Give us our flowers will we're still here, a song by Vita. E. I saw Vita. E. agian at one of the only feminist bookstores left in the U.S. The bookstore is called Women and Children First. They preformed they preformed this song and it brought up a lot for me. My first thought is that all is my trans friends have survived. Most of them have passed the average life expectancy age, which is terrifyingly low. That means that most of my trans friends will get to grow to a ripe old age. Murder, violence, and suicide did not get them. Most of my trans friends are afluente people in their communities and have had community protection. Something all trans people of color deserve but don't get. Meaning we have been giving my trans friends their flowers, but what about everyone else? Why have we deemed these trans lives important, opposed to others. A trans women was recently killed in Chicago. I didn't know her and neither did any of my friends. I began to wonder, with how active I am in the queer community, how I had never seen her face? How none of my friends knew her? Why wasn't she apart of the community? If she was why didn't we know her? We mourned her just the sane as if she had been in of us. But she wasn't. Was it because she was trans or black? We are very segregated in Chicago. This extends to our queer communities. The asians stay together. The Latinx people stay together. Then theirs the black community, which has a community but not a lot of resources where they are. I live by the Latinx community so that is who I hang out with. Never for the years I've been involved have I herd of the murder of a trans Latinx person. We take care of our people, because they have demanded that we do so. We did not do this because we valued our trans people, they valued themselves and made us accountable. That burden shouldn't be on them. We should have valued them from the start. I don't know if the black queer community has started to value their trans people. From the outside looking in, it seems fragmented and there's a lot of infighting. The Asian queer community must be doing something right, because since I've been involved in the queer community I've never herd of the murder of a trans Asian person. Only white and black trans people and I want to know why? What are these communities not doing for their people? What has the greater community, meaning when we all come together, failed at doing for these members? Why can't we get it together? We should give them their flowers, respect, safety, love, and attention while they're still alive! Why didn't I know her? I would have stepped in. I want to know more people and keep them safe. I have never had to do that for my trans friends but I am willing. I have never had to do that for my undocuqueers but I've always been willing. I have never had to stop police brutality but I've been more than willing. I am extremely privileged in that way. We need to use our privilege to help people with less than us. It is our duty when we say we stand in solidarity. Today I am going to a trans liberation protest. When I say I am in solidarity that means I am going to make sure our trans folks get home safe. I am going to ride the train with them making sure that they arrive all the way home safe even if I just met them. I will be doing this because I want to show them someone cares about them while they are alive. To often do we only care when they are dead. We should be outraged at they way many trans women of color are forced to live. We should be doing more knowing that they need more. But we aren't, the only time we show up is only after they have died. It's time to start showing up for the people who started our revolution, the first brick was thrown by a trans black women, like they have always showed up for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment