POETS FOR BLACK TRANS LIVES
(#POETSFORBLACKTRANSLIVES):
On August 7th The Poetry Vlog (TPV) hosted a fundraiser for the Black Trans Network with a streamed reading on YouTube. Called Poets for Black Trans Lives: An Online Poetry Reading for The Black Trans Network, guest will readers include Chen Chen, Geffrey Davis, Cameron Awkward-Rich, Jane Wong, Qiana Towns, Joshua Burton, Laura Da', and more.
Why we are hosting #poetsforblacktranslives & how you can participate:
Share with #poetsforblacktranslives with your network or share via the Facebook Event:
Event Description:
There has been a huge outpouring of support—financial and otherwise—for organizations fighting for Black lives and against state violence. However, too often when we talk about Black Lives Matter, all Black lives are not centered. That’s especially true when it comes to Black trans people, who are killed and incarcerated at disproportionate rates and don’t feel totally included and represented by the BLM movement. We want to be sure that in this fight, trans people of color—especially Black trans women—receive the support they need.
Therefore, on August 7th, 2020 at 5pm, poets from around the US will come together for an online poetry reading to raise funds for the Black Trans Network, a coalition of organizations from around the globe.
Please join us to show support for trans people of color by attending our reading and donating what you can, even if it’s just $1. Just click on the link below, where you’ll be prompted to donate funds and state why you are giving to this cause. Once you’ve clicked submit, you’ll receive a thank you email with further instructions for how to join us for the virtual reading at 5 pm on August 7th, 2020.
Thank you for your support!
#BLACKTRANSLIVESMATTER #POETSFORBLACTRANSLIVES
***While the fundraiser will be hosted on The Poetry Vlog YouTube Channel, it will not be TPV branded or in any way offer TPV a profit. Stay tuned for more on how you will contribute and our plan for ensuring all profits and benefits go toward the Black Trans Network.
TPV Statement on Black Lives Matter:
The Poetry Vlog (TPV) production, hosting, and distribution team is comprised of white and POC folx who are not part of the Black community. We cannot possibly know the embodied and lived experiences of being Black in America. We bear witness to, stand in solidarity with, and are committed to learning how to better fight in coalition with Black and Indigenous communities.
If you are visiting this site to find and amplify members of our community that are Black, BIPOC, Indigenous, or in any other way would support the #amplifymelanatedvoicesmovement, you will find the to archive in the signature of this statement. Our goal is to not add to anti-racism media blackouts or the ongoing erasure of POC, BIPOC, Black, and Indigenous work on Social Media – work done by many of our community members and featured guests.
As is well documented by many Black and BIPOC activists and scholars – such as Dr. Stephen Gray in this linked article – COVID-19 alone has exacerbated the violent nexus of race and class, disproportionately harming POC and BIPOC communities already under siege by a country whose foundation and structure is racial capitalism (Racial Capitalism is a concept well explained with an outline for revolution by Rachel Cargle in this video here and by Megan Ming Francis linked here).
Our commitment to fight this ongoing systemic violence extends to advocating for defunding the police, whose history is inextricable from racial slavery, a history explained by Dr. Jennifer Cobbina in this link here. We encourage you to watch videos such as this, by Trevor Noah, on this history leading us to “now.”
In addition, with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many more (as written about through this link by Keisha N. Blain), we are called upon to use our energy to stand firm against injustice (learn more through this link to a syllabus specifically addressing white women by Rachel E. Cargle) Further, if on the end of this violence, we are called to take care and be taken care of through structures (such as The Loveland Foundation, linked here).
On top of this systemic and personal violence, the popular rhetorics and threats being made against the POC and BIPOC protestors are unacceptable; so, too, is the trauma and stress non-white communities are experiencing as violence by police and white protestors surfaces throughout the day online, traumatizing even further members of the Black and BIPOC community as they’re seeing and being tagged in videos like Ahmaud’s and George’s murder:
"Seeing these images over and over can result in things like anxiety, fear, anger, worthlessness, humiliation, interpersonal sensitivity, traumatization, feeling triggered — all of these things that we would typically really associate with something like a traumatic disorder," explains psychiatrist Danielle Hairston, the president of the American Psychiatric Association's Black Caucus (link to vote for her as a “Women in White Coats Hero” here).
To honor #amplifymelanatedvoices, #blackouttuesday, and #theshowmustbepaused, we are suspending our usual content. Please click on the hashtags to link to, follow, and learn more by the creators themselves: Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang for #theshowmustbepaused and #blackouttuesday and Alishia McCullough and Jessica Wilson for #amplifymelanatedvoices. At present, these movements are additionally explained in the words of many Black activists, among them Brittany Packnett Cunningham on the account @mspackyetti.
It is important to note that these movements are NOT designed to make people stop speaking out against injustice, as explained by here: @theshowmustbepaused; please do not use the #blacklivesmatter to blackout needed social justice feeds (see @salemmitchell’s post here as an example of why), and please do not use this as a way out of doing important, loud work, as articulated by here by the author of “So You Want to Talk About Race,” Ijeoma Oluo.
Rather, this movement is an opportunity to center first the embodied experiences, voices, and work in the Black community (as discussed by Jessica Wilson, M.D./RD here). They are also a small step forward – awareness – that must lead to deeper, longer-term, systemic change and action (as discussed here by @thahoodalkemist as well as this post and throughout resources curated by Founder of The Great Unlearn, Rachel Cargle).
Finally, to this end: we hope that if you are white or NBPOC, you join us in taking this time to research, reflect, learn, and do better in our social justice coalition work by. If you are white and follow/tag new accounts, please do not DM or ask Black and BIPOC folx to educate you or help you understand; this will add yet more labor and not serve the purpose of this movement.
If you are part of the Black and African American community, as communities are called upon to clarify in this post by @thahoodalkemist: we commit to continuing this amplification work to support Black and BIPOC folx grieving, recovering, connecting with your communities, or doing activism on your own terms and in your own timing. If you would like us to amplify your voice, or if you know a voice we should be amplifying now, please do not hesitate to let us know.
TPV's founding mission is:
"Hope is not just a feeling, but a call to action. And poetry, as always, is already here to meet it."
May collective coalition building and this far overdue momentum bring that hope, and with it, action.
For an ongoing list of crowd-sourced resources and further information, you can click the links below. This is a "living list." We will add to it as we can. If you see things we should fix, replace, or add, please do not hesitate to share with c r g r i m m e r @ the poetry vlog . com.
In solidarity and coalition,
The Poetry Vlog (TPV) Team
C. R. Grimmer (Creator, Project Director)
Kristin Ruopp (Communications and Outreach Coordinator)
Gene Wang (Video Editor and UX Analyst)
Cheryl Wu (UX Designer and Content Editor)
Emily Oomen (Video Editor and Social Media Editor)
Mimi Hoang (UX Designer and Content Editor)
Community archive: www.thepoetryvlog.com/thepoetryvlog
Links cited in statement (in order of appearance):
Dr. Stephen Gray: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/stephen-gray/
Dr. Stephen Gray’s “COVID-19 Puts Structural Racism On Full Display — Will We Finally Do Something to Correct It?”: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/covid-19-puts-structural-racism-on-full-display
Rachel Cargle’s “Public Address on Revolution”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leBPMyQ60HM&feature=youtu.be
Megan Ming Francis’s TEDx Talk, “Let’s Get to the Root of Racial Injustice”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCn72iXO9s&feature=youtu.be
Dr. Jennifer E. Cobbina’s “The Links Between Slavery, Policing, and Racism”: https://www.fromthesquare.org/the-links-between-slavery-policing-and-racism/#.Xtf29ZNKgUE
Trevor Noah’s statements on “George Floyd, Minneapolis Protests, Ahmaud Arbery & Amy Cooper”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c&feature=youtu.be
GoFundMe for the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
Justice for George Floyd: https://www.justiceforbigfloyd.com/
Stand with Breonna Taylor: https://www.standwithbre.com/
Justice for Ahmaud: https://www.runwithmaud.com/
Keisha N. Blain’s “Violence in Minneapolis is rooted in the history of racist policing in America”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/05/30/violence-minneapolis-is-rooted-history-racist-policing-america/
Rachel Cargle’s “Dear White Women,” a curated syllabus: https://072bc434-41d6-41ab-b249-9180c67fb60f.filesusr.com/ugd/5be363_f5d9bdf09e2d4f6eaba09a8c193f5199.pdf
Rachel Cargle’s The Loveland Foundation: https://thelovelandfoundation.org/
Vote for Dr. Danielle Hairston as Hero of the Year: https://womeninwhitecoats.com/project/dr-danielle-hairston/
Alishia McCullough @blackandembodied: https://www.instagram.com/blackandembodied/
Explore #blackouttuesday on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/blackouttuesday/?hl=en
#TheShowMustBePaused Website: https://www.theshowmustbepaused.com/
@TheShowMustBePaused on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshowmustbepaused/?utm_source=ig_embed
Brittany Packnett Cunningham @mspackyetti:https://www.instagram.com/mspackyetti/
Salem Mitchell (@salemmitchell) on not using #blacklivesmatter on blackout posts: https://twitter.com/salemmitchell/status/1267712588537663489?s=20
Ijeoma Olou on continuing to fight for Black liberation: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8fV_cJCzB/
Jessica Wilson’s (@jessicawilson.msrd) post on #amplifymelanatedvoices: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-qEjEpEuw/
Ifasina/Meicka (@thahoodalkemist): https://www.instagram.com/thahoodalkemist/
Ifasina/Meicka (@thahoodalkemist) addressing #blackouttuesday: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8JnD5B4Tw/
Rachel Cargle (@rachel.cargle) on getting involved: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA0YLlonVQ3/
Links for further resources:
Petition to Defund the SPD: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLx0UBq_-FmE6YQPgG2aGSmNOI7_LCjpGiNGH4HSq2nWpGSA/viewform
Defund Seattle Police Template:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pbz-ws1HKMDZjLl6Q0xbrghZ_Jt5ctyn3FaxpZAtE-8/edit?usp=sharing
FREE Anti-Racist Books Provided by the University of Minnesota Press: https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/project-collection/racial-justice
SUPPORT BLACK BUSINESSES
The Ultimate List of Black Owned Farms and Food Gardens: https://unitedblackbooks.org/blogs/news/the-ultimate-list-of-black-owned-farms-food-gardens
Support Black-owned restaurants in Seattle: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/how-to-support-black-owned-restaurants-in-seattle/
Rachel Cargle’s Elizabeth’s Bookshop and Writing Centre: https://bookshop.org/shop/elizabeths
Nikkita Oliver, “Will Seattle Save WA’s Only Black-owned Bookstore?” https://crosscut.com/2019/03/will-seattle-save-was-only-black-owned-bookstore
DONATE $
Seattle Artist Relief Fund Amid COVID-19: https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-artists?member=3847452&utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=p_email+inviteacceptedemailtoteammember
The BLM Freedom Fund: https://blacklivesseattle.org/bail-fund/?fbclid=IwAR0M4DDSwb9483-YR1VGl2Vri_xe5nK0Z3GUq707sVT8kguXOb4rl8znXBg
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/
Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network: https://www.facebook.com/TWOCSolidarityNW/?mc_cid=669d183c0d&mc_eid=289e8884cf
EDUCATION
Emmanuel Acho’s (@thEMANacho) video, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” on what white people can do:
https://twitter.com/thEMANacho/status/1267609472589090816?s=20
Rachel Cargle’s Linktree to Content and Resources:
https://linktr.ee/1thatgotawayy
Rachel Cargle’s Patreon (support her work): https://www.patreon.com/m/1414479/posts?filters[tag]=History%20of%20Race
The Impact of COVID-19 on Communities of Color: https://www.naacpldf.org/covid-19/
*(should add this as hyperlinked tomorrow on the COVID-19/Black communities part)
FREE Anti-Racist Books Provided by the University of Minnesota Press: https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/project-collection/racial-justice
Black Revolutionary Texts Collection: https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/18y0_2wm85L113fVWYdgljq9uuIlmlbl3
ACTION AND PETITIONS
BLM Seattle Protest Safety Guide: https://blacklivesseattle.org/protest-safety-guide/?fbclid=IwAR1h1ZOmRjl9-C4m_P2xpmwFruwve6ioTadP7OnDS0XpvO7CvScOAZDyZ7k
From @nybucketlist: 40 Things You Can Do to Help Right Now: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6CrZQHz-N/
Ways You Can Help: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
Petitions to Sign: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#petitions
Sign the Petition for Justice for Tony McDade: https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-tony-mcdade
The Movement for Black Lives Week of Action (June 1st-7th): https://m4bl.org/week-of-action/
Demand Justice for Tony McDade: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-justice-for-tony-mcdade/thankyou
Decriminalize UW Bothell: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQnB13_UAul_KrqKix7Zn-F8GARlYk0KxqmwrM-3aM-Xw82Q/viewform
SEATTLE PROTEST COVERAGE
@GoldsteinStreet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoldsteinStreet
@evergreenstone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/evergreenstone
Nikkita Oliver on Twitter (@NikkitaOliver): https://twitter.com/NikkitaOliver
Nikkita Oliver on IG (@NikkitaOliver): https://www.instagram.com/nikkitaoliver/?hl=en
Instagram live streams of protests from @future_crystals:
https://www.instagram.com/future_crystals
The Stranger staff have been rotating coverage of protests. Their accounts are:
@jasmynekeimig https://twitter.com/jasmynekeimig
@chaseburnsy https://twitter.com/chaseburnsy
@gramsofgnats https://twitter.com/gramsofgnats
Facebook livestream by Omari Salisbury:
https://www.facebook.com/omarisal
Converge Media: https://twitter.com/WWConverge
