of the big BTAC conference debates.  Which burger is better, In-N-Out or Whataburger? 

FYI, there's an In-N-Out burger location just up the North Central Expressway feeder from the hotel.    

I said in this post and will repeat and remix this salient point for your reading pleasure:  Having strong, confident, politically aware and vibrant Black, Latin@, Asian-Pacific trans communities telling our stories strengthens the entire pink, white and blue flag waving trans community as a whole.  It also strengthens our various non-white cis and SGL communities and any other one we choose to ally with. 

We trans people of color would rather work together to build community with our white trans brothers and sisters and our cis, bi  and SGL allies to advance our common goal of human rights for all.  But we are no longer doing so as disrespected, enfeebled junior partners   

It has become necessary for us in the second decade of the 21st century to have conferences like BTAC in order to discuss the issues that ail our community, learn, network, reconnect with each other, come up with solutions, and own our power so that we can permanently solve those problems.   

We're just doing the same thing the white trans community has done since the late 80's-early 90's.   The Black trans community didn't say you COULDN'T come, and neither did the BTAC organizers.   We want as many peeps at BTAC as possible because we are exceedingly proud of this now three year old conference, want it to grow and want to show it off to the world. 

The fact it's in a blue oasis in my red soon to be purple home state with a rich trans history makes it even more important it survive and thrive . So assuming you wouldn't be welcome at BTAC is not only asinine, but problematic.       

The bottom line is that stronger non-white trans communities benefit the ENTIRE pink, white and blue flag waving trans community.   The sooner you get that point, the sooner we can move trans human rights forward in our nation and around the world  

See you at the Doubletree Campbell Center next month.  

Erika Harold Loses Illinois GOP Congressional Primary Bid

A few months ago I wrote about on these electronic pages former 2003 Miss America Erika Harold running for Congress in the Illinois Republican primary against current 13th District US Rep. Rodney Davis and getting racistly dissed for her trouble. 

In addition to that racist email from a GOP county chairman calling Harold “a streetwalker.” that led to his resignation, Harold according to Politico endured a bizarre snub at the Illinois state fair, flat out rejection when she asked the Illinois Republican Party to use GOP voter data and was denied, and constantly heard the frequent suggestion she would be better off running for some other office besides a Congressional seat.

You let bizarro world conservafools like Suzanne Atanus run for Congress, and she's your nominee against Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D).   So why do you Republicans have a problem with a 33 year old Illinois born mixed race former Miss America who spoke at your 2004 convention, at CPAC, got the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune and is a Harvard Law graduate? 

Oops, never mind.  I withdraw the question. 

She's an American citizen who can run for any office she wishes.  While I don't care for her conservative political stances, the only thing we see eye to eye on is that she's anti-death penalty.   But those conservative stances still didn't help her in this race. 

The Illinois primary election was held on Tuesday night and her challenge to Rep Rodney Davis fell short.   She did however serve notice that she has a bright political future in Illinois by garnering an impressive 41.2% of the votes (20,921)  in this primary to the incumbent Davis' 54.6% (27,773).

This race is a real world example of why Republicans don't have a snowball's chance in Hades of making themselves attractive to African-Americans. 

While I'm no fan of her politics because I'm aligned politically with 90% of the rest of the African-American community, I still didn't appreciate along with many left of center Black peeps seeing the sistah get dissed like she did in the GOP ranks.  

And if she's not "Republican enough' for you, who is?   You continue to reinforce what I have unflinchingly said about the GOP when I call it the political arm of white supremacy.  You have also reinforced by your treatment of her the well deserved reputation that you don't like women, and especially women of color.

She's also managed to do what all your cookie chomping kneegrow sellouts haven't been able to do in the history of the blog--get me to write a post about a Republican in which I'm not slamming them from the first syllable of it..   

This latest GOP rebranding effort will fail just like the previous ones when you continue to diss thoughtful people like Harold.  It's people like her you should be running to embrace and putting out there as your standard bearers, not batturd wing sellouts like Mia Love, Sen. Tim Scott and Allen West who have zero chance of getting our votes or our community's respect..   

But as a Democrat I thank you for continuing to be the stupid party. 

