Baby koala clinging to a leg.
Today is “taking a break from depressing things” day.
Portrait of Audre Lorde by Robert Alexander, 1983. Jackie Kay writes,
Audre Lorde dropped the y from Audrey when she was still a child so she could be Audre Lorde. She liked the symmetry of the es at the end. She was born in New York City in 1934 to immigrants from Grenada. She didn’t talk till she was four and was so short-sighted she was legally blind. She wrote her first poem in eighth grade. The Black Unicorn, her most unified collection of poems, partly describes a tricky relationship with her mother. “My mother had two faces and a frying pot / where she cooked up her daughters / into girls … My mother had two faces / and a broken pot /where she hid out a perfect daughter /who was not me”…
After her mastectomy, she chose not to have prosthesis, opting for asymmetry instead, and wore one dangling earring and one stud for unequal measure. From the little girl who loved those matching es, she’d come not exactly full circle but a revolution and a half.
Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
Not being racist is not some default starting position. You don’t simply get to say you’re not a racist; not being racist — or a sexist or a homophobe — is a constant, arduous process of unlearning, of being uncomfortable, of eating crow and being humbled and re-evaluating. It’s probably hard to start that process if you’ve been told that every thought you have is golden and should be given voice, and that people who are offended by what you say are hypersensitive simpletons.
SIGNAL BOOST! URGENT!!!
For friends in the Richmond area:
Please join us tomorrow morning at the John Marshall Courts Building to support Ashley Williams, a young single mother who is to be sentenced in connection with the tragic death of her 2-year old son.
Even though the medical examiner’s office reported the cause of the boy’s death as “inconclusive,” prosecutors insisted the he died of malnutrition and neglect. When Ms. Williams’ court-appointed attorney asked a medical expert to review the boy’s medical records, he found no evidence of abuse or neglect and concluded the child likely died from a genetic disorder that simulates malnutrition. The expert was prepared to testify at Ms. Williams’ trial, at no charge, but the attorney was removed from the case.
Ms. Williams’ other three children were all healthy, but they were taken from her and placed in the foster care system. Depressed, she pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter without even going to trial and now faces up to life in prison. There were stories of her case in the local papers when she was charged, but none since then.
A coalition of African-American community leaders, including King Salim Khalfani, Sa’ad El-Amin, Marty Jewell and others, has stepped forward to support Ms. Williams and is calling for people to attend her sentencing hearing, scheduled for 9 am, Wednesday, April 18, before Judge Taylor in Courtroom 302 in the John Marshall Courts Building, 400 N. 9th St., Richmond, VA 23219. The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality have endorsed the coalition’s efforts and will be at the hearing. Please do your best to spread the word.
Thanks,
Phil Wilayto
Alexis Rivera, Transgender Rights Advocate, Dies At 34
I hope this marvellous woman gets as many tributes as Adrienne fucking Rich has. Something tells me i’m hoping in vain, however.
Video courtesy of the Huffington Post.My thoughts are with the family and friends of this strong, beautiful, fierce woman.
I met Alexis a few times at various queer and trans panels during my MA program before she got really, really sick. Being close friends with one of my mentors in the philosophy department made her somewhat of a constant presence. A remarkably kind person, one whom will be sorely missed, especially by those intimately involved with the Transgender Law Center.
