Rest in Peace, Octavia!

Gas, has it really been a year since Octavia St. Laurent left us?



Rest in peace, sis.

Katie Washington's Historic ND Valedictory Address

I posted the wonderful news a month ago about Gary, IN native Katie Washington, who became the first African-American valedictorian in Notre Dame history.

Today is graduation day at Notre Dame, and she will be giving her highly anticipated valedictory speech this morning. As soon as it's up and posted, I'll add the text or video of it to this post.

In the interim, you can check out this video about a remarkable young woman.



And now, Katie's valedictory address!

Good morning, Mr. Williams, Mr. Gioia, Fr. Jenkins, distinguished faculty and guests, family, friends and loved ones. Thank you all for being here with us to celebrate our commencement. To my fellow classmates, congratulations, again, for making it to this momentous occasion. Our accomplishments during the last four years give us ample reason to celebrate.

But at some point during the next few months, the excitement surrounding our commencement will wane, and many of us will be forced to confront challenging realities. What happens after the applause stops? The spotlight fades, the crowd clears, and there are moments of complete silence. While applause is accompanied by feelings of safety and security, this silence can bring vulnerability and uneasiness. Through my experiences at Notre Dame, I’ve found that these silent, uneasy moments usually spring up right after I get comfortable with self-praise and appreciating my own accomplishments.

Earlier this year, the Notre Dame Voices of Faith Gospel Choir spent our Spring Break touring the East Coast. Although our thirty-four choir members came from many different cultural and religious backgrounds, our unique style of worship originates from African-American Christian traditions. I was a student director this year, and as the week started, I was ready and excited to give my all to an organization that has been part of my college experience since freshman year. During our first concerts, as we sang and worshipped with loud and exuberant praises to God, we met all kinds of people who were willing to sing, clap and worship with us.

Then, during a concert at a church in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, the applause stopped.

There were at least 150 people at the concert, but somehow, no sound or movement seemed to come from the pews. Apparently, the congregation had never experienced a musical ministry quite like ours. We continued with our concert, in spite of the silence, but I wasn’t sure that our rehearsals had prepared us for that moment.

Now, I can reflect upon a conversation that I had with a tearful parishioner after the concert. Had Voices given up when the applause stopped, we might have been gone when the woman arrived late, after sitting for hours at her sick mother’s bedside. She told me that, while we were singing, it seemed like we were talking directly to God. She was so grateful that we were there to pray with her through song.

Over the last four years, I hope that all of us have taken the opportunity to step outside of our own comfort zones to build relationships with people from different places and backgrounds. Through service, time spent abroad, and our experiences with each other right here on campus, we’ve had the chance to find unity in the diversity of gifts with which God has blessed us. We’ve been given many opportunities to let self-acceptance blossom, and to develop mutual respect and understanding for all members of the Notre Dame family. In doing so, we’ve learned to build relationships in light of our differences and in spite of our fear.

After today and beyond the applause, we can continue to escape normative ideals and find the freedom to understand the unique and special qualities that make all of us human. We can put solidarity into action, for love of all our neighbors, near and far.

Last December, after a year and half working in Dr. David Severson’s laboratory, I saw my study of mosquito population genetics in Haiti in its published form, for the first time. Through the collaborative efforts of the members of Dr. Severson’s lab and the Notre Dame Haiti program, we were able to demonstrate that human activities are likely responsible for the distribution of infectious mosquitoes throughout Haiti. Each year, mosquitoes transmit diseases that kill more than 1 million people, mostly in impoverished countries. I was pleased to know that I had made an important contribution to the global health community. But on January 12, after only a few weeks of celebration, an earthquake hit Haiti, and the applause stopped.

At first, it was exciting to know that my work could help solve problems that many people don’t even know about. However, the earthquake reminded me that I had done so from the safety, security and comfort of a lab here, at Notre Dame. The cities that I wrote about in my paper have been reduced to rubble, and many of the lives that I hoped to protect were claimed by immediate and overwhelming tragedy.

