The imprisonment of Trans people today represents a long history of genocide by the U.S. From the West Coast of California to the shores of Afrika, Trans people have resisted. We can highlight a few examples from the First Nations peoples exterminated for refusing to assimilate into dominating gender norms, to Joyas two-spirited woman, captured and fed alive to dogs for refusing assimilation, to enslaved Afrikan captives who carried out gender practices that can be defined Gender-Non-Conforming sent to the gallows as punishment.
Today is Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity: an international day of action in solidarity with Trans Prisoners. In North America, prisons all across the U.S, there are Trans and Gender-Non-Conforming peoples having their personal and social liberties denied, repressed, and violated. As the U.S tries to erase these lives in particular, we want to address their long struggle for freedom in a nation Still Guilty of Genocide…
The U.S. government and its subdivisions were found guilty of genocide and gross human rights violations by the International Tribunal that was held in October of 2021. The verdict identified the following counts as markers of this long destructive process:
- Racist police killings of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
- Hyper incarcerations of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
- Political incarceration of Civil Rights/National Liberation era revolutionaries and activists, as well as present-day activists.
- Environmental racism and its impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
- Public Health racism and disparities and its impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
- Genocide of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people as a result of the historic and systemic charges of all the above.
Trans people exist within Black, Brown, Indigenous, and all other communities in the U.S, they are as central to our social and family networks as any of our kin.
The historical legacy of Trans people runs deep in North America and Afrika’s original histories. The history of violence and human rights abuses towards Trans people in North America predates the U.S nation. The U.S continues the colonial traditions of imprisoning, murdering, and isolating Trans brothers, sisters, and others in the U.S today. In Federal and State prisons, and local jails Trans people are subjected to deplorable conditions. They face the abusive conditions of the U.S prison system. While also dealing with specific repression as Trans people; specific denials of medical care, extended periods of solitary confinement, harassment, sexual assault, and gendered violence.
On Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity, we struggle in solidarity for the lives and dignity of our Trans Prisoners, imprisoned in a nation Still Guilty of Genocide…