¡Sobreviviremos!

Queer Latin@s, and other queer folks of color, experience violence and harm all the time. We also survive and thrive despite these efforts to silence us. This tumblelog is a memorial and celebration of both things, respectively.

[sobreviviremos]

Last week I took part in an incredible retreat called Guardian Dead: Ancestor-Led Intellectual Practice. It was an incredible and magical space and time. We all have ancestors, those we share a familial lineage with and those who are soul-ancestors, with whom we share a deep energetic/spirit-based connection with. I have for the longest thought of Sylvia Rivera as one of my soul-ancestors, she inspires me and holds me accountable! So, in honor of the inspiration that retreat had for me, and especially as a blessing for Sylvia, who is still with us all, I offer up these two haikus.

Un testimonio pa' Sylvia

      Brave Mamá-Guardian

      Gone too early, did more than most

      Radical love prophet

Soy Sylvia

      I am, Sylvia

      Divine Mother of street kids

      Hija de Virgen

[sobreviviremos]

Wanted to let folks know about a great book by Dr. Susana Peña titlted ¡Oye loca!: From the Mariel Boatlift to Gay Cuban Miami. There are very few books about TLGBQ Latin@s, and so I wanted to let folks know when something new comes out.

[sobreviviremos]

Signal Boost: TLGBQ Latin@ Research

Volunteer for a Research Study!

Violence/Harm and Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Latina & Latino Experiences

The Purpose

The purpose of this research project is to better understand the experiences of Latin@ transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people who experience harm/violence in their lives because of who they are.  The study seeks to understand what harm/violence people have encountered throughout their life, when and why they have felt safer or affirmed, and their opinions about harm/violence in society.

What You Are Volunteering For?

A confidential, audio recorded three (3) hour interview. A $25.00 VISA gift card will be given to all participants who complete the interview.

Where Is The Interview?

At a safe location the volunteer chooses.

Am I Qualified To Volunteer?

If you can answer “Yes” to all of the following questions, then you are able to volunteer:

1)    Are you of Latin American descent?

2)    Are you transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer?

3)    Have you experienced some type of harm/violence because of who you are?

4)    Are you at least 18 years old?

5)    Do you currently live in the state of Texas?

6)    If an immigrant, have you lived in the United States for at least five (5) years?

This study has been approved by The University of Texas at Austin Institutional Review Board.

If you are interested in volunteering to be interviewed and would like more information, please contact David Glisch-Sánchez by e-mail at [email protected]

¡Participe en un estudio de investigación!

Las experiencias de violencia en las vidas de latinas y latinos transgénero, lesbiana, gay, o bisexual.

Objetivo

El propósito de esta investigación es entender las experiencias de las latinas y los latinos transgénero, lesbiana, gay, o bisexual que han experimentado daño/violencia en sus vidas.  La investigación quiere documentar los tipos de daño/violencia que las personas han experimentado durante toda la vida, cuando y porque han sentido más seguro ó afirmado, y sus opiniones sobre el daño y la violencia que hay en la sociedad.

¿Qué hará Ud. si desea participar en ésta investigación?

Participar en una entrevista que será confidencial y grabado por tres (3) horas. Cada persona que termina la entrevista recibirá una VISA tarjeta de regalo que vale $25.00.

¿Dónde será la entrevista?

En un lugar seguro y privado que el voluntario o la voluntaria prefiera y escoja.

¿Califico yo para el estudio?

Si Ud. contesta con un “Sí” a las siguientes preguntas, puede participar en el estudio:

1)    ¿Tiene Ud. herencia latinoamericana?

2)    ¿Es Ud. transgénero, lesbiana, gay o bisexual?

3)    ¿Ha experimentado Ud. violencia u otro tipo de daño porque ser quien es?

4)    ¿Tiene Ud. a lo menos 18 años?

5)    ¿Vive Ud. en el estado de Texas?

6)    Si es inmigrante, ¿ha vivido Ud. en los Estados Unidos a lo menos 5 años?

Esté proyecto ha sido aprobado por la Comisión de Revisión Institucional de la Universidad de Tejas en Austin.

Si esta Ud. Interesada(o) a participar en la entrevista y desea más información, por favor envie un mensaje a David Glisch-Sánchez por e-mail a [email protected]

Please Re-Blog!

¡Por favor, re-blog!

[fabianromero2013-deactivated201]

dear friends and readers,

i am currently going through a bit of a financial hard time. i am awaiting a check from a gig i did in June for enough money to hold me over until financial aid kicks in but they say it will take weeks to arrive and until then i am down to my last...

[sobreviviremos]

If you have it, please consider donating. Fabian is a great writer and thinker.

[muh-condishuns]

[sobreviviremos]

The difficulty in talking about police violence and harassment is that many people take it personally because they know someone or know someone who know's someone who is a police officer. However, if we put any personal feelings aside and look at the patterns and trends of police agencies, it is quickly apparent that the actual function of law enforcement and police agencies from a sociological perspective is to manage, or in many cases direct, violence and harm, not prevent it.

