Black & Pink News, Volume 11, Issue 3 - May/June 2020

COLIN LAUREL

black and pink news

art by Marius Mason, courtesy of Certain Days

Volume 11, Issue 3

This is a time like no other than I can remember in my life. Many of us are facing challenges on every level, towards a multitude of our identities at once and we are wondering - when will we have some peace?

But I have been wondering have I ever had peace? I can recall fleeting moments, yes, but, that beautiful sustained space of comfort?

I haven’t felt that since I was a young child.

The experience I underrate most is being vigilant, aware, and ready for the next thing. I can only compare it to the way I felt when I was on the run from the police when I was 18. There are memories I hold of sleeping in cars and trying to hear every movement, feeling my heart shake every time I saw a red light behind me. The panic left after realizing it was just a tow truck. Even on the nights I could afford a hotel room, I slept with one eye open, paying attention to every shadow and sound.

I still feel that way with all of the privilege I hold today.

So when folks are upset about protests - because they want

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the peace to come back - I’ve been asking for Peace to come back since I was 5 years old.

When they wanted the world to go back to normal in the midst of COVID-19 attacking Black bodies everywhere - I asked myself: What is normal exactly?

They want to cry that all lives matter but siblings are being slain in the streets for the world to see on FB Live … and mourn.

Marsha P. Johnson said that the P in her name stood for “Pay It No Mind.” I think that is what Black Queer and Trans folks have had to do to survive this world.

“Pay it no mind” Pretend that people see us as human.

“Pay it no mind” Turn our eyes away from the frightening number of us who are incarcerated, living in poverty or being murdered “Pay it no mind” The hurt and sadness we are wrapped in every day.

our liberation, is to fight for the opportunity to THRIVE. 51 years later we are still holding marches, unrest, and anger much like the night of the Stonewall Riots.

51 years without any relief.

51 years of asking “Why can’t y’all love me?”

51 years of begging BLACK cis/ hetero folks to see us as BLACK lives that matter too…

Fifty One Years Resilience and survival are the ground floor of joy. The act of existing is not what you and I are here for. Our purpose in this world is too great.

So this Pride let us hold the world accountable to our right to thrive. Let us hold ourselves accountable to our right to thrive.

We have had to survive.

I love you all. You are my family. I am your family.

What I think we need to do out of the respect for the life and power of Marsha, Sylvia and so many others who gave for

Dominique Morgan They/Them National Director Black and Pink, Inc.

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In This Issue Pride Wishes From B&P - p5 Ask. Mx. Zephy - p7 Contests & Calls for Submissions - p6-8 Thank You to Trans Black Women -p9 White-Washing - HIV/AIDS Movement - p10-11 Reproductive Justice, Pride and Abolition - p12-13 How To Be An Ally - p14-15 What Is Restorative Justice? p16-17 Reconciling Privilege & Power - p18-20 Pride Recipes - p21 Pride Timeline - p22-23 Update: B&P LA - p24-26 Pride 365 - p29 Games & Coloring p31, 42-45 Letters and Poems From Our Inside Members - p33-41

Cover Image by Colin Laurel, courtesy of Forward Together

Black & Pink News Black & Pink Hotline The hotline phone number is (531) 600-9089. The hotline will be available Sundays, 1-5 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) for certain. You can call at other times, as well, and we will do our best to answer your calls as often as possible. We are sorry that we can only accept prepaid calls at this time.

The purposes of the hotline are: Supportive listening: Being in prison is lonely, as we all know. The hotline is here for supportive listening so you can just talk to someone about what is going on in your life.

Organizing: If there are things going on at your prison—lockdowns, guard harassment, resistance, or anything else that should be shared with the public—we can help spread the word.

We look forward to hearing from you! This is our first attempt at this

May/June 2020 currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the PIC towards LGBTQ people, and we respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing. Black & Pink is proudly a family of people of all races and ethnicities.

About Black & Pink News Since 2007, Black & Pink free world volunteers have pulled together a monthly newspaper, composed primarily of material written by our family’s incarcerated members. In response to letters we receive, we send the newspaper to more prisoners every month! Black & Pink News currently reaches more than 20,000 prisoners!

Disclaimer The ideas and opinions expressed in Black & Pink News are solely

Give us a call! (531) 600-9089 Sundays, 1-5 p.m. EST

so please be patient with us as we work it all out. We will not be able to answer every call, but we will do our best. We apologize to anyone who has been trying to get through to the hotline with no success. We are still working out the system. Thank you for being understanding.

Restrictions: The hotline is not a number to call about the newspaper.

The hotline is not a number to call for sexual or erotic chatting. The hotline is not a number for getting help with your current court case; we are not legal experts.

Statement of Purpose Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison-industrial complex (PIC) is rooted in the experiences of

those of the authors and artists and do not necessarily reflect the views of Black & Pink. Black & Pink makes no representations as to the accuracy of any statements made in Black & Pink News, including but not limited to legal and medical information. Authors and artists bear sole responsibility for their work.

Everything published in Black & Pink News is also on the Internet—it can be seen by anyone with a computer.

By sending art or written work to “Newspaper Submissions,” you are agreeing to have it published in Black & Pink News and on the Internet.

In order to respect our members’ privacy, we publish only first names and state locations. We may edit submissions to fit our anti-oppression values and/or based on our own editing guidelines.

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Andrew Aleman (Afro-Cuban, Queer, Man), Director of Programs, Black & Pink Pride is such a conflictual time of year for me. I would guess that many Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC) feel the same way.

Sometimes I feel like we spend too much time focused on the parades and parties, but Pride is so much more. I often say the phrase, “I can’t be me if I don’t see me.” So, Pride to me is an opportunity to be visible to QTPOC young people, showing that they are not alone and that there are others in the community who look like them. I use it as an opportunity to talk about the people and movements who made it possible for me to be me, including (but not limited to): Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Audre Lorde, Bayard Rustin, Compton’s Cafeteria, StoneWall, and many more.

Nigeena (they/them), Administrative Specialist, Black & Pink Pride to me means pure and unapologetic joy. As someone who has to hide parts of themself in the shadows and cannot fully exist everywhere with all the beautiful colors that make the masterpiece that is me, being able to bring my full self to pride and shine bright with all my identities is so special. Pride is more than just acceptance of LGBTQIA+, it’s the empowerment of all the identities our siblings hold, beyond gender and sexuality. At pride: I am celebrated. I am represented. I am loved. Pride is intersectional. Pride is prison abolition. Pride is liberation. Pride is the refusal to enforce made up borders. Pride is anti capitalist. Pride is access to quality healthcare.

Pride is comprehensive sex ed. Pride is anti patriarchy. Pride is enthusiastic consent. Pride is anti genocide. Pride is independent state recognition from Puerto Rico to Palestine.

Nikola Zaporowski/Niki Zap (disabled, white, Queer, Buddhist, cis Woman) | she hers | Administrative Specialist, Black & Pink Pride, to me, is about knowing & being my true, authentic self, and loving & honoring others as they discover who they are. Pride is creating a space where folx can be safe in their identity, and be safe in changing that identity. Pride is saying, “this is who I am and I love myself,” even if it’s only to the mirror.

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

NEWSLETTER NAMING CONTEST We’ve decided it’s time for a little change around here. For our 15th year, Black & Pink wants to spice things up by giving our newsletter a new name. The newsletter is by and for our Black & Pink Members. So we want to honor our members by letting you help us name it.

Black & Pink will be taking submissions to the newsletter naming contest through the end of September. The people who write the top five names will be given $25.

To submit, please write to Black & Pink, 6223 Maple St. #4600, Omaha, NE, 68104. Write Newsletter Name on the envelope. Please, no more than five name suggestions per envelope.

Our only ask is that there are no curse words or indecent language in the name. We don’t want the newsletter returned to us or banned because the name of it is determined to be inappropriate by a jail or prison We can’t wait to see your ideas!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Calling for Essays, Fiction, Poems, etc. Regarding COVID-19 Inside Prisons and Jails Reliable information about the health and safety conditions that confined people are experiencing in face of COVID-19 is in very short supply. People outside need to hear from the most vital witnesses to current confinement practices.

The Prison Journalism Project is asking anyone who lives in jails or prisons to write about their experience. We’re open to reports of facts and conditions, critical assessments of practices, eulogies for the dead, expressions of distress, historical assessments, etc.

We will also accept various genres: essays, fiction, poems, interviews, etc. We ask that submissions draw on the direct knowledge of authors, avoiding rumor, and that authors respect the privacy wishes of others whenever these are clear. Word limit: 1,500. Our policy is to accept, edit and post - in whole or excerpts - all the testimony we receive unless it is judged to place its authors or others at risk.

Send work via E-mail/Jpay: prisonjourn@psu.edu. Or postal mail: Prison Journalism Project, 2093 Philadelphia Pike #1055, Claymont, DE 19703

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Hey Black & Pink family!

National has certainly been busy the last few months. COVID-19 has changed a lot about our work at Black & Pink. All in good ways of course. A big chunk of it is spent dreaming up ways that we can better support our Inside members. Each and every one of you is in our thoughts any time we do anything at Black & Pink.

We’re all striving for collective liberation. None of us is free until we are all free. COVID-19 has created a lot of uncertainty and stress. We recognize that at National, and we see you. Y’all are not forgotten. Please believe that. We are here for you.

One of our ideas was to create a column in the newsletter so you can have a direct line to National. I want us to chat on a more personal level. We’ll call it “Ask Mx Zephy,” to better reflect my identity. In work spaces, as the Deputy Executive Director

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here at Black & Pink, I go by David. Zephy comes from my chosen name, Zephyr, that I can’t quite use publicly yet.

The system still has me in their clutches, so I am forced to navigate a name I don’t identify with any longer. I find small moments to claim my power, my identity, and my voice for myself.

This column was dreamed up as a way for all of us to have those moments. I won’t be writing this column with my work hat on, most the time anyways, but as one of you, someone who has experienced the trauma of the system.

Think of this as an advice column. I am happy to also answer questions about reentry and what that looks like. Questions asking for some advice on an advocacy request are welcome too. Heads up, I am not a practicing lawyer. However, I know the system pretty well

and can provide some guidance.

