Another Trans Woman Killed

*Sigh.* So soon in the wake of Duanna Johnson’s murder; so soon in the wake of feeling joy at the thought of people coming together and helping out their fellow humans, I learn that another trans woman of color has been brutally murdered.

Transgender Day of Remembrance is Wednesday.

I’m too sick and tired for words, but might I add a hearty screw you along with others to the media for refusing to respect her identity and referring to her as a him.

Let’s all send our thoughts to her family and friends.

Update on Duanna Johnson Fundraiser

From the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition

For Immediate Release: Dated November 15, 2008

A Very Special Thank You

Yesterday afternoon, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition issued a special appeal on behalf of the family of Duanna Johnson to help them cover funeral expenses.

In only four hours, nearly two hundred people responded by opening their hearts and their wallets. You donated over $5300 to the fund. We are still counting the final figures, but not only will this cover the costs of the funeral, but all of the remaining money is being given directly to the family to use as they see fit.

We realize your donations will not ease the pain of Duanna’s tragic loss to her family, but you have sent a message to the world that the lives of transgender people matter, and that we appreciate Duanna’s fight for respect.

Words cannot begin to express the heartfelt gratitude of all the members of TTPC who are touched by your incredble generosity.

The link to the Duanna Johnson Funeral Fund on our website is closed now, but if you still wish to make donations, either to Duanna’s family, or to assist TTPC in the work we do to provide a voice for Tennessee’s transgender community, you can still do so through our regular donation page. We will honor all requests to use the money as you designate.

We pledge to continue Duanna’s fight with the same dignity that she showed.

Thank you.

Rest in Peace Duanna.

Marisa Richmond
President

Duanna Johnson Murdered, Please Help

Update: This seems to be a legit way to donate. The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition

If you haven’t heard yet about the murder of Duanna Johnson, it is a tragedy that needs to be exposed and talked about. From Cara at The Curvature:

Less than five months ago, I wrote about Duanna Johnson — a transgender woman who was beaten by Memphis police while handcuffed and in custody. She was sprayed with mace, hit with a closed fist by an officer who wore handcuffs around his knuckles, ignored by medical staff, and called abhorrent transphobic names. Her attack was caught on tape, and Duanna dared to speak out against the violence and injustice that was committed against her. And two officers were rightfully fired, but wrongfully apparently not prosecuted.

Now, Duanna is dead. She was shot, and her body was found lying in the street. Just left there.

Duanna Johnson’s family needs money to help pay for her funeral. If you can, please donate. Reading through this thread, it seems as if there are a lot of complications going on with making donations to this Funeral Home. Some of it seems awfully shady to me. Since I’m posting this late in the evening, I suggest that folks that are interested in donating and helping this family out make a call to the funeral home first thing tomorrow morning and demand that appropriate accommodations are made for this family to pay for their child’s funeral. This is an outrage. We should not let this stand.

The balance for Duanna Johnson’s funeral is $1195 and the funeral home is requiring Mrs. Skinner (Duanna’s mother) to pay it by tomorrow (11/14). The cost is a hardship, so we are asking anyone who can to donate. Please send any donations to:
N.J. Ford and Sons Funeral Home
12 S Parkway W
Memphis, TN 38109

If you want any clarification from NJ Ford, here is their contact number: (901) 948-7755.

Please forward this to as many people as you can!! Thanks!

Links of help and solidarity. Together, we can make a difference (if you’re putting the word out there and helping as you can, let me know in comments and I’ll add you):

Duanna Johnson’s Family Needs Donations

Duanna Johnson’s Family Needs Donations For Funeral

Transgender Abuse Victim Shot To Death

Duanna Johnson, Murdered

Duanna Johnson Needs Money To Pay For Funeral

Pass-Along: Duanna Johnson’s Family Needs Help Paying for Funeral

And Now The Fords Are Involved

Duanna Johnson’s Family Needs Donations For Funeral

I Am a Community Organizer

And I will be blogging on Monday, 8 September, along with blogs such as the The Young Black Profession Guide, The Electronic Village, The Jose Vilson, From My Brown Eyed View, The African American Political Pundit, Springer’s Journal, and Inkognero in honor of the great work that Community Organizers do.

Please join me, and ask your blogging buddies to do so as well. I’m not interested in stories meant to score political points (although I’m pissed at the political cynicism that would attack community organizing). I’m interested in stories about the grassroots, the community organizers out there that are doing their thing via blogs, social networking, real life organizing that doesn’t have a (D) or (R) following it. That’s what I’d love to hear about. Since Community Organizing has been brought into the limelight, I would love to hear how those involved are working for progress and transformation. Progress and transformation from the ground up. So, while a lot of this action day will be political in nature, I’d like to see some posts, comments, whatever springing from my own post that are more focused on grassroots, non-denominational progress.

If that sounds like you, please participate and please leave a link in comments so that others can find you.

Quote of the Day

PortlyDyke, from the always excellent Shakespeare’s Sister, brings it:

Yes, I think that racism, misogyny, and homophobia (and whole bunch of other hatred-based “isms”) are interconnected. Yes, I think that it’s important for me to “connect-the-dots” between these forms of oppression, and understand how they intertwine.

However, I think that if I’m really going to understand that tapestry of hate, and learn how to untangle it — there will be times when I must look carefully, and talk long into the night, about the specific threads which don’t touch me in the same way that they touch others who on the “magical oppression carpet-ride” with me. (Wheee! Are we fucking having fun yet? No. I thought not.)

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today is the 9th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day “to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.”

Hate crimes are on the rise again these days, across the board, and it is important to stand up for those who are victims of these crimes. Across the board. We must remember, for to forget, to ignore, to claim that something is nothing more than a “pet issue” that can be pushed aside for the “more important work” is fatal to anti-oppression work in general. If anyone is oppressed, nay killed because of who they are, we are all still oppressed. Liberation will not come at the expense of anyone.

A sampling of those who need to be remembered right now.

Repose of Rivers
by Hart Crane

The willows carried a slow sound,
A sarabande the wind mowed on the mead.
I could never remember
That seething, steady leveling of the marshes
Till age had brought me to the sea.

Flags, weeds. And remembrance of steep alcoves
Where cypresses shared the noon’s
Tyranny; they drew me into hades almost.
And mammoth turtles climbing sulphur dreams
Yielded, while sun-silt rippled them
Asunder …

How much I would have bartered! the black gorge
And all the singular nestings in the hills
Where beavers learn stitch and tooth.
The pond I entered once and quickly fled—
I remember now its singing willow rim.

And finally, in that memory all things nurse;
After the city that I finally passed
With scalding unguents spread and smoking darts
The monsoon cut across the delta
At gulf gates … There, beyond the dykes

I heard wind flaking sapphire, like this summer,
And willows could not hold more steady sound.