Now, I can reflect on conversations with my research advisor and other outstanding scientists at Notre Dame. Over and over again, they have reminded me that our work is not about being celebrated and rewarded. Instead, it gives us an opportunity to add value to a world that has given us much more than our fair share. To do science at a place like Notre Dame, a University where our sense of faith informs everything we do, is to commit to innovation and discovery because of our personal moral convictions. In the College of Science and throughout the entire University, our faculty has committed themselves to the mission statement. And our learning has become service to justice. We learn, we think, and we work in our different disciplines to address tough problems because we all know that it’s the right thing to do.

After today and beyond the applause, we will experience the freedom to challenge the conventional. We can engage in strokes of genius, enlightened moments, and great ideas that will improve planet Earth and heal her inhabitants. Together, we can pool our knowledge to define the undefined, and combine our efforts to prepare for the unexpected.

I started Fall Break of this year in anticipation of all that I hoped to learn during my CSC seminar on Youth Violence. My friend Jeremy and I spent weeks helping Kim, the director of the Indianapolis Peace Institute, to plan our weeklong immersion. I was excited to work with ten other students, and to learn about innovative approaches to address youth and violence. At first, the experience was transformative. I was proud of the work Jeremy and I had done.

Then, on the day our group visited a juvenile re-entry program, the applause stopped.

I realized that I had grown up in the same neighborhood as one of the young men in the program. He had been sent to a juvenile detention center after participating in a series of illegal activities. He’d joined the re-entry program in hopes of building healthier relationships and pursuing goals that would help him to avoid further involvement with the judicial system.

In any other situation, his story of redemption might have left me feeling hopeful for other youths. Instead, my heart ached. All of my reading on urban poverty, structural violence, and peace building seemed meaningless in light of the real obstacles that he faced. At one point during our childhood, I called him my little brother. Meeting again in adulthood, it felt like our lives were worlds apart.

Now, I can reflect upon conversations that I had with him after the seminar was over. If he and the workers at the juvenile re-entry program had given up when the applause stopped, he could have been just another offender, lost in the judicial system. Instead, he is now in college and working to help other young men overcome the challenges that he, himself, faced. I can also reflect upon talks with my fellow seminar participants – my friends. We were 11 Notre Dame students, from different backgrounds with different majors and personal interests. Yet, the young man we met, from my neighborhood, touched each of our lives in a way that we couldn’t have imagined.

After today and beyond the applause, we can continue working to understand our own privilege. We can use real empathy to recognize violence and injustice. We can build relationships with people who are confined to the margins of society. And maybe one day, each and all persons will be able to participate in every dimension of life as they wish.

Throughout my time here at Notre Dame, I’ve grown a bit wary of moments of accolades and applause, because of the unnerving silences that often follow. But our commencement is a momentous occasion worth celebrating. The applause and praise from our friends, family, mentors confirms the value of our hard work, dedication and sacrifice. We have done many things of which we can be proud.

So after all of the applause is over today, I hope that we embrace the silence as much as we’ve embraced our senior week and commencement weekend celebrations. Instead of being afraid, we can cherish the examples set by our often unapplauded heroes: our parents and siblings, professors who have pushed us to do more than we’ve ever dreamed, and you, the members of the Class of 2010 who have set the standard for excellence in and out of the classrooms at the University o Notre Dame.

Thank you and God bless you all.

Sir Lady Java

Since I just rolled through her home state, thought I'd tell you loyal TransGriot readers about another person whose interesting story I discovered courtesy of the JET digital archives, legendary female illusionist Sir Lady Java.

The Los Angeles based Sir Lady Java was born and grew up in New Orleans (where else) and is billed as 'The Prettiest Man On Earth' thanks to possessing 38-24-38 curves in her heyday. She told JET in an article published in the August 10, 1978 issue that she'd never had any surgical enhancement and is non operative.

Java's act consists of singing, impersonations, and exotic dancing. As she said in the article about her performing for her idol, the late Lena Horne, "Lena is one of the three ladies I pattern my act after. I try to look like Lena, walk like Mae West and dress like Josephine Baker."

She first pops up in the November 16, 1967 issue of JET when a picture was taken of her picketing comedian Redd Foxx's nightclub. The Los Angeles Police Department shut down her show there because of a law that was on the books at the time banning female impersonation.

The August 10, 1978 JET issue mentions Java meeting her idol while performing at a star studded Los Angeles birthday party Lena was throwing for her friend Gertrude Gipson.

There's also a mention of her in a February 16, 1978 article about a Los Angeles party thrown for JET chief photographer Isaac Sutton that she attended.