Looking for some answers on coping with your gender identity?

Ask away. Curious about restorative and transformative justice? Drop me a note. Want to hear my philosophy on abolition or some advice on navigating conflict? I am all ears. I want to get to know y’all. Each edition of the newsletter, I’ll answer a few questions.

Send your questions to 6223 Maple St. #4600, Omaha, NE, 68104. In the letter, let me know if you want your first name used publicly. On the envelope, write “Ask Mx Zephy” so I can receive it quicker. Also, let me know if this sounds like a good idea.

Looking forward to chatting with you.

In solidarity, Mx. Zephy

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

CALL FOR ARTISTS Sharpen your pencils, uncap your markers and get ready to go. Black & Pink wants you to get creative and help us draw our new home, Lydon House. Interested artists should create a rendering of Lydon (featured above) and mail it to Black & Pink - Lydon Art, 6223 Maple St. #4600, Omaha, NE 68104. The top 10 entries will receive $100 and will be featured in an issue for members to vote on. These drawings will be used in a number of ways but most commonly, to thank those who donate to Black & Pink. Submissions will be accepted through the end of September.

Lydon is the first LGBTQ2S+ housing space in the state of Nebraska! It will be a fixture in Black & Pink’s TRANSitions program, which helps to provide safe housing and support for formerly incarcerated transgender women. Lydon House’s primary role is to serve as a community space for queer and trans people; it will also feature a library and meditation space, as well as room for therapy appointments, and office space for Black & Pink staff. staff.

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A Thank You to Black Trans Women

By Jasmine Tasaki, Executive Director of WeCareTN Thank you Black trans women for your struggle and commitment to live and walk in your truth. Thank you for all of the times that you stood for everyone else and their beliefs.

Thank you for going through the trouble.

The possibilities are endless when you set your mind to any goal. That twinkle in your eye is the sign that you can do whatever you choose. So, thank you for loving unconditionally and letting the world be your muse.

Thank you, sis, for your shade and all the times that you would read. It was the rehearsal for life.

You know it’s way worse in the streets.

Thank you for living out loud, living Black and free. Thank you for showing me how to be me Ooh child! I thank ya for the sacrifices you made, especially for those times you called a spade a spade.

Thank you for crying tears of love, sadness, and joy. Thanks, sister, for the relationships you did not let me destroy. Thank you for navigating me through some of the toughest times in

life. Thank you for giving me happiness and love that doesn’t come with a “price”. Thank you for the fight that you continue to fight. Thank you, sister, for showing the world it is not wrong to be who you are, but that it’s right!

Thank you for your beauty and grace, from the depths of your soul, to your chocolate

face. Thank you for the fullness of your spirit, it is with intentionality that I am always

near it!

Many can’t express the thank you that Black trans women deserve, So let me start the curve.

Thanks for the will to be a beautiful Black trans woman in a time where our sanity, freedom, and future are at risk. Thanks for the spiritual connection that goes back centuries. Thank you for the blood you have shed from senseless acts of rage.

Thank you for protecting me, even from being put in a cage.

Thank you for being as Black and proud as you can be. Did you know you continuously pull the Blackness out of me?

I hope to return the love and strength given to me. Let me be a light as well. I’m going to live my life in truth.

Thank you for your transparency. Seeing you has allowed me to see the greatness in me and realize that I’m a rare.

My reflection is one that I’ve never met .

Thank you, sister, for opening the door. This journey will be great! I will see it through. Thank you trans sisters! I only hope to be like you.

art by Eileen Jimenez, courtesy of amplifier.org

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

White Washing: How The HIV/AIDS Movement Was Coopted

By Tommy Young-Dennis (Nebraska AIDS Project, Omaha, NE) and Pastor Darryl Brown Junior (Charles Drew Health Center, Omaha, NE) “Act up! Fight back! Fight AIDS!” was the 1987 chant of people living with HIV/AIDS along with their family members and friends.

These chants in Washington streets that were intended to demand more government support by way of expedited approval from the FDA for medications to treat HIV, were an echo of the 1969 LGBTQ+ centered chants made in New York streets.

The chants of 1969 were the result of the resistance of a group of queer patrons at the Stonewall Bar after being invaded by NY police in an effort to shut the gay bar down. Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender Black woman is credited with throwing the first brick at police during the raid which incited a riot.

From this resistance, was

Brown queer leaders for their places in these movements.

birthed the first gay pride parade along with festivals of celebration within the queer community, traditions upheld to this day.

The history of Gay Pride along with the history of the HIV/AIDS movement is one that finds its rich roots on the backs of Black/Brown queer individuals; however, that has not always been the popular narrative. Stories of these intersecting histories are often told without celebrating Black/

In his 2015 movie “Stonewall,” Roland Emmerlich’s depiction of the resistance displayed a white man throwing the first brick.

These issues of representation and fact-based story-telling are not isolated to this film.

The name Robert Rayford comes to mind.

While media images in the late 80s and 90s represented cisgender white men sick in hospital beds during the height of the epidemic, research had already demonstrated that a Black (suspected) gay man from St. Louis, MO was the first case of HIV in the United States.

Robert Rayford died in 1969 at the age of 15 and due to several abnormalities, tissue specimens were kept after his

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death. His tissue samples were later tested and the cause of death was linked to HIV.

and representation of those most affected is, at best, counterproductive.

The study on Rayford’s tissue was published in 1988 (after a 1987 test) and was even reported once at an Australian conference in 1999, but the findings were never published in a peer-reviewed medical or scientific journal.

In November 1993, HIV became the leading cause of death for African Americans ages 25-44 and the second leading cause of death for African American women in the same age range. It was not until 1998 that the CDC launched a range of new HIV prevention efforts in Black communities.

It is stories such as Robert Rayford’s that are often used as a footnote in the history of HIV, not being highlighted as often as stories like Ryan White.

Ryan White was a white teen who contracted HIV at age 13 by way of a blood transfusion in response to his condition of hemophilia. He succumbed to HIV in 1990 at the age of 18.

Various things give great reason to uplift Ryan and Robert’s story. Ryan’s mother fought hard for governmental support for individuals living with HIV and she remains involved in HIV work. Ryan’s story is one of youthful diagnosis and death. Robert’s story matters because it gives racial and cultural representation to Black folks that are living with HIV. Robert’s story matters because he represents a community that is disproportionately affected by HIV. The reality is that the uplifting of Ryan’s story while leaving out the stories

These instances of inaction, ignoring, and invalidation are directly linked to the limited mobility in these movements.

Liberation must be for all.

If we are to champion the change desired for the LGBT community, it is imperative that this movement not be white-washed, leaving the needs of the minority groups within the minority group behind.

Perhaps with intention, perhaps by happenstance, indeed by privilege, Black and Brown communities that gave their blood, sweat, and tears to the intersecting HIV/ AIDS movement and LGBTQ+ movement have not been uplifted, celebrated, and documented in ways that their white counterparts have. This has robbed these communities of representation and progress as relates to HIV/AIDS, as well as progress as a Black and Brown people.

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Black and Brown people that are grappling with concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity are in need of publicly platformed images they can at least distantly relate to and glean from.

Individuals living with HIV and navigating the complexities of dating, sexual encounters, employment applications, insurance applications and community stigma need access to education from people that look like them and can identify with their lived experience.

Providing support for leaders in these communities that are doing the work to provide these needed things is imperative for our privileged brothers and sisters. Making space for Black and Brown queer artists, influencers, faith leaders and educators to have platforms to reach their demographic is impactful in a multitude of ways.

Being as much a part of the movements of Black and Brown communities as said communities are a part of the larger LGBTQ+ movement is the work of liberation. Joining in the celebration of the history of queer people of color is equitable. June is a month where both Juneteenth as well as gay pride is celebrated in communities across the U.S. A world where celebration of those historical moments does not have to be strictly divided for the Black queer individual would be harmony at its finest.

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

Reproductive Justice, Pride and Abolition This piece was co-written by Ana Hernandez, Moira Tan, Namaka AuwaeDekker, and Kinjo Kiema. The Young Womxn of Color for Reproductive Justice Leadership Council (YWOC4RJLC) is a group of 14-24 year old young womxn of color organizers who are working to educate, empower, and fight back against issues impacting their community through a reproductive justice lens.

Pride - which started with the Stonewall riots, an anti-police protest - has strayed far from its roots. As a group of queer women of color reproductive justice activists, we think it is particularly important to note how annual Pride celebrations have been coopted for the purposes of the carceral state and sanitized because capitalists have realized they can use Pride and our issues to sell products.

Pride is an event celebrated across the nation and the globe, a time full of color, parades, music, and people, these same things are always portrayed on social media feeds, magazines, and even billboards. In 1969 the thought of commercial ads portraying same-gender couples on national television would have been only a desire—far from reality. 51 years later, it is a reality, but the desire has changed, or more, it feels unfulfilled.

Is an ad of two men in boxer briefs kissing actual validation and acceptance? Does having police march in a local Pride show how the queer community show that we are mainstream and normal?

Black trans womxn were at

the forefront of PRIDE, they were the ones that channeled and initiated frustration into action - yet while Pride has become mainstream, Black trans womxn are murdered at alarming rates, Brown and Black people continue to be massively crowded into prisons, and undocumented people are treated more inhumanely than ever. It seems that the problems of many queer people of color are simply hushed into the darkness to appear “fixed.”

Pride is coopted both by people who want to put people in cages, and people who want to make a profit. Even stores like Victoria’s Secret, a company that explicitly said they would never hire a trans model to wear their lingerie, later, explicitly released rainbow-themed clothes in “honor” of PRIDE. Many corporations have taken part in this rainbow capitalism- many do not care about the collective queer community, but do care about getting their money from us.

We view reproductive justice as a movement that goes beyond reproductive rights - it’s about people’s ability to have children or not if they want to, but beyond

just basic control over our own reproductive systems, it is also about being able to raise those children in healthy and safe environments. We believe that everyone deserves full access to reproductive health care, and that simultaneously, everyone deserves to live in communities that are safe, healthy, and nurturing. Because our movement is beyond just the mainstream reproductive rights movements vision of mainly access to abortion and contraceptives, reproductive justice also includes and intersects with many other political movements for freedom and liberation - like prison abolition and queer liberation.

