Welcome to Month 2 of our year-long focus on Black Liberation as Collective Liberation. This month, we’re focusing on gender, sexuality, and Black liberation. I’m so excited to bring you these amazing conversations and resources. This episode focuses heavily on Black queerness with contributions from Ericka Hart, J Mase III, Angelica Ross and richie reseda. Throughout the month we’ll cover other aspects of gender, sexuality and Black liberation in depth - including focus on reproductive justice and on Black women friendship. This episode meant a lot to me and I hope that it means a lot to you as well as we continue to work on getting free together.
Blackness, Transness, Queerness and the current political climate
Are you sick of talking about the election yet? I know I am. And yet, we must place this conversation in political context if we are to understand where we are now and what we need to be aware of in the future. Palestinians, Black people and trans people found their bodies and their freedoms at the center of political debate this election season, even more so than in recent years. And as our lives were used for political gain or ignored for political expediency, we were left more unsafe and yet somehow blamed for that unsafety.
Further Reading:
US Republican transgender laws pile up, setting 2024 battle lines
“Kamala Is For They/Them”: Republican Attack Ads Remain Obsessed With Trans People
Some Democrats blame party’s position on transgender rights in part for Harris’ loss
Harris Loss Has Democrats Fighting Over How to Talk About Transgender Rights
The Maine Millennial: Trans people had nothing to do with Harris’ loss
Democrats would get nothing for throwing trans Americans under the bus
Trump’s fierce attacks on DEI reflect a longtime GOP focus
Republican lawmakers are backing dozens of bills targeting diversity efforts on campus and elsewhere
Crow Jim: Project 2025’s Obsession With Reverse Racism
‘Woke’ didn’t lose the US election: the patrician class who hijacked identity politics did
And while not discussed in this video, it is important to note that intersex people are also at risk from anti-trans legislation as well: Intersex youths are also hurt by anti-trans laws, advocates say
The History of the Denial of Bodily Autonomy of Black People in the US
The denial of bodily autonomy is at the core of white supremacy and the oppression of Black people in the United States. We cannot ignore how fundamentally gender justice and reproductive justice issues are tied to Black liberation.
Further Reading:
(Un)safe Spaces: The Relationship Between Slavery and Sexual Victimization of Black Women
Enslaved Women’s Resistance to Slavery and Gendered Violence
Sexual Violence Against Enslaved Men
The Sexual Abuse of Black Men under American Slavery
The Troubling Past of Forced Sterilization of Black Women and Girls in Mississippi and the South
The Right to Have Children: A Look Into the Role of Forced Sterilization in the U.S.
Surgical Sterilization, Regret, and Race: Contemporary Patterns
How the “Child Welfare” System Destroys Black Families with Prof. Dorothy Roberts
‘Family policing system’: how the US criminalizes Black parenting
Why Intersectionality Matters
Black women, Black trans and gender-expansive people, and Black queer people are at unique risk from state violence and oppression. And while many Black women and Black queer and trans people have been the fiercest fighters in our Black liberation movements, it is rare that Black women or Black queer and trans people are centered by Black liberation movements as a whole. When we are not intersectional in our Black liberation work, we are not doing Black liberation work at all.
Further Reading:
America’s War on Black Trans Women
Black trans women face a unique threat rooted in centuries of history
The Black Lives Matter Movement Must Include Trans People
Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024
Why Are There So Many Women in Jail?
The Queering of Blackness
If queerness is to exist outside of established “norms” then has not Blackness always been queer? Let’s explore how Blackness has been queered, what it means to be Black and queer and our history before whiteness and white supremacy.
Further Reading:
Queering Black History and Getting Free
Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology
The Missing Colors of the Rainbow: Black Queer Resistance
The Anti-Trans Panic Is Rooted in White Supremacist Ideology
Anti-Trans Sports Bills Aren’t Just Transphobic — They’re Racist, Too
Why Transphobia Is at the Heart of the White Power Movement
The Gender Binary Is a Tool of White Supremacy
Queerphobia in the Black Community & White Supremacy’s Impact on Black Relationships
Further Reading:
Stop Saying Black People Are More Homophobic Than Others
Let’s Get To Work: Organizations to join, support, and learn from in the fight for Gender Justice, Queer and Trans Liberation, and Black Liberation
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Initiative
This Episode’s Amazing Contributors:
Ericka Hart: website | Instagram | podcast
J Mase III: website | Instagram | Black Trans Prayer Book
Angelica Ross: website | Instagram | Podcast
richie reseda: website | Instagram | Songs From The Hole
Where you can find more Until All Of Us Are Free
Ijeoma Oluo: website | Instagram | Behind the Book | Be A Revolution
This project is created and hosted by Ijeoma Oluo
Video and podcast produced by Isabel Khalili
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