for teish cannon
last week we mourned the passing of duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out.
even after death
they stuff our bodies into boxes
ironing out the creases of our complexities
they use blades, fists
violence
institutions
and blood-tinged spit
to fold us into the faceless other
the soulless
even after death,
they refuse to recognize our names,
our genders, our loved ones.
even after death.
have you no respect?
no i don’t expect anything from you
i know better than that
but if not for who we are
if not for our communities
if not for the mourning families,
at least for the dead?
at least for the dead?
who, with your mocking
your open hatred
your silence,
have taken part in killing?
have you no damn respect?
The day of remembrance is Thursday actually, the 20th. I did a poetry performance following a memorial service.
I find a lot of things problematic about the way in which the Day of Remembrance is typically done. It bothers me that we don’t talk much about race in connection with that day, even though race is a huge part of who gets murdered and who does not. The politics of claiming victimhood also bothers me, particularly as I don’t agree that transgender people are the most likely to be killed because of minority status. Disabled people are.
I and most of the trangender people I know who came out before the age of 20 have been physically attacked because of our gender expressions. I do not personally know anybody who has been murdered. On Sunday at a memorial service, I heard a person I know talking about how she looked at the list of people who had died because they were transgender and how she knew them, and how she was attacked this summer and how any of us could be on that list. It was realer than any of the sermons on solidarity with “brothers and sisters”.
Jonah
18 Nov 08 at 9:38 PM
[...] – mscripchick [...]
three rivers fog » Excerpted
20 Nov 08 at 12:33 PM
thank you for your comment, jonah. damn.
cripchick
20 Nov 08 at 2:19 PM
some other links:
http://takingsteps.blogspot.com/2008/11/quick-and-dead.html
http://questioningtransphobia.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/how-to-mourn/
http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2008/11/ten-years-400-deadand-counting.html
http://www.republicoft.com/2008/11/18/the-death-of-duanna-johnson/
http://nixwilliams.blogspot.com/2008/11/transgender-day-of-remembrance.html
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8339
http://queertoday.ning.com/profiles/blogs/in-memory-of-rita-attend-a
http://thecurvature.com/2008/11/20/transgender-day-of-remembrance-2008/
cripchick
20 Nov 08 at 2:36 PM
[...] cripchick’s weblog [...]
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2008 « bird of paradox
20 Nov 08 at 5:22 PM
Love and peace to all my tranny sisters and brothers!
Pinky Bear
21 Nov 08 at 6:10 AM