It is irresponsible to assume that we can be exclusively queer, and exclusively aligned with the carceral state separately, and collectively at the same time. During the earliest days of American prisons, Black and white incarcerated women were separated unlike their male counterparts. Corrections officers of the time asserted that incarcerated Black women (especially those who were openly gay or queer) posed a threat to their wouldbe white cellmates due to their perceived “masculinity

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and insubordination” - an additional layer of overt racial discrimination - leaving a legacy of disdain held by the criminal legal system towards Black women that lasts to this day.

We are both queer AND oppressed by systems that collectively oppress our community and people that are a part of it. Prisons perpetuate the narrative that there are “bad” people and that those same people are disposable and should not be a part of a “free”

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world. But were queer people not seen as “bad” people? Are we not STILL seen as “bad” people or “wrong” people by many?

Tracing back time, to the deep roots of PRIDE that began in June 1969, there is a clear road that was left for us to continue to build. These queer revolutionaries revolted against the police state that deemed them criminals for the simple act of expressing their identities and sexualities. They were choosing to oppose societal norms, create

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their own kind of families and culture that fully celebrated and accepted them. It was not about “following” restrictions or rules, it was about having full autonomy to choose the kind of life they wanted, to live how they wanted, with respect, and most importantly love. For this year’s PRIDE, it is crucial to emphasize the overarching structures that weave carcerality, capitalism, and queerphobia into each other.

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May/June 2020

Black & Pink News

How to Be An Ally

By Tanya Nguyen, B&P NYC Chapter & Board Clerk

My name is Tanya, and I’ve been involved with Black and Pink for six years. I started in the Chicago chapter and am now in the NYC chapter. I’ve also been on the National Board for the last few years.

Thank you for contributing to our organization that is my political home. I’ve learned so much from everyone and from our abolitionist work.

I’m honored to write a piece for our newspaper. The topic is allyship. What is its importance? What does it mean to be an ally to LGBTQ+ people?

For me, LGBTQ+ allyship refers to the idea that people who do not themselves identify as LGBTQ+ (that is, they are cis and/or straight) still support us as a group.

This allied support is helpful because we as LGBTQ+ people have fewer numbers (there are more cis/straight people than there are us) and less recognized power and resources due to histories of queerphobia and transphobia.

art by Shaun Slifer, courtesy of justseeds.org

Happy Pride, everyone!!!

Celebrate yourself and each other. I’m so glad to be in this family with you.

Allies may not have personally vested interests in our struggles, but when they realize that their liberation is bound up with ours (to paraphrase a 1970s Queensland Aboriginal activists group), we have a stronger path toward collective victory on multiple, interconnected issues.

We are coming from many different places and backgrounds, some sheltered, some traumatic, some affirming, some disjointed. All formative. It’s not pragmatic to expect everyone to perfectly think of each other as part of the same group right away, yet it gives into neoliberal fallacies to think we must struggle in isolation.

So, as I learned from reading abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s account of an anti-

prison campaign in California, mutual alliances are strategically useful to build broader and deeper networks of people with alreadyexisting causes that can accomplish more when pulled together. From this starting point, we avoid the false promise of everlasting unity and one-mindedness; we can be realistic in what kinds of organizing and negotiation and conflict resolution we have to do to concretely win.

However, extending allyship based solely on identity can be dangerous. Becoming an ally to someone just because of one aspect of their identity is potentially tokenizing, fetishizing, or ignorant. It would be misguided to think you’re helping LGBTQ+ people by being an ally to Milo Yiannopoulous, who is gay but also a far-right, proTrump racist. Political analysis matters in addition to identity and lived experience. There are also people who as allies give exclusionary support only to those who seem the most like them. For example, think of rich, white, straight people who support only rich, white, married gay men while leaving poor, weirdo queers of color to die. That’s

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bad respectability politics: the idea that you get contingent acceptance and your one “deviance” is “excused” only if you fit into all these other oppressive norms.

Furthermore, the worst “allies” promote themselves instead of the actually marginalized people. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you have encountered people who self-congratulatorily proclaim themselves as an ally to LGBTQ people but don’t put any sacrifice behind their words to make an impact on our conditions. They’re more interested in co-opting our issues to show off how “good” of an activist they are, or they demand you to do all the labor in educating them, or expect you to reward them for minimum decency, or want you to assuage their feelings of guilt and shame.

Even more harmfully, some so-called allies step over actual LGBTQ+ people to try to speak for us and give what they think we need as charity, rather than amplifying our own voices and centering our self-determined needs. Ally shouldn’t be an identity someone can give themselves. It shouldn’t be something they say they are; it should be something they do.

That’s why I’ve found helpful

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the idea of accomplices instead of allies. Some people also prefer the terms comrades, collaborators, or coalition partners.

In thinking about this distinction, I refer to “Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing The Ally Industrial Complex”, a 2014 zine from Indigenous Action Media. The zine rejects “the commodification and exploitation of allyship [that] is a growing trend in the activism industry”, especially in anti-colonial struggles.

“When we fight back or forward, together, becoming complicit in a struggle towards liberation, we are accomplices.” When our very existence as LGBTQ+ has been violently criminalized, it starts to make sense how cis/ straight people who are truly committed to our well-being can become accomplices. We don’t need allies to save us.

We need people to fight at our sides in solidarity for the long term.

I strive to be in solidarity with all fellow LGBTQ+ people, no matter how far outside the mainstream you are, if you are committed to the same values of transformative justice and anti-oppression. As someone who has never been incarcerated, I don’t presume to know what it’s like to be in your position, but I’m here to

listen to your demands, make common enemy of the prisonindustrial complex, learn from my mistakes, and put my time and resources toward abolition and queer liberation.

Whether you frame it as being an ally or an accomplice, I think the most important things are to: Listen to and follow leadership of the people you’re supporting.

Use your own privilege (material resources, safety) to defend against opponents.

Do your own reading and self-education. Apologize and do better when you mess up. Don’t make it all about yourself by seeking constant validation. Be an ally/accomplice in community with others, not as an individual. Think of your work (because it should be work) as in our mutual benefit toward a more just world for all.

Now, what do you think about allyship? We value your thoughts; I by no means hold the authoritative point of view. So please share your opinions!

Please be well, be fab, be YOU. In solidarity, Tanya

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May/June 2020

What is Restorative Justice? Ancestral Practices for Peaceful and Interconnected Living Today by: David Ryan Castro-Harris, Founder, Amplify RJ (Restorative Justice) Restorative Justice (RJ) philosophy and practices have existed throughout human history, but Howard Zehr of Eastern Mennonite University is widely credited for popularizing the term. In his book Changing Lenses, he defined restorative justice as “…a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offence and to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible.”

What Zehr described as an alternative to the criminal legal system is actually a process that all of our ancestors used to resolve conflict. If we go back far enough to the times where our people lived in small tribes, it was important to resolve conflict without throwing someone out of community because that person would either die on their own or cause more harm somewhere else. Losing even one member is a significant loss in a small community. Not only are they someone’s sibling, child, parent, and friend; they were also a significant contributor to the community’s work.

Our ancestors deeply valued

the idea of interconnection because community relationships were so important.

Cultures across the globe express this idea of the unity, oneness, and connectedness between all beings. The Lakota people describe it as “mitakuye oyasin” and the Mayans in modern Mexico and Central America use “in lak’ ech, ala k’in.” Varying peoples in southern Africa call it “ubuntu,” while it is referred to as “kapwa” in the Philippines.

As Howard was doing criminal legal reform work in the late 1970-80’s, he traveled the world looking for alternatives to the rapidly growing carceral system in the United States.

Howard developed most of his understanding of this work from the Maori, the indigenous people of modern New Zealand.

Much like Black, Brown, and indigenous youth make up most of our juvenile justice system, Maori youth make up a majority of New Zealand’s juvenile justice system. When Maori youth are sent to juvenile court, community leaders ask the judge for permission to use their ancestral practices of addressing harm in the community instead of the punitive legal system.

Embodying the value of “kotahitanga,” the Maori word for oneness, the community offers the young person love, support, and guidance in taking responsibility for their actions and for repairing any harm caused to the individual and the community as a whole.

Punitive questions for addressing harm are not considered. What law or rule was broken? Who did it? What punishment do they deserve?

Instead, a restorative approach is used to address root causes of conflict, identify the impact of the harm and the needs of everyone involved, and, finally, repair harm. They ask: What happened and why? Who was affected and how? How can these needs be met and who’s responsibility is it to meet them?

The process meets the needs of the person harmed, the person who caused harm, and others impacted; which leaves the person who caused the initial harm without reason or incentive to repeat their harmful behavior. This accountability process can lead to healing, repaired or strengthened relationships, and accountability (acknowledging harm, taking

Volume 11, Issue 3

responsibility for actions, and changing behavior moving forward.) A punitive approach does none of those things.

So how can we be restorative?

Asking those questions when harm occurs is a start, but we need a foundation of proactive restorative practices.

We must root ourselves in a restorative mindset and values to effectively use these practices (see sidebars for more information). We can live out our ancestors values of interconnection in everyday life by seeking to repair relationships when harm occurs and proactively building and maintaining relationships to prevent future harm.

How do we make these ideas practical? One interaction, one relationship at a time. When harm occurs do you pause to ask “what happened and why” or do you jump to conclusions and assign blame? Do you try to assess and meet the needs of the people involved to prevent future harm, or are you looking to punish, get revenge, and cause more harm? In everyday interactions, are you treating others as if their well-being is connected to yours or only looking out for yourself, no matter the cost to others?

Are you acknowledging the humanity in the other, or are you demanding respect without giving it?

This is different from the way many of us have been taught to live, and it happens one moment at a time. Chinese

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philosopher Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Living this way is a lifetime of work, but it’s been so rewarding for me.

Which part of these restorative ways do you want to step into today?

Restorative Mindset and Values: mindset and values that help guide our actions to be more relationship focused.

7 Core Assumptions** (statements on having a restorative mindset) 1. The True Self in everyone is good, wise, and powerful.