Sir Lady Java is still around and even has a Facebook page. I'd love to hear more about her fascinating life as 'The Prettiest Man On Earth'.

It also points out what I've been saying since I started this blog. African descended transpeople are intertwined with the everyday life of the African-American community, and in many cases we have some interesting stories to tell.

Congrats Class of 2010

Wanted to take a moment to wish TransGriot reader Nicole Matos my heartfelt congratulations as you graduate from Bryn Mawr College's Class of 2010.

My talented cousin Llayron Adkins is also graduating from Prairie View A&M this December. I'll have to post some of his dance videos on the blog for y'all to check out.

I'm also taking this opportunity to wish my old Section 126 Comets section mate Charles Thibodeaux my congratulations as well. 'King Charles' as I used to call him back in the day has grown a bit taller since I last laid eyes on him and is graduating from high school this year.

I know his family is ecstatic about it, but I'm jumping for joy as well that this young scholar will be headed to Harvard in the fall.

To 'errbody' else in the Class of 2010, whether it be collegiate or the high school level, glad you're getting that paper. Best of luck as you high schoolers move on to tackle the challenges of collegiate life and you college grads tackle the challenges of graduate school or (sniff, sniff0 the cold, cruel world.

Whatever path your life takes, may it be filled with minimal stress and abundant blessings.

Getting Adjusted To Home

Been an interesting first week back in the home state and my beloved hometown while I was impatiently waiting to get back on line.

I hung out with Polar in his room just west of Reliant Stadium on Loop 610 to act as his tour guide. The first sight I saw when I arose on my first morning as an H-town resident in almost nine years was the stadium and a gigantic flag pole with a just as huge Texas flag fluttering in the warm breeze.

Of course I had to take Polar to all my fave gastronomic haunts here, starting with Katz's Deli, the 59 Diner and ending with Frenchy's Creole Chicken at the original location on Scott Street. We met up Tuesday night with Vanessa and Sid at the Goode Company Barbecue location on the Katy Freeway.

Still haven't been to Shipley's yet, but that's up the street and I got my Shipley's fix in during the holidays. But Harlon's Barbecue is definitely calling my name.

Polar jetted back to Da Ville Wednesday afternoon from Hobby Airport to finish the rest of his vacation week after we downloaded the van on Monday.

I accompanied my grandmother and uncle later that afternoon to an H.E.B. grocery store on OST and Scott. My 30 year high school reunion isn't happening until October, so I wasn't expecting during this first week back home to see any of my classmates.

Lo and behold, on my way out of the store I bump into Kim Dillard. (Yes, Kim, I'm going to call you). I've known her and her sis Crystal since Kim and I were fourth graders, and Kim still looks as beautiful as she did when she was our homecoming queen.

Come to think of it, I have a long list of people I need to call this week as well.

I'm still unpacking stuff and getting adjusted to the changes that have occurred in H-town since I left. The Southwest Freeway through Montrose is now ten below ground lanes instead of an elevated six lanes. The Katy Freeway now has 10 lanes and the Westpark Toll Road is built and operational.

Compaq Center is now Lakewood Church's new sanctuary and the malls as I knew them before I left have radically changed thanks to all the retail industry mergers and acquisitions.

I went through my old southwest Houston neighborhood with Polar after visiting Ness and it has changed as well. Loft apartments are everywhere, especially in the Uptown and Midtown areas.

Polar and I drove down to Galveston, and in addition to the I-45 causeway now being widened, thanks to Hurricane Ike the city is an interesting mix of new construction in some areas and some buildings looking like they did after Ike whacked them.

Galveston just days ago voted in Joe Jaworski as its new mayor. If the name sounds familiar to you, yes, he's the grandson of famed Houston attorney Leon Jaworski.

I got to ride the METRORail light rail line during my Christmas visit, but I'm just now getting to see the development in the various neighborhoods along the METRORail Main Street Line. Construction is underway on the North, East End, and Southeast METRORail expansions that is supposed to be finished in 2012.

An Uptown Line running through the Galleria area and the University Line are scheduled to start construction as well and also be completed by 2012. The coolest part about the Southeast line is that it terminates six blocks from where I'm living now.