Pick When Stand Your Ground Won't Work

It's time to play TransGriot Final Jeopardy

Here is your TransGriot Final Jeopardy clue.  .  

The situation in which the ALEC pimped Kill A Black Person With Impunity Stand Your Ground Law will NOT work to keep the shooter out of jail.

Remember your answer must be in the form of a question




Time's up, so what was your answer?.

Annie Is Black, And The Pointed White Hoods Come Out

A remake of Annie is about to hit your local multiplexes that when it was in the discussion stages, Willow Smith was rumored to be in the running for the part but it went to Oscar Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis.

And now that the trailer has come out for this movie coming soon to your local multiplex starring her and Jamie Foxx, I was shocked but not surprised to read that elements of white America are losing their damned minds on Twitter about it.

So the same whiteness that has no problem with Jared Leto being cast as a trans woman or defending 70% of movie roles going to white males, arguing that 'casting should be color blind' and 'the best actors should get the part' now has a racist foaming at the mouth problem with Quvenzhané Wallis being cast as Annie?   

Sigh.  The War on Blackness continues.

The same White America that last week was tying itself in pretzel logic like knots trying to justify a white man playing a transwoman as moi and the trans community complained about it, had no problem with that same white male winning an Oscar for that problematic portrayal, smugly told the trans community to 'get over it' while hiding behind Calpernia Addams' skirts to do so, is now having a vanillacentric scented hissy fit because a Black girl is playing Annie.

Their pointed white hoods are showing along with their white sheets. 


I'd need another post to document all the times that white people have played Black or other ethnic characters in movies.

John Wayne as Genghis Khan ring a bell?    Liz Taylor as Cleopatra?  Natalie Wood as Maria Nunez in West Side Story?  Laurence Olivier donning blackface to play Othello?   

Another example was Ava Gardner being chosen over Lena Horne and using the makeup Max Factor developed for Lena to play the mixed race character Julie LaVerne in the 1951 movie Show Boat when hello, Lena Horne practically was living that character's life.   
 
It's not like this is the first time a classic film has been remade with an all-Black cast.   There was the musical The Wiz that was turned into a 1978 film starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. 

Most recently the movie Steel Magnolias was reimagined with an all Black cast featuring Phylicia Rashad and her daughter Condola Rashad, Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, and Jill Scott. 

IIt also speaks to another problematic issue that if the movie in question doesn't have Blacks interacting with Whites in servitude, deference, or emotional dependence, it results in whites leaving in droves after it starts.


I witnessed that phenomenon firsthand with the movie White Man's Burden. It starred John Travolta and Harry Belafonte in which the societal script was flipped and it was white peeps living in the hood and Black folks living in Beverly Hills.
I noticed whites leaving the theater and heard one brother say to one white guy exiting the theater, "What's wrong? Can't handle this movie? This is what we deal with everyday in America."
Another reality that needs to be dealt with is that in 21st century America, many of the orphans in those homes and the foster care system look like Quvenzhané.

As white people in this country, you can count on the fact that every week, a Hollywood movie will open that has casts who predominately look like you, and share your ethnic heritage and background.   I don't have that luxury as a person of color.  

An Annie that reflects my ethnic background is quite interesting to me, Black parents and the Black girls Quvenzhane's age who will see themselves reflected on the silver screen for once.

That should be celebrated, not racistly denounced..   

Don Lemon Remembers He's Black Again.

CNN commentator Don Lemon can be exasperating to me at times.  

One minute he sounds like a cookie chomping sellout when he teams up with negro conservafool Niger Innis to attack North Carolina NAACP President the Rev. Dr.. William Barber for correctly calling Sen. Tim Scott (Teabagger-SC) a 'ventriloquist' dummy for the Tea Party or hypocritically siding with the New York City po-po's and former mayor Michael Bloomberg  over the jacked up stop and frisk policy. 

And don't even get me started discussing his interviewing trans fails.