2. The world is profoundly interconnected.

3. All human beings have a deep desire to be in a good relationship.

4. All human beings have gifts, everyone is needed for what they bring.

5. Everything we need to make positive change is already here.

6. Human beings are holistic.

7. We need practices to build habits of living from the core self.

Values: Honoring Indigenous Roots, Interconnection, Equity, Multiple Truths, Respect, Compassion, and Openness are principles that help guide my actions to be more relationship centered. These are some that are helpful to me, not an exclusive list. What are yours? **Adapted from various indigenous and spiritual teachings by Carolyn Boyes Watson and Kay Pranis

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Proactive Restorative Practices: things we do to build and sustain healthy relationships with ourselves and others.

Self-care: making sure you are taking care of your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs. We can’t pour into others if we’re empty. We’ll end up causing more harm than good.

Creating collaborative agreements: getting on the same page with people in your community helps clarify expectations and prevent misunderstandings.

Checking in (with yourself and others): Making sure you know how you and others around you are doing so you can address needs before they go unmet and it turns into a crisis, conflict, and harm.

Communicating for connection: Speaking, listening, and using non-verbal communication (body language, tone, etc.) that will share observations, feelings, and needs, building relationships instead of being judgmental or dismissive.

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May/June 2020

Black & Pink News

Move Up, Move Up: Reconciling Privilege and Power

By David Booth, Deputy Executive Director, Black & Pink

Over the course of my decadelong advocacy and organizing career I have worn a number of hats. Whether it’s an infuriated keyboard warrior too scared to stand on the front lines or an empathic leader sharing lessons on love and redemption, those hats carry a heavy responsibility.

I find myself turning inward a lot lately and asking why do I advocate for the things I do?

Dom calls this your why, and it sits heavy in my spirit.

I have learned countless lessons and acquired valuable knowledge from my fellow reformists and abolitionists.

The lessons have touched on planting seeds to cultivate community care, discovering what resources fertilize that care and which cause wilting, and finding the courage to stop apologizing for blooming. Much of this is steeped in the wisdom of women of color, especially Black women such as Mariame Kaba. These lessons have allowed me to grow from a sad, angry, and lonely queer person who’s experienced the trauma of incarceration to someone who whispers an “I love you” to their reflection. It’s in reflecting on my why for this work that it’s clear.

None of these lessons would have been possible without pausing to make room for other experiences and identities; and allowing criticism to shed more

light.

In learning to share my resources, I came to understand that creating space is mutually beneficial. Experience taught me to check the pulse of the conversation. Who belongs in this space? What identities are being discussed here? Who is dominating the conversation? I learned to listen for murmurs.

Who should be here, but is absent? Why are those identities not in this conversation? Which identities are being erased intentionally or not? It is in the pockets of silence that we find the space that must be expanded to make room for those silenced.

What exactly is this “space”?

Why must it be found? Why must it be expanded?

As a community, we’ve been taught to believe that something is wrong with the identities we carry. That our transness or queerness is unnatural. That Blackness and Brownness is to be feared. That experience with the system implies dangerousness. That the only acceptable way to be is a cis, white, straight, and able-bodied male. We owe it to ourselves to rethink the fable of ideal identity. No one holds either a perfect identity or all the answers for the sum of the

human experience. You exist as beautifully, uniquely you, flaws and all. Space is needed to unpack our complex life experiences and figure out how we move in this world.

As a white, gender unbound person; who presents as a fairly handsome “male” (most of the time), I can’t speak for the experiences of a Black trans woman. I can’t tell them, or inform others on, how they have experienced the world. If I did, it would strip them of their agency.

It would speak over them, and without their permission. It would assert an assumed control over their story. This Black trans woman would then have more obstacles to surmount just to reclaim ownership over their life experiences. Instead of lending a hand up, I would have actively contributed to their oppression and their silence. How can we, as a community, rethink the fable and claim the most authentic version of ourselves if we’re silencing unique perspectives?

We can’t. Privilege is a spectrum and each of our identities adds or subtracts to the power we can wield. We make space by owning the inherent privileges we all carry. Owning is unapologetically stating your privileged experience. There is no shame in the privilege you hold, only in how you choose to

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and sensations are coming up as you listen? Is your mind going off in another direction? Is your face flush or your pulse racing? Why are those emotions triggering this reaction?

If you are someone who tends to listen more and hide your truth, then move up into a space of empowerment. Risk moving out of your comfort zone and speak freely. Let your ideas, thoughts, and opinions be heard. Own the importance of your voice. Pay attention to how you feel as you communicate and the bodily sensations that come with it. Is doubt leading you to lose track of your thoughts or stutter?

Is fear leading you to quickly speak? Work with the emotions that come up. It might be helpful to take a few breaths before you speak and affirm to yourself that you’re a boss bitch. You are in charge of you. No one else.

Shaylanna L (NY) wield it. I am white, middle-class, and educated. I understand the power that privilege has to shift the conversation. I understand my voice and my identity is out loud. By acknowledging the full complexity of my lived experiences, I can invite in silenced voices and silenced identities. Other voices can then be heard, can assume leadership, and willingly allow for their agency not only in the problem, but in the solution.

Oh, that’s cute. But how exactly can this be achieved?

Move up, move up is one of my go-to descriptions for relating to people. Is there a tendency

to speak more or to listen more?

It’s a deceptively simple ask, but it challenges us to think about how we communicate and engage with other people.

The implicit beauty of “move up, move up” is that it encourages us to lean into our vulnerability and grow into a space of learning.

If you are someone who tends to speak out and share, then move up into a space of mindful listening. Pay attention to more than just what the speaker is saying. What does their body say? How about their tone of voice - is it angry, sad, neutral, joyful, etc.? Pay attention to your own thoughts. What emotions

Honestly, this is not easy work.

Interrogating how you show up in a relationship is hard work, it’s soul work. It takes patience, loving kindness, and owning your inherent value as a human. But that growth is necessary work. It grants you the permission to identify your privileges, your ideas about your self-worth, and how the world you live in helped shape those ideas. Every day presents a new opportunity to think about the privileges you hold and how you will choose to wield them.

What’s your move today?

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

Volume 11, Issue 3

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Get Your Snack On: Simple Recipes to Celebrate Pride

Chili Cheese Black Bean Dip •3 cups of chili •1 cup of cheese •Block of cream cheese (if not available, double the cheese) •1 can black beans •Chili powder to taste •Tortilla chips for dipping Boil water in a stinger. Put the chili, beans, and cheese in a bag and tie it off.

Put the bag in the stinger until warm and cheese is melty. Mix in remaining ingredients

If Vegetarian, here is an easy to whip up shareable dip: Black Bean Salsa Dip •1/2 Can Black Beans •1 Cup Salsa •4 Cups Cheese •Block of Cream Cheese (if available, otherwise omit OR add more of top 3 ingredients) Boil water in a stinger. Put the chili, beans, and cheese in a bag and tie it off. Put the bag in the stinger until warm and cheese is melty. Mix in remaining ingredients

notable points in 1958 First gay leather bar opens in the U.S.

The Gold Coast in Chicago is opened by Chuck Renslow. It is widely believed to be the first LGBTQ leather bar in the U.S.

June 28, 1969 Stonewall Riots Begin 1924 First gay rights group is established in the U.S.

The Society for Human Rights is formed in Chicago

by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant.

August 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot

This riot was sparked by years of abuse of San Francisco’s queer community by the cops. A member of SFPD attempted to arrest a member of the queer community and a riot erupted.

1987 Formation of ACT UP

In response to the AIDS epidemic, Larry Kramer called for political action.

ACT UP would go on to host many high profile demonstrations to support those with HIV and AIDS.

1996 Hawaii Upholds Same Sex Marriage

Hawaii becomes the first state to grant same sex couples the same rights to marriage as straight couples

Stonewall is widely believed to be the start of the modern pride movement.

Police attempted to raid the Stonewall Inn, a popular NYC gar bar.

Patrons revolted and began throwing things at police; the event lasted for several hours and was followed by days of rioting

1981 House of Dupree Hosts First Ball

Paris Dupree is widely considered one of the mothers of modern ballroom culture and vogue. Her house, House of Dupree, held its first ball in 1981; Paris is the namesake of popular documentary, “Paris is Burning.”

2005 Black and Pink Is Founded

Jason Lydon founds the prison abolition organization Black and Pink in Boston, Massachusetts

the pride movement June 28, 1970 First Pride March

Activists host the Christopher Street Liberation Day March on the one year anniversary of Stonewall.

At its largest, the march stretched 15 blocks.

1970 Formation of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries

Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson start STAR, an organization designed to support gay, gender non-conforming and transgender individuals. They provided housing, and support in Lower Manhattan.

1973 “Homosexuality” No Longer A Mental Illness The American Psychiatric Association removes “homosexuality” from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

1977 Harvey Milk Elected

1974 Combahee River Collective Forms

Harvey Milk is elected to the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. He is one of the first openly gay elected officials in the history of the US.

A group of Black lesbians form the Combahee River Collective. The group would become one of the first to explore the impacts of intersecting oppressions.

Photo by Tia Smith

2015 Laverne Cox Wins Emmy

In 2015, Laverne Cox wins a Daytime Emmy Award. She becomes the first openly transgender woman to do so.

2015 Legalization of “Same-Sex Unions”

On June 26, 2015, The U.S. Supreme Court makes “same-sex marriage” legal in all 50 states

June 2020 Supreme Court Protects LGBTQIA+ Employment Rights

The Supreme Court rules that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex,” includes LGBTQIA+ employees.

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

A Message About Black and Pink’s Los Angeles Chapter

By Black and Pink National Staff, Black and Pink LA, and Fatima Malika Shabazz

A Message from National on our LA Chapter: Hello Inside Family!

We want to take a moment for clarity and transparency.

In April, some members of our LA Chapter decided, without consensus or input from the full Chapter, to disband and rebrand themselves as an entirely new organization. To be clear, these members were white folks who are not system-impacted.

as an organization. To be clear, the LA Chapter reached out to National on January 31st about conflict in the Chapter. We arranged a call for February 7th and collaborated on a plan to move through the conflict. Their communication on the Chapter conflict went silent after that.

We were all in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as well.

Even though we stepped in for guidance, we also didn’t want to get too involved since we value our Chapters’ independence.

Members of the LA Chapter didn’t once reach out to National staff to let us know this new organization was happening. All at once, there was a new website and new logos. They seem to take some petty pride in designing their “own aesthetic,” but still kept their same followers, supporters, inside members, and audience. National found out about all of this via Instagram rather than a direct, good-faith communication. When asked about their reasoning for this, the members used inflammatory language to support their actions against Brown and Black members of the Chapter, some of whom are formerly incarcerated.

Part of our way forward was National working with them on a document to map out some Chapter structures, including tools for conflict mediation and community agreements. All of this was placed on hold due not only to the COVID-19 pandemic but, also, to our Chapter liaison taking leave of the Chapter for personal reasons. Restorative and transformative practices do not happen overnight but National is figuring out what that looks like for our Chapters. They take time, grace, communication, and accountability. In that spirit, we’ve included these letters from LA Chapter members who are revitalizing the chapter.

We are extremely disheartened by these actions that are against who we are and who we serve

Black & Pink National Staff

In loving solidarity,

A message to our inside members from Black and Pink LA: Peace and Blessings: Hello inside fam, we want you to know that we are praying that you all come through this health crisis in the best of health, and please be aware that we are still in the fight every day to secure your health, safety and freedom.

We are sending you this letter to let you know that there have been some changes to the Black and Pink L.A. Chapter.

In an effort at full disclosure, we will explain. Several months ago, former members left Black and Pink L.A. and created an organization called “Power Blossoms.” In creating this organization, the former members took inside member information with them, and, as a result, there has been a level of confusion with regard to the Power Blossoms association with Black and Pink on both the national and local (Los Angeles) level.

Black and Pink L.A. wants all of our inside members to know that Power Blossoms are not associated with Black and Pink Los Angeles, nor are they associated with Black and Pink National. We also want our inside members to

Volume 11, Issue 3

A message to our inside members from Fatima Malika Shabazz, Black and Pink LA:

know that Black and Pink L.A. is still here for you.

We are in the process of rebuilding our chapter with stronger and more defined leadership roles, as well as a stronger focus on queer and trans people of color as members and in leadership positions. We are also creating stronger and more loyal alliances that will be positioned to provide better outreach services for those members who will be inside for a while longer and those with pending releases.

Our purpose as a local chapter is to be of service to those who are centered in the Los Angeles area, but we are also positioned to be of service on a national level since one of our core members (Ms. Fatima Shabazz) is part of the National LGBT/ HIV Criminal Justice Working Group and a member of the FIP (formerly incarcerated peoples) committee. This is a committee that helps lead the national vision of Black & Pink with the voices of those who have been directly system impacted. Black and Pink L.A. is dedicated to the abolition of the prison industrial complex, however until this happens, we are also dedicated to securing the health, safety and dignity of “all” queer and trans people held in a system designed to denigrate and demoralize those in confinement.

With that said we implore you to be cautious of your dealings with Power Blossoms, if you are a member of, or are considering

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blackandpink.org

Dear Readers:

art by Sarah Rosenblatt, courtesy of amplifier.org

becoming a member of Black and Pink please do not be discouraged by the Black and Pink L.A. growing pains; growing is part of life. We at Black and Pink L.A. have learned some valuable lessons from the recent rift, and we have not let these growing pains deter us from our purpose, to serve our queer and trans brothers and sisters inside and out.

Please know we love you all and will stay in this fight until the prison industrial complex is completely dismantled and all of you are free. More information on Black and Pink Los Angeles will be provided as we progress, but we wanted you to know we are still here and still fighting for you.

With Love and Solidarity, Black and Pink L.A.

It’s been a long time since I have had the time to sit and write an article for Black and Pink, so let me begin by introducing myself to those unfamiliar with me, and reintroduce myself to those who already know me: My name is Fatima Malika Shabazz, formerly incarcerated at both the federal and state levels, and last released November 20, 2019.

I live here in Los Angeles and am the CEO/President of Fatima Speaks LLC. I am also a member of several (6 and counting) political and social advocacy and activist organizations, but one of, if not the most important hats, I wear is as one of the core members of Black and Pink L.A. 2020 has been an interesting year, for most I’m sure. I hope that all of our inside members are being properly taken care of in the midst of this world wide COVID pandemic.

As a formerly incarcerated woman, I have an acute awareness of the deficiencies and inadequacies endured in the Department of Corrections, particularly where medical care and treatment are concerned, and I know these problems affect the incarcerated population across the board.

Page 26 Kaitlyn Radloff courtesy of justseeds.org

There are thousands of topics I could focus on discussing right now, but since it is unlike me to relegate myself to one train of thought, lets see what happens.

What I would like to cover first is a situation that affects Black and Pink at a local level here in Los Angeles.

The result of this dissension was a parting of ways and the creation of another group called

The Power Blossoms.

If you have not gotten it yet you will soon be receiving an insert from Black and Pink L.A. explaining this rift.

What the insert also says (or at least alludes to) is that we would like our inside members to carefully manage any associations with this organization.

From a personal standpoint, I believe at least two of their members to be rather shady.

Mind you we are not opposed to the creation of their organization, we are opposed to what they did to create that group.

In the larger context, Black and Pink L.A. is still here, we may be slightly beaten and a little bloody from the battle, but we are unbeaten and promise to transcend the pettiness and despotic attitudes of former members and under the leadership of myself, Michae (another core member), and several other intelligent, talented and resourceful members, we are in the process of making the Black and Pink L.A. Chapter stronger in all aspects.

May/June 2020

Please believe we are completely dedicated to providing the services you all need as long as we have members with the capacity to contribute to the family for my end, I am devoted to creating and affecting policy changes on the local and state levels, which ties in to my desire to run for public office.

In the meantime, as Black and Pink L.A. begins and continues to transcend into a better chapter, you will be getting word from us periodically on how the rebuilding and restructuring is coming along and what you can expect from us as a chapter here to assist in any way we can.

As my schedule permits I will be reaching out to Black and Pink and submitting more articles addressing whatever is weighing on my heart and mind, but I implore all of our members to exercise caution in your association with the Power Blossomss. On a final note, please know that even during this rebuilding stage, Chapter members are still in this fight in our individual and collective capacities and will continue working hard to defund and dismantle the prison industrial complex.

Expect to hear from me a lot more in the future, in the meantime stay strong and know that I am your soldier for the cause, all day every day.

In solidarity, wisdom, strength and beauty, Fatima Malika Shabazz Black and Pink L.A.

Kaitlynn Radloff, courtesy of justseeds.org

As many of you may (or may not) be aware, we have established a Black and Pink chapter here in Los Angeles, however recently there was some dissension among the ranks. Some of our members became disheartened with some things a couple of core members wanted to do to ostensibly strengthen the chapter and give us a stronger voice in the hall of city (and possibly) state power.

Black & Pink News

Black & Pink Raises More Than $16,000 For Programming Black & Pink raised $16,380 in one day as part of Omaha Gives, an Omaha-based fundraising initiative.

This huge fundraising gain comes on the celebration of the 15th anniversary of Black & Pink which was first founded in 2005. Black & Pink will be using these funds to provide direct support to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people who are LGBTQ+ and/or are living with HIV/AIDS to ensure they have access to foundational needs during this time. Money raised will go to assisting Black & Pink members with COVID-related crises or needs. It will also help to operate Lydon House, a new home in Omaha, Nebraska for trans individuals who are just leaving prison. Additional funds will also be used to help construct an app for Black & Pink’s pen pal program.

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1X 1977 - SD: Leonard Peltier receives 2 life sentences for deaths of 2 FBI agents 1975 - WA: George Jackson Brigade bombs DOC headquarters in support of Walla Walla prisoners

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first quarter

1969 - NYC: Stonewall resistance

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1863: Harriet Tubman’s Combahee River raid 2011 - geronimo ji-jaga dies of a heart attack in Tanzania

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1972 - Angela Davis acquitted of murder & kidnapping charges

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1997 - L.A.: geronimo ji-jaga released after 27 years in prison

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1989 - China: Tiananmen Square massacre

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International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason

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2000 - Kingston, ON: Prison for Women formally closes

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1971 - Classified documents on Vietnam (Pentagon papers) released 1983 - Toronto: Bulldozer prison abolition journal raided by police

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1953 - Ethel & Julius Rosenberg executed by the state

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Juneteenth

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Summer Solstice

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1859 - San Quentin prison: Francisco Lalio leads mass breakout of Chicano & Indian prisoners. 40 escaped & 10 killed

Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada) Father’s Day

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Discovery Day (NFLD)

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St. Jean Baptiste Holiday (QC)

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1975 - Shoot out at Oglala between AIM members and FBI

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1905 - IWW founded

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What is true is that I have traded my freedom and everything I held dear in the free world for a chance at building a new world by resisting the old. I made many, many mistakes and some terrible decisions in that passionate quest. I am humbled by this, but not embittered. Because, if there is dialogue, reflection, and analysis—then perhaps there can be some worthwhile lesson found in my experience that could benefit any resistance movement in its growth. And it is that study of our collective history and legacy of struggle that helps me to see my efforts as a small stream joining that great river of change. brown speaks of this in her book; that we can learn to be like water, ever adapting to conditions and becoming what we need to be to push us forward towards freedom. - Marius Mason

Volume 11, Issue 3

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Pride 365: Celebrating Pride All Year Round

By Patricia T., (MO) Several months ago, you were asked to submit poems/letters describing what Pride means to you. I have read many of your submissions and unsurprisingly, many had thoughts I hadn’t come up with.

pride and sophistication without all the drama. Drama Queens are fun to watch, but tiresome after a while. No one respects a Drama Queen who throws shade to make themselves look better.

Unfortunately, most prisons around the country will not permit us to dress up and publicly pronounce Pride in our community and in ourselves. Far too many prison administrations feel that by permitting any form of Pride festivities, some one may think the administration is somehow endorsing the LGBTQ lifestyle.