One thing that pissed me off was seeing the empty field where the Six Flags AstroWorld amusement park once stood. Thanks Six Flags for another fine mess.

Some of the long time television news teams I grew up with are seeing retirements and sadly, a few deaths. Marvin Zindler being gone is the biggest change along with KIAH-39 not only changing its call letters, but having a news program.

The radio scene has changed as well. A new FM gospel station called Praise 99.1 is on the dial and longtime legendary rock station KLOL-FM 101.1 is now a Latino pop station.

I'm having to get adjusted to being back on Central time after living in the Eastern time zone for eight years. I'm also looking forward to treating myself to a belated birthday baseball game at Minute Maid Park. It was Enron Field when I left.

Even Continental changed and is in the process of merging with United Airlines.

Oh well, one thing stayed the same. Mattress Mack is still 'saving you money'.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Better Late Than Never Edition

As you loyal TransGriot readers are now aware, I'm back online and chomping at the bit to write. I spent the time offline working on some of my fiction stories, novels, and fine tuning my Power Point presentations after getting the computer unpacked and set up in my new Houston digs.

You know I was keeping up with the news, so of course I'm going to let this week's deserving fool have it in this special Saturday edition of the Shut Up Fool! Awards.

The usual cast of no characters were up for our distinguished award, and you know who they are. All together now; Palin, Beck, nope Limbaugh's retired.

But this week's winner is Sen. James Imhofe (R-OK)

Imhofe is opposing the repeal of DADT because in his not so humble opinion, straight soldiers will act as bigoted as he is if they have to serve alongside 'the gays'.

“And you know — you hear the stories all the time. A military guy — I happen to be Army, and Army and Marines always feel that when we’re out there, we’re not doing it for the flag or the country; we’re doing it for the guy in the next foxhole. And that would dramatically change that.”

Hmm, seems like we heard that broken record before. The same dire predictions were made about an integrated US military back in the day by peeps who looked like the senator then.

Wonder how well that turned out after President Truman signed the executive order to desegregate the military?

Sen. James Imhofe, shut up fool!

Houston, Moni Has Landed

When I started hearing the sounds of Majic 102 after passing through (and smelling) the refineries in the Beaumont area, it meant that I was 90 miles away from being back in Harris County, Texas.

Translation, Houston

It's the R&B classic soul station back home, and putting the radio back on 102.1 FM and hearing the words 'Houston' from the speaker in conjunction with seeing the Houston skyline means the 1000 mile journey from Da Ville is complete.

But while some things stayed the same, some things have changed.

There are now two million people in the city (something the 2010 Census will make official in a few months). The light rail line is operational and being expanded. We have a MLS team here called the Dynamo that won two MLS titles while I was in Da Ville.

And best of all, Annise Parker is now the mayor.

Was a nice cloudy day that was perfect for driving after starting this morning in Hammond, LA. Had a lot of time during the drive to chat about a lot of interesting topics with Polar.

It was also cool stopping in Orange, TX and chowing down on my first Whataburger since 2001.

Well, in a few hours I'll have to unload the truck, so I'd better get some sleep.

Happy Mother's Day, TransGriot Readers!

I already took the liberty of mailing my mom, sister and Renee their mother's day cards before I left and hope they arrived at their destinations by now.

But if they didn't, check your mailboxes.

I would like to take the opportunity to wish all the moms who read this, whether you've had children of your own or serve as a mother figure to someone, a very happy and stress free Mother's Day.

My mom's stress will probably end the minute I pull into the driveway. ;)

So do the same for your mother or mother figures and give them a call.

Louisiana Memories

Polar and I as you read this are probably at our planned stopping point of Hammond, LA.

Yep, we're in Jindalland after our day started earlier this morning in Da Ville rolling the moving van southwards on I-65.

We picked Hammond because Interstate 55 intersects with I-12 here, and once we get on I-12 west it's a short run to Red Stick (aka Baton Rouge) and the intersection of I-10.

I-10 west will take me through Louisiana's state capitol, over the Mississippi River, through the Atchafalaya swamp, past Lafayette, Lake Chuck and finally the last 30 miles to the Texas-Louisiana line at the Sabine River.

