Demanding justice for Black communities
The Black Trans Task Force and Lavender Rights Project are committed to protecting, advocating for, and being in solidarity with Black persons—and, in particular, Black Trans, Non-binary, and/or Gender non-conforming folks who continue to face immense systemic violence. We mourn the losses of Tony McDade, a Black Trans man murdered by police in Tallahassee, FL this week, and Nina Pop, a Black Trans woman murdered in Sikeston, Missouri on May 3.
Data confirms disparities for Black Trans people
The 2015 U.S. Trans Survey demonstrates the disparities that Black Trans, Non-binary, and Gender non-conforming people face across the country. Black respondents reported experiencing homelessness, poverty, violence/assault, and serious psychological distress at higher rates than both the overall survey respondent pool and national statistics about Black communities. The survey also highlights higher rates of police harassment and violence, arrest, and incarceration among Black respondents, with Black Trans women being four times as likely to be incarcerated than the overall respondent pool.
These statistics aren’t just numbers—these are people, experiences, truths. And with rampant anti-Blackness, transmisogynoir, underreporting, and an inherent lack of access to the survey, we can only assume that these numbers are actually higher.
Demanding justice
We demand accountability for the senseless and ongoing murder of Black people—LGBTQ+/SGL and beyond—at the hands of police, intimate partners, abusers of underground economies, and participants of the various forms of systemic violence impacting the Black community.
We challenge the statement released by Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, in which Best states that she has “confidence that something like this would not occur in our city,” and that the Seattle Police Department “should be proud of how [they] provide police services here in Seattle”—meanwhile, Charleena Lyles was killed by Seattle police only a few years ago, and police continue to raid encampments during a global pandemic.
We must fight fiercely against white supremacy, homophobia and transphobia, the deployment and militarization of police forces, and the lack of accountability for the murders of Tony McDade, Nina Pop, and the 10 additional Trans people reported murdered in the U.S. in 2020 thus far, most of which were Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color. This fight actively includes the victims of police violence—such as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd—and people like Ahmaud Arbery who are victims of self-appointed “vigilantes.”
Envisioning a new and better future
As an organization, we are following the lead of grassroots organizers who continue to develop incredible resources for pursuing justice, including the Trans Agenda for Liberation, Transformative Justice, and the 10 Principles of Disability Justice.
Trans Agenda for Liberation
The Trans Agenda for Liberation was created as “a living and loving document” that serves as a “blueprint for liberation for all.” The agenda outlines the following values and visions, which have been abbreviated below:
Black Trans Women and Black Trans Femmes Leading and Living Fiercely: We envision a world where Black Trans folks have equitable access to health care, housing, bodily autonomy, and intergenerational connection.
Beloved Home: We demand a world where Indigenous cultural practices, land and body sovereignty are respected, where Trans people are never forced to leave our homes, and where we have the freedom of movement to seek out our own belonging.
Intergenerational Connection and Lifelong Care: We envision a world where all Trans people are affirmed from the moment of their birth and are empowered as their authentic selves at home, at school, and in public life.
Defining Ourselves: We envision a world where disabled, Deaf, sick, and Mad people are guaranteed complete self-determination and resources to live their fullest lives.
Freedom to Thrive: We envision a world where people in sex work economies have rights and protections, and where sex work is no longer used as a justification for violence and harm.
The full agenda can be found here.
Transformative Justice
While we as an organization continue to utilize systemic change to advocate for our community members, the Lavender Rights Project also supports the call for transformative justice. As is outlined in Generation FIVE’s Transformative Justice Handbook:
Transformative Justice seeks to provide people who experience violence with immediate safety, long-term healing and reparations; to demand that people who have done harm take accountability for their harmful actions, while holding the possibility for their transformation and humanity; and to mobilize communities to shift the oppressive social and systemic conditions that create the context for violence.
Transformative justice pursues community accountability rather than the continuation of the violence inherent to mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex. We are committed to utilizing the tools currently available to us in the pursuit of justice; simultaneously, we are aligning ourselves with the goals and principles of a new and better future through transformative justice, outlined by Generation FIVE, which include:
Safety, healing, and agency for survivors
Accountability and transformation for people who harm
Community action, healing, and accountability
Transformation of the social conditions that perpetuate violence - systems of oppression and exploitation, domination, and state violence
10 Principles of Disability Justice
As shared on Sins Invalid, a disability justice based performance project led by disabled people of color, the ten principles of disability justice are outlined as:
Intersectionality: Ableism, coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid”
Leadership of those most impacted: “We are led by those who most know these systems,” - Aurora Levins Morales
Anti-capitalist politic: In an economy that sees land and humans as components of profit, we are anti-capitalist by the nature of having non-conforming bodies/minds
Commitment to cross-movement organizing: Shifting how social justice movements understand disability and contextualize ableism, disability justice lends itself to politics of alliance
Recognizing wholeness: People have inherent worth outside of commodity relations and capitalist notions of productivity; each person is full of history and life experience
Sustainability: We pace ourselves, individually and collectively, to be sustained long-term; our embodied experiences guide us toward ongoing justice and liberation
Commitment to cross-disability solidarity: We honor the insights and participation of all of our community members, knowing that isolation undermines collective liberation
Interdependence: We meet each others’ needs as we build toward liberation, knowing that state solutions inevitably extend into further control over our lives
Collective access: As brown, black and queer-bodied disabled people we bring flexibility and creative nuance that go beyond able-bodied/minded normativity, to be in community with each other
Collective liberation: No body or mind can be left behind — only moving together can we accomplish the revolution we require
What we can do
Black Trans Task Force
The Black Trans Task Force (BTTF) provides resources for Black Trans people in Seattle-Tacoma in collaboration with community partners in order to broaden safety nets and increase avenues for justice that are typically available for white trans people. BTTF offers a direct services line, housing advocacy, and institutional accountability for Black Trans people.
You can donate to BTTF on the Lavender Rights Project’s Donate page by choosing ‘Black Trans Task Force’ in the dropdown menu under ‘Allocation.’
Lavender Rights Project
Lavender Rights Project staff members are working together to identify and uplift grassroots opportunities and resources to get involved with local and national movements for justice. Our team members are volunteering as legal observers, preparing information and resources for those engaging in protests (including direct representation), and having intentional dialogues about how our work can better align with progressive values of prison abolition and restorative justice.
Get involved
Donate to local and national organizations serving Black, Indigenous, and POC communities (the list below is not exhaustive)
Contribute to crowdfunding initiatives for families of victims
As of the date of this blog post, we did not find any crowdfunding campaigns for Tony McDade or Nina PopBreonna Taylor’s boyfriend for legal funds in fight against Louisville police
George Floyd’s family
Ahmaud Arbery’s family
Contribute to bail funds locally and nationally
Educate yourself about legislation related to police violence through Campaign Zero
Register for legal observer training with the National Lawyers Guild
If you have additional information or resources that you’d like us to include on this page, please submit your information through our form on our Contact page. Thank you.
In solidarity,
the Lavender Rights Project team