black and pink news
Volume 12, Issue 3
Family, As I reflect upon and honor 16 years of Black & Pink National, I’m thinking about the seeds and the roots of this organization - Tenets like solidarity and mutual aid, which are forever commitments. It means that we’re in this for the long haul, that we’re always pushing towards a community experience which we know is possible, that we’re always centering people. I was honored to join Jason Lydon (Black & Pink National Founder) for a conversation on social media to celebrate our 16 years - We’ve included a transcript of that conversation in this issue, and I hope that you all enjoy it! It was beautiful to share space with him as we honored the organization that he gave life to, and celebrated what it is now.
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We know this growth has been crucial for our community, all of you. I honor all of you as I honor 16 years of our organization. I honor your resilience, but I dream of a world where no one is forced to be resilient. Where we all just have what we need and are safe and loved and happy. As Jason shared during our conversation, Black & Pink National uses an LGBTQIA2S+ and HIV/AIDS specific lens to look at the prison industrial complex and to fight for liberation for everybody. We center the needs of folx who are most impacted by violent systems, and we know that LGBTQIA2S+ folx and folx living with HIV/AIDS especially Black, Indigenous, and other folx of color - are significantly impacted. This Pride month, and always,
we center our commitment to building towards a society where all of us have all the things we need (and deserve) to live happy and affirming lives. And we think of you, our inside family, every single day as we do. I am proud to be in community with all of you as we build towards a healthier, happier society. In solidarity, Dominique
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In This Issue p3 - Letter from Dominique Morgan p5 - Pride Wishes from the Black & Pink Family p6 - An Acknowledgment of Harm p7 to 8 - Self Care Resources p9 - Reclaim Your Power p11 - The Build Up p12 - Pride Icons to Remember p14 - An Interview with Dominique Morgan and Jason Lydon p27 - A Quick Guide to the Criminalization of Transgender People p31 - Letters from Our Inside Family
Cover Image by Art Twink with Trans Student Wellness Initiative at UC Berkeley Inside cover art by Payden Dyer
Black & Pink News
JUNE 2021
Disclaimer
Statement of Purpose
The ideas and opinions expressed in Black & Pink News are solely 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 antioppression values and/or based on our own editing guidelines.
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 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 people!
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Pride Wishes From The Black & Pink Family I’ve been doing LGBTQIA+ activism, advocacy, & education for over 20 years now--the first thing I remember being part of was rallying against a “Defense of Marriage Act” amendment to my state’s constitution. Lately, I’ve been thinking about all of the progress we’ve witnessed in these past couple of decades: better research and treatment for HIV, marriage equality, protections for trans kids in school. Recently, in a speech to the joint Houses of Congress, President Biden said “To all transgender Americans watching at home, especially the young people. You’re so brave. I want you to know your president has your back.” Twenty, 15, 10 years ago (well, and for the last 4 years), I could have never imagined the U.S. President saying anything like that. When these things happen, it’s easy for me to say, ‘It’s not enough. We still have so much to do.’ And, while that’s absolutely true, we also have to take the time to celebrate these steps forward, no matter how small they seem compared to what’s left. We have to do it for ourselves, and we definitely must do it for our elders and ancestors who never dreamed of what is true now. We’ve got to celebrate what they didn’t get to, in whatever way we can. That’s something I’m bringing into this year’s Pride: How can I celebrate for those who didn’t get to? - Niki Zap, Executive Assistant + Facilitator at Black & Pink National
Happy pride month, everyone! Whether you’re living your truth, keeping things on the down low, or still figuring it out, I hope you have a joyous time. For me, pride is all about feeling the love and community that we have as LGBTQIA2S+ family. We are learning about ourselves and each other, lifting one another up, and celebrating our strength and resilience. Let’s use this happy time to build our power and connections for the work we need to do together! - Aaron El Sabrout, Advocacy Manager at Black & Pink National
Pride to me is about everyone having freedom and safety. It is a celebration of being proud to be your authentic self, but also a time to recognize and remember the people who got us here. Pride gives me a sense of belonging and also reminds me to show up for others who can’t be out and proud. - Payden Dyer, Administrative Specialist at Black & Pink National
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An Acknowledgment of Harm A Check In from Black & Pink National Black & Pink National is committed to amplifying the voices and experiences of those who are most impacted by violent systems. We trust and believe people who share that they have experienced sexual and domestic violence, and we are dedicated to supporting and centering people who have experienced these violences. We recently learned of harm caused by one of our community members, Guy Hamilton-Smith, to his ex-partner. Given our relationship with Guy, we felt a need for an acknowledgment of the harm caused and to clearly communicate our position against providing a platform to people who actively cause harm in our community. We celebrate the strength and courage demonstrated by his ex-partner in sharing her experiences on social media and holding Guy publicly accountable for the harm he caused her. Prior to her testimony about the harm she experienced being shared via Twitter, we invited Guy to contribute a piece to our April/May Newsletter issue. Since learning of the harm caused,
we removed his article from all digital copies of our Newsletter. Unfortunately, the Newsletter went to print prior to her testimony so it still exists in physical print. Guy also served as a CoChair of the Sex Offense Registry Subgroup of Black & Pink National’s National LGBT/HIV Criminal Justice Working Group; but has decided to step back for the time being. We apologize that Guy’s contribution remains in the printed version of our Newsletter. While Black & Pink National is not in a position to facilitate an accountability process, we do firmly believe in the power of community accountability, the tenets of which are outlined below (found on Page 28 of “Fumbling Towards Repair” by Mariame Kaba and Shira Hassan): • Create and affirm values and practices that resist abuse and oppression and encourage safety, support, and accountability • Develop sustainable strategies to address community members’ abusive behavior, creating a process for them to account for their actions and transform their
behavior • Commit to ongoing development of all members of the community, and the community itself, to transform the political conditions that reinforce oppression and violence • Provide safety and support to community members who are violently targeted that respects their selfdetermination If you, or someone you know, has experienced domestic violence and are feeling activated, please check out the following pages for resources for support:
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INFO SHEET
What is a Trigger? A “trigger” is a trauma reminder. It can be a feeling, smell, place, topic, or anything that engages our nervous system and causes a survival response. It is a surprise emotion, a memory that our body holds, one that may feel like it comes out of nowhere.
A trigger tells our body that danger—or something we perceive as dangerous—is close or here. Sometimes it actually is; however, we can also be triggered when we are perfectly safe. Our body just may not know that, even if we cognitively know that nothing bad is happening. Our body often reacts to stimuli first, and then we process what’s going on with our brain. When we are triggered, it can be really helpful to identify why, knitting a story together for ourselves so that we feel more in control, and also to foster compassion for the part of us that is triggered. For a non-trauma related example, if you get food poisoning from eating fish, and you walk past a restaurant cooking some, you may suddenly feel sick to your stomach and find yourself walking faster. Your body is like, “Hey, I remember this smell. The last time I smelled this we got really sick. Get the heck out of here.” Our stomach feels sick as a signal to not eat, to protect oneself by not engaging with the act that led to getting sick in the first place. We might feel the urge to get away from the smell and place, which is a flight response. Even though this isn’t where you got food poisoning. Even though this fish might be safe. You have a body memory of eating fish, then getting sick. Your body relives that memory at any fish reminder and will try and keep you safe from the same pain you felt before when you got sick. Our body may react differently to different triggers depending on where we are that day. We may react differently to the same triggers than others. It all has so much to do with our personality, how we were raised, and our life experiences.
into action. This is the part of our nervous system that developed to keep us safe out in the wild, so when we saw a predator our body could either determine it was worth the fight to try and win, or our best bet was to run away. A trigger can also take us into dissociation or freeze, the nervous system drops into engaging the parasympathetic nervous system. We feel disconnected, “not here,” checked out. Physically we may feel nothing, or like we’re existing outside of ourselves. This is our body’s last resort. If in the wild the fighting and running didn’t work, or we determined we couldn’t get to safety that way, we crashed into this response and played dead. All of these reactions are our bodies trying to protect us. Any reminder of something bad that has happened to us calls our nervous system into action. The nervous system is literally programmed to keep us safe. Framing it in this way can help us feel less shame (which just triggers more survival responses) and helps us understand why our bodies are reacting how they are, which ultimately helps us feel more in control. To learn more about how to cope with triggers, check out tips here. By Andrea Glik Resources: Life After Trauma by Rosenbloom & Williams Trauma & recovery by Judith Herman C-PTSD Workbook by Ariella Swartz Trauma & The Body by Pat Ogden
Getting triggered could mean going into a fight or flight response (heart racing, tons of stress hormones being released into the body) which can also bring up feelings of anger, or the sudden feeling that you need to leave where you are. This is when our sympathetic nervous system kicks 1
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Black & Pink News
Some Ways to Respond if You Feel Triggered Exercises Courtesy of Sylvia Rivera Law Project Breathing Exercises: Sometimes memories of trauma or abuse can come back to us and make it feel as if we are reliving them. When that happens, it is important to try and return back to the present. One way to do that is through controlled breathing. Controlled breathing not only keeps your mind and body functioning at their best, but it can also lower blood pressure, promotes feelings of calm, and helps you relax. Breathing exercises can be something you do every day or you can do these when you are feeling very heightened and triggered in any moment. Breathing Exercises in Practice: Try inhaling slowly through your nose for a count of four, and then exhale through your mouth for a count of four. If you have not tried breathing exercises before, start with just inhaling and exhaling for one minute. Work your way up and try for at least 10 minutes a day – it may take some practice and time before you can do controlled breathing for 10 minutes at a time. Sometimes it can be nice to close your eyes, to do them in a quiet place, to do them looking out a window or while sitting on a blanket, mattress, or pillow. But find the way that works best for you! You can also try another breathing technique by putting one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and try to fill up air through your chest and stomach. Repeat this deep and slow breathing pattern six to ten times per minute and try to work your way up to 10 minutes each day. As you get used to doing this, it can be nice to take note of your heartbeat and feel it calming down and to give yourself a compliment for your great work taking care of yourself! Grounding Techniques: Grounding is an exercise that helps keep you in the present moment and in reality. It can be helpful in managing overwhelming feelings, intense anxiety, or nerves. It can also help you regain control of your mental focus from a place of intense or high emotion. Grounding techniques can also help bring you back to the physical space where you are. When memories of trauma make you feel outside of your body, these activities can bring you back. Here are some grounding activities to try: 54321: Name 5 things you can see in the room with you, 4 things you can physically feel against you, 3 things you can hear right now, 2 things you can smell right now, and 1 good thing about yourself. Questions: Ask yourself questions to help bring you into this moment.