So what can we do, how can we demonstrate Pride? In the January/February 2020 edition of our Black and Pink paper I read the best definition of Pride I ever heard. Sean J. (CA) wrote:

Join any self-help groups (A.A., N.A., Gavel Club or Toastmasters, etc.), go to school and the library, educate yourself. Become the go-to person for resources and an understanding ear. Step up, be the one advocating for positive change within your facility. In time people will come to respect how you present yourself, how you are always working for change, not just for the LGBTQ community, but the general prison community as well.

“Pride is about individuality and how that individual sees themselves in the “World Community”. Pride is about self-esteem and allowing one to fulfill their natural role as a fully recognized, loving and worthwhile person...”.

Demonstrating Pride 24/7 inside comes from accepting yourself, presenting yourself to the world well groomed, head held high exuding pride in who you are.

Become the very essence of

We, the LGBTQ Community have a very proud and colorful past! Learn how activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera hustled to open STAR house, a place where youth could receive shelter, food and clothing. Lee Brewster and Bunny Eisenhower led a campaign to decriminalize cross-dressing in New York.

Let’s not forget Miss Major who founded the “Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project” after having served time in Attica. All of these people served time in City, County, State or Federal

Facilities. Activists all, unwilling to let anyone make them feel shame for who they are. I know most everyone has heard of GeoStar (GPS Navigation) and Sirius Satellite Radio, but how many know the creator of both?

Martine Rothblatt a Transgender Woman and the Highest-paid Female Executive in the United States created both GeoStar and Sirius! There are many LGBTQ people who have made an incredible impact on our world. Be one of the educators of that history!

All of these things help build your credibility, and with credibility comes respect. Even someone who dislikes your lifestyle will come to you for advice if the respect is there But it all starts with Pride in yourself, Pride in your community.

Be Proud, Walk Proud, Act Proud and most of all, be Proud of your Brothers and Sisters.

Help pick them up when they stumble, catch them if they fall. Show your community unconditional love always. That is showing Pride 365 from the inside!

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“Throughout history, where there has been oppression there has been resistance. The more effective the resistance, the harsher the repression that follows tends to be. And when this repression inevitably occurs, revolutionaries must rise to the support and defense of their captured comrades.” - From an awesome short video by Burning Books and Page One collective about the history of the Anarchist Black Cross and how to write political prisoners, available at burningbooks.com and pageone.noblogs.org

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2011 - Indefinite hunger strike begins at Pelican Bay & other prisons throughout California

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Canada Day

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2006 - Israeli Defense 2019 - Willem Van Forces begin 33-day 1970 - Young Lords bombing of Beirut & South Spronsen killed by police occupy Lincoln Hospital in at NWDC in Tacoma, WA Lebanon the Bronx

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1848 - Seneca, NY: Women’s rights convention

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new moon

first quarter

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2010 - Marilyn Buck paroled

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2013 - CA: Guards at Corcoran State Prison ignore distress calls & hunger striker Billy ‘Guero’ Sell dies in his cell

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1977 - WA: George Jackson Brigade plants bomb at state capitol 1963 - CA: Soledad prison in support of striking segregated prisoners food strike

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1971 - Terre Haute, IN: Prisoners stage 3-day strike

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Nunavut Day

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1947 - Assata Shakur born

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1978 - NY: Women at Bedford Prison strike to protest beatings & harassment

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Eid-al-Adha

Independence Day (U.S.)

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1990 - Quebec: 500 police attack Mohawks in Kanehsatake

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1981 - New Afrikan Freedom Fighter Day

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1898 - U.S. colonization of Puerto Rico begins

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courtesy of wordmint.com

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FREE SOUTH CAROLINA MOVEMENT SALUTE!!

To you Queen Mama Nehanda/ You embody everything we hope to be, /a Revolutionary of the highest quality.

We have made a warrior spiritual connection/ to you, Mama Nehanda.

With your Blessing,/ we’ll continue the process of eradicating the very same diabolical oppressors/ Who, that intended to cause you harm.

You have passed on to us/ a perfect example/ of what it means to be courageous.

We are propelled forward to victory/ by your Divine Ancestral InnerG. In a never ending reciprocation of Love with you, WE WILL WIN!!

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1979 - California: Veronza Bowers attempts selfliberation from USP Lompoc

NEHANDA LIVES!! NEHANDA LIVES!! MAMA NEHANDA LIVES!! - mxgm.org See updates on page 4.

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full moon

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2009 - Sydney, NS: Donald Marshall Jr. dies

1945 - Hiroshima: U.S. drops atomic bomb, killing approx. 150,000 1990 - UN economic sanctions against Iraq begin

2010 - NY: Marilyn Buck dies of cancer Civic Holiday (Canada, except QC, NFLD)

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1945 - U.S. bombs Nagasaki, Japan, killing approx. 80,000 International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

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last quarter

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1970 - Tombs Prison, NY: Prisoners stage rebellion Prisoners’ Justice Day

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2017 - Charlottesville, VA: Heather Heyer 1999 - U.S.: 11 Puerto killed by fascist driving car Rican political prisoners into crowd of protesters. 2015: ON - Peter Collins 19 others injured. dies in prison granted clemency

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new moon

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1955 - NY: Strike at Comstock prison Discovery Day (Yukon)

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Ashura

2010 - San Juan: Former Puerto Rican PP Lolita Lebrón dies

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1979 - Maliki Shakur Latine arrested

1977 - NY: Napanoch Prison Rebellion against klan guards

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2015: CA - Hugo Pinell killed in prison

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1968 - Ohio Penitentiary: Prisoners take over for 3 days 1985 - OH: Prisoners take over supermax unit to air grievances over radio

1927 - MA: Anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti executed

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1970 - Marin County, CA: Jonathan Jackson, William Christmas & James McClain killed 1999 - Laura Whitehorn during liberation attempt released

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2003 - NY: Black liberation fighter & political prisoner supporter, Safiya Bukhari dies at 53

first quarter

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2003 - Anti-imperialist Kathy Boudin granted parole Al-Hijra (Muharram New Year)

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1971 - San Quentin Prison, CA: George Jackson assassinated by prison guards 1831 - Nat Turner slave rebellion begins

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1989 - BPP founder Huey Newton killed

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1970 - Chicano Moratorium Against the War. 3 killed by LAPD in antiwar protest

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Letters from our Inside Family

Black and Pink Fam, A decade in solitary confinement would crush anyone spiritually and mentally. But, I’ve endured it, isn’t no small accomplishment either. I’ve had many sleepless nights and broken hearted days with endless tears and will never be the same. This place destroys people from the inside out, so much death, corruption and discrimination against LGBTQ inmates.

The administration has tried since I first got placed in prison to teach me that the way that I am is wrong. They are wrong, homophobic/transphobic. I have learned that people hate what they don’t understand. It’s like I’m being punished for the crime I committed and for being part of the LGBTQ community.

I won’t surrender, I am a rainbow warrior in this fight for liberation and equality. I’ve seen the worst of corruption behind these walls, the administration has tried numerous times to hide the truth and harsh realities from the public eyes. People who are incarcerated get treated worse than animals, we are beaten in full shackles and leg restraints and maced because we reach out for help. We try to write grievances and are retaliated against. Dehumanized because I chose to keep it real with who I am and was in the “free world.”

When will this truly be corrected and inmates start being treated with human decency? There is

no rehabilitation here, that type of paperwork is falsified. I’ve just been thrown in a cell for 10 whole years and sat here idle.

If it wasn’t for my brother Chris who is also locked up or my pen pal Nicole, I don’t know where I would be mentally and I don’t even want to think about losing them from my life. My brother Chris is also locked up at a different unit in Arkansas. Keep your head up, Bubba! I love you.

He will be free again one day.

They may separate us but they will never be able to change the fact that we are brothers! We will always be connected by blood. :) (Big Bear Hug!).

And for Nicole, you have shown that the free world isn’t all dark, you are truly my North Star.

You have helped me through the darkest of times I’ve had in solitary. The rest of my family has turned their backs on me, casted me in the lake of murderers, rapists and robbers. But it has only taught me to stand strong in a place where literally no one I’m surrounded by cares nothing about me.

This is Miss Venus W. (AR) against speaking out … crying out … hoping, praying, wishing … someone, somewhere will finally reach out to me and help me and everyone around here who’s going through the same trials and tribulations in confinement. I want to be transferred to another unit. This unit has retaliated against me so much for fighting for justice and my rights here

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in solitary. It angers them that I know so much.

In closing, let me say hello *Miss Candy*, DeeDee, Foxxy Brown, Hernbough, Gucci and every other Queen who has come through these doors and made it out. #FreeVenusFromSolitary In loving memory of Victoria Lanett Williams, 9-11-82 to 106-14 In Struggle and Brickeys.

Miss Venus W. (AR)

Solidarity

Happy New Year BP, Hi, it’s Taheira or TY. This is my third letter to the magazine. I love y’all and your magazine has inspired a queer girl like myself. I want to thank y’all for the holiday cards, they truly lifted my spirits b-cuz prison is tough during these times the most.

I am blessed to be in love with a beautiful woman named Gloria.

This magazine brought me and my sweetheart closer with all its support and useful information.

Our crime brought us together but our love kept us together.

She questions if queer love is right because of her spirituality.

But I believe that man & woman, woman & woman, man & man, God is love and love when done right and healthy is good.

So I would love Gloria to know I love her with my soul and I want to spend eternity with her. Gloria,

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

Letters from our Inside Family

will you marry me?

Sincere Love, Ty H. (NJ) Dear Black and Pink Family, My name is Jessica. I’m a 23 year old trans woman housed in an all-woman prison in California. I have been reading Black and Pink since 2017 and this is my second time writing.

Unfortunately, my first letter has yet to be published.

So I have a question for all of the family, maybe somebody can give me a logical answer kuz I have yet to figure it out. Why is it that in prison, our own people (gays, transgenders, bisexuals and men that “fuck around” and sympathizers) are our own worst enemy? Why do we constantly try to tear each other down?

Why do we try so hard to find reasons to commit violent acts on our own kind? Do we realize that the op is surrounding us and laughing at us kuz we work so hard to harm ourselves that they don’t even have to put in a

lot of effort against us? Why are we doing the oppositions work for them? When are we going to wake up to what is going on and band together?