But there.are times he gets it right and I have to give him his props for it like when he schooled CNN conservafool Ben Ferguson on his privilege in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict     

Here's another one of those moments.   Lemon and Keli Goff call out conservafool Emily Miller for parting her lips to say that 'white guilt' got President Obama elected.   Naw Emily,  it was 69,486,516 votes from a multicultural and multigenerational coalition and a 365-173 electoral buttkicking of McCain that got him elected.   And just for grins, while facing Massive Resistance 2.0 from the GOP,   President Obama garnered 65 million votes while winning another decisive 332-206 electoral vote win over Mittbot.  

Deal with that reality Emily Miller.   Oh yeah, forgot you conservatives can't hanlde reality well

Enjoy this Don Lemon Blackness sighting.   I have a feeling it won't be long before I'm blasting his azz again.

This Is An Afrocentric Blog-Deal With It

There is an on point 1984 James Baldwin quote from a Village Voice interview n which he talked about race in GL World.  I'm going to substitute trans for gay for the purposes of this post.

"Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to their sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society. There's an element, it has always seemed to me, of bewilderment and complaint. Now that may sound very harsh, but the trans world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society."


Over the last week and a half elements of white trans world have been showing their asses and letting their pink, white and blue sheets show because they are jealously pissed off about the deserved and increasing media attention that Black trans people are getting.  

The cadre of white trans women in question are upset that Black transpeople are not only closing ranks and owning their power, they see it as they bump their gums in their not so quiet Facebook rooms that this long ago needed development in the Black trans community ranks as 'a threat'

The star of their offline Two Minute Hates has been moi and my GLAAD Award nominated blog.
Aww, I'm flattered and frankly LMBTAO that I'm the focus of your hatred.  But what I said before to you still stands:  You need Jesus.

And I revel in your irrational hatred.  Why #youmad because for the first time in the 61 year modern history of the trans rights movement that Black trans people and their accomplishments are getting increased media attention and love?

Do you not see the point that a strong Black trans community that owns its power, confidently wields it, helps destroy transphobia in Black cis and SGL ranks, and does the Trans 101 education tailored to our history and culture in those communities helps all of Trans World?

Or do you peeps have so much internalized hatred for Black people that you are role modeling the remixed James Baldwin remark?

If you are, too bad.   We're not gonna let your lack of vision turn us around from our urgent mission of building community and stopping the off the charts violence aimed at us.

Are you that upset because we are finding innovative ways to lead, forming our own organizations and building community infrastructure that reflects our culture, are increasingly tackling the problems that ail our community with the help of our cis and SGL allies, are writing New York Times best selling narratives, are breakout stars on TV shows and have GLAAD nominated blogs that people flock to for intelligent commentary about issues inside and outside the trans, bi and SGL community?

Yeah, obviously you do and this isn't a new development.   Moni ain't the only person that has called you out on your racism that you tried and failed to keep under wraps and don't want to talk about.

If that's your problem. you can #staymad then.    You can also KMBTA because if you don't like the fact TransGriot is an Afrocentric blog founded by an unapologetically Black transperson, and have consistently called crap out in this community, too damned bad.  Deal with it.

As a matter of fact since I mentioned this was an Afrocentric blog, here's the Mission Statement I compiled on January 2, 2011 for it:

The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community.  I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended transbrothers and transsisters across the African Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the thins that impact our community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.  

Hey, I did warn you and I was blunt about what was going to happen on these electronic pages.  
   
TransGriot was founded on New Year's Day 2006 with the mission of elevating the voice, thoughts, visibility and policy concerns of African descended trans people across the Diaspora as its Prime Directive. I comment on the issues of trans people of color and developments around the world from my Afrocentric perspective as well.

I am unapologetically Black and trans.   I an not going to apologize for that or the over 7000 posts in my tell it like it T-I-S is Afrocentric tone that is in sync with the journalistic style and traditions of my people  

Neither will I separate my transness from my Blackness just to make a certain segment of misguided white trans world comfortable

You don't like the fact I said it or my opinions don't neatly line up with yours, I don't care.   Neither do I give a rat's anus that you have a problem with me owning my power on behalf of my community as I have done since 1998.  