Where am I? What day is it? What is the date? What is the month? What is the year? How old am I? What season is it? It is okay if you do not know the answers to these questions. If these questions are difficult, you may want to try another activity listed in this guide. Description Game: Plant your feet firmly on the ground. Physically hold an object and try to describe each detail of it out loud like you wanted someone on the phone to be able to see it. Try this with a comforting object like a blanket or a favorite shirt. Now try it with an object that is cold. Try it with an object that is rough. Get Creative: Whether it’s writing, drawing, or making music, expressing our story or experiences can be an important tool to help us let go of emotion, pain, and/or trauma. Creative expression can use our whole body and brain and this helps us to remove trauma from where it may be stuck inside of us. When we create something, we have the option of sharing our art with our community. Whether it’s a beautiful drawing or a letter, turning our pain into creativity can be a powerful experience – both for us and for others.
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By Brooke Monaco, Black & Pink Wellness Coordinator We are learning more and more about the intimate, intertwined relationship between the mind and the body. The idea of storing emotions, pain and trauma within the body shows itself in many different forms—from the way we tense and tighten our bodies to the way we breathe in certain situations, the body instinctively reacts to protect itself. As you sit reading this article, let the tip of the tongue relax away from the roof of the mouth. This is the most common way we are holding constant tension in the body. There are so many different ways to release this energy— physical exercise, yoga, pranayama, the list goes on. The focus today is the Emotional Freedom Technique also known as EFT or Tapping. This way of connecting the mind and body is gentle, noninvasive, and free to use once the technique is learned. People utilize this modality believing that tapping the body will create balance to your energy system and treat the pain. Tapping on these meridian points, while thinking about
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what is causing pain or stress, helps the mind know it is not in any physical danger and safe to relax, while also releasing energy through simply saying it aloud. According to its developer, Gary Craig, a “disruption in energy is the cause of all negative emotions and pain.” EFT is tapping on acupressure points, which are the body’s meridian points, while saying simple phrases built around addressing a negative emotion, event, thought, stress, addiction or even insomnia, to help release it. Set-Up Before beginning, it is important to build a phrase that explains what experience is being
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addressed. The main goal will always be to acknowledge the issue while accepting and offering yourself love despite the problem. The most common setup phrase is: “Even though I have this [fear or problem], I deeply and completely accept myself.” Continuing this phrase on every meridian point is key.
eyebrow, side of the eye/temple, under the eye/top of cheekbone, below the nose, chin, beginning of the collarbone, side/rib cage under arm & ending back on karate chop. You can continue through this sequence as many times as needed until you can feel the benefits.
Sequence The EFT tapping sequence is the methodical tapping on the ends of nine meridian points. You begin with the karate chop, tapping the sides of the hands together seven times, while repeating the phrase. Stay in ascending order: karate chop, top of the head, above the
by Jess X Snow courtesy of amplifier.org
Volume 12, Issue 3
“And let us make mankind in Our image and likeness.” These words are recorded in the book of Genesis as a reference to God’s thought, intent, and declaration concerning the formation of mankind. God forms mankind in a way that is more intimate than the way in which the rest of the world is formed. Everything else we read about being created in the creation story was spoken into existence. When it came to mankind, God is recorded as reaching into the dirt and forming what we call man. The task given to mankind was to have dominion (rulership, leadership, extension of the power, presence, influence, and culture of God) in the earth. The creation formed with heavenly hands was identified as man. Man required some degree of partnership and relationship and that partnership/ relationship created for man was pulled from within man. The Bible advises that a deep sleep came over Adam, a rib was removed, and woman was formed from the rib of a man. Regardless of whether one
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subscribes to this version of creative history or not, there are principles that can be drawn. Divine realities are revealed here to me: 1) God is creator of all. 2) God’s original creation of mankind was a being whose gender identity could be questioned as being outside of the binary we have traditionally been taught. Man had woman within him and woman, in her created form, had man within her as the foundation of her created being was the rib of man. That sounds queer to me. That sounds gender expansive to me. 3) That which was made was declared as “good” and as the image and likeness of God. All this amounts to the reality that the world is created by God, including you. That applies to the heterosexual, the lesbian, the gay, the bisexual, the transgender, the queer, the intersex, the asexual, the two spirit, and so on. While our western world would suggest to us that gender is rigidly binary, places in South Asia, Northern Nigeria, Mexico, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Albania, Thailand, Africa, tribes
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within the Indigenous (Native American) population and many others would beg to differ. They acknowledge gender-expansive identities in their societies. And these identities, these persons, you – are created in the image and likeness of the Divine. Your queerness does not exclude you from that reality. It was after the forming by God that mankind was breathed into with the breath of life, with Spirit, and hence mankind became a living being. Breath brought life. Breath was Spirit. Breath was life. Take a deep breath. You have life. You have Spirit. You are life. You are light. You are divine. You are powerful. You are gifted. You are needed. You are glorious. You are divine. In this Pride month where we celebrate our queerness and the strength and struggles of our queer ancestors, may your very breath be a reminder of your divinity. Take Pride in your divinity. Dance about it. Sing about it. Write about it. Draw it. Share it. Live it.
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JUNE 2021
Pride Icons to Remember Content Created by GLSEN Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) is one of the most notable Stonewall
veterans and fierce trans activists of the late twentieth century. Sylvia Rivera refused to accept conformity to the status quo, constantly calling out the mainstream “gay rights” movement for being complacent in perpetuating systems that continued to specifically disenfranchise people of color. Even as the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance started gaining force and momentum post-Stonewall, Sylvia Rivera did not back down. The most popular video of Rivera is her fiery speech at the NYC Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally in 1973 where she stressed the criticality of supporting trans people, people of color, and lowincome people, particularly those who are in jail or experiencing housing instability. She fought hard against the exclusion of transgender people from the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in New York and was a co-founder of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR)—a group committed to providing shelter to trans youth experiencing homelessness in New York City. Sylvia Rivera continued to be an important player in trans activism until she passed away in 2002.
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, also known as Kumu Hina,
is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader. She was the founding member of Kulia Na Mamo, a community organization established to improve the quality of life for māhū wahine (a Hawaiian identity similar to trans woman), and served for thirteen years as the Director of Culture at a Honolulu public charter school dedicated to using native Hawaiian culture, history, and education as tools for developing and empowering the next generation of warrior scholars. Kumu Hina is currently a cultural advisor and leader in many community affairs and civic activities, including Chair of the O’ahu Island Burial Council, which oversees the management of Native Hawaiian
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Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) was a Civil Rights organizer and
activist, best known for his work as adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the primary organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. Throughout his life, Rustin was engaged in several pacifist groups and early civil rights protests, with a particular passion for non-violent resistance. Due to his high-level status as an organizing figure, he was arrested several times for civil disobedience, as well as for being a gay man. Despite this, he never stopped fighting for equality for Black and LGBTQ+ people. He also sought to bring both the worlds of queer resistance and racial justice together, being the first person to bring the AIDS crisis to the attention of the NAACP in 1987. That same year, Bayard Rustin passed away, just four days prior to the 24th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) was a feminist, lesbian, poet, and civil
rights activist. Initially a librarian for New York Public Schools in the 1960s, Lorde eventually carved her way into the academic world as a radical Black, queer woman, publishing her canonical essay, “The Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House.” In the 1980s, along with Barbara Smith, she founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, dedicated to further the writing of Black feminists. She is most well known for her speech at the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson (1945-1992) was a Black
trans woman who was a force behind the Stonewall Riots and surrounding activism that sparked a new phase of the LGBTQ+ movement in 1969. Along with Sylvia Rivera, she established the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970--a group committed to supporting transgender youth experiencing homelessness in New York City. Marsha P. Johnson was tragically murdered on July 6, 1992 at the age of forty-six. Her case was originally closed by the NYPD as an alleged suicide, but transgender activist Mariah Lopez fought for it to be reopened for investigation in 2012. Marsha P. Johnson is now one of the most venerated icons in LGBTQ+ history, has been celebrated in a series of books, documentaries, and films. Her actions and words continue to inspire trans activism and resistance, and will continue to do so well into the future.