If we did that in every prison, our numbers and our power would outshine the opposition tremendously. If we cared about each other and protected each other and stood side by side, we would be unstoppable. Yet everywhere I have been, 90% of the family has been harmed by other members of the family and the other 10%, the family just sits

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down and lets it happen.

I honestly feel this has to change. I praise any members of the family that are already doing this. Be an example so others can take notice and follow in their footsteps.

Shout out to my son get down from famous families … I love you and respect the way you fight and push for our survival. Wish more of the family was like you.

Also shout out to my sister in struggle Jennifer. I fucking love you, I wish more of the girls in here pushed like you do. Alright family, I love you all!

Sincerely, Your sister in struggle Jessica Z., (CA)

To all our beautiful, unique, talented and loving family of the Black and Pink community: My name is Eric, *The Queen* amongst my loving gay family here at the ___ Unit. This is the first time that I’ve felt compelled to write something in hopes that this letter, these words, be used to uplift and encourage each and every one of us to continue to stand up for what’s right while educating our heterosexual community that just because our lifestyle may be different or our skin color may not align with theirs, our hearts beat the same and our blood bleeds the same.

All this in hopes that one day, we all may be able to cohabit peacefully. It’s a long, hard road but nonetheless, achievable. I’ve

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read so many of your letters and poetry and some literally have broken my heart.

Alysha from Virginia: your poem titled “Last Little Girl,” I cried. And cried. I used to ask God the same question when my father physically abused me night after night Why God!!!

Why? It was many years later that I finally received clarification and understanding. This may not be the case for your past but my only hope is that this may bring some sense of tranquility to your heart and others out there.

For us all - The LGBT community.

Each and every one of us has experienced pain of some sort.

Others more so. Pain demands to be felt. Pain makes us human.

It’s what we take from our experience and how we use that that truly makes us who we are.

When we endure and persevere from that pain, our hearts will only express the results from that. From pain comes beauty.

Think about that. How could we possibly know joy without ever having met pain? We must endure. Let our past shape us; mold us - but certainly not define us. I love each and every one of you. I may not know you physically - but your letters and poetry help me to create a mental image of sorts.

Shout out to my boys: The Straights Ohio - thanks for keeping my big ass head fresh!!

Red - haha *soft spot* My bff EJ & Shea. Also JD, Red (the Com Guy), Rebel and Irish!!

My family:

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E - your insights and words are valued and remarkable Strawburry - I love you to the moon and back! Girl - your back don’t hurt from walking and sitting so damn stiff. ;) Chase - my baby, I love you.

You’re truly a wonderful friend.

Jay - Loosen up sometimes baby. Life is so fully of hate and seriousness. I love you.

And to all the LGBTQ community at the ___ Unit.

With love, The Queen (TX) “Education is true freedom and ignorance is the chain that binds fools together” by A.M.C. Dear Black and Pink Family, This is your trans sister Miss Atlanta. Although I receive the Black and Pink newsletter, I never respond or write.

But as I sit in this cell, I feel so many moral obligations and a tug at my heart to speak truth to my trans sisters and community as a whole. I just turned 40 and been a preacher’s kid and growing up in the church, I was unable to be me. So I pretended to be a certain way to be accepted by my parents.

In order to be accepted by my siblings and family, I had to pretend and in order to be accepted by my friends and peers, I had to pretend to be a certain way and in the midst of all that pretending in order to gain other people’s acceptance, I lost sight of who I really was.

In 2012 while incarcerated, I made the decision to transition all the way and step out and tell

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the family, church and friends my truth. Now I thought coming out that I would receive a lot of hate, judgment, bullying from the outside world. But in these 7 years, I’ve been locked up, I’ve noticed that most of the lying on each other, backstabbing, sleeping or flirting with other girls men loves from my own trans sisters.

Sadly many of my sisters come from drug-infested, violent, low income, hateful and dangerous environments. Many of my sisters prostituted as a means to provide. So unfortunately, many come to prison and project that same hate and dishonest tactics towards each other.

May/June 2020

Black & Pink News

For seven years I’ve watched trans girls whose bodies are more developed look down and talk down on other trans girls who are just starting their transition.

News flash my trans sisters, it’s not our ass and tits that make us women. My sisters it’s the character we display towards others, how we choose to live in this world that defines who we are.

How can we expect the world to love and accept us and we don’t love and accept one another?

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some loving sisters as well.

But as a whole, we must get it together. You can not pick up this transgender card and continue in negative, foul, evil ways of

living. You don’t just represent yourself, you represent a whole community because society won’t just judge you for your actions, we all will be judged by what you do.

So sister, shine a bright and positive light on us all. Let’s start loving one another and helping each other transition. Respect your sister in her face but also when she is not around. The sisterhood is real but when there is no love inside this LGBTQ community can become a den of demons pretending to be ladies.

In closing, I’d like to say to my daughter Skyler and Zyionna, I love you both. Zyi, you are my source of hope. To my sister Anita, thanks for loving me when I didn’t love myself. Beyonce in MO, Dee Dee, Tee Tee in Atlanta, GA, B, Paris, Peaches, Passion, Shawna, Nina in IL, much love Lanora, I truly love you, Izabella you hold my heart.

Love, Miss Atlanta (IL)

Russell P. (IL)

Dear B&P Fam, I know it’s been a long time since writing or calling ya all! A lot of stuff has occurred. I’ve lost an aunt, broke up with my boyfriend, fought a c/o’s harassment and accusations. My sister had heart surgery and got off drugs. My mama had surgery to reduce her mini seizures and I’m currently fighting in court my parole denial on wrongful use of the laws on juvenile records. I’ve also been building a business plan with the SBDC at the business college

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here in Reno.

I’ve been really thinking a lot about several of my Brothers and Sisters in arms who fight and fight daily for us to be able to stand tall and true. Who were killed for just being themselves.

Who were beaten, spit on and sexually assaulted for being free to express themselves.

How if you look at our strides, and failures through history, we realize that those we stood together as a unit of fairness and pride were the ones who made change happen. We need to place our differences apart and stand shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm and with one voice “WE ARE HERE, WE STAYING AND WE STRONG”

ARE ARE

You may beat, spit, abuse and hate on us but we are not changing for your misguided truth or your misunderstandings of who we are.

Do not let anyone ever say you’re not or you don’t belong cause we all have our fears and we all have each other’s back. So stand up and be heard!

To all my family who have supported me over the years and those who don’t know me, I stand with you always in hand to hand, shoulder to should and arm to arm. Always in the fight for equality for all.

Your brother, Jack P. (NJ)

Hey! Sending shout out to my “Boo” whom is on the ____ Unit in Gatesville.

I met John John when I was housed there and we became best friends and lovers. He always looked out for me including a good friend Bito.

Well, I was shipped to another prison because there was a certain officer whom hated gays, especially Hispanics, and when he seen us cupcaking in the dayroom, I was moved to another pod. Then shipped and received a major case.

I also found out that the office has gone to tell my Boo’s friends that he caught us kissing, so my John John could be viewed differently amongst his peers of so called “homeboys” from da city.

So I decided to write to encourage any one who has gone through this to now allow other people’s hatred to keep you from doing

Abigail W. (IL) what you want to do.

Haters are going to hate. But lovers are going to love and overcome the hate.

I most of all want to tell my baby John John - I’m proud of you for representing that rainbow blast - I love you! And I hope you continue to stay who you are. I miss you - and you remain in my thoughts.

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I love you again - and all the praise to the staff of Black & Pink for always flying that rainbow flag Love, yours truly, Brown Sugar (TX) What it do B&P Fam! :) Well this is my first time ever writing to my B&P folks. Wow, my courage has got 1000% brighter.

And I am proud to be a Bi guy. I am 37 and I’ve come a long way.

The only person that don’t know is my man. I’m not sure how to let her know.

I really need some help family.

How should I go about letting her know? I only have 9 months left of 32 months. I don’t care about anybody else knowing I’m gay. The only person I’m worried about knowing is my mother just based on I only have one mom and I don’t want her out of my life. Just based on she might flip on me. Someone, please help me One love B&P Fam! Williams AKA GQ (CA)

Dear B&P Family, Greetings and love to everyone, It’s your favorite Irish Rose here.

In the October 2019 issues, Shelby K. wrote asking for help with trans info. I believe I can help with this matter.

1. To Obtain HRT (hormone replacement therapy), it will be a big drawn out fight. I myself

Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

fought for four years between three different units before I was diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria (which is the first step).

Then waited for three months to see the transgender committee.

You’ll have to write Bob Parker at Central Records/Pine Bluff using a request form. When you are seen by them, be as precise about your need to be known as transgender and as well informed as you can be about everything involved.

(ADC Director) herself when she told me about it.

2. Real life experience means that you would have to live openly as transgender for at least a year before starting HRT in some cases, or a year (sometimes longer) before GRS (gender reassignment surgery) in all cases.

The addresses for advocates are as follows: ACLU, 89 Market St., Newark, NJ 07102; Midwest Trans Prisoner Pen Pal Project, ℅ Boneshaker Books, 2002 23rd Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404 (ask for book “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves”); Transgender Law Center, 1629 Telegraph Ave. Suite 400, Oakland, CA 94612; Sylvia Rivera Law Project, 147 W. 24th St., 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011.

3. For standards of care, there are several places you can write to (which I will list momentarily) for WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health). These are federal standards that all prisons are subject to. Whether they follow them or not is a crap shoot.

4. As far as I know, few states even come close to dealing with most trans issues. For instance, California prisons allow male prisoners (if trans) to buy female undergarments while Arkansas does not. It all depends on where in the US you love and how much these issues have been fought for in that area. Some places are more tolerant that others. In Arkansas, you would have to go through GRS and be transferred to a female unit before any undergarments will be issued. A direct quote from Wendy Kelly

5. Most states require (Arkansas apparently not one of them) that in order to be placed on HRT, that someone would have to have been on them before entering prison. I believe Arkansas goes on a case-by-case basis because I came out of the closet permanently, fought for and attained my HRT after I came to and had been in prison for years.

