This week on Two Dykes and a Mic, hosts Rachel Scanlon and McKenzie Goodwin discuss the beginning of the gay liberation movement, black trans people's involvement in Stonewall, and the movie review is The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017).
Please donate, protest, vote and listen! Like Marsha P. Johnson said "No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us".
Places to Donate for Black Trans People:
The Okra Project, a New York City organization, has launched mental health funds in honor of both Tony McDade and Nina Pop, which will purchase therapy sessions with licensed Black practitioners for trans people. The Tony Dade Mental Health Recovery Fund will benefit trans men, and the Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund benefits trans women (Okra Project encourages anyone who identifies "under the Transgender umbrella" to apply to the fund which most aligns with their identity). They've contributed $15,00 to each fund and are asking community members to match their totals. People can also donate sessions with their own (Black, licensed) therapists. Donate to both funds here, and apply for sessions at the hyperlinks for each fund above.
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, founded by trans rights activist and attorney Dean Spade and provides "provides direct representation for low-income transgender people and transgender people of color." Follow here and donate here.
The Marsha P. Johnson Institute provides direct relief to Black trans people. Donate to their COVID-19 relief fund here.
The Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTA), a national organization led by Black trans people, dedicated to addressing inequality in health, employment and housing for trans people. They've been providing direct relief to trans communities during the pandemic. Donate here to their COVID-19 community response grant.
Started in 2018, Reclaim The Block organizes the Minneapolis community to move money from the police department to other areas of the city. The organization's mission is to invest money in areas including violence prevention, housing, resources for youth, housing, solutions for addiction, and emergency mental health response teams. You can donate here to help ensure that Minneapolis has the resources needed, and learn ways you can further get involved with Reclaim The Block.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
Founded by Thurgood Marshall in 1957, the Legal Defense and Education Fund is a nationwide organization that fights for racial justify and investigates police-involved murders. Its donation page states, "Donate today to help us win landmark legal battles, protect voters across the nation, and advance the cause of racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society." If you want to contribute more than one donation, you can opt to donate monthly.
Founded in 2013 following the murder of Trayvon Martin, Black Lives Matter is an organization that builds power to provide justice, freedom, and healing to Black people all across the world. "We appreciate your support of the movement and our ongoing fight to end state-sanctioned violence, liberate Black people, and end white supremacy forever," its donation page states.
Started in 2017, "Black Visions Collective is a Black-led, Queer and Trans centering organization whose mission is to organize powerful, connected Black communities and dismantle systems of violence," its organizational one-paper states. This is done through establishing strategic campaigns, investing in Black leadership, as well as engaging in cultural and narrative organization.
"Funds will go to our on-going work to build a powerful, Black-led organization in Minnesota, expanding leadership capacity so that we are able to meet this moment of crisis, and resources to support our community short term and long term," Yolanda Hare, Operations Manager at Black Visions Collective, tells TZR. "For short-term that might mean buying resources to be deployed at the front line like food, masks, and safety gear. Long term that might mean loans to small business to help them rebuild or covering healthcare costs for Black youth on the frontlines. But we are still in the process of developing effective, visionary, transparent and streamlined ways to deploy resources to the community." Donate by heading to the page on its website.