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Celebrating 16 Years of Black & Pink A Conversation with Dominique Morgan and Reverend Jason Lydon, Black & Pink Founder Dominique Morgan: My name is Dominique Morgan. I am the executive director of Black & Pink national. The month of May is our 16th birthday. I remember asking Jason when Black & Pink started. He was like, “I just know it was me.” So we just celebrate all month of May as our birth month. And we are 16, our sweet 16. Today Jason Lydon, who is the founder of Black & Pink, is here. So many times I have to correct people and let them know, I’m very proud of being the executive director and I’m proud of the work we get to do, but we always need to remember and celebrate that there was 13 years of labor that allowed me to be able to come in Black & Pink and work with the team that I have now. So today our founder Reverend Jason Lydon is with me on live from Chicago. And I don’t think we’ve ever done anything like this. Have we ever done a talking thing? Rev. Jason Lydon: Two of us together? I don’t think so. It’s really nice to get to do so and be with you, share the space and celebrate the work you’re doing and celebrate the growth of Black & Pink. What an exciting moment and transformation and change and excitement and growth. It’s really beautiful. DM: Listen, I think people
assume that we talk all the time. And I’m just like, well, Jason is working a lot and leaving incredible work in Chicago and stewarding work at the church. And there are days that I forget to just wash my face. So I’m not always connecting. But we do have those moments where we have a dinner or we get to just kind of meet in a place and we get to connect. And those are some of my favorite moments because I feel like when I look at the history of Black & Pink, it’s really powerful to just hold space with each other. And it’s always exciting for me to see the spaces where even if our approach to it may look or feel different, we find the alignment and that’s where I want to start. I think one of the places that resonates with me the most about that, and I talk about it to this day is the Lydon House opening here in Omaha, Nebraska last year in February of 2020. And you said something and I’m paraphrasing, but essentially like there’s this idea of abolition and dismantlement, tearing down, burning it down, you know, all those things, but there’s an approach to starving the system, making sure our people are free and making sure our people are loved and making sure our people are anchored in community. That’s an approach as well to dismantling these harmful systems. So a lot of
programs have been launched in my three years of ED and that I feel like that aligns with that approach to starving the system. I don’t think we’ve ever talked about Lydon House opening and the city of Omaha proclaiming a holiday in your name and these other things. So what was that day like? And I would love to hear you talk more about this idea of starving the system and what that looks like and the power of that. JL: Sure. Well, first of all, being there in that space was overwhelming. I mean, to have something named after me is incredibly humbling and it’s a call to action to one of the things that I think is so important is to remember that none of this work is over, right? That you all are doing incredible work and your leadership, Dominique, is amazing. I have responsibility if somebody is naming things after me to continue in the struggle for liberation, for abolition and for the transformation of our society. So it’s a reminder to stay grounded, to stay rooted and humble in this work and to continue to follow the leadership of people most directly affected by these systems by listening to Black folks, to trans women, to currently incarcerated, formerly incarcerated folks, to figuring out where it is that I fit and
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So the more we have opportunities to keep people out of that or reduce the number of times of contact that somebody has with any aspect of the prison industrial complex, then the system has a harder time justifying its existence. And the more that we put power into communities and the more that communities attain and preserve their own power, particularly Black and brown, poor communities, resisting and refusing to allow the prison industrial complex to maintain that control. It’s just so beautiful and powerful for resilience and resistance and creating something different.
by Aaryana M. (MN)
sit as a clergy person, as a white person, as a formerly incarcerated person and survivor in this. And being in that space and just watching everybody celebrate the opportunities of creating home for somebody and making sure that there was space to be nurtured and cared for, to make sure that once somebody is out, they stay out or to make sure that before somebody even is doing a long sentence, that they’re navigating space coming out of jail, or they’re navigating space coming out of a criminalized
community, that having a place to go keeps the prison industrial complex from getting its talons into people. Because one of the things we all have come to understand is that once somebody gets in and has a first contact with the system, that immediately kind of sets them up for being in the system for the long term, that one contact is enough to a start, a long-term pattern of control and violence by the prison industrial complex.
DM: I remember just the idea of the house in general. And I think maybe like the last time that we saw each other in D.C. in December 2018. I had had this dream about these houses all over the country, kind of this, you know, for lack of a better term, like this underground railroad for formerly incarcerated people to where even if you did not need to stay in the house if you were in the city and you needed to go get food, or you needed to just sit with somebody and just talk or not talk, you just need to sit and feel safe, these houses would be all across our country. And I remember making this list of names and it just kept coming back to you. It just kept coming back to your work. It just kept coming back to you. At that time, I had been in the role for about a year and a half. And just being honest, I was like, this has been hell for a year and a
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half. And what was this like for 13 years to hold this up, to be accountable to community, to feel responsible for the support of thousands and thousands of people. And then aligning that to your own personal goals and your own personal joys and desires. And I also remember you saying something about like, you know, we do this work and we don’t always .. we may never see the outcome of the act we’re doing, and we should not be doing the work hoping to see the outcome. Like we should be doing the work to do the work. You said that so many times. And I was like this is the chance for there to be an outcome to the work in Lydon where someone can come and sit in their space. And then when I was like, well, also like there’s different spaces in the house. We want to celebrate Douglas. And what Douglas means to Black & Pink and Black & Pink’s history, but Black & Pink in general. I really try to talk about the evolution of Black & Pink. A lot of folks will say there’s such a big difference. I think there’s an evolution. I think there’s growth. I think there were seeds and there’s work that’s always been happening. We just were like, well, how do we do this on a larger scale, right? And so I think that’s a way that I try to pay respect. But you look at the other names in the house, again, of Douglas, of so many others. There’s a long road to this. I often think about what it was like to take over. What was it like to leave? Cause no matter how much pressure
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it feels like ... cause I’ve been thinking about my succession planning and on the rough days I’m like, oh my God, I’ll be glad when I’m done. But I also am like, well, what would I really do? What would my days really look like? So what was that like to leave? And kind of start over in Chicago. JL: Yeah, well, it was an incredibly intentional leaving. I announced I was leaving two years before I did. So it was at our first national gathering when we met that I told folks that my intention was to step down within two years with the idea of bringing in and lifting up and supporting Black leadership, other people of color leadership within the organization that as a formerly incarcerated person, but as a white person leading an organization that was primarily made up of people of color, specifically Black folks affected by incarceration, it didn’t make sense for me to remain at the helm of the organization. And so it was a two-year process of creating a transition team, of envisioning and imagining what would happen and what that would be like while things didn’t go exactly, as we dreamed about how that transition would happen. The leaving part on my end, oh, it was so many things. I knew that I needed to be done, that it’s really important for founders to make space and make way for new leaders, that I have been part of other organizations where the founder is in charge 30 years later. And it just doesn’t feel like a healthy way of maintaining and I don’t
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need to be the person who is in front of the largest organization doing that work. I also was incredibly thankful for the years I got to do that work and it is, as you said, it is exhausting work. It is many, many hours of ... particularly with folks inside, just lots of banging your head against the wall and trying really hard to secure freedom for people or even moments of freedom or reducing torture and educating people and building movements together. That to kind of step away from that, I feel like was important in order to nurture new ideas and to make space for other strategies and to step back and to know that I had an incredible opportunity to give life to this organization. And then so many, many people were vital in that creation story. That then it was time for me also very specifically to return to parish ministry that I missed being in the church and knew that it would take some time to get back there, but was ready to return to doing explicitly faith-based work. Whereas Black & Pink for me was always a ministry but done in a secular organization. And there was a need for me to return to my Unitarian Universalist roots as well. DM: There’s a question from Facebook and they asked ‘how did you start Black & Pink?” And I also just realized that I think everybody is steeped in Black & Pink every day. And knows all the history that I know. Can you kind of give us a snapshot of the roots and the seed of B&P 16 years ago?
Volume 12, Issue 3
JL: Yeah. The key thing was after I got out of prison, specifically out of Fort Devens, once I was out of Devens, I wanted to keep in touch with folks that I’d been locked up with, uh, Douglas Rodgers, a key one who we had been cellies together. And he looked out for me, I was looking out for him and neither of us were out to each other exactly about our sexuality while we were inside. And there was another person Darnell who I was also close with inside. We also weren’t particularly out. But you know, it’s one of those things where like, we’re not talking about it, but we all kind of hang out and we know you’re gay, I’m gay, whatever, but we’re just kind of keeping things quiet, I guess. The way I kept in touch, just with letters was the beginning and while doing so Douglas and Darnell both were checking in with other guys and saying, you know, if you write to Jason, he’ll write back to you.
like, Hey, let me tell you about the horrific things that are going inside and affecting our people. Let me tell you about what was going on in the segregated cells in Muskogee County Jail, where people had to trade sex in order to get access to HIV medication. Let me tell you about the sexual violence that I experienced at the hands of prison guards. Let
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me tell you about the horrific violence and racialized violence that’s happening against Black and brown queer and trans folks in Georgia. And they were like, Hmm, no, thanks. Not really talking about that. Not really interested. We’re really focused on marriage and these issues are not a priority for us. It’s interesting how almost all
by Angel (KY)
And so then I was writing with a few more people from Devens. And then there was an organization called Brothers Behind Bars that was based out of the Radical Faeries, a kind of a queer radical organization in Tennessee. And they had a list of gay men, bisexual men and trans women who were incarcerated in Massachusetts. And so then I just started writing to folks who are locked up in Massachusetts to say, Hey, what’s going on? I’m Jason, just trying to get connected with people, see what’s going on for you. Because when I had gotten out, I reached out to Lambda Legal, the Task Force, HRC to be
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of those organizations now are doing some amount of criminal justice work. It’s funny when the money shows up, all of a sudden these organizations seem to step up. That said, I would say that I actually think that the movement also impacted that too, the movement of which Black & Pink was a key part of, along with TGIJP, TJLP, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the Hearts on a Wire Collective. So many folks who started pushing these mainstream organizations and then folks within those mainstream organizations who had always been there, but being silent saying, Hey, we need to pay attention to what’s going on and not just look at what affects wealthy white, cis, gays, and lesbians. Let’s look more broadly. And so Black & Pink really began with me writing to folks and then it being too many because once your address gets in there, folks are like, oh, okay. So people just start writing. And it got to the point where I writing to about 35 ish people. And I was like, I love you all. I am 22 years old and trying to party a little bit. I was still drinking at that time ... work, go on dates, do whatever it was I was doing with my life. Writing with 35 people was getting to be too much. So I made this big dinner and invited my friends over and said, isn’t this big dinner really beautiful, don’t you want some? And they’re like, yes, this is so great. Thank you. It was like, perfect. Well, you can have some, if you write letters to
Black & Pink News
these prisoners and that was really the beginning of people saying, oh, oh, okay. Let’s write about this. Let’s write to these folks, keep this going. So that was the early start. And then another friend of mine, Jonathan said, well, it seems unrealistic that you can just rely on your friends to do this. How about we make a website? And that’s when Black & Pink first got its name. It’s when I first got a website. And through the years that came, there was just so much learning of, oh, you probably shouldn’t just list everyone’s name and address right on the page. Maybe we have to have a process around this. And then, you know, different folks had wisdom and came in and shaped the organization where I feel like I had a particular vision at a particular time. And I had the framework of abolition that was always central to Black & Pink from the get-go, that we were doing the work to not make prettier gay prisons, that we weren’t just trying to make things better for folks inside, or make sure, only that there was good areas for LGBT folks and everyone else was going to suffer. But the idea was, no, we use a LGBTQ and HIV specific lens to look at the prison industrial complex, to fight for liberation for everybody. And that we’re using our approach to make sure that people are building power amongst those who had constantly been sidelined from the kind of mainstream antiprison movement, not much
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attention to LGBTQ folks and people living with HIV, and then certainly from the LGBTQ and HIV movement, not paying attention to criminalized folks. So that was some of the early days of just lots of pulling things together whenever possible. DM: What I love about the early days that I think that I hope still shows today is that it was centered on people, right? People power supporting other people, community. And I was on a panel the other day and I just had this moment where, you know, allyship and there are so many words about people being engaged in activity together. But I use solidarity like a lot. And I think solidarity to me feels like forever, right? That we’re in this for the long haul. There’s just some time to it. And like that’s inherent to solidarity efforts. And the idea that we don’t throw people away, that we’re always pushing towards this sort of community experience that we know is possible. That may seem really hard in that moment, but it’s important. When I think about the roots of Black & Pink, I feel like that’s one of the charges that I’m held to also is, Dominique, you have to push that forward no matter what new thing you build, like how are we centering our people in it? Even when it seems hard. And I think that when we’ve been able to accomplish that, those are the things that I’m most proud of in my time as ED. Nicole from Facebook asks, what do we see abolition organizing moving in terms of building
Volume 12, Issue 3
new coalitions or connections in social justice work? So I guess kind of, what do we see as the trends around abolition in coalition building and work now? JL: What would you say, I’d be curious about your thoughts? DM: You know, I think it’s very much what you said around the large organizations that did not prioritize systemimpacted, formerly and currently incarcerated folks 10 years ago. I would not necessarily say they prioritize us now. However, with the access and name they have, they’re being funded to add us to the equation. And what I feel is true is when formerly incarcerated is on a long list of other oppressed identities, it’s going to be the last one that people turn to. It’s going to be the last space that people try to stretch their work to include. And if it is included, then people who are on the sex offense registry, and other things like that are left out. It’s not as expansive as we know it needs to be to queer and trans GNC folks who have been impacted by the carceral state. That being said, those are like the largest times that we’re seeing it, where these organizations have the staff, have the funding to build this huge coalition. And we’re meeting once a month and we’re having conversations, but I don’t feel like we’re seeing the movement forward that we should be seeing. What I believe is the next phase is what we saw last summer is when young
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folks, young Black folks, young brown folks, young queer folks. Young folks of all experiences were like, we’re tired of this. We’re not going to wait for you all to give us space to be in to lead. This is our lives we deserve to be in this. And we would be fooling ourselves to think that, again, these measures we’re seeing aren’t the sort of relief we deserve, but to see spaces where police funding is being moved, to see spaces where young folks are talking about abolition and doing teachings and talking about white supremacy in Nebraska, you know what I’m saying? I didn’t hear about abolition till I met Jason Lydon. That’s the first time I heard that word. There’s kids just, you know, all over ... that’s because of them. So I think the trend needs to be decentering adults and centering young people and us doing the work to support them and equip them with whatever they need to activate the change that they’re telling us is necessary because inherently as we get older, there’s more access and privilege just because we’re older people. Now there reaches an age where that reduces, but between like 30 and 50, we hold a lot of the weight. And so I think that’s what I’m trying to do ... I think that’s one of the ideas around Opportunity Campus was yes, we definitely wanted to make sure that young folks are housed and have space, but the larger visions are around building a school, around creating safe spaces for education, around talking about abolition around the youth experience.
Right? Because many of us don’t think that young people should, be wielding their autonomy in a way that we aren’t in charge of, a comprehensive sex education being centered in that. So I think that’s the trend and that’s what I’m seeking to support. Even when you see me work with organizations, it’s usually the young people at the org, or like an Advocates for Youth where you got these powerful young Black folks who are doing work. That’s what I’m trying to pour into. JL: I love that. DM: Yeah. That’s my thoughts. Oh, you in Chicago, baby, because Chicago baby, listen, the girls don’t play JL: It’s been amazing in the city, watching young people in particular doing amazing work, educating each other, really going after the work of defunding the police, really building with one another. GoodKidsMadCity is an amazing organization of young people trying so hard to come up with the resources to really address gun violence that’s happening from an abolitionist perspective of knowing that the police only care sometimes, they only show up after shootings are happening. They refuse to give people the actual resources they need to survive and trusting Black young people to know the best ways to take care of one another. So it’s been amazing to watch the organizing happening and the power building happening across organization and across
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young people just kinda building themselves up and taking over the streets and making demands and watching cross race work happen, watching in particular solidarity around Black, brown, indigenous young people, whether it was the effort to tear down the Columbus statue and the ways young people showed up and stood up and rose up to demand for the space and land to be returned to indigenous people and to stop celebrating a serial rapist and colonizer, the man that is Columbus, who gets celebrated for the vile aspects of settler colonialism that he brought with him. And watching young people connect that to why that is related to police violence in the city today, how settler colonialism, chattel slavery, the border, all of these things are interconnected and are all part of the carceral state because the function of the state is to be a punishing system that is rooted in anti-blackness, is rooted in theft of land, is rooted in creating perpetual foreigners, and deciding who gets to be allowed and not, and it’s all through violence and punishment. And so the only solution to any of that is abolition. So watching young people come together and give each other answers and come up with harder questions and then wondering, okay, well, what do we do when violence does happen in our communities and how do we deal with it? And so I think one of the types of coalitions that I’m so curious about them continuing to grow is how we center survivors of intimate partner
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abuse and survivors of sexual violence, and survivors of other interpersonal violence, gun violence in the leadership of abolitionists, because that has been happening throughout abolitionist history, but it doesn’t get talked about in the same way that I think it often needs to. We have people like Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Mariame Kaba, many of them come out of an anti-violence movement, in particular Mariame Kaba coming out of the domestic violence movement and then into abolition with the idea that, oh, policing and incarceration don’t end interpersonal violence. It’s just not what it does. We might watch violence shift and move, but we do not watch violence end or get reduced by the existence of policing or incarceration. And so I feel like one of the things that’s really exciting watching young people and watching intergenerational relationships and collaboration happen is the opportunities to say, okay, what have people tried in the past? And to see the ways of reform as being part of a vicious cycle of expanding the prison industrial complex, that we come up with this reform idea, it gets incorporated into the system and then is used to create violence. Probation has done that. GPS has done that on people, the ankle bracelets, a bail bond that structured these ideas for all reforms to reduce the harm, but actually ended up perpetuating the harm of the system in and of itself. And so I feel like what’s so exciting about doing this work
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intergenerationally is that folks who have been doing things for a long time can share ... Oh, let me tell you about this time. When, so for instance, in Massachusetts, we were working on the bill to end the background checks on applications for folks to get jobs and to make it to that people could seal their records after I think it was five years, if it was a misdemeanor, 10 years, if there’s a felony and we were doing all this kind of reform work, trying to make these changes in the state. And as we were going about it, we discovered that the legislators were only going to be willing to make some of these changes, if we simultaneously expanded the sex offender registry, if we made things worse for homeless folks who had to register, that the only way they’re going to make changes as if we threw somebody else under the bus. And so Black & Pink at that time was mostly Massachusetts-based. And so we said, we can’t support this effort anymore because it’s coming at the expense of others. And one of the things we’ve also now seen is that even the ban the box concept, which makes a lot of sense, it seems like such a good idea to say, yes, we shouldn’t be asking people about their criminal history, but the there’s all this research coming out of the Williams Institute that says we’ve actually seen places just increase their racial discrimination in places that have banned the box.
Volume 12, Issue 3
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incarcerated people, rather than doing things like say, oh, don’t look at that. It’s like, no, no, quite the opposite. We need affirmative hiring practices for folks who’ve been affected.
by Chicago ACT Collective, courtesy of justseeds.org
DM: I think that what I see people struggle with and what I struggled with in the beginning of like this kind of journey in abolition is you want to take the course and kind of graduate. And like, I get it. I know it’s done. It’s cool plug and play a ride. I get it. Like just don’t treat people like crap. And then you just realize, you literally have to undo most things. You have to rewire your brain, you have to undo some of the ways of knowing and gifts that maybe your family or loved ones and your community has given to you. And it feels like you have to re-establish every value or make sure that you’re affirming them. And for me, I think it was a gift because there was a moment I realized that so much of what I know, what I thought I knew or how I lived was based on what I learned growing up in the system.
And so, because we’re not saying that not only should you not, not hire somebody because they’re formerly incarcerated, actually you should ask people if they’re formerly incarcerated, because you should prioritize hiring people who have been system-impacted, because we were trying to end a vicious cycle of sending people back to
prison and that under capitalism, as it exists today, we have to figure out navigating the labor market. And so until we simultaneously end capitalism, which is essential for abolition, then we have to figure out how to be more explicit in supporting and actively working with formerly
And as much as I thought that I hadn’t allowed them to really offer me their perspectives, climate is climate. Right? And so like that’s been a huge gift to kind of go through and do an inventory about like, girl, who are you? And that was big. And I just think that’s so powerful. I think it’s also powerful that young folks are doing that at 15 and 16. You know what I’m saying? At 39 now is a bit of a heavy load. Sometimes I’m like, oh Lord, it’s been about 40 years
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of navigating the world this way. I think it’s beautiful how much more time young folks will get being steeped in this sort of lived experience That’s what I think is just beautiful. Brandy was talking about perspective, and she said, what did you learn about during your journey that you apply to creating equity and representation in leadership across industries? Like the way that you thought about stepping away from Black & Pink in your work? JL: Sure. I feel like it’s still a learning process. I think that when stepping away from Black & Pink in the immediate transition, there was not enough support in some ways for folks coming in, not enough leadership development for folks. And an idea of trying to figure out how we equip people for success. I think that’s one of my biggest questions around, what transitioning leadership means. The nonprofit industrial complex is a system designed through white supremacy and capitalism to maintain certain types of systems and that trying to operate in non-traditional ways within that structure can be at times a recipe for disaster, that there’s a desire to utilize the kind of tool of a 501c3s, in my opinion to, extract resources from the wealthy through foundations to say, this isn’t really your money anyway. The idea is to figure out how we work the system that is the foundation-based system, which was designed inherently so that wealthy people could donate money instead of pay higher
Black & Pink News
taxes. And so that they ended up having more control over where their money goes and they get to continue manipulating everything. And so to try to figure out how to work that system from the other side is incredibly difficult. One of the stories that doesn’t exactly match with the question, but I think is related, is that in Boston years ago, there were organizations of young people who all were competing for the same funds from the same foundation. And the same foundation was deciding all the time how each organization would get their funds. And these young people’s organizations decided, wait a minute, we all know we’re all applying to the same foundation for the same bucket of money. Why don’t we, instead of applying inform them about how they should be distributing that money. Because they claim to exist for the function of funding and resourcing our work. So why is it that they get to then dictate the process? No, it should be those who are doing the work who dictate the process. And so they essentially created like a grantee union for one year where they reached out to the foundation and said, this is how we believe you should resource these organizations. Here’s how we’re collaborating. This is the work that’s being done. We are no longer writing these long applications that are not effective for us or any of the work that we’re doing. They just, serve you and your purposes, and that’s not serving
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the purpose of liberation. And so it was beautiful to just watch these youth-led organizations decide, this is how it’s going to go. And they managed with that one cycle. It didn’t stick, but with that one cycle were able to really have some control and power. And so it’s one of the things that I wonder about when we talk about shifting power, getting those of us who come like for myself as a white person, as somebody who has institutional education, that as we move out of leadership, how are we equipping folks with the tools to be successful, to navigate the system? And also, how do we also figure out, okay, if I’m going to be leaving the system, how do I also challenge it as I am leaving to make sure that folks who are coming up behind me are able to do things in the way that they do things. Not that they have to do things in the same way that I was doing something, but are figuring out new ways and that change and transformation in an organization is a good thing and that new ideas and new structures and new ways of being are good, that we have principles that remain the same. We have ideologies often that will remain the same. But that the actual work is intended to shift based on the experiences of those who are coming in to new leadership and that we have as different organizations, the ability to adapt and follow new leadership, because it’s exciting and creates opportunities for growth. DM: What is always helpful
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for me is this idea of like really trying to weaponize the system against the system. And I don’t always win. But I really go back to my time as being a young kid hustling on the streets. It’s like, really? It’s like, how do I flip this money? How do I get this money from these white folks to give to my people? And how can we remove as many barriers as possible? And you know, last year with our COVID response fund, we absolutely modeled the COVID response fund from the Transgender Cultural District led by Aria Sa’id. And then the program that was developed by House of Tulip, Mariah Moore, and those incredible folks down there working, it was just like, yo, like they’re giving money directly back to people. Why can’t we be doing that? And there was moments where, these funders, these foundations, these spaces were giving us these funds. And it was just exciting to know that tomorrow it’s all going out via Cash App, it’s all going back to people. And it’s also been really interesting to have these conversations with those funders in their post COVID world, where it’s like, well, you know, most folks are not even thinking that there’s a post-COVID world that is even possible ... to want to have questions about data and all those things. And I’m like, all I can tell you is that the people who have the need got what they needed or got what we could give them towards that need, that’s the data I can offer you. And it’s been powerful to have those conversations with
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foundations. ... But where are these coins coming from? And until we can get rid of having to fund our work through those systems completely, how can we shift those policies and that approach? So we have 15 minutes left. 16 years. Did you think Black & Pink would be chugging along after all this time? JL: I couldn’t have imagined Black & Pink doing, certainly not doing the things that you have kind of created and made happen. None of that was ever really in my imagination. It’s so exciting to watch you do the things that you’re doing. I remember flirting with the idea of a re-entry house in Boston at one point. And just being like, ... our budget was, you know, at the max, when I was there, it was, uh, I think $300,000, $250,000, when I was leaving and, you know, we started with so Black & Pink was funded criminally. Like it was stolen, like everything was stolen. Like all of the early newsletters were stolen copies. Early days were funded by folks who stole things from work. Or there was a time when we had a group of folks who we each took a month of being responsible for paying for the newspaper. And there were folks who paid for the newspaper with whatever criminalized economy that they were part of. And that was how they contributed to make the newspaper happen. Then people were getting together in coffee shops to fold things and stuff,
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things, and just countless hours of volunteer time, like literally probably tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of hours of human power going into getting newsletters to people that then hundreds of them would get rejected. The ways of building throughout the years were, you know ... I’m a scrappy guy, so it was a scrappy kind of process. It was like, we don’t have enough money to pay me. Okay, I’m going to live somewhere. I’m going to move into a place where I can live for a hundred dollars and figure out how to do this. And that had aspects of privilege of what it meant to be a white cisgender gay man and like what I was able to do. And so I understand the ways in which doing that sets people up in the longterm of not being as resourced as they need to be as staff and the organization didn’t have any money. And so it was like that combination of we don’t have any money. Yes. I deserve to get paid a real salary, but that doesn’t exist yet. The work needs to be done. So what are we going to do? So it was just kind of a constant trying to figure things out, lots of things falling through the cracks. When I went to divinity school, there was a year where Black & Pink did pretty much nothing. In 2008, Black & Pink was not very functional. We did our newsletter, but not much other than that. It was too often relied on me, despite us having lots of volunteers. I think one of the
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Black & Pink News
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And there are lots of attempts, lots of failures, lots of attempts, lots of failures, lots of learning and growing and shifting and changing.
by Ivan Arenes, courtesy of justseeds.org
And so when I look at what it is now as a, multi-million dollar organization and what you’ve been able to do, it is so different and beautiful and powerful, and your leadership is inspiring and exciting and gives life to so many more people and gives life to so many new projects and ensures more victories towards abolition that we are in it to win. Like that’s why we do it, to secure freedom and liberation materially for our people that people are suffering and dying, being tortured, being killed by the system. And so all of what we do is about making sure that does not happen.
challenges of being founded by somebody, and being founded by very outspoken abolitionists with a lot of strong opinions, and by a white person and a cis dude, there were dynamics at play that were problematic at times in terms of folks not knowing, well, if that’s not what Jason would do, maybe we shouldn’t do it. And also me not
being able to do things cause I was working full time and going to school full time. There’s lots of aspects of Black & Pink growth that included lots of growing pains of trying to figure out where we fit and what was right, and how to be doing work in a liberatory way and how to center those who are most affected.
And so it makes sense to me that you’ve been able to grow this in really beautiful ways because you’re fierce as fuck. And the way that your vision and leadership comes in is so powerful and important. The movement also is ready in so many ways that it wasn’t once before that when Black & Pink was at its early stages, talking about abolition, people weren’t talking about abolition very much. It was a very small thing that Critical Resistance was talking about and a few other organizations. But now, you know, Ruth Wilson Gilmore is in the New York Times talking about it. The New York Times bestseller is Mariame Kaba’s book about abolition. We are in a different time. And it’s so exciting to me to have been part
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of helping create that, and then to watch you lead and build on it and create it in new ways. There’s just an overwhelming joy. DM: Well, thank you. I’ve said this before. I think that, you know, in my, incarceration, like I was navigating the entire space using she and her pronouns and coming home, it was this very scary place of feeling like how I showed up just wasn’t right. And honestly, it was Black & Pink. Like being able to see people like Zahara. I’ll never forget that first day I met Zahara Green. I will never forget that day. Literally like one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life walking into ... I don’t know if you remember that day. We had our working group meeting in Chicago in D.C., and I got lost because I didn’t realize D.C. has streets that have the same names in different parts of D.C. And you’re just supposed to know that’s the case. So I’m late, I’m flying from Nebraska, which meant back then you had to take three planes to get to D.C. out of Nebraska and walking in and seeing this room of formerly incarcerated people and realizing that incarceration didn’t mean that I could not be great. And looking around this room and seeing people that are awesome in so many different ways, but at the end of the day, they’re dope. And that gift just shifted my life in ways unknown. And this work some days, yes, the work is the work, but at the same time, I don’t believe I would be in this space in my body and my
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mind, if I wouldn’t have had the freedom of being able to lead Black & Pink. There was a lot of freedom and understanding that my transition would not stop me from my livelihood, would not instantly make me lose community. All those things that I see people navigate every day when they’re trying to fight through establishing their own safety and their own livelihood versus their own self. And that’s a gift that I can’t thank you enough for. I can’t thank our Black & Pink community enough for. And you mentioned before, it hasn’t always been perfect. It’s not going to be perfect because it’s people. When it’s perfect, it’s usually systems. And that means that people have been silenced. That means that it’s repetition, it’s plug and play. We don’t do anything, you know as Tina say, we like it rough, you know what I’m saying? Like, we don’t do it easy around here. And I’m proud of that. Nick asks, what’s a dream that we have for Black & Pink in the next 16 years? I would say in the next 16 years that ... Andrew Aleman, who is our director of people, power and national partnerships. Like his hands, his ears, his brain is probably itching or what I’m about to say, because anything that I think of he’s like, oh, that’s more work for me. Dusty will be like, oh, that’s more work for me. I really want us to be expressly global. Um, looking at the work that Nala Simone is doing with, Black trans women in Africa.
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And some of the things I saw in just an hour conversation with her of the active, prolific erasure of their lives, like we’re watching intense erasure of Black trans women in America. But there are no words for what this Black trans woman is holding up from New York, trying to support our sisters and our family over there. I see us as an authority. So what are we doing with our access and our name? People want to call us and send us money that we didn’t ask for. How are we getting that back out there to our people? Let’s not drink that Kool-Aid, let’s not rest on our laurels. And America has its issues, but if we’re talking about the most oppressed, we need to expand our reach. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to be controlling the process. It just means we need to be aware. And what I hope in the next 16 years is that there are Black & Pink chapters all across the globe and that people, queer people, formerly incarcerated people will receive that feeling that I get every day of, I’m not by myself. That my story isn’t a singular story. I’m not odd. I’m not different. I didn’t deserve what happened to me. I don’t deserve more than what I have, that I’m great. And I deserve to make my definition of my greatness. And I have people who care about my greatness and they’re going to be engaged with me in accessing that. Like, that’s what the next 16 years needs to look like. And there’s somebody who is young and Black and just sickening leading it ....
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And that’s what I hope is that we are also setting the table for young folks to not have to wait in line, to not have to feel like they have to be held back or receive permission, that we’re creating an agency that Black and brown folks, there’s not only a place at the table. It was set for them. It was meant for them. And we all eat together, but they are centered in it. So I’m hoping in the next few years, cause I’m on my downturn of like, you know, three years is my I’ve told everybody. And that, that scares them a little bit, but I’m like, yo, at that point, it’ll be six years here at B&P. Me being on a beach with somebody fanning me with a banana leaf is my goal and that, you know, at that point, um, and then come back and see how I fit into the work. What would you love to see Black & Pink doing 16 years from now, Jason? JL: No, that all sounds really beautiful. What would I like to see? I could imagine things like chapters in different cities where folks are just figuring out how to close down jails and prisons, figuring out how to say, okay, we created these great programs. We’ve been running this shit for a while. Things have been going good over here. It is time to shut down Cook County Jail we’ve ended cash bail. We don’t need to be detaining people pre-trial ever again. So let’s shut down every county jail, and just go county by county to see Black & Pink be a leader in physically closing down prisons and jails. That’s what I would love to see that, I’d love to see the localized
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work of securing victories that highlight the ways the ways that Black & Pink has starved the system to then say, okay, well now we’re going to put these buildings into the graveyards that they deserve to be in. DM: That is dope. And that just made me think like we, I don’t know. I think we have a strategic organizational plan, but I I’ve been thinking about lately, like, what’s our app, like what’s the SWOT analysis and our strategic plan, like for Black & Pink, to be clear about how we’re taking pieces of the work to get us to that space, right? Like what is, what are the boxes, what’s happening? And especially being really excited about new chapters about to come in the summertime and being, supported by our incredible advocacy department. Because it’s also very true for me that everybody’s passionate work is gonna look different and that’s awesome. And we need to be making sure that they are seen and supported and lifted in that. It’s a bunch of opportunity and it’s hard work, but it’s opportunity. And that’s what excites is that there’s the possibility there’s no one can tell me what’s not possible. From the end of 2017 where we were compared to where we are now, no one can tell me what’s not possible. That’s what I am thankful for. Jason, I love you. I don’t get to say that to you all the time. You’re so humble and you are so calm about things, but there’s nothing that can be taken
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from the fact that you started something that has changed so, so many lives and, not the least life mine. And that is something that I think all of us try to do. So I will do my best to continue to live your name in the spirit of respect and love. Cause I think we talk about like this space of like whiteness in the work, it’s something special about you and B&P and I feel there’s something special about our relationship and just how this happened. I didn’t even want to apply for this job. I’m like this ain’t for me. I need to stay in Omaha. And then, you know, a few months later the universe was like, girl, this is for you. So I’m thankful. I’m so excited that your baby, our baby now is turning 16. I’m excited for what’s to come.
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Quick Guide to the Criminalization of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People Transgender and gender non-conforming people are over-represented in the criminal legal system due to institutionalized oppression and increased poverty and criminalization. Trans and gender non-conforming people, especially trans and gender non-conforming people of color, face intersectional barriers to education, housing, employment, and medical care resulting in vulnerability and a constant fight for social and political resources. These barriers are further increased as a result of intersectional oppression including: racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, classism, ableism, and ageism.
Barriers to Education
Many trans and gender non-conforming people drop out of school due to harassment and discrimination suffered at all levels of education. Schools are also highly gendered spaces. Students are forced to use gendered bathrooms and locker rooms where they are frequently subjected to violence and persecution. This harassment and discrimination is frequently unchecked by school administration and educators. Mandatory trainings are not in place for young people and many jurisdictions do not have laws in place requiring schools to educate faculty, staff, and students about LGBT issues. Additionally, issues often arise for trans and gender non-conforming individuals who do not have matching identity documents, which can limit access to higher education. For transpeople with criminal convictions that limit name changes, this issue is further exacerbated.
Barriers to Housing
Trans and gender non-conforming people, especially young people, are disproportionally represented in homeless and street-based communities. Many people are kicked out of their homes for being transgender or gender non-conforming. All too often young transpeople are forced to run away from foster care due to sex-segregated group homes and/or unsafe family placements where they are subjected to abuse, harassment, and discrimination. There are very few temporary shelters that are safe for transpeople due to lack of staff training about trans issues, sex segregation in facilities, and discrimination and abuse at the hands of shelter employees and other residents. Furthermore, low-income housing options for young people and folks coming out of prisons and jails are generally not trans friendly and are often sex-segregated.
Barriers to Employment
Acquiring and maintaining employment is challenging for many trans and gender non-conforming people due to discrimination based on gender presentation. Oftentimes transpeople are fired when employers discover that identity documents do not match. Unfortunately, this often leads to transpeople being “outed” by employers or fellow co-workers, which leads to increased rates of violence, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace. The Illinois Human Rights Act was passed to prevent discrimination regarding employment, housing, access to financial credit, and public accommodations based on perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. 775 ILCS § 5. However, holding employers accountable for employment discrimination is difficult due to an inaccessible legal system and finding a zealous attorney that understands trans issues and has the capacity to represent individuals on these types of cases.
Barriers to Medical Care
For those who have healthcare, most transgender related medical care is specifically not covered by health insurance companies. It is difficult to find doctors that understand trans related health care needs and who do not further discriminate against transpeople in vulnerable medical settings. The vast majority of medical providers do not provide gender-affirming medical care and utilize transphobic standards of care that counteract informed consent models used for non-trans specific medical care. Gender-affirming healthcare includes but is not limited to providing access to hormone therapy without extensive requirements and
Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois 4707 N. Broadway, Suite 307, Chicago, IL 60640 (p) 773.272.1822 (f) 773.305.1676
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psychological evaluations, providing information about trans specific health care, and rejecting the notion that all people transition in the same way and have the same needs. As a result of the pervasive discrimination within medical systems and institutions, transpeople face persistent medical problems including lack of affirming OBGYN care, widespread use of street acquired hormone therapy, and disproportionate rates of depression and suicide. Additionally, basic medical needs often go untreated due to the lack of access to resources and the fear of facing harassment and discrimination in medical settings, including emergency rooms, hospitals, and doctors’ offices.
Barriers to Political Participation
Due to disproportionate criminalization many transpeople suffer collateral consequences as a result of criminal convictions and incarceration. In Illinois, individuals who are incarcerated are barred from voting, and as a result, are not able to influence the political process and change transphobic laws.