I speak truth to power inside and outside TBLG World and I'm damned sure going to do it on a blog that I founded and have control over.  You have a problem with that, then have several seats and choke on that bottle of Vanillacentic Privileged Frost Haterade you're liberally drinking from

My award winning blog with over 4.4 million hits (and counting), my cyberhome, my rules.   The opinions expressed here are the result of my unapologetically Black behind residing on this planet inside the borders of the United States since 1962 and my two decades of life being a transperson while Black.

If you don't like the opinions expressed here, you are always free to exercise your option of reading the hundreds of trans blogs that reflect your vanillacentric privileged world view.

But you do so with the knowledge that this blog for eight years is proudly rooted (and always will be) in the African-American community.  It is edited by an award winning trans human rights activist with 16 years experience in the game, and who has been blessed with mad writing skills to boot.

This is an Afrocentric blog.   For those of you who like that fact, I thank you for surfing by my cyberhome on a regular basis to check out the posts that I and my guest posters leave here for you to peruse.

For those of you who wanna hate, deal with it.

You Don't Wanna Talk About Race, That's On You

But unfortunately society and events are going to make it impossible for you to ignore the subject, especially if you're part of the ethnic groups that consistently get whacked by it. 

As long as one ethnic group has a belief that it is superior to all others, has political, economic, educational, military, judicial, media and sexual power to back that up, and members of it sit on top of the human power hierarchy determined to pass that belief on to their kids through the concepts of whiteness and white supremacy, then yep, you'll be waiting a long time before the world you'd like to see becomes a reality.

And naw, don't even start rolling your eyes and mumbling under your breath 'there she goes playing the race card again'. 

I despise the term 'race card'.  It is a conservafool constructed term that not only pisses many African-American and other POC's off when we hear it, it's designed to poison ANY conversations and divert people from the fact that nobody plays the so called 'race card' better and with more gusto than white people. 

It is designed to brainwash non-whites to feel they are wrong for mentioning injustice and it's their fault for how they are treated or perceived by whiteness and white supremacist addled people and society at large. 

It is also designed to ignore the salient point that being born with white skin matters and if there is a so-called 'race card', nobody plays it better than or with more gusto than white people do.   The ugly reality is that race matters, it predates the founding of the United States, and there is a foaming at the mouth societal hatred of blackness and Black people in general that is the root cause of the disharmony we have right now. 

Being 'colorblind' does not mean we ignore the realities of life here in the US and around the world for non-white people.  Nor does i mean that non-whites bite their tongues in racially mixed company about their lived experiences in order to make white people comfortable or aid them in their desire to pretend those problems don't exist. 

To not talk about that or the fact that Black lives are devalued is intellectually dishonest.


You don't wanna talk about race, that's on you.  but if people are serious in eradicating racism from American society, those conversations need to happen frequently, honestly and often, even if they do get messy and loud.

Happy 19th Birthday, Jordan Davis

Today would have been the 19th birthday of Jordan Davis.  

He wanted to become a Marine with his best friend after he graduated from high school.   He was a kid who dealt with the typical stuff you deal with growing up in your teen years.   He had a girlfriend who stayed on him to pull his pants up, Don Lemon.

He had both a mother and a father in his life.   He was into sports   He wanted to be successful and someday own a Dodge Challenger.   

But because of a November 2012 encounter with a white male who had a problem with the volume of the music he and his friends were listening to in the parking lot of a Jacksonville area convenience store, he will never get to accomplish that dream or any other dreams he might have had. 

Jordan is now dead, his friends are haunted by the memory of having 10 bullets fired at them by an angry white male, and yesterday they witnessed the justice system in Florida fail once again to recognize their humanity.

Once again white supremacy reinforced what Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said over 150 years ago in the Dred Scott v. Sandford Case.  

Oh you're not familiar with what Taney wrote?   Let me refresh your memory as to what the then Chief Justice of the US Supreme court said in his March 6, 1857 opinion in that case.

"...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."

Any doubts that John Roberts, the current US Supreme Court Chief Justice, the Teapublicans, the conservative movement or other people who share his gender and ethnic background don't harbor the same racist beliefs?  