I hope this provides some answers and gives some hope. And to all my LGBT family out there, don’t ever let anyone tell you who you should be. You are uniquely you.

And that’s beautiful no matter who you are. I leave you now in peace and love. Blessed be y’all.

Brightest Blessings, Elaine M. (AR)

Tim Devin courtesy of justseeds.org

Volume 11, Issue 3

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Poetry from our Inside Family Scars The many scars That occur thru time Is the timeline, to becoming defined The vast majority of scars an inmate holds Comes from stories the justice system never told Does anyone care to find out?

How these scars came about One might think these scars came from an adult spout In a prison yard A violent interaction Or the reaction to a crime How can you underline The infliction of pain In the screaming insane In a room, all alone In a place, where its not home How do these scars come out Of the flesh within Ty H. (NJ) Remember Me (A Poem for Transgender Day of Remembrance) REMEMBER ME, the one who made you smile.

REMEMBER ME, I had the greatest laugh.

REMEMBER ME, the one who found your heart, broke it into two pieces and put it back together again.

Remember me, the way I looked at you, like no other could see.

Remember me, I am still the greatest love of all.

Even if at times I didn’t call.

Remember me, you gave me the spark I needed when times were

tough Remember the day you said “you loved me so much.”

Remember me, that I said “it was worth it, even when times were tough.”

Remember me, in spite of my faults.

Remember me, when you think it’s not enough Remember me, when times don’t go so well.

Remember me, because I knew your love was felt.

Remember me, though I am not here today.

Remember me, because I wanted to stay.

Remember me, because my fate was at the hands of time.

Remember me, for I could never be on time.

Remember me, for I will always be a part of you.

Remember me, because I am the son or daughter you thought you knew, and didn’t know how to say I will miss you.

If you do nothing else today, please remember me.

Because I will never forget you.

moment is severely steep (JDL) without you I am lost and weak Our love is like a mountaintop Sometimes rough, sometimes strong but in the end, We always meet each other at the highest peak The swagg that you have is on fleak You are my blue rose So full of life and love Always bright and never dull Our love we share is never bull And your petals are always full Can you see that we were meant to be?

Till the day I get old and you bury me.

Why do I say all of this?

Because baby with (you) I am happy and full of bliss Especially when we share a kiss I say all of this above, Because you and I are like a turtledove Partners for life But most importantly Our love is like a full bloomed garden and you Are my Blue Rose

Lisa S. (CA)

Trista H. (SD)

My Blue Rose You are fully bloomed Now things seem uncertain so I loomed, You are the rose, our feelings for each other Is the stem and our love is the roots because our love runs deep

I Am I am the trans woman that I once hid from the world, Nevermore to be hidden from other’s fears and ignorance

As I lay here and think of you, I constantly weep, The hill that we are on at the

I am the truth of my own existence, A secret now forever revealed I am the one who decides my importance,

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No matter where others may wish me to go.

I am no longer willing to hide who I am for nobody, I’ve spent too much of my life hiding from myself, I will live my life open and free Elaine M. (AR) Descriptions Home is elusive for those who refuse to conform, Always kept just out of reach.

It’s just like a mirage, Tangible but never truly real.

Home is a dream we create to temper our wants and needs, Those that society will balk at.

They say that if you fall in line, all will be fine, Otherwise you will never be of their kind.

Elaine M. (AR)

May/June 2020

Black & Pink News

Most family is an act, Just like a poorly directed play.

Never again will I let others Forcing you to project who they decide that for me want you to be, While suffocating the unique I am the one who is bloody being you were meant to be. honest about myself, For I deserve nothing less Most family is also a lie, Contradicting themselves too I am just beginning to live my much to be believed. true life, Often told to be loving and For me, life is still ahead of me understanding, When all they show is hate and I am the one who chooses my ignorance of what they chose not direction,

to understand.

Others see life as a joke, With yours as the punchline.

Designed to laugh at your pain, Designed to instill their hate into others.

Life can also be a daily torture, Especially to those with LGBT hearts and souls.

They treat us as some poison to be expelled, Or a perp of some heinous crime.

To those who feel as if they no other option, they see death as their only release, The only way to escape the hell in which they live.

They would rather risk the ultimate unknown of what waits beyond this life, Rather than endure yet another moment of the hell this life provided them.

But I would ask, may, beg for them to hold on a little longer, Do not let that unique spark fizzle out when so many are needed.

I plead for them to use that spark to ignite a rainbow flame, A flame that will burn their darkness away and light the path they could lead.

And along the way, maybe you’ll find another in need of your light and warmth, To share your strength and courage with.

For is it they who will light the way to the future, And inspire others with their courage to keep our dream alive.

Dear Death “This poem entered my mind on

Volume 11, Issue 3

April 15, 1979. It haunted my mind for fifteen years till I finally put it on paper on April 15, 1994.

Now it haunts my eyes because of my past.”

Dear Death May this day bring you a victim For I know you search everyday For an unwilling soul I sit I sit and wait But for me You never come near I have waited For so long now And maybe one day You will come for me When will you, Come for me, Where will I be When finally you arrive?

Maybe soon You will find me, Please hurry now I want to go with thee -Mystique D. (TX) The Abused Child He is very quiet And stays to himself He has his own world That he retreats into He has no close friends He is so full of fear He has learned quickly He can trust no one at all He grew up fast And is so insecure He can find no love For no heart is pure

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One lady has fallen In love with him But he always fears Being hurt once again His heart is tender His love is very mild No one sees the scars of The abused child -Mystique D. (TX) From Darkness to Light Part 1: Darkness They threw me in prison on a day that was hot as hell Gave me uniforms of forest green and threw me in a cell.

On that first night when the lights went out I knew then without a doubt It was too late to scream or shout As the light to my heart had been snuffed out They told me prisoners will not be happy or free And in that proclamation, they took great glee To tell me my heart would never feel the light again And in this place will never find a friend So the prison’s darkness was thick and true And I was consumed with it through and through Walking through a darkness as thick as stew Part 2: Light I’ll never forget the day I met him.

Like me, He was lost in the darkness, too.

I looked in his eyes And saw the light within and then

he told me I shined bright within Hand in hand we revived the light … the light Within that makes us fight … for love, for peace, For all that is good and right.

Then, just like that, Faith won the fight.

In faith we believe in what is good and right And know that one day this darkness will be banished.

For the light of love, the darkness can’t fight.

So until we see the sunshine, keep your light through night.

With the power of love’s everlasting light We shall forever banish the night with our shining light.

Corey M. (FL) UR SOUL Washed away like H2O Even tomorrow gone Years fly faster than the Speed of sound. As the Moon kisses the sun.

Oh! God please help me.

I’m getting old, I don’t want To die before my fire Burns out. If I could take Advantage of time, I’d Rule the world. These Bureaucratic tyrants can’t Conquer the human spirit If there’s still life in 2020 There’s still hope. Oh, people.

I promise you, you won’t lose Your Soul Christopher B. (TX)

James Baldwin (1924-1987) James Baldwin was a well-known writer, novelist, poet, playwright, and activist. Some of his well-known works were his semi-autobiographical novel Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), and Giovanni’s Room (1956), and his essays collected in Notes of A Native Son (1955). He dealt with themes of racism, sexuality and western societal class distinctions of the time. Baldwin is widely known for being a spokesman during the Civil Rights movement. He appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1963.

6

by Megan Kriegler and Jordan Durham

Laverne Cox (1984–present) Laverne Cox is a transgender actress and television producer. She is best known for her role as Sophia Burset on the television series, Orange is the New Black. In college, she studied dance, creative writing, and acting. She was the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine and the first to be nominated for an Emmy in an actor category. An active advocate for the LGBTQ community, Cox spends much of her time speaking and writing about transgender issues.

13

by Evan Klinkachek and Natasha Bishop

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Black & Pink News

May/June 2020

by Jirehl Drake

Volume 11, Issue 3

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by Nicole Rodrigues

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May/June 2020

Black & Pink News

Call for Submissions Seeking erotic short stories, poems, and art by Black & Pink incarcerated and free-world family members for a new zine. To be mailed, art cannot include full nudity. Please send submissions addressed to Black & Pink — HOT PINK. This is a voluntary project, and no money will be offered for submissions, but you might get the chance to share your spicy story with many other readers! The zine will be sent one or two times per year.

To subscribe to upcoming issues of HOT PINK, write to our address, Black & Pink — HOT PINK.

Black & Pink Mailing Information Write to us at: Black & Pink — [see table below] 6223 Maple St. #4600 Omaha, NE 68104 Please note that you can send multiple requests/ topics in one envelope! Due to concerns about consent and confidentiality, you cannot sign up other people for the newspaper. However, we can accept requests from multiple people in the same envelope. There’s no need to send separate requests in more than one envelope.

If you are being released and would still like to receive the Black & Pink News, please let us know where to send it!

Penpal program info: LGBTQ+ people who are incarcerated can list their information and a short non-sexual ad online where people can see it and write. There will be forms in upcoming issues Mail info: We are several months behind on our mail. There will be a delay, but please keep writing!

Email us: members@blackandpink.org

If you would like to request:

Address the envelope to:

Newspaper Subscriptions, Address Change, or Volunteering

Black & Pink — General

Newspaper Submissions — Stories, Articles, Poems, Art

Black & Pink — Newspaper Submissions

Black & Pink Organization or Newspaper Feedback

Black & Pink — Feedback

Black & Pink Religious Zine

Black & Pink — The Spirit Inside

Advocacy Requests (include details about the situation and thoughts about how calls or letters might help)

Black & Pink — Advocacy

Submit to or request Erotica Zine

Black & Pink — HOT PINK

Stop Your Newspaper Subscription

Black & Pink — STOP Subscription

Volume 11, Issue 3

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Black Trans Lives Matter!

Protests in support of Black Trans Lives took over the globe on Sunday June, 14. Among them is this rally outside the Brooklyn Museum in New York which brought out thousands.

Top image by Lauren Holt, courtesy of CNN//Bottom image by Sekiya Dorse, courtesy of NBC

H BAZANT

art by Micah Bazant courtesy of Forward Together