when we say tomorrow we really mean today
On this Trans Day of Remembrance, I am pulling the title for this blog entry from the final line of the Andrea Jenkins’ poem, “Bag Lady Manifesto (#sayhername/blacktranslivesmatter).” For those of you who don’t know, Andrea Jenkins is the first African American openly trans woman to be elected to office in the United States. She is a member of the Minneapolis City Council. The complete line of the poem goes: “Tell them to strategize about that tomorrow, but when we say tomorrow we really mean today.” It is delivered after in epitaph to many black trans lives lost to violence and the breath, tears, and laughter those who survive that terrorism experience in the moments after. It is a call to action.
A display of local authors, including Gene, at Eat My Words in Minneapolis
I read this poem in class today, providing context for the trans men mentioned with #sayhername in the lack of constitutional rights and legal recognition we all have. I read this poem and emphasized how much greater the marginalization, oppression, and violence toward Black trans women is as black, as trans, as woman. I read this poem and gave remembrance to the dead and remembered what work we have to do and what battle lays before us.
Early in 2024, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Equal Rights Amendment with the hopes of getting it to voters by 2026. It must pass the MN Senate first. Here is the 2024 Proposed ERA Language for SF37:
All persons shall be guaranteed equal rights under the laws of this state. The state shall not discriminate against any person in intent or effect on account of race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, or sex, including but not limited to pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive freedom, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.
This expansive language ensures the freedoms and liberties of those previously ignored by the state. It is especially important in a time when our nation is staged to act against the interests of these people groups. Now is the time to talk to your legislators. Now is also the time to talk to your friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues. We must find a way to explain why this matters. It can’t just be Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Duluth that votes in the interests of minorities.
Eugene celebrating his 36th birthday a little early with his parents
Tomorrow is my birthday, and Friday is my 2-year anniversary for being on testosterone. I experienced a lot of pushback for physically and legally transitioning. My mom emailed me a voice recording explaining why she chose my former name and stating that she would never call me anything other. My brother group messaged a video of himself attacking transgender people, specifically those who physically transition, to my family. Friends and family refused to refer to me by any name on my social media and shared things on their social medias attacking transgender people. Businesses kept emailing and messaging my deadname, though I had changed it legally in their system. Colleagues did not stop misgendering me until I went through with chest reconstruction; some still do. Each time it has been my sanity that has been questioned instead of these incidences of harassment, as if mental health were a reason somebody would report upon oppression.
It is the quiet violence that haunts us all, that lets us know we are not safe.