[sobreviviremos]

This is one of the "major findings" from a joint report of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). The report is called "Supporting and Caring For Our Latino LGBT Youth." The report represents a subset of the overall data HRC collected with regards to LGBT youth.

If you read the 36-page document, you will soon see a theme emerge: Latino communities bad, schools and peers pretty good. Although they never say it explicitly (likely because they know how they would be criticized), there is an implicit conclusion by the authors that TLGBQ Latin@s face their greatest challenges in the communities where they live. They then conclude that schools, especially as it relates to peer attitudes are actually quite positive.  Additionally, when they report responses about schools and peers, they compare TLGBQ Latin@s to non-TLGBQ Latin@s and TLGBQ people of other races, especially white and black TLGBQ youth.  The impression you are left with is that all of these youth are located in similar school environments, namely a multiracial learning environment. Therefore we are left to understand that TLGBQ Latin@s are better off in a multiracial environment (read as "less Latin@") and not in a majority or totally Latin@ community/neighborhood.

The reality however, as most people know (it doesn't take a PhD to know this), schooling environments are incredibly racially segregated.  Although I cannot say with 100% certainty about the specific TLGBQ Latin@ youth surveyed, given the prevalence of segregated schools in American education, it is safe to assume that many, if not the overwhelming majority of TLGBQ Latin@ youth surveyed attend majority or totally Latin@ schools.  This is an incredibly important detail, because the language the authors of the report use make it look like TLGBQ Latin@ youth are unsafe amongst their own racial/ethnic community. In reality, the more accurate story to be told, is that it is a difference that is largely predicated on generational difference. Schools may be better relative to the neighborhoods where the youth live because schools are filled with young people and we know that young people are more affirming (or at least tolerant) of gender and sexual diversity when compared to older generations.

Lastly, and most profoundly, the report never engages a conversation of racism and white supremacy.  The report, and the questionnaire it is based upon, do not consider the racialized experience of TLGBQ Latin@ youth.  They reduce their analysis to simple considerations of sexual and kinda-sorta gender identities.  We have no way of knowing how the responses of these TLGBQ Latin@ youth are also informed by the racism and xenophobia they encounter around them. I'm sure this report was written with the best of intentions, but at the end of the day it reproduces inaccurate information and a denial of the full human experience TLGBQ Latin@ youth are having.

[sobreviviremos]

"Violence is when there is no awareness of our inner soul, that the person next to us is also a sacred soul. It is when we make that decision to use whatever power we have...to injure another soul."

-Maria Elena Martinez, Local Council member, Alma de Mujer

This is one of my favorite definitions of violence that I have received in the many interviews I have done. It is simple and elastic; and by that I mean it is clear and to the point while resisting the impulse to be rigid in the criteria of what is and is not violence.  Many people's own definition of violence, and certainly the definition of violence in the law, creates a very narrow idea of what violence is. The problem then becomes that many people's, many groups' experience of violence and harm because of racism, patriarchy, transphobia, homophobia, class exploitation, xenophobia, and ableism do not get recognized in the many forms they often come. Racist violence does not always come in the form of a lynching. Misogynistic violence does not always manifest in rape. Transphobic and homophobic violence does not always look like street harassment.

Maria Elena Martinez's definition creates a space where we might recognize and acknowledge the many forms of harm a person can encounter.  Whatever language you use: soul, spirit, divine spark, or humanity; Martinez's comment asks us to consider what institutional, group, and individual actions that denies or minimizes a person's or group's sacredness or humanity we may be witness to or participating in. At the very least, her quote asks us to reflect on how we come to define violence and what effect that might have on other folks.

[sobreviviremos]

San Antonio City Council Passes TLGBQ Non-Discrimination Ordinance - Goes Into Effect IMMEDIATELY!

On Thursday, Sept. 5th the San Antonio City Council added language to their local non-discrimination ordinance that outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.  The amendment to the ordinance is meant to provide protections to TLGBQ folks in public accommodations (local businesses) and government programs and services.  What is especially great about the San Antonio ordinance, is that it bans all elected and appointed public officials from discriminating and exhibiting bias towards TLGBQ people (and all other protected groups) in any of their official duties and responsibilities.

It has been a long fight to pass this piece of legislation. Of course, there were recriminations claiming people's religious freedom is being challenged. Additionally, there were some really ugly, but old, trans and gay panic arguments.  Despite this, activists and concerned folks turned out and put pressure where it was needed.  This victory is due to the incredible and persistent work of Latin@/Chican@ TLGB/Queer activists and community folks.  The passage of this ordinance, which could not have passed without Chican@/Latin@ support, is a great testament that Chican@/Latin@ coomunities are any more or less transphobic and homophobic.

With all that being said, government policies/statutes/ordinances are a great tool to have in the arsenal for continued social justice work, BUT they are not the "silver bullet" some wish they were. Often they are not as effective as proponents wish or think they will, and can also have unintended consequences. In the end, I think it is a very good thing that the motion passed, but we have to keep everything in perspective. ¡La lucha sigue! (The fight continues!)

[sobreviviremos]

Rest in Peace/Descanza en paz: Jessie Lopez De La Cruz (1919-2013)

We lost an incredible warrior/activist/mother this past Labor Day. Jessie De La Cruz was a pioneer in the Farm Worker Movement, and a tireless worker for justice, in all its forms, during her long and incredible life. She worked alongside other incredible figures like Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. We owe Jessie Lopez De La Cruz a huge debt and honor the work she did to make concrete improvements in the lives of millions.

It is easy to always focus on the many awful problems that our people encounter. Let us, for at least a moment, be inspired by the life of Jessie Lopez De La Cruz.  Let us be guided by the principles that formed the basis of her work. Let us never forget this amazing mujer!

[labrujamorgan]

This post is so late. Its been sitting in my drafts forever so I’m posting it now. I wrote this right around the Zimmerman verdict.

I am so frustrated. This has been a really intense month. Several of my friends were arrested for the efforts at the capital against the Texas legislature. And...

[sobreviviremos]

Truth and honesty. Always the hallmarks of a great writer.

[turningthevolumedown]

[sobreviviremos]

Marsha P. Johnson was one of our trailblazing trans women as a Stonewall veteran, activist and a co-founder of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera.   Her body was found floating in the Hudson River near the Chelsea Piers after the 1992 Pride March.  The NYPD controversially ruled her death as a suicide over the objections of friends and supporters who states she was not suicidal. It was also anecdotally reported that Marsha was harassed near the sport where her body as later found. Anyone in the trans community could have told them there is more to the story of any transperson’s death, especially in light of the fact we face horrific levels of anti-trans violence aimed at us.  When you are dealing with the death of any tranwoman found under mysterious circumstances as Marsha was then, those foul play angles need to be looked at until they can definitively be ruled out    According to the Village Voice, thanks to the efforts of trans activist Mariah Lopez, the trans daughter of the late Sylvia Rivera,  the Manhattan DA’s office has assigned a person to look into the case of Marsha P. Johnson and find out what really happened to her.   Lopez believes as Sylvia Rivera did at the time that Marsha was murdered.  Lopez is also working to gather support for getting a permanent memorial statue of Marsha placed near the Chelsea Pier. Granted it’s 20 years later, the evidence and trail has grown cold, but it’s worth it to definitively know what really happened to Marsha and the sequence of events that led to her untimely death.

[sobreviviremos]

Despite pioneering research about queer migrants' lives...the majority of accounts of queer migration tend to remain organized around a narrative of movement from repression to freedom, or a heroic journey undertaken in search of liberation...The difficulty arises, though, when the search for "freedom" and new possibilities become the only elements of queer migration that are addressed. When that happens, complex migration processes become reduced to oversimplified dynamics that reinscribe dominant nationalist myths of the United States as a land of freedom and democracy and erase the struggle, suffering, and resistance experienced by subordinated groups. Futhermore, queer migrants' experiences risk becoming appropriated to serve foreign policy objectives, and their subjectivities and histories become represented within colonialist, racist understandings of culture and identity.

Ethne Lubhéid, Introduction, Queer Migrations: Sexuality, U.S. Citizenship, and Border Crossings

[sobreviviremos]

Latin@ leaders and organizations do not want to acknowledge that racism exists among our people, so they have ignored the issue by subscribing to a national origin strategy. This strategy identifies Latin@s as a group comprising different nationalities, thereby creating the false impression that Latin@s live in a color-blind society.

Carlos Flores, "Desde el Mero  Medio: Race Discrimination within the Latin@ Community" in The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States

[sobreviviremos]

CHAVELA VARGAS (1919-2012)

[I know I'm a little late on this one, but I couldn't pass up honoring Chavela Vargas]

Chavela Vargas is a musical legend, especially within the ranchera tradition.  She created and released over 80 albums in a career that spanned over seven decades.  She lived her truth as a woman who challenged gender roles, expressions, and notions of sexuality that should never be taken for granted nor forgotten.  She was also a complex person, who often talked of her own struggles with and eventual overcoming of alcoholism.  We are sad at the news of her death, but oh so grateful that she was with us for so long.  Gracias, Chavela, por todo que Ud. hizo en su vida.  ¡Somos mejor porqué Ud. vivió!

[sobreviviremos]

Sorry for being MIA

Just finished moving to a new city, Atlanta, for the year and had to do some other traveling.  I've missed everyone!

[gabrielarising-blog]

[guava-spellz]

peace-nopales:

Gabriela Rising beat me to it, and clearly 500+ others loved Ernesto’s image too. 

Proud of my love for winning the contest.

gabrielarising:

If only…

This work is called “End Internalized Oppression” by Ernesto Yerena. It was selected as the 2011 Akonadi Foundation Racial Justice Poster.

The Akonadi Foundation sponsors a annual contest to encourage a creative outpouring of posters that reflect people in communities of color, their movements to for social change and their vision for a world without racism.

Check out The Akonadi Foundation

dialogue, unlearn, learn, deconstruct, decolonize ya mind

[lati-negros]

source

William D. Carrigan, 1970- Clive Webb

From: Journal of Social History Volume 37, Number 2, Winter 2003 pp. 411-438 | 10.1353/jsh.2003.0169

Abstract

The lynching of persons of Mexican origin or descent has been largely overlooked by historians of American mob...