Louisiana is special because it's another one of the places that is home for me. For two years I lived in Marrero, LA just across the river from New Orleans. I started elementary school there and my godsister and her family still live on the West Bank. I have a few friends still living in Da Swamps who have told me they're happy to hear that I'm back on the Gulf Coast and I'm only a five hour drive away west of them.

When I worked for CAL, one of my first non-rev trips I took when I became pass eligible was to New Orleans. I flew to the city several times during my time there because it was a short flight to the French Quarter and a club on St. Charles Ave I used to hit called Nexus. It was a jazz piano bar downstairs and had a dance floor with DJ upstairs.

There was one memorable night I hit the place and Charmaine Neville was performing at the jazz bar part of Nexus the same weekend that New Orleans was invaded by Washington Redskins fans. The DJ obliged by playing a lot of go-go that night in his music mix.

If you want to get on my good side bring me a dozen beignets from Cafe DuMonde and you have gained a BFF.

And yes, my other fave NFL team plays in the Superdome. Geaux Saints!

Polar and I probably are going to find something to eat and call it a night because we still have some driving to do before we hit the Houston city limits.

Mississippi!

M-I-crooked letter, crooked letter-I-crooked letter, crooked letter-I-humpback, humpback-I.

That was the old jump rope call and the way I used to remember (and still do) how to spell Mississippi. It comes to mind every time I cross the border into the Magnolia State.

During my childhood I spent more than a few summers piling into my late grandfather's Chevy Impala along with my mother, brother, grandmother, sometimes my uncle and later my toddler sisters hitting I-10 east to make that 7 hour run to Jackson.

My Mississippi roots run deep on my mom's side of the family. My great grandmother lived there before we moved her to Houston due to concerns over her health in the early 80's. We'd take the time while we were in Jackson visiting her to make the run up US 49 to visit my relatives in Yazoo City, Greenwood and Itta Bena as well.

While the state has a less than pleasant historical reputation in terms of contentiously violent race relations and the anti TBLG hostility aimed at Juin Baize and Constance McMillen, the fact remains that some of the roots of my family tree are here.

Besides that, there are some positive things that have come out of Mississippi.

Name one you say? The blues and BB King for starters. This is also the home state of Oprah Winfrey.

Nevertheless, Polar and I are still going to travel as expeditiously as possible to put the state in our rear view mirror until it's tome for my Mississippi relatives to host our next family reunion.

Headed West on I-40 And South On I-55

Still rolling to H-town. Polar and I should be somewhere around Memphis, TN about to cross the border into Mississippi at this point in the journey unless traffic, us getting up late or other issues from last week's floods in Nashville and parts of I-40 in Tennessee have slowed up progress.

Next video up on the Moni Houston musician hit parade, Larry Gatlin.

And before you ask, no I never went to Gilley's.

The Journey Begins Back To Houston

I've packed my stuff including the computer, and I'm headed south on I-65 in a few hours to complete the circle that unexpectedly started in 2001.

I'm headed back home to Houston starting at 6:00 AM EDT.

Thanks to the automated posting feature on this blog, you'll have some fresh content while I'm rolling through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, finally crossing the Sabine River back into the home state and making the 100 plus mile run from the Texas-Louisiana border to Houston.

If I get some computer access along the journey since me and Polar are planning an overnight stop somewhere along the route, I'll tell y'all about this latest road trip that's probably going to be a little more emotional than others I've chronicled.

It's kind of a bittersweet moment. I'm leaving friends and family I made here in Louisville, but I'm returning to lifelong ones I made back and my family, blood relatives and chosen ones in the Lone Star State.

I'm planning on keeping a trip diary and posting it once I get settled in Houston

In the meantime, to keep you occupied, I've got some various Houston artists videos to keep you occupied until I get back to my regular posting schedule.

First up, my Houston homegirl Beyonce.

Moni's Last Louisville Supper

At this moment I'm probably crying a little bit as I chill at my fave Louisville pizza place and enjoy a last meal with friends.

I fell in love with Impellizzeri's pizza before I moved up here at its old location.

It's also where Polar had his wedding rehearsal dinner back in 2004. They shut down for two years after that, then reopened in a new location on Bardstown Road a few blocks from Eastern Parkway.

The pizza and those garlic breadsticks dripping in butter are still there.

So if I was going to pick a place to have a last meal in town with my Louisville family, that's one of them. It has special significance for me, Polar and Dawn.