Poverty and Criminalization
As a result of the barriers listed above, many trans and gender non-conforming people live in poverty. Lowincome communities face higher rates of policing and arrests. Many transwomen, particularly transwomen of color, are profiled and arrested for prostitution even when not engaging in the sex trade – many practitioners refer to this as “walking while trans” much like racial profiling in traffic stops is referred to as “driving while Black.” Trans and gender non-conforming people who are restricted from housing, education, jobs, and medical care may be forced to rely on survival crimes including trespass, loitering, retail theft, and prostitution. Once arrested, transpeople are subjected to harsh discrimination, violence, and harassment at the hands of police officers and correctional officers. Incarcerated transpeople are placed in sex-segregated facilities, usually removed from hormones, stripped of gender-affirming clothing, and often times are placed in harsher conditions than non-transgender detainees (solitary confinement and medical wards). The cyclical nature of the effects of institutional oppression, poverty, and criminalization is an overall barrier to the liberation of transpeople.
This resource uses the words “prostitution” and “sex trade. Black & Pink is pro sex work and prefers to use the language “sex worker” and “sex work.” 4707 N. Broadway, Suite 307, Chicago, IL 60640 (p) 773.272.1822 (f) 773.305.1676
Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois
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by Belcher V. (VA)
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Letters from our Inside Family Hello, my name is Littrel D., formerly incarcerated at R.J. Donovan CC in San Diego, CA. I come to answer this question stated above in this magazine (how have you grown in the last year and what do you hope to accomplish in the coming year?). I can’t seem to come to understand why there is so many current “meaning, meanings” of abbreviations such as LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, etc. Why is there so many different abbreviations and they currently all have different meanings. What I think is that it puts and places the “Homosexual Community” in different categories such as LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, they all have different meanings separating all of us in different units and entities and groups. It’s just like classifying us placing us in different boxes and spaces. I think that we should just have one abbreviation for the community as to being recognized. I have been improving myself everyday and I have grown as a person everyday as I deal with homophobic individuals by standing up to them and helping other family members who are like me while I fight to protect, to secure the safety, security, well-being and the integrity of the community by force, upon being hostile. Also I represent myself as a pro-gay power top or a “super top,” a masculine man, The Alpha Male and I represent its honor under a code to always have chest poked out
against the individuals who pose a threat against people or the individuals of the weaker sex in the community, I also have improved myself throughout this year, I mean this new year, concerning myself as to being a mature homosexual gay man and carry myself with a very high esteem of standards and codes and values; representing the word Gay appropriately with maturity without being messy unlike immature individuals in the community, thus making us look bad, giving us a bad name. How can we help others if others can’t and wouldn’t help themselves? They must help themselves before they request others for help. They have to prove the fact to help themselves. - Littrel D. (CA)
What’s good family? My name is Johnny, but I go by many names. I’m not what you would call your typical “gay” or “bisexual” man. Let me explain. Yes! I’m very attracted to transgender women. Yes! I’m attracted to gay males that identify as “fem.” I’m also still very much attracted to women. I’m 36 and I’ve been this way since I can remember. Now I don’t have the problem of being bullied nor do I suffer from lack of self worth.
I do have a problem explaining all of this to my son and his mother. Now by no means am I embarrassed by my being who I am by far. I just feel that me blindsiding my son’s mother with my skeletons is wrong. Not to mention that in this lifetime nor the next would she have the notion of me being this way. I’m not glorying it but I’m what people would call a street nigga. I sold drugs, I robbed, I shot people. I wore nice clothes and drove fancy cars. In street terms, I am the “shit.” Now when you take that away, I still am and will always be the same transgender loving, male fem loving person I was before the streets. I am currently locked up. I got five years left, I’ve been gone for four years. My son’s mother hasn’t missed a step. I love her and my son to death. Now tell me, how in the hell do I tell them that the man they love and know as this is actually a walking enigma? I am content but not happy. I want to tell them who and want I truly am but in the same token you know how a woman that feels betrayed behaves. I don’t want to lose her but most importantly I can’t lose my son in the process of me working honesty or clearing my conscience. This is my problem, what should I do ... thanks for listening? Much love and respect, John John (IL) PS - shout out to all those staying true to self and fighting the good fight, PRIDE or DIE.
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Volume 12, Issue 3
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Letters from our Inside Family
Greetings, Black & Pink! I am a 46-year-old bisexual white guy trying to get my life back. I have been reading Black & Pink for about four years now here in the state of Mississippi. It is full of hate, people will lie on you and for anything and have you convicted. I have been here for 18 years. I lost everyone I love, it is hard to find someone to write, most people are scared to have someone. I have love for everyone who is LGBTQ. Everyone needs love in their life, not hate. If anyone out there needs a friend, write me. I am here for anyone. We do not have to be alone in life. This is my first letter and I hope in time that we can all be friends and be happy and enjoy our life as one and stop the hate and lets all be part of a new life. Your brother, Vic (MS) Love you.
think everyone should know this viking approach of murder and discrimination runs throughout the whole Minnesota Justice System, especially the DOC. Basically, if you’re Black, LGBTQ, poor, you’re in trouble in Minnesota. The sad thing is in all this is all these officials from Minnesota are acting like they’re doing something to make change but from my inside view, I’ll express clearly that’s just for show. These officials just don’t want to go down with the ship! The only real change happening is they’re being more careful about getting caught. The DOC is still a very ugly place with us having no voice about anything they’re doing to us especially my LGBTQ family. So my B&P family, that’s the real inside news from Minnesota. Don’t be fooled by the hype, there’s a long road ahead. Peace. Your family, Patrick F. (Peanut) (MN)
Dear Black & Pink Family. It’s Patrick AKA Peanut. Here in Minnesota DOC I’ve been a grateful member of the B&P family, I’ve never written before. I’m sure I’m not that good at it. But as everyone can see, Minnesota has been a big part of the news these days. I actually grew up right at ground zero where the latest police murder of George Floyd happened. I
Dear Black & Pink, Hi everyone. I have some news I wanted to share. After several failed attempts, I finally got everything filed with the court for my legal name change. My hearing is officially scheduled for June, hopefully the judge will sign off and grant my name change.
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An earlier issue of Black & Pink showed which states have added restrictions regarding name changes for felons. Fortunately Arizona was not among the states listed as restrictive, here it is up to the judge. So I just pray I have my hearing assigned to a sympathetic judge and that my court date goes well. This has been a long time coming and I feel like getting my name change finalized will be an important step on my journey. On a more frustrating note ever since I moved yards, I am having a ton of problems with medical staff playing games with me and not giving me my hormones on time. I could understand a scheduling mix up once or even twice but they are “forgetting” to schedule my injections or claiming to have run out of my medication literally every week. I want to flip out but I am trying really hard to remain calm and handle things “”the right way”” to the best of my ability. I get out at the end of next year so I just keep reminding myself that this is temporary. But they really are starting to wear on me. B&P, I can’t say enough about how much you have helped me fight the isolation and struggles of being here. Thanks for reading my letters and giving me a safe space to vent! -Abel C. (AZ)
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Letters from our Inside Family Black & Pink Family, Hello everyone! My name is Derek L. I’ve thought long and hard about writing in and I finally decided to go for it. I am a gay male. I am a 41 year old. I have been living as a gay male since I was 14 years old. I would like to talk about something not often talked about on the inside of the institution. There are a lot of guys in here that are in the closet and they want to sit there calling you names but in the long run if they get put in the cell with someone that is family, then they start asking questions about things. So you try to tell them the best way you can without going into to much detail about stuff because they don’t want their homie to find out they are in a cell with a family member in the LGBTQ community because they are gay-bashers when they are fooling their self and there not comfortable with their self. When a lot of them are more feminine than the person they are in the cell with. A lot of them are bi or gay before they even come to prison, who you really are LGBTQ sister or brother. Big L (IL)
Handed 180-month sentence. I got COVID Sept 2020. After being on a ventilator and in a drug-induced, paralytic coma, I’m still sick. As I write this, I’m
coughing up blood. The asthma inhalers I use don’t work much. Albuterol 2 puffs, 4x a day, Ipratropium 2 puffs, 4x a day, Mometasone Furoate 2 puffs by mouth, 2x a day. I’m beginning to think I’ve been handed a death sentence. I’m here for a drug crime. And the kingpin role. I don’t qualify for much because of it. I had a healthy life before COVID. Now I have a stressinduced cardiomyopathy and permanent lung damage and I’m a diabetic. I can hardly talk, my throat is still very stressed from the ventilator. I have asthma attacks several times a day. I’m on nebulizer breathing treatments 3x a day. Been down since 2013, will I make it out? The tears fall down my face yet I don’t give up hope. I still see the sunshine through the razor wire fences. Things could be worse. I could be dead. I know no matter what I’m loved by all of you and God. Thank you for being beside me. Aaryana M. (MN)
To my B&P Fam and my free world peoples, This is your man Donald G. aka Realz. I’ve been incarcerated since 2012, that’s eight years and some months going on nine and still fighting. I am doing time for sex abuse to a minor and am on an appeal for this charge. First off, my charge ain’t “better” than the next man charge or
woman. Man! Men have it rough for sexual offenses, even if the offense is for an older person. Men have it rough in the system for these offenses. I don’t know in the women’s system if they go through the same experience as the men go through for sexual offenses. This is an issue that needs to be pushed and discussed for both men and women of these offenses in both the system and free world. Do you know? In the men system, men with sexual offenses are beaten, threatened, stabbed, ridiculed and deprived of most programs? This is what goes on in the men detention centers and in prison. The Black Lives Matter movement and the Black & Pink family need to push and discuss these issues with those with sexual offenses. I want change! I’m a revolutionary, I’m incarcerated UNJUSTLY. Even though I confessed, I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS. If you would like to hear my story, write and ask me? My name is Donald Gittens, DOC #441866. I am housed at Eastern Correctional Institution. The address here is 30420 Revells Neck Road, Westover MD 21890. Realz (NY - Baltimore)
To Black & Pink, First off, I wanna give a shout
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out to all my Black & Pink Family. I hope and pray that all of y’all are in yet good health as we struggle to get through this COVID-19 pandemic that’s going around. Also please forgive me in taking so long in letting y’all know what has
happened with me since I wrote last to B&P... I have been in a coma and the doctors thought I might die but by the Grace of God, I survived the stabbing I got in my lower stomach. My life during the
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coma was pretty much touch and go at that time but I’m alright now. And now I want to let you all know what’s been going on within the prison system down here in Florida which basically consists of officers jumping on us LGBTQs and all gang members doing the same to us LGBTQs cause mostly all of these officers either give the majority of the major gangs free reign or the officers are SCARED of them and look the other on whatever the gang members do to us LGBTQs. Then after we end up either in a coma or dead six feet under pushing up daisies, the certain officers that were there at that time say they didn’t see nothing but the camera footage show them watching everything that went down and they’re still around here working at these prisons across the state of Florida.
