FIERCE

My Creating Change Experience 2012

by Karen Hall (rainbowtastica)

Karen Leading FIERCE’s Media Justice Workshop at Creating Change 2012! 

I have so much to say that I don’t even know where to start! Creating change was epic and the high light of my 17-year-old life! I remember looking at myself in the hotel room mirror and wondering if my mom was going to notice a change in my physical appearance from my experience and growth in wisdom that had occurred during that week. There were many factors that contributed to that feeling and the biggest one was for the first time in my life I was treated like an adult and was seen as an equal to members and staff of FIERCE who were significantly older than me.

During my stay in Baltimore I roomed with Evonna, Tiph, Anna, Donita and Sofie in a Hilton which was a great experience because they were all very open minded and accepting people who were easy to feel conferrable around.

The first and honestly the only workshop I attended besides FIERCE’s was, Queers for Economic Justice’s day-long workshop on Thursday. I fell in love with the organization because they were for all the things I’m for: ending racism, ageism, classism, ableism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia. I loved the wheel of oppression they used in the workshop. They had an activity were the whole room split up into different groups and they had to share why they were interested in attending the workshop. Most people in my group said that they wanted to learn to support others that weren’t as fortunate as them. One woman even said that she was part of the 1% and wanted to learn about people who weren’t.

As more people said that, I felt more and more uncomfortable because I was not only coming from a very poor family but I was also the youngest person attending the workshop. Later on I realized that the only people who weren’t of upper class came to creating change with either an organization or with their college because the cost of creating change excluded people who weren’t rich. Hopefully not on purpose.

Kenyon Farrow at QEJ’s Day-Long “Class More Than Ever” Institute

The most memorable part of my week was the trans pool party that happened on a Friday night. I’ve gone to the dyke march before but had never felt comfortable enough to take off my top. What made this party a safe space for me to do this was knowing that I wasn’t going to find a picture of it the next day on the internet and if anyone did take pictures, it wasn’t to sell them online as child pornography. When I entered the pool, a female bodied youth called out “FOR GENDER EQUALITY!” and took off her top and others joined cheerfully. Now I feel comfortable enough to go topless at the dyke march because I feel I need to make the statement: All bodies are equal! Stop sexism!

The biggest highlight of Creating Change 2012 for FIERCE members who attended was calling out Obama’s administration on Saturday morning. I was extremely tired from the night before but forced myself to get up that morning because Tara thought it was a good idea to go and that we had to mic check them for all of the wrongs they had been doing.  I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity for my voice be heard by people who have power because as a youth of color my voice is always silenced in the media so it never reaches the people who actually can do anything about it. When I walked in the room I realized how much of a big deal this was going to be because the room was really small and the only people there were mostly white and dressed up. I came in wearing a tank top, jeans, and rain boots which out-casted me from the group of people already there. I came out of the room to make myself coffee and over heard a white man saying in a snobby voice “I wonder where the 99% is” and I half awake turned to him and said, “I am!” Later on I discovered that he was a part of the Obama’s administration. During the whole time I was there I kept a close eye on him because I’d already made an opinion about him and it wasn’t a good one.

The Obama administration representatives introduced themselves then asked if there were any questions. No one raised their hands so then they continued rambling about how great they were and the good things they were doing. Then as planned, Tara interrupted and called out “MIC CHECK!” and everyone in the room turned around to view the row of the only youth of color in the room in complete embarrassment. I started to feel a little embarrassed too and felt a bit of doubt but then I felt a little betrayed by the LGBT people in that room. I soon found myself feeling above the people who were staring at us like that because they were not standing up for their rights and letting their voices be heard. All they did was try to fit in and suck up to the White House reps by trying to act and seem heteronormative. They were probably people who spent all of their lives trying to prove to the straight community that they were just like them so that they would feel accepted and unalienated in their everyday lives. I understand why they act like that on a regular basis. It is their survival mechanism but with in the walls of a LGBT friendly space called ‘Creating Change’ it is a loss of opportunity to act as if they would be in danger if stepping out of the status quo.

FIERCE Preparing for the Mic Check.