Besides, I already hit Kingfish on River Rd. two weeks ago and ate some 'Krispy Kracks' since they pulled out of the Houston market in 2006.

Well, until the next time.

Dear Black GLB Community

Dear Black GLB Community,
As one of your award winning trans sisters, I have had the opportunity since 1980 to observe the peaks and valleys of this community.

I have watched our community get ravaged by HIV/AIDS. At the same time, I have had the pleasure of watching it like the mythical phoenix, arise from the fire, stand up, grow, and begin to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors by doing things for ourselves.

We have managed to hold on to our faith and spirituality while demanding that we be accepted for who we are as African descended TBLG people both inside and outside our chocolate flavored community.

We are also beginning to see the emergence on the Mother Continent and across the Diaspora of TBLG people speaking loudly for fairness and equality sometimes even at great risk to themselves.

But sometimes I've observed behavior that is distressing to me as an African descended person. There have been times that you chocolate flavored GLB peeps have either been too silent in terms of condemning the violence, discrimination and outright faith-based distorted lies aimed at your African descended trans brothers and sisters, or have been willing accomplices in the denigration and demonization of the trans element of the community.

Black GLB community, your trans brothers and sisters are counting on you to do a better job of integrating the 'T' into our subset of the larger GLBT community than the piss poor job over the last 40 years by your Euro descended GLBT counterparts.

African-American cispeople have begun stepping up to the plate to do so. We need you Black GLB peeps to be shining examples to your fellow GLB peeps and our fellow African-Americans in terms of showing by example how to be exceptional allies to your chocolate transbrothers and transsisters.

While there are organizations such as the International Federation of Black Prides and others in various communities across the country that do a wonderful job in making sure we can participate in and have a voice shaping the destiny of the African American GLBT/SGL community, there are some that clearly need to not only step up their game, but do Trans 101 before they embark on that journey.

Black transpeople are ready, willing and capable to do the work on our end as well, but you've got to meet us halfway. By doing so it will be a mutually beneficial situation for all concerned as a stronger African descended subset of the GLBT community..

Black GLB community, because we share a common history of struggle and success as a people, what we need from you more than anything else is love and acceptance.

And I hope and pray that those steps to build a African flavored GLBT community with a thoroughly integrated trans element in it happen sooner rather than later.

Sincerely Yours,
Monica
The TransGriot

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Moni's Moving Edition

Well TransGriot readers, in a few hours I'll be packing my stuff into a moving van (no, it's not from Arizona based U-Haul) and pointing it south on I-65 to begin the 1000 mile journey back to the Lone Star State.

It's been an emotional week already with me saying goodbye to many of the people I met when I arrived here in September 2001, my Edenside church family, and my neighbors.

To add to the drama I passed another birthday on Tuesday.

So while I'm closing one chapter on my life here in Kentucky, I'm starting another one back in Texas. Houston's changed a bit since I left in 2001, and it's going to be an interesting adventure to find out how and in what ways, good, bad and indifferent. And you know once I get settled, you TransGriot readers will be along for the ride.

Now let's get to this week's Shut Up Fool Award.

This week's fool, hands down is Grover Norquist. You can thank him for the massive debts that your local GOP dominated governments have run up with his anti-government anti-tax 'Starve the Beast' crap designed to deprive your government of the funds it needs to operate properly.

The conservahead of the Americans For Taxpayer Reform has said a lot of stupid, headscrating stuff over the years, but this recent one printed in the Sun Myung Moon Yimes 'Inside the Beltway' earned him this week's SUF Award.

He tried to claim that calling the Teabaggers by the name they chose for themselves is the equivalent of the N-word

"This remark is the equivalent of using the 'n' word. It shows contempt for middle America, expressed knowingly, contemptuously, on purpose, and with a smirk. It is indefensible to use this word. The president knows what it means, and his people know what it means. The public thought we reached a new low of incivility during the Clinton administration. Well, the Obama administration has just outdone them,"

You know you white male conservafools dripping in WMP really need to stop showing your ignorance. It's not even light-years close as my sis Renee points out.

There is no word that has the 400 year negative history of chattel slavery and virulent impact as the n-word does. Don't even attempt to try to claim that one does, especially one that privileged white people chose as a label for themselves.