by Vic J. (MS)
Well, my loving brothers and sisters, all over the USA and B&P, is there any way you can put me in contact with Kitty Kat in NC. Cause that is the kind of woman I need in my corner. So Kitty Kat, if you’re reading this, get at me girl. We can make a difference together. Well this is all for now. I hope to receive the next issue of Black & Pink News. I love all of my people including Ms. Kitty Kat! LGBT Pride! Mr. Renee C (FL)
Dear B&P Family,
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Letters and Poetry from our Inside Family
HI it’s me, Haylee Tee Tee. I haven’t wrote in a while because I left (one facility) in May 2019. There is a lot going on with me and this prison. I got the COVID virus on 11/24/20. I beat it but the messed up part is the DOC doesn’t let our families know plus everyone keeps mingling with every other cohort. I want to let Kasey Renee know I understand about the balling and name calling by guards and inmates. I’m going through it now mostly by guards calling me a he when I am a she. We here in the LGBTQ community have to support each other and anyway we can not only because of our sexual preference but also those of that they don’t like ur race or any other reason. Well I deal with it by finding strength from where I can also, you will get through it. All you need to do is find something that gives you hope and any time people pick on us, remember that we’re all my brothers and sisters in the community, keep your heads up. With much love, Haylee Tee Tee
Hello Black & Pink Fam, My name is B’Nard but I’m known by Skar here in TDC. This is my first time writing even though I’ve been getting the newsletter since 2011. I’m
writing because I just finished reading this article in the Sept/ Oct. 2020, Vol. 11, Issue 5 by my brother named Acheron. This article chin checked me because I’ve been one to have major trust issues and have been like the young lady you described. It made me realize that I need to get my ish together. It’s been a struggle for me with that due to being betrayed by my brother at the age of 17. I’ve been toting that baggage for quite some time because I’ll be 35 in 3 months. It’s just so hard to trust people when you see all the brothers and sisters being so sneaky and disloyal on top of what I’ve already experienced. Kinda got me feeling like I’m not built for love in prison. I’ve fallen in love with this girl who seems to be so loyal/ dedicated/trustworthy but I’m so scared to be hurt, it’s pitiful. My trust issues have most def put a strain on our relationship and caused us many problems We are now in lockup because I’m not cool/comfortable with her living with just anyone. She’s beautiful and trans so all these undercover dudes are always trying something or another. It’s crazy. I see parole for the first time in about a year and she has life without parole. Her time isn’t really an issue for me. I’m in love but I don’t feel as if I’m making it easy for her being with me. Can I get a little feedback from the fam? I hope to hear/ see something in the upcoming
issues. With love and solidarity. I’ll always love you Mrs. Dee Dee S. B’Nard
Hello there B&P family, My name is Erika T. and I am so grateful to finally be connected to my LGBTQ+ family through here. I’m a 29 year old trans woman on my way to ADOC soon, have been on HRT for almost six years and continuously confused most staff and inmates who meet me (since I look and sound like a cis woman). As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to be patient and enjoy educating others versus flaring up/getting heated like I used to. There is already such discord and unnecessary hatred in our world today; I’m choosing to break the cycle with a smile, positive energy and open ears. To the lovely person finding this newspaper for the first time: Welcome home, you are never alone <3 I seriously felt as if I’d lost everything when I got here, was afraid to leave my cell and that my world had crumbled into pieces ... imagine my surprise when I realized this was simply the next chapter. While I’ve accepted the Gods have an interesting sense of humor, I don’t quite believe in coincidence: we are all here for a reason. If you are hurting, please
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Letters and Poetry from our Inside Family know that there is a sweet kitten who sends her unconditional love and soft kisses your way from AZ. Sweetest dreams lovelies. <3 Always yours, Erika (AZ)
Talking About Loss Dear Black & Pink Family, I want to give thanks to Tosha (CA) for her letter about talking about loss. The day after Christmas I lost my brother Stanley. He was four years younger than me. He had a gastrointestinal problem with his stomach but was afraid to go to the hospital and have to be around those with COVID-19. Stanley being Stanley was trying to deal with it on his own. I’m not sure why or what he was thinking but I know if I had been home, I would have urged or even forced him to seek medical help. I blamed myself for not being there, for being in prison and not being home. This was not a good feeling. I felt helpless, it broke something inside me. I have developed a level of maturity over the last nine years in prison and have been able to come to the reality of this situation. It is a life experience. I cried, shed some tears, openly letting it flow and it was good.
I didn’t care who saw me, I needed to let it go. I didn’t do it for show. Because I know who I am. I’m remembering the times we had together, the parts he played in my life, they will always be treasured. I loved him and Stanley would want me to move on, continue to be strong. He never objected to who I was or what got me in prison. He was always in my corner. I shine all the brighter from knowing him for 40 years. Stanley, we miss and love you always. Thank you, Tosha (CA).
confinement. That alone restrains me even more.
Song No 1 She is a Pretty redbone with Alabaster skin she has A diamond mine all her own She has a homestead for as Far as the eye can see And she is bad - bad to the bone - Nathan J. (CA)
Jesse (VA) Alone Confinement If the subject of confinement was to be broached, most would imply its all about outmaneuvering your own thought process. Yet try as I might, I fail to succeed. My competitiveness supersedes most things to the point of everything becoming a challenge just to get by. This specific challenge has the tendency to elude me at every turn. Within my confinement, my hands and feet is not the only thing they have shackled but they managed to put manacles over my brain cells. Like trying to retain and process information with a brain freeze. Adversity has a tendency to be in my favor within my
Criminals, forever alone. Single - within a cell. Sociopathic? Who’s to know? How is such a person to Come to the knowledge of love? We folly towards companionship. But in the end, we sense deception, Untruths, lies Don’t we all refuse to be victims? Alone, single, not connected to a Greater society. All I see in the world, Through tube and paper, Is a world of hate. A world of bias. How can we, the forever lost, Come to understand your (the world’s) Fellowship?
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art by Nicolas Lampert, courtesy of justseeds.org
She did give. Like a hidden emotion Of life touching: sudden and alien Like in the heart Of a first unknown love bite To the soul Never felt this kind of love Compassion never was in the dark But come out in the light Who heard my pain in a letter send - Jeff M. (MO)
To Exist
We are apart, alone, single. The condemned, not understanding Compassion, forgiveness. Everyone wants compassion, Forgiveness But no one is willing To be the first to give it. Compassion, forgiveness Within the Bible Belt? This goes on? Why am I confused? Therefor not sociopathic but In socio-shock! Hate is the mark of the beast, But love is the mark of Christ Or so they say, just as freedom Is an illusion, for some and not all. Just so compassion and forgiveness Become only words with no action
- Steven N. (TX)
An Empty Heart An empty heart Cold and dark That could not feel Or receive a light of love Homes not of his own As a child in a life of rejection Scars that did not heal In a heart lost to feel Gay gender hidden Behind a mask unknown - Jeff M. (MO)
Compassion of Love Compassion of love
To do nothing is to exist without love holding from that are unseemly and be judge Living in fear of holding a hug just a lil too long Wanting, wishing for strong arms, soft heart To do nothing is to exist without love Dark nites filled with sweet dreams of you and me Sweet scents filled with movements Motions of sweet sighs Fantasies of twin hearts unburden Love full of emotions To do nothing is to exist without love Honesty fighting against thoughts of rejections Stolen moments of innocence glance A forbidden touch Locked in my memories of a chance I didn’t take To do nothing is to exist without love - Nuri (CA)
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What style feels the most like you? Draw yourself here. Use the pictures for ideas or create your own unique look!
Ho D! R o H dA
www.reflectionpress.com Art © 2019 Maya Gonzalez
www.genderwheel.com
ses rts
Pronoun
This is a great activity to use with the book They She He Me: Free to Be! and the Playing with Pronouns Card Deck
Short H air
w n
H Short H soeosd s e air r D Hrats ie & SCkrio ts & s,
Ho H od
Name
Volume 12, Issue 3
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Download the full series: NNEDV.org/GetInvolved
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Download the full series: NNEDV.org/GetInvolved
Page 42 JUNE 2021
v E ry
B y d Bo
art
Elon
E
www.genderwheel.com
about YOU or ME!
guesses
Don’t make
us FREE!
PROkNeeOpsUNS
Playing with
© maya gonzalez from the playing with pronouns educational card deck | www.playingwithpronouns.com |
gs!
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Black & Pink News
JUNE 2021
Volume 12, Issue 3
blackandpink.org
Page 45
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 12, Issue 2
Page 47
blackandpink.org
by Randy B. (TX)