We know from his jailhouse letters that Michael Dunn sure did and felt comfortable enough to express it.
In one of the letters addressed to his “baby,” Dunn wrote:

The fear is that we may get a predominately black jury and therefore, unlikely to get a favorable verdict. Sad, but that’s where this country is still at. The good news is that the surrounding counties are predominately white and Republican and supporters of gun rights.”

In a letter addressed to his grandmother, Dunn claimed that all Blacks in jail acted like thugs:

“The jail is full of blacks and they all act like thugs. This may sound a bit radical but if more people would arm themselves and kill these (expletive) idiots, when they’re threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior.”

In other letters he spoke about the Duval County district attorney trying to deny him the right to a “speedy trial” and all the boys in the SUV with Davis being “thugs.”

Naw Michael Dunn, we know who the 'thug' was in this case.  Just look in the mirror.  You are the thug who has for now gotten away with the murder of a then 17 year old kid who will have no more birthdays because you felt threatened by Jordan Davis' existence in this world.
       
You are the thug who causes nightmares for every Black parent who lies awake at night fearful their son or daughter will be similarly killed by white males who 'feel threatened' with or without a police badge. 

You, Michael Dunn are the thug who stokes the fears of African-American parents they may experience the pain Jordan Davis' parents are feeling today about the loss of their child and that Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton experienced February 5.

Dunn is the thug who has caused fear in our African-American children's ranks that they will be shot to death and unjust Stand Your Ground laws and predominately white juries filled with vanillacentric privileged people will allow the perpetrators to get away with it.    

Happy birthday, Jordan and rest in power.  We will not rest until those odious ALEC inspired Stand Your Ground Kill A Black Child With Impunity laws die and our kids are free to live.

 

What Else Is New? White Male Gets Away With Murdering Black Child In Florida

The reason you haven't seen much in the way of coverage of the Michael Dunn trial in Jacksonville on this blog is because I had the same sickening feeling it was basically going to be a replay of what happened in the Zimmerman case a few months ago. 

Same prosecutor in Angela Corey, same BS Stand Your Ground Kill a Black Kid With Impunity Law, and same cluelessness of the vanillacentric privilege White Americans walk in that considers the bigoted adult with the gun the sympathetic party and the unarmed African American teens as the scary aggressors.

The same white privileged cluelessness that allows the eight whites on the twelve person jury (the other jurors were two Black women, one Asian woman and one Latino) to believe that a racist butthole who fired ten shots at African-American teens listening to loud music in their SUV was 'a threat' to his life and his life was more valuable than the African-American kids he was emptying his gun clip at .

But Monica, some of you are probably saying, he was convicted of four of five felony counts.  Three of the convictions were for attempted second-degree murder of the other teens in the vehicle.  

Yeah true, but he wasn't convicted of the first degree murder charge that he should have gotten for killing Jordan Davis. 

And once again, prosecutor Angela Corey can throw Marissa Alexander under the jail for firing a warning shot through the roof of her home to defend herself and her children, but can't get convictions on two white men who killed Black children. 

As I said in the wake of the unjust Zimmerman verdict and will repeat once again, you want to get justice for Trayvon and Jordan?  Here's what must happen starting November 4. 

Vote the GOP bastards out in your state or area who support or voted for Stand Your Ground and voter suppression laws.  Vote out unjust Teapublican judges, DA's and prosecutors. Vote out Republifool congressmembers and senators in the 2014 midterms and beyond. 

Vote for candidates who will stand up for human rights and justice for all people. If you don't see those candidates, run for office your damned self.

Get control of your state legislatures and Congress back and fix what dictatorial Republican control, their Gilded Age 2.0 billionaire funders and a conservative Supreme Court broke.  

It's already galling enough to me this verdict happened the day before what would have been Jordan Davis' 19th birthday tomorrow.  We'll see what sentences gets handed down in this Dunn case before I decide how angry I really need to get over this verdict. 

White America Is Still Hatin' On Black Athletes

I watched the NFC Championship game on Sunday between the Seahawks and 49ers and saw the post game interview Erin Andrews conducted with him after he made the game saving play to send his team to the Super Bowl.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  I saw it simply as an athlete who was talking smack to his just vanquished opponent that he has a history with after a hard fought NFC title game 

So imagine my shock to see White America losing its collective minds over the post game interview, calling a man who graduated from Stanford a 'thug' and releasing a torrent of racist commentary afterwards.