We African descended ones didn't choose or have that option with the n-word..

Grover Norquist, shut the HELL up fool!

African-American Transwoman Suing DC Police For Civil Rights Violations

People are learning the not so nice details about what happened to Autumn Sandeen after she was arrested during an April 30 anti-DADT protest in DC.

Thanks to Queen Emily at Questioning Transphobia we have new information about another case of Po-Po's Gone Wild and harassing a transwoman while under arrest.

Patti Shaw's case was originally talked about in an Amnesty International report 'Stonewalled', detailing the police abuse that LGBT people face.

Now the 44 year old African-American post operative transwoman is suing the District of Columbia, the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Marshal's Service, for $10 million, alleging civil rights violations, assault, battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress in that 2003 case.

Patti's story starts after her purse came up missing and she phoned in a report to the DC Police. She found the purse after filing the report, but ironically was robbed of that purse while taking her dogs out for a walk that evening.

When the DC police finally responded and Shaw told her story, a detective asked her rude questions. Shaw says that several days later, the detective told her "that he did not believe her story and he said that he was going to issue a warrant for her arrest for making a false report to a police officer."

According to Shaw, she was told by the officer to turn herself in to the 6th Precinct "within a couple days or she would be arrested."

Shaw stated she complied with the request and reported to the precinct at 4 AM. When the officers on duty learned her old male name during the intake process, they ignored her legally changed ID identifying her as female and sent her into the men's prison.

During the intake process, Shaw says she was searched by a male marshal in the view of other marshals who made transphobic jokes and used incorrect pronouns about her breasts.

One marshal commenting about Shaw's breasts stated, "those must be implants, because hormones don't make breasts stand up so perky like that."

Another marshal according to Shaw stated about her breasts, "He's the best I've ever seen."

Her nightmare was only beginning. It got worse after she was sent to the holding facility and had to interact with cis male prisoners.

Shaw said that "Several of the men in the holding facility touched her inappropriately, verbally harassed and propositioned her, threatened to punch her if she did not show her breasts and shook their penises at her.

When she asked to be taken to another location to urinate, Shaw was forced "to urinate in a cup in full view of the men in the holding facility."

She says she suffered physical and emotional damages, including stress, anxiety and depression. She's seeking with the help of her attorney Karl-Henri Gauvin $5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

I'm extremely interested in finding out how this police abuse case transpires. Because like Queen Emily, I'm wondering why was she even arrested in the first place unless somebody wanted to inappropriately flex some police power and jack with Shaw for whatever transphobic reason.

H/T Questioning Transphobia

Readers Are Leaders-Except In The GOP

As educator Marva Collins said, "readers are leaders'.

Too bad we have an entire political party and a political movement that doesn't and is defiantly proud of displaying its stupidity every chance they get.

When the front running presidential candidate of the GOP can't tell you in an interview what books, newspapers, or magazines she's read, that's scary.

One of the things that is a hallmark of the modern conservative movement is it's hatred of public education and anyone with an education.

Maybe it's because studies have shown that the more educated a person is, the less likely he or she will be to vote for conservatives, much less be one.

So it's not a surprise that conservatives hate public education. It's not only the great equalizer in terms of upward mobility in American or any society, it's the glue that holds our democracy together.

An educated citizenry can't be propagandized or told lies as easily provided the media does its job and gives us the required info for making the hard solid decisions we need to make for the benefit of the country.

The anti-intellectual attitude coming from the GOP is not only shortsighted, but dangerous to the long term stability of our nation.

Stop Lying Negro GOPers- MLK is NOT A Republican

The sellout Negroes in the National Black Republican Association have been feverishly trying to pimp a lie that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican.

Where do they come up with such delusional feces? But I guess it comes naturally when you hang out in a party that bends and twists historical reality to fit their political philosophy.

Well, time for Moni to have fun debunking this conservalie.

The facts are that the political script was flipped from our current 21st century political paradigm. From Emancipation through most of the 20th century, African-Americans voted for, were active in and supported Republicans because of their progressive civil rights attitudes. The Democrats, thanks to the Dixiecrats and pre-Civil War slavery defenders had racial attitudes similar to 21st century Tea Party members and the modern conservadominated GOP.

