Not another day of silence!
Just to be clear... i didnt write this, in fact i dont know who did, but i completely agree with it!
Not another day of silence!
It is on this day, November 20th, that we, transgender and transsexual peoples, have claimed for ourselves a day of remembrance. This is a day dedicated to the memory of all those lost to violent acts. Most of us? We are black and brown. Most of us: working class/poor. Most of us: disowned by our families and our communities. All of us: deserving basic human rights to safety, dignity, and freedom.
Yet we know, most of us are unable to gain these human rights. And we know that most of us are unable to walk the street without the possibility of violence and/or death. We know that our beings are scrutinized and attacked constantly, not only by institutonal forces such as state and federal laws, the prison industrial complex, schools, the pigs, and the medical industry (to name only a few), we are also under the scrutiny and attack of our own people, our own families, our own cultures, and circles.
We are your neighbors, we grew up in the same 'hoods as you, we areeducators, we wash your dishes, we are street workers, prostitutes and hustlers, we are youth, we are elders, we are organizers, we are healers, we are in your family: we are your brothers or sisters (or neither), we are your sons and daughters (or neither), we are the ones who hide in the shadows to get home at night and even in the day, we too dedicate our lives to the future and liberation of our communities and we fight for that, we are you...and yet you want to erase us. You deny us our rights , you laugh at us as if we are jokes, you tell us we are disgusting and wrong, you kick us out onto the street, and we wind up locked up...or dead.
Why have our own turned on us? Why have they forgotten that we have always existed since the beginning, and that so many of our traditions, indigenous, honored us and understood our medicine as powerful and sacred? We were accepted into our communities as respectable and valuable. Some still are. Just look at the women of Juchitan. But here and now, what
happened?
And we know in our hearts, the answer is in fact, 514 years of physical, mental and spiritual violence. We know that in the end, the affects of COLONIALISM, white supremacy, male supremacy and heterosexism have brought us here. This violence acted out so frequently upon us, is a taught and learned behavior. Yes, in the end we can blame this systematic oppression for so many of our murders, and for those of us living: ourlifelong struggle.
Yet, in the present, we may not always remain so objective...it is true that, we cannot always see the bigger picture with a knife to our throats, bullets in our bodies, and a million silent onlookers.
And who to protect us but us? We are dying out here and most do not care. At least one of us a month is killed. The police, (pawns of this corrupt government and allies to no one but the white ruling class), do not protect us--at best they ignore us, yet most often arrest us, beat us, rape us and lock us up. One out of every four trans people has been or currently is incarcerated.
The media rarely talks about the murders and rapes on us, only when the number of people calling attention to the ongoings is undeniable, or if it is profitable. When the media does recognize us, it is to dissect our bodies and histories with euro-centric garbage theories and analysis which again and again conclude that this is a mental and social disorder. We are the other. Our lives are not valued, therefore our deaths are not acknowledged.
The laws only speak towards us after years of lobbying, campaigning, and ass-kissing in order to be recognized or, again,when it works in favor of economic advancement. This is, if we have the time and access to knowledge of these laws and rights, which for many, remain inaccessible.
And in fact, there are so many of us, who have not the option to assimilate or to "pass" (aka become supposed "normal and fuctioning" members of society). So many of us are poor, black, brown, 'hood, differently abled, not able to finish school or get jobs and can't be so quick to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" and come up in this capitalist structure... And, really, do we want to? Some do. We do not judge them. We only remind them where we come from. Do not forget us. Continue in this struggle for dignity and liberation.
For those of us unable to "pass" for whatever reasons, whether chosen or unchosen, WE HONOR YOU. We thank you for your bravery and strength in existing. For representing the resistance of a people who will NEVER fit in to this man-created illusion of normality, of "nature" or what WE know in reality to be the confinement and policing of one's body and spirit. We honor you because you have the heart to exist, to keep living, and because you are us.
And to those of us to choose to "pass" for reasons of survival and other reasons of our own, WE HONOR YOU too for your strength and bravery to follow your truth and still, you are resisting. You are changing the future and determining your own direction. You have the heart to exist and keep living. You are us ,too.
And so, because we know who we are, despite what those who hate and attack us may say, we are challenging this current state of things. And we are letting our communities know, that we will no longer be the ones targeted with violence because of ignorance and learned behaviors. We, too, are oppressed and have been colonized. We, too, live under the same attacks of this imperialist system, and WE WILL NO LONGER BE THE UNDERDOG.
You should know, we have been educating ourselves and each other. We are organizing ourselves, out here and inside prison walls, we're getting stronger and we are resillient, we have had enough, it's time get your fuckin' foot off our backs.
On this day, Trans Day of Remembrance, how many will take the time to remember those of us dead, lost, and forgotten? How many less will remember that we are still here too? And that we will never be erased? We know liberation for us has been building and is yet to come. We are taking back our right to live and exist without being policed and brutalized not only
systematically but by our own people. We are no longer asking that you remember us, because you cannot forget us. After all, we are everywhere, look around you a little closer.
We call on all our allies, families and people to back us up, to see us and REPRESENT. We are not dead yet, we have always been here and will continue to exist. And as long as we are here, we will continue to fight for the liberation of ALL of our oppressed peoples. Will you fight for us?
We make no compromises. We are no longer silent.
In the spirit of our ancestors, In the spirit of Sylvia Riviera, Gwen Araujo, all our fallen warriors, and the thousands who remain unnamed...la lucha sigue, the struggle continues!
