3 minute read
Y'all better quiet down
Y'all better quiet down
ANONYMOUS, MA UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON.
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Y’all better quiet down Yells Sylvia Rivera
To a crescendo of boos and jeers in New York City 1973
No love from the “overwhelmingly” white Gay Community or Women’s liberation movement
She’s standing in her Puerto Rican transgender finery
This brave LGBT civil rights pioneer white washed out of history
Who formed Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries AKA STAR with her friend Marsha P. Johnson
You can hear the fatigue in her voice as she addresses the crowd
After the rally she went home and tried to commit suicide
Watching her confront an already oppressed group is draining
Within the marginalised group is further marginalisation
But you say those were different times
I am reminded of my black gay male friend
Who has been turned away from prominent gay clubs
Because They think that he may be a drug dealer or he is mistaken for a security guard while on a night out
His body is fetishized and has been touched inappropriately And he is often expected to fit a stereotype
Where is the black lesbian contribution to history?
Where is the part I play in activism being documented?
Have I been written out of my own story again?
This time by well-intentioned white lesbians
Am I to be shouted down just like Sylvia Rivera
When I tell you how it is in here for me
Is there room for me and my narrative at the table
Even if that means there is no space for you?
Y’all better quiet down Yells Sylvia Rivera
To a crescendo of boos and jeers in New York City 1973
No love from the “overwhelmingly” white Gay Community or Women’s liberation movement
She’s standing in her Puerto Rican transgender finery
This brave LGBT civil rights pioneer white washed out of history
Who formed Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries AKA STAR with her friend Marsha P. Johnson
You can hear the fatigue in her voice as she addresses the crowd
After the rally she went home and tried to commit suicide
Watching her confront an already oppressed group is draining
Within the marginalised group is further marginalisation
But you say those were different times
I say Rainbow Racism is rife
Transcription of activist Sylvia Rivera’s speech at New York City’s Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally in 1973.
Sylvia Rivera: Y’all better quiet down. I’ve been trying to get up here all day for your gay brothers and your gay sisters in jail that write me every motherfucking week and ask for your help and you all don’t do a goddamn thing for them.
Have you ever been beaten up and raped and jailed? Now think about it. They’ve been beaten up and raped after they’ve had to spend much of their money in jail to get their [inaudible], and try to get their sex changes. The women have tried to fight for their sex changes or to become women. On the women’s liberation and they write ‘STAR,’ not to the women’s groups, they do not write women, they do not write men, they write ‘STAR’ because we’re trying to do something for them.
Sylvia Rivera:Crowd: [booing]
I have been to jail. I have been raped. And beaten. Many times! By men, heterosexual men that do not belong in the homosexual shelter. But, do you do anything for me? No. You tell me to go and hide my tail between my legs. I will not put up with this shit. I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation and you all treat me this way? What the fuck’s wrong with you all? Think about that!
I do not believe in a revolution, but you all do. I believe in the gay power. I believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights. That’s all I wanted to say to you people. If you all want to know about the people in jail and do not forget Bambi L’amour, and Dora Mark, Kenny Metzner, and other gay people in jail, come and see the people at Star House on Twelfth Street on 640 East Twelfth Street between B and C apartment 14.
The people are trying to do something for all of us, and not men and women that belong to a white middle class white club. And that’s what you all belong to!
REVOLUTION NOW! Gimme a ‘G’! Gimme an ‘A’! Gimme a ‘Y’! Gimme a ‘P’! Gimme an ‘O’! Gimme a ‘W’! Gimme an ‘E! Gim me an ‘R’! [crying] Gay power! Louder! GAY POWER!
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QiigzZCEtQ