The tipping point for African-American support was the 1960 election. Dwight Eisenhower set the high water mark in terms of African American support for a Republican candidate when he garnered 39% of our votes in the 1956 election cycle. To compare and contrast that with the 2008 election cycle, Sen. John McCain only picked up 4% of the African-American vote.

Now let's move on to Dr. King specifically. In 1960 Dr. King was arrested for trespassing during a sit-in and held in Georgia's notorious Reidsville prison.

Fearing for his son's life, Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. (who was a Republican at the time) appealed to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kennedy to secure his release.


When Dr. King was freed, despite the fact that JFK was a lukewarm supporter of civil rights, Daddy King renounced his GOP ties and pledged to deliver 10 million votes to Kennedy. That began the now four decades long support and movement of African-American voters to liberals and the Democratic Party.

President Johnson's later signings of the 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights Acts, the 1965 Voting Rights Acts and other pro-civil rights bills and initiatives continued the momentum of that seismic political shift in addition to the Dixiecrats, racists and conservatives fleeing to the GOP in the wake of the LBJ electoral landslide in 1964.

Now to answer the HDMLKV question-How did the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Vote?

In the 1960 presidential campaign MLK voted for Kennedy, and for Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson four years later. He also publicly repudiated 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and campaigned for LBJ, but saw himself as non-partisan. He criticized LBJ for the Vietnam war just as harshly as he'd done Goldwater in the 1964 campaign.

Hmmm. Voted for Democrats, criticized the GOP candidate and the democratic president. So what do do his colleagues have to say?

"To suggest that Martin could identify with a party that affirms preemptive, predatory war, and whose religious partners hint that God affirms war and favors the rich at the expense of the poor, is to revile Martin," said former SCLC president Rev. Joseph Lowery.

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who marched with King in the 1960s, called the ads an "insult to the legacy and the memory of Martin Luther King Jr." and "an affront to all that he stood for."

MLK biographer and historian Taylor Branch had this to say about the 2008 NBRA billboard that jumped this discussion off in 2008 and about Dr. King.

“He absolutely deplored the Republican Party of Goldwater and Reagan,”

King "never endorsed anybody." He went out of his way to avoid appearing partisan. "The closest King ever came to supporting a candidate openly was (Democratic President Lyndon Baines) Johnson in '64, right after he'd gotten the civil rights bill passed that outlawed segregation. But even then he didn't quite endorsed him," Branch said.

Although King barnstormed for Johnson, he would never allow himself to utter the entirety of a popular chant of the day: "All the way with LBJ."

"He would say 'all the way', but he wouldn't say 'LBJ.'"

Branch also noted that Dr. King, Jr. was indeed friendly with Richard Nixon, who had been a member of the NAACP as vice president in the 1950s.

"He always said that he had a non-partisan, like a prophet's role, not a politician's role, and that he was for justice and it wasn't really black and white and it wasn't Democratic or Republican," said Branch. "He exasperated a lot of the people around him for that reason."

So stop lying Negro conservafools. MLK is NOT a Republican.

Sisters In Solidarity Press Conference

There comes a time as a oppressed minority group member when you finally get fed up with the slings and arrows of soul destroying injustice and disrespect heaped upon you and you're ready to fight back.

That tipping point may just have been reached in Singapore, and as my sis Leona Lo said in her speech opening the press conference, transgender women in Singapore 'will be bullied no more'.

That bullying has led to the foundation of a group called Sisters In Solidarity to address those discrimination issues.

Here's the video from the Singapore press conference I told you loyal TransGriot readers about the other day.

Thanks For The Birthday Greetings Everyone!

Wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone one who showered me with love, cards, cash, a birthday meal, calls, e-mails, blog posts and Facebook birthday greetings.

It's been an emotional week, and having another birthday just added to it.

When I opened the birthday cards from the church and Maureen with the handwritten note inside about how I'd be missed, it set off another round of crying for me.

It really made my day a lot brighter to see the kind words, heartfelt comments, and birthday wishes from old friends and colleagues that in some cases didn't wait until 12:01 AM EST on May 4 to start sending good vibes my way.

As for what transpired today, in addition to picking up my repaired leather skirt, I did take part of the day to have a manicure and pedicure done at my nail shop and say 'happy trails' to everyone there.

Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy schedules and web surfing time to brighten up my birthday.