August 28 will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Throughout that march, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared his dream and Congressman John Lewis declared his impatience. Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson sang however didn’t communicate. And Bayard Rustin, the person who organized all of it, a Black homosexual man, remained within the backgroundas did the freedoms of people that lived like him and liked like him.
At this years march, the freedoms of the Black LGBTQIA+ communityalong with the liberty to vote, the liberty to arrange, the liberty of bodily autonomy, amongst many morewill be entrance and heart. Our motion has grownand so has the urgency of our combat.
From the flexibility to stroll down the road to the innocent act of dancing whereas youre pumping gasoline, the freedoms of the Black queer group are persistently below assault. OShae Sibleys homicide weighs heavy on my soul, as do the murders of Koko Da Dall and the, at the very least, 15 trans individuals who have been violently killed this yearthe majority of whom are Black. It’s clear that actual life violence is spinning out of political violence, and issues appear to be getting worse on daily basis.
In June 2023, for the primary time within the historical past of our group, the Human Rights Marketing campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQIA+ People. Greater than 550 anti-trans payments had been launched within the U.S. this yr, and greater than 80 of these payments have now been handed into regulation. At this very second, tens of millions of LGBTQIA+ People can’t entry healthcare, take part in sports activities, carry out on stage, and safely use public restrooms. In 28 states, there aren’t any express non-discrimination protections for LGBTQIA+ folks.
The identical extremists behind the assaults on LGBTQIA+ People are additionally strategically attacking girls, folks of shade, and immigrants. It’s no coincidence, then, that states like Florida are banning educators from speaking about LGBTQIA+ points and educating the reality of Black historyor that states like Texas are limiting gender-affirming care and abortion care, as books are being banned and voters are being turned away from the polls. Neither is it a coincidence that the Supreme Courtroom just lately undermined entry to increased schooling and debt reduction, each very important paths to alternative for thus many Black People, after which gave enterprise homeowners a proper to discriminate in opposition to LGBTQIA+ folks. And, after all, these rulings adopted the Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group resolution in June 2022 and the following assaults on reproductive freedom.
Learn Extra: 60 Years After March on Washington, Americas Progress Hinges on Liberating Black Girls
In an effort to divide and distract, these politicians are working to maintain the progressive motion off-balance. They’re relying on the leaders of civil rights, labor rights, womens rights, and LGBTQIA+ rights to interact in a sport of freedom Whac-A-Mole, combating one battle at a time as an alternative of harnessing our collective energy to win all of them.
However we all know how one can stand up. We all know how one can lock arms collectively, and we all know that our energy is rooted in our folks. Now we have discovered a lot over these final 60 years, and we all know doubtless that by working in coalition, we discover better power. After I just lately sat down with Rev. Al Sharpton, who’s spearheading this years march, he put it very merely: “It is going to take all of us to get to the opposite facet.
Rustin would have agreed with this easy reality. As a Black man and a homosexual man, Rustin lived his life on the intersections. As a labor organizer and a trusted advisor to civil rights leaders, he understood the ability of the collective, and believed that political and authorized victories, like Brown v. Board of Schooling, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act wanted to be coupled with financial alternative for Black People. Therefore, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
As I put together to talk from the Lincoln Memorial for the anniversary of March on Washington, I’ll achieve this as a Black, queer girl, a accomplice, a dad or mum, and a motion chief. I might be following within the steps of individuals like Rustin and Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans girl who led the Stonewall Riots. I may even be paving the trail for folks like Zion Ballard, a younger Black trans man, who might be there with me and his dad and mom on the march. Like those that got here earlier than, Ballard will carry ahead the combat for freedom, an inheritance handed down technology to technology.
In 1963, Congressman John Lewis, who was not a lot older than Zion on the time, stated, We don’t want our freedom step by step, however we need to be free now! 60 years later, I might add, we don’t want our freedoms one after the other, we need to be free in each a part of our lives. Thats why we’re coming collectively this weekend. Thats what this march is all about.
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