The next day Tiph, Ana, Donita, Evonna, Dulani, Tara and I met up for lunch at Panera to brainstorm possible ideas for a blog post on the event that had happened the day before. Everyone had a lot to say about what had happened and were really passionate about getting our message out to others. Dulani scribed while every one went around in a circle describing their experience being a youth and person of color at creating change. We wanted to get the message out to everyone at creating change so we planned to post a blog by that night . We also planned to interview lgbt youth of color and ask them about their experience. While interviewing I noticed that most people said the same thing. They didn’t feel ignored but they also didn’t feel very welcomed to participate and raise their hands in the workshops. They were silenced by ageism and one person’s excuse was “well, the other people seemed more knowledgeable and like they had more experience” which at a place like creating change should not matter. Every one has their own experience that is worth sharing.

Since this event I’ve had a really easy time networking by using it was a starting point for conversation. People get really interested in hearing about FIERCE’s work and tell me that “FIERCE is a really dope organization!” So far the video of FIERCE challenging Obama’s administration has only gotten around 3,000 views in the 1st week but I have confidence that it will get to a million views by the end of February and continue to go viral.

Reblog

Summing Up: Creating Change Conference 2012 

by Evonna Rae Crudup (qweenofzamunda)

As I stepped out of the crowded cab and onto the pavement in front of the Hilton, the scene looked mildly familiar.

A few queers huddled outside for a smoke, while others arrived in yellow vehicles periodically, just as we had. Every city, each hotel, same feeling. Muddled excitement was in the air even though it was Tuesday and attendees were few in number.

I’ve been to the Creating Change Conference through a few different avenues. First, through impromptu 13-hour-drives, sleeping on hotel carpets, fundraising/scrapping/university funds for social and academic learning, and finally as a member and workshop facilitator with FIERCE.

This time around my experience at Creating Change was completely different -although I still cannot find the words to describe the feeling behind it.

Upon arriving, much of our (FIERCE staff and members) initial time was spent preparing for FIERCE’s Media Workshop and Queer Youth of Color Caucus scheduled for Friday evening. We all worked together, made suggestions, and critiqued each other until we were confident that we had solid agendas for both.

In between and around that, I got to go to a few workshops. The first one I attended was Queers for Economic Justice’s day-long institute on class and race, and how class (at the intersections of race, queerness and disability) impacts both visibility and access to resources. It was amazing and lasted from about 9am-6pm. The topics discussed included things like class, race, HIV status, adoption and families, disability, youth homelessness, sexuality and sex, politics, sex work, and aging.

Queers for Economic Justice’s Queer Survival Economies Wheel, 2012.  

After the day-long institute, Tara Tabassi, FIERCE’s Organizer proposed the idea of organizing a mic check at Friday’s 8am panel discussion on LGBT issues with the White House LGBT Liaison and other high ranking government and military officials. The first thing that struck me about this event was that there even WAS an LGBT Liaison at the White House. I wondered how that person was representing my wants and needs as a queer youth of color who is working class and un(der) employed.  Working diligently, members and staff sat down to discuss what we thought were the most urgent and under-discussed topics effecting queer folks of color.

We were all there as representatives of our communities and wanted to make sure the most silenced and marginalized queers could be heard through our voices. Making foreign politics, immigrant issues, and youth issues our focus point, we wrote our script and all went to bed in excitement and anticipation for Friday’s direct action.

Waking up the next day was not an easy feat but nonetheless, nine folks met outside the conference room, unsure of what was going to happen next. The room was filled with queers in business attire, most/all were professionals, and none (besides us) were youth. As we smothered our fear and sat in the back of the room, the importance of the words and message we were bringing sank in.

At the sound of the first “Mic Check!” heads turned and eyes searched to find its source. The room was quiet, although the disapproval was being clearly communicated from the faces and body language of most who were in the room. I chose to look straight ahead and speak as emphatically as I could from the seat I had chosen because I was too scared to stand.

As Tara yelled the last mic check and encouraged others to voice their concerns, the panel moderator broke the quietness to condescendingly chastise our words. My heart sank. It seemed as if any space, even one of “creating change”, was an appropriate setting to silence queer youth of color.

Suddenly a voice from the crowd, clear and confident, “Are you just going to ignore what these youth had to say?” Others came to our aid and defense as