Then again I shouldn't have been surprised by White America's nearly instantaneous racist reaction to it.

Something that is not being talked about is the same thing happening to Serena Williams last weekend after her loss in the Australian Open quarterfinals to Ana Ivanovic.  

She is also getting called a 'thug', being compared to simians and on the receiving end of post-match racist slurs aimed at her.

Only difference between her and Sherman is because Williams is a Black female athlete, the commenters are tossing in misgendering and transmisogynist slurs into the hateful stew of insults they aim at her.


It's one of the major reasons I hate it when Serena does lose a Grand Slam match and I rub it in when she wins those majors.   I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the knuckle dragging racism and transmisogyny that comes out when she does unexpectedly lose a match.   

Serena is still going to go down in history as one of the greatest women's tennis players ever.  You vanillacentic privileged peeps slamming her also can't stand the fact she routinely beats your European tennis glamazons with almost boring regularity, draws viewers to those Grand Slam or any tennis matches and clocks more dollars than you people who have vanilla scented privileged hate for her ever will.

But back to talking about Richard Sherman.  He's absolutely on point when he notes that 'thug' is the new code word whiteness uses to denigrate Black folks since they can't openly use n----r anymore unless they simply don't care what other white peeps think about them. 

I find it mind numbingly head scratching that he even had to apologize in the first place.  For what?  Because white peeps fee-fees were offended that he called out another NFL player?  That he told the truth to a national audience about being the best cornerback in the NFL?   The stats and his play this season and cumulatively over the last three years back that up. 

I personally watched him singlehandedly change the course of the entire 2013 Texans NFL season with his Week 4 pick six that tied the game and eventually allowed the Seahawks to escape Reliant Stadium with a 23-20 overtime win.
 
Please spare me the 'Tom Brady and Peyton Manning don't do that' line.   They don't have to because the predominately white male dominated sports media does the bragging and belittling of their opponents for them.   And if Brady and Manning were trash talkers, the sports media and all these people hatin' on Richard Sherman for doing so would be calling it 'refreshingly candid' if those words were coming out of Manning's or Brady's mouths. 

So Black athletes, say what's on your minds.  Because no matter which direction you go, you're damned if you do or damned if you don't.

 

Told Y'all Some UT Fans Hated The Charlie Strong Hire

If you thought I was kidding about the less than warm welcome that greeted the news of Longhorn Elementary The University of Texas hiring Charlie Strong from some elements of their vanillacentric privileged, entitled and spoiled burnt orange wearing fanbase, well, you shouldn't be surprised.

UT megabooster Red McCombs, who has donated $100 million to UT, did his best Al Campanis impression when commenting of the hiring of the first African-American head coach for ANY UT men's sport.   

“I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,” McCombs said during a  interview on ESPN 1250 in San Antonio. “I don’t have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator.  

“But I don’t believe (he belongs at) what should be one of three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don’t think it adds up.”

McCombs was lobbying for former NFL coach and ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden to get the UT job. 

So tell me, how is the hiring of a coach who never had a losing record in his four years at Louisville, won a BCS bowl game, currently has a 37-15 record, won two Big East/AAC conference titles and has recruited and coached the possible number one overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft in Teddy Bridgewater a 'kick in the teeth' hire? 

Says more about Red McCombs.   And naw white peeps, don't even attempt to defend what McCombs said by using Dennis Green as a shield.   Dennis Green was hired in 1992 and was already in his sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings when McCombs bought the team in 1998, and as soon as Green had his first losing season in a decade as the Vikings coach in 2001 a year after narrowly missing a trip to the Super Bowl fired him. 

McCombs did apologize and walk back his comments, but McCombs is symptomatic of the arrogance I talk about in the UT fan base.  It's why I get gleeful enjoyment when their burnt orange wearing football team of four and five star recruits gets their butt kicked in Big 12 play or in bowl games..  

As I said in the earlier post, Charlie, good luck brother, you're going to need it.  Going to be interesting to see if they Ty Willingham you if you have one bad season there in Austin.