Not another day of silence!
It is on this day, November 20th, that we, transgender and transsexual peoples, have claimed for ourselves a day of remembrance. This is a day dedicated to the memory of all those lost to violent acts. Most of us? We are black and brown. Most of us: working class/poor. Most of us: disowned by our families and our communities. All of us: deserving basic human rights to safety, dignity, and freedom.
Yet we know, most of us are unable to gain these human rights. And we know that most of us are unable to walk the street without the possibility of violence and/or death. We know that our beings are scrutinized and attacked constantly, not only by institutonal forces such as state and federal laws, the prison industrial complex, schools, the pigs, and the medical industry (to name only a few), we are also under the scrutiny and attack of our own people, our own families, our own cultures, and circles.
We are your neighbors, we grew up in the same 'hoods as you, we areeducators, we wash your dishes, we are street workers, prostitutes and hustlers, we are youth, we are elders, we are organizers, we are healers, we are in your family: we are your brothers or sisters (or neither), we are your sons and daughters (or neither), we are the ones who hide in the shadows to get home at night and even in the day, we too dedicate our lives to the future and liberation of our communities and we fight for that, we are you...and yet you want to erase us. You deny us our rights , you laugh at us as if we are jokes, you tell us we are disgusting and wrong, you kick us out onto the street, and we wind up locked up...or dead.
Why have our own turned on us? Why have they forgotten that we have always existed since the beginning, and that so many of our traditions, indigenous, honored us and understood our medicine as powerful and sacred? We were accepted into our communities as respectable and valuable. Some still are. Just look at the women of Juchitan. But here and now, what
happened?
And we know in our hearts, the answer is in fact, 514 years of physical, mental and spiritual violence. We know that in the end, the affects of COLONIALISM, white supremacy, male supremacy and heterosexism have brought us here. This violence acted out so frequently upon us, is a taught and learned behavior. Yes, in the end we can blame this systematic oppression for so many of our murders, and for those of us living: ourlifelong struggle.
Yet, in the present, we may not always remain so objective...it is true that, we cannot always see the bigger picture with a knife to our throats, bullets in our bodies, and a million silent onlookers.
And who to protect us but us? We are dying out here and most do not care. At least one of us a month is killed. The police, (pawns of this corrupt government and allies to no one but the white ruling class), do not protect us--at best they ignore us, yet most often arrest us, beat us, rape us and lock us up. One out of every four trans people has been or currently is incarcerated.
The media rarely talks about the murders and rapes on us, only when the number of people calling attention to the ongoings is undeniable, or if it is profitable. When the media does recognize us, it is to dissect our bodies and histories with euro-centric garbage theories and analysis which again and again conclude that this is a mental and social disorder. We are the other. Our lives are not valued, therefore our deaths are not acknowledged.
The laws only speak towards us after years of lobbying, campaigning, and ass-kissing in order to be recognized or, again,when it works in favor of economic advancement. This is, if we have the time and access to knowledge of these laws and rights, which for many, remain inaccessible.
And in fact, there are so many of us, who have not the option to assimilate or to "pass" (aka become supposed "normal and fuctioning" members of society). So many of us are poor, black, brown, 'hood, differently abled, not able to finish school or get jobs and can't be so quick to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" and come up in this capitalist structure... And, really, do we want to? Some do. We do not judge them. We only remind them where we come from. Do not forget us. Continue in this struggle for dignity and liberation.
For those of us unable to "pass" for whatever reasons, whether chosen or unchosen, WE HONOR YOU. We thank you for your bravery and strength in existing. For representing the resistance of a people who will NEVER fit in to this man-created illusion of normality, of "nature" or what WE know in reality to be the confinement and policing of one's body and spirit. We honor you because you have the heart to exist, to keep living, and because you are us.
And to those of us to choose to "pass" for reasons of survival and other reasons of our own, WE HONOR YOU too for your strength and bravery to follow your truth and still, you are resisting. You are changing the future and determining your own direction. You have the heart to exist and keep living. You are us ,too.
And so, because we know who we are, despite what those who hate and attack us may say, we are challenging this current state of things. And we are letting our communities know, that we will no longer be the ones targeted with violence because of ignorance and learned behaviors. We, too, are oppressed and have been colonized. We, too, live under the same attacks of this imperialist system, and WE WILL NO LONGER BE THE UNDERDOG.
You should know, we have been educating ourselves and each other. We are organizing ourselves, out here and inside prison walls, we're getting stronger and we are resillient, we have had enough, it's time get your fuckin' foot off our backs.
On this day, Trans Day of Remembrance, how many will take the time to remember those of us dead, lost, and forgotten? How many less will remember that we are still here too? And that we will never be erased? We know liberation for us has been building and is yet to come. We are taking back our right to live and exist without being policed and brutalized not only
systematically but by our own people. We are no longer asking that you remember us, because you cannot forget us. After all, we are everywhere, look around you a little closer.
We call on all our allies, families and people to back us up, to see us and REPRESENT. We are not dead yet, we have always been here and will continue to exist. And as long as we are here, we will continue to fight for the liberation of ALL of our oppressed peoples. Will you fight for us?
We make no compromises. We are no longer silent.
In the spirit of our ancestors, In the spirit of Sylvia Riviera, Gwen Araujo, all our fallen warriors, and the thousands who remain unnamed...la lucha sigue, the struggle continues!