WeFight2Live

[wefight2live]

LETTER FROM EYRICKA KING, RECEIVED 11 JULY 2017 ====================================

DEAR --------

HELLO HOW ARE YOU? FINE I HOPE AS FOR ME NOT DOING WELL AT ALL. THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME! SERIOUSLY I GOT BACK TO FRANKLIN ON FRIDAY JUNE 30ᵀᴴ AND I’VE BEEN IN THE BOX SINCE I WAS ATTACKED BY SOME SARGENTS UPON MY ARRIVAL BACK HERE AND THROWN IN THE BOX TO SILENCE ME. HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I GOT BACK TO FRANKLIN THE PUT ME IN A DORM WITH THE SAME GUY (INMATE) WHO TRIED HAVING SEX WITH ME AND WHEN I REFUSED TO HAVE SEX HE SPIT ON ME, YOU REMEMBER WHEN THAT INCIDENT HAPPENED BACK IN APRIL, AND THE PREA DEPUTY MS. SOUTHERS HAD ME MOVED TO A BETTER DORM. OK UPON MY ARRIVAL TO THE DORM THE INMATE CAME TO THE DOOR WITH 3 OTHER INMATES AND THREATENED

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TO ATTACK ME IF I CAME INTO THE HOUSE. SO I IMMEDIATLY TOLD THE OFFICER THAT I COULD NOT LIVE IN THAT DORM AND FOR HIM TO CALL A SARGENT, HE DID JUST THAT. THE SARGENT ARRIVED IN A BLACK VAN WITH 2 OTHER SARGENTS AND HE IMMEDIATLY SAID IT 9:00 AT NIGHT I DON’T FEEL LIKE DEALING WITH THIS PUSSY FAGGOT CUFF HIM NOW THE OTHER SARGENTS THEN BEGAN RUFFING ME UP THEY SLAMMED ME FACE FIRST ON A BRICK WALL LUCKILY NOTHING SEVERE HAPPENED TO MY FACE BUT I WAS SLAMMED SO HARD ONTO THE WALL MY RIGHT BREAST INPLANT SWELLED UP EXTRA BIG AND IS BRUISED THEY BEGAN PUNCHING ME AND SAYING YOU ARE A MAN WHAT IS A FUCKING TRANSGENDER

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I WAS CRYING AND BEGGING FOR THEM TO STOP BEATING ME ONE SARGENT SAID AINT THAT WHAT YOU LIKE YOU LIKE MEN TO MAN HANDLE YOU. THEY THEN THREW ME IN THE BACK OF THE VAN BEAT UP AND STILL CUFFED AND DROVE ME TO THE BOX AND STRIPPED ME NAKED AND THREW ME IN A CELL IVE BEEN IN THE SAME CELL SINCE, THEY ARE DENYING ME MEDICAL TREATMENT IVE BEEN ▦ IN SO MUCH PAIN AND SO OUT OF IT I HAVENT EATEN SINCE FRIDAY MORNING JUNE 30ᵀᴴ. -------- IM SO SCARED I THINK THEY ARE GOING TO REALLY HURT ME AND TRY TO SAY IT WAS A SUICIDE. PLEASE CONTACT EVERYBODY THE NEWS STATIONS CALL THE FACILITY ASK TO SPEAK WITH MS. SAUTHERS AND DEPUTY RONALD FOSTER HAVE -------- AND

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-------- HELP, CONTACT -------- ALSO I NEED OUT OF THE BOX BEFORE IT’S TO LATE I SWEAR -------- I THINK I MIGHT DIE IN HERE PLEASE HELP ME

I WROTE YOU 3 DIFFERENT TIMES SINCE THIS HAPPENED ONLY TO GET THE MAIL RETURNED TO ME SHREDDED UP IN PIECES, THANKS TO ONE GOOD OFFICER THAT CAME TO THE CELL TODAY AND TOLD ME HE SEE’S EVERYTHING THEY DOING TO ME AND THAT HE GOING TO MAKE SURE THIS LETTER GETES MAILED OUT. AGAIN -------- HELP ME DO EVERY AND ANYTHING YOU GUYS CAN TO GET ME OUT OF HERE. F2L IS MY ONLY HOPE.

　　　　　　　　ERICA

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THEY ONLY CARE ONCE YOU HAVE PEOPLE FROM THE OUTSIDE CALL IN. HAVE -------- CONTACT THE COMMISSIONER GUY THAT SHE BEEN SPEAKING WITH. -------- I DONT WANNA BE IN THE BOX I DID NOTHING WRONG HELP ME.

P.S. I PRAY THIS LETTER REACHES YOU.

==================================== Assist by calling these numbers:

Jason Effman…Head PREA person in Albany...518-457-3955 Franklin Correctional Facility: 518 483 6040. (You can ask to talk to Deputy Deb Southers or a sergeant). Office of Special Investigations Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (PREA office)...(518)-457-2653 Office of the Inspector General...[phone]

and demanding that Eyricka be transferred out of Franklin to a facility closer to NYC with protective custody that is *not* solitary confinement. Eyricka's DIN# is 16A4486. If you call, reply to this post or reblog with a summary so that we can know what kind of impact we are having.

[wefight2live]

What You Need to Know About the Case of Bayna-Lekhiem El-Amin

We, the members of F2L Network, write to put forward our own narrative about the events of the past few weeks in regards to Bayna-Lekhiem El-Amin’s sentencing on September 15, 2016 to the media attention around his case, as well as to urge our extended community to show love and support for Bayna-Lekhiem.

We are fighting for Bayna-Lekhiem’s freedom—pushing for an appeal of his sentence, supporting him financially and emotionally while he’s on the inside, and working to correct the racist narrative of his case that the media and New York state prosecutors and judges have perpetuated.

We refuse to be silenced by a racist media that erases Bayna-Lekhiem’s identity and history, fails to acknowledge the community that supports him, and works in collaboration with the legal system.

We will continue to fight for Bayna-Lekhiem El-Amin—to follow his wishes in overturning the popular narrative of his case, to help him stage an appeal of his sentence. We have already gathered over 1,500 signatures on his behalf, and over 20 letters  in support of him.

We will continue to grow, and so will support for Bayna-Lekhiem El-Amin and other queer and trans people of color being targeted by the state.  

The Sentencing

On Thursday, September 15, Bayna-Lekhiem El-Amin was sentenced to nine and seven years for two counts of assault. The sentences will run concurrently, meaning that Bayna-Lekhiem will serve nine years in a maximum security prison, after which he will serve 5 years of post release supervision.

On the day of the sentencing, approximately 30 community members were in the courtroom to support Bayna-Lekhiem. A community member even interrupted Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg requesting to approach the bench and they were immediately surrounded by police and told to sit down at which point they begin to say loudly that no community members were allowed to testify on Bayna-Lehkiem’s behalf. After  handed down the sentence, numerous supporters stood up and shouted “shame on you” and “racist,” protesting Goldberg’s decision. Supporters were soon escorted out of the courtroom by NYPD officers.

This kind of solidarity is unusual; often, the state condemns its victims, overwhelmingly Black and brown, disproportionately queer and gender non-conforming, to prison with scant opportunity for objection. But F2L aims to build communities of resistance that cannot be exploited, tortured, and killed without a fight. If the state refuses to respect our existence, it will have to expect our resistance.

This past week, Bayna-Lekhiem was transferred from Rikers Island to Downstate Correctional Facility, in Fishkill New York.

The Media

In the aftermath of the sentencing, reporters for New York City media outlets continued the use of anti-Black  language in their reporting, as well the erasure of Bayna-Lekhiem’s queerness and of Jonathan Snipes’ and Ethan York-Adam’s role in escalating the encounter. Shayna Jacobs, who writes for the New York Daily News, referred to Bayna-Lekhiem as a “towering terror” and a “remorseless brute” in her article following the sentencing. Aidan Gardner, employed extremely racist bias in his reporting for DNAInfo, claiming that "[a] gay couple was bashed over the head with a wooden chair, knocked to the ground and kicked by two men hurling anti-gay slurs". Antonio Antenucci, referred to Bayna-Lekhiem as “[t]he brute wanted for bashing a gay man over the head with a chair" in The New York Post. Neal Broverman used sarcastic and biased language in The Advocate to describe Bayna’s experience of what happened that night: "El-Amin — who is 6 foot 6 and weighs 280 pounds — claimed he used the chair because the men were attacking him and he feared for his life." By intentionally and repeatedly framing a Black man as a menacing threat to vulnerable white people, the media justified the violence that a nine-year prison sentence represents.

Again and again, Bayna-Lekhiem was held to a standard that Snipes and York-Adams were not — in a Gawker article, the reporter Rich Jozwiak asked why Bayna-Lekhiem’s criminal record was not mentioned in a Village Voice article that sought to offer a counter narrative of the case. Why was Bayna-Lekhiem’s criminal record relevant to the case, while Snipes and York-Adams’ were not? Why was Bayna-Lekhiem charged with assault and denied his queerness in the trial, but Snipes and York-Adams were not, despite admitting they started the fight to the police? Nothing in Bayna-Lehkiem’s past justifies this kind of racist railroading..

Not only did these reporters use racist language throughout their coverage of the trial but they also left out crucial information about the support that actually existed for Bayna-Lehkiem at his sentencing, or failed to mention his supporters entirely., Not one news story reported that the court proceedings had been interrupted by a community member, though there were several reporters and a photographer present. We at F2L know that these reporters go from courtroom to courtroom pumping out stories, nodding at judges, waving at prosecutors, in and out of court buildings, they are allies of the court, and we see them as equally responsible and as key collaborators with a racist criminal justice system.

We are calling on our extended community to call in to these news publications and complain about the anti-Black language being employed in their so-called reporting. These journalists’ racist articles shaped public opinion in New York and likely affected the court’s decision on September 15 to lock up Bayna for nine years for a bar fight he did not start. Details on how to call and complain can be found here.

The Courts and the Law

Numerous eye-witnesses—none of whom were permitted to testify in the trial—have confirmed that Jonathan Snipes and Ethan York-Adams initiated the interaction at Dallas BBQ in May, 2015, approaching Bayna-Lekhiem, hitting him in the face with a purse, and referring to him with racial slurs. Bayna-Lekhiem, who responded in self-defense, immediately fled the scene to seek medical care for his injuries. Neither Snipes nor York-Adams were seriously injured; neither, despite initiating the interaction, were taken into custody or hit with charges.

Though Bayna-Lekhiem was ultimately charged with two counts of assault, the initial accusation that he committed an anti-gay hate crime undoubtedly contributed to the severity of his sentencing. In the aftermath of the 2015 incident, publications like the New York Daily News, Gawker Media, and the Advocate all ran article describing the interaction as a an anti-gay hate crime and leaving out information about Bayna-Lekhiem’s sexuality, as well as his history as a community organizer and educator in New York City Black queer communities, until independent reporting from The G-List Society revealed this information. Two New York City politicians, NY State Senator Brad Hoylman and New York City Councilman Corey Johnson, publicly responded to the encounter as a hate crime, orchestrated a street rally against hate crimes in Chelsea, and made statements such as “our community is clearly not safe,” continuing the mobilization of white gay male “victimhood” against Black queer survival.

We must reiterate that this narrative contributed to Bayna-Lekhiem’s treatment in the NY court system, anti-Black depiction in the media, and the ultimate severity of his sentence.

New York State, led by prosecutor Cy Vance and Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg—uphold and perpetuate a legal and judicial system in which Black people, particularly queer and trans Black people, are perpetrators and criminals, and white people are victims. Bayna-Lekhiem is spending nine years in a maximum security prison because of the racism at the foundation of the New York State legal system and the law in general.  

Ways to support

Donate to Bayna-Lekhiem’s fundraiser

Follow us on social media

Attend our next meeting to plug in to our direct support network

[Portrait of Bayna-Lekhiem El-Amin by Jenny Marks]

[wefight2live]

Two weeks ago, Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin was sentenced to 9 years in prison for self-defense against two racist white gay men. F2L let our rage at Arlene Goldberg's racist-ass sentencing be known (who the fuck hands down a decade prison for a bar fight?!) along with our solidarity with Bayna.

Yesterday, Bayna was transferred to Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, NY. Despite the gloom hanging over our last visit to him, the main message he wanted to get outside was his deep and sincere gratitude to everyone who's shown up for him, whether by donating to his support fund, spreading the word about the injustice he suffered, or packing the court. As we prepare to support him during his sentence (and appeal the bullshit decision), we will be sharing messages from Bayna as well as his address so supporters can write him in solidarity. In the meantime, please share and support his fundraiser here.

love and rage // #FreeBayna, F2L

[wefight2live]

As we mourned the 50 dead and over 50 injured in Orlando, our hearts compelled us also to fight for the living, while the system forces us to fight to live. 

We came together to connect what happened at PULSE in Orlando to the daily lived violence that LGBTQ people of color face in this country. That violence is perpetuated by law enforcement agencies, a criminal justice system designed to police and detain the bodies Black and Indigenous peoples, and from society at large. Recent examples:

On May 5, 2016, Jonathan Snipes, a 33-year-old gay white man, assaulted Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, a 42-year-old gay Black man, at a Dallas BBQ in Chelsea. Snipes, who originally claimed El-Amin had insulted him with homophobic slurs, went up to El-Amin’s table and attacked El-Amin with his purse. Snipes later testified that did not know if El-Amin said any homophobic slurs. El-Amin fought back in an act of self-defense, and when the situation escalated and Snipes threatened with a knife, El-Amin hurled a chair at Snipes and left the restaurant to seek medical attention.

On the night of June 11, 2016, Omar Marteen killed 50 people and injured over 50 more as he opened fire inside of Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. That night the gay club promoted itself as “Latin Night” and featured images of Black and Latina trans women on their promotional flyer. The 29-year-old gunman was eventually shot down by police and killed.

Approximately 10 days ago, Devin Diamond, a 20-year-old Black trans woman, was found dead in a burning car in a New Orleans parking lot. The burning has been confirmed as an act of arson and homicide by an unknown man that left the scene after lighting the car. Diamond is at least the 10th trans person of color to be reported dead this year, the majority of whom are Black trans women.

On June 20th, 2016 a judge in Missouri will respond to an amicus brief filed for Michael Johnson, a 25-year-old Black gay man currently serving more than 30 years in prison on inhumane HIV criminalization charges. In the U.S. and around the world people living with HIV can face prison time just for their status. Most charged and likely to serve time on HIV criminalization charges are Black men.

On June 1, Black Lives Matter Pasadena founder Jasmine Richards was convicted of a “lynching” felony stemming from when she and other activists went to support a black woman being arrested.  

On January 20th, 2016, Edwin Faulkner, 34, and CiCi aka Juan Carlos Martinez-Herrera, 34, were sentenced 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of the murder, kidnapping, and robbery of a sex work client that died during sex. Edwin, an Afro-Latino man, and CiCi, an undocumented transLatina, knew that law enforcement agents and the courts would not believe them so they panicked, "robbed" their client, and fled to Florida where they were later taken into police custody. They are both currently serving their sentence in upstate New York facilities and awaiting an appeal.  Through all of this and more....

We fight to live because there are too many examples of community and state sanctioned violence targeting Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. We know that these incidents are intimately connected, and we are scared for our lives. We know in 2016 that it is our lives that are criminalized, when we survive and when we defend ourselves. We say no to the terrifying normalized policing, surveillance, interpersonal and institutional violence that our communities face.

We fight to live because surveillance culture and the consistent criminalization of queer and trans people of color are the forces that allowed these murders and attacks to happen. The same culture that produced Marteen—an employed security guard under G4S, a transnational military contractor, and an avid supporter of the most militarized police force in the world, the NYPD—also produced El-Amin’s situation, where a Black gay man being assaulted and defending himself against knife attacks from a white gay man in a restaurant brawl can face a cruel and unbelievable 5-15 year sentence in prison. These events tell our communities that our bodies do not matter, that violence is an inescapable reality for people like us, and that even in places branded as “safe” spaces for queer people, like gay nightclubs and the Chelsea district, we are still not safe.

We fight to live because El-Amin’s situation is another account of normalized violence that specifically targets Black queer and trans folks. The media has portrayed a Black gay man’s act of self-defense as a “hate crime” and an act of terror to “gay people.” While the prosecution in El Amin’s case did not charge El Amin with a hate crime, the rhetoric that the media and prosecution used throughout the case was in fact “hate crime” language, completely erasing El Amin’s queerness to “protect” gay white men.

We fight to live because to name the common, accepted portrayal of black masculine bodies as dangerous is a form of violence. It perpetuates the policing, surveillance and punishment of black masculinity.

We fight to live because when one of the largest massacres in recent times happens to queer and trans people of color, self-preservation is necessary and should not lead to incarceration.

We fight to live because the violence that happens to our community is not our faults, it is not "inevitable" or "the way things simply are" and we refuse to take this understanding as our reality.

We fight to live because we are not alone and this fight did not start today. We will not give up until this systems stop detaining and incarcerating our communities. With the same spirit that led Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and other LGBTQ people of color to retaliate against police harassment in the Stonewall Riots—the real origins of Pride month—we refuse to leave Bayna Lekheim El-Amin caged serving an unjustifiably harsh sentence without a fight.

In our fight, we stand with our queer and trans communities, Black, Indigenous and other communities of color, our abolitionist communities, our #BlackLivesMatter family, and we are asking our communities and allies to join us in support of El-Amin through the following: 

1. Pack the court for Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 from 9 am - 12 pm at the New York Supreme Court. RSVP to the event on Facebook and follow our F2L page for any updates!

2. Sign this online petition asking the Judge for leniency at his sentencing by clicking here  

or 

if you have an organizational affiliation then write a letter to Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg asking for her to give Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin the lightest possible sentence. Let her know that the LGBTQ community supports Bayna in being given the lightest possible sentence given all of the facts of the case. This is not an opportunity to dispute the facts of the case as Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin has already been convicted of four felony assault charges. This is an opportunity to ask the Judge to sentence Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin to the lightest possible sentence given the violence Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin will face inside prison as a gay black man and because the time that Bayna is up against is in no way appropriate.

All letters should start with:

The Honorable Arlene Goldberg New York Supreme Court 111 Centre Street NY, NY 10013  

For more info on how to write a letter, and to send your letter, email us at [email protected]. Click here for an example on how to write a judge a letter. Please send letters by August 15th, 2016. They will be printed and brought to court at Bayna-Lehkiem’s sentencing date on September 15th, 2016. Please join us that day to PACK THE COURT!

3. Donate to the fundraiser Supporting Bayna-Lehkiem by clicking here! The funds raised will go to getting Bayna-Lehkiem the things he needs right now.

4. Call Cy Vance’s office today and tell him that the LGBTQ community stands with Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, and against the criminalization of queer and trans people of color, particularly Black queer and trans folks. Call either the liaison for Gay and Lesbian Community at 212 335 9291 or the Community Affairs Unit at 212 335 9082.

We stand with those who lost their lives at PULSE in Orlando by fighting even harder for those we have not lost, those of us who are being targeted.

Let's fight to love together for Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin and for all the queer and trans people of color that find it difficult every day to navigate a world that has marked Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color's bodies as disposable.

This statement was created by a group of friends, lovers, strangers and others June 12 to June 13 in person and online. This is by no means a perfect statement but it is where we are now as a group of trans, queer, lesbian, bisexual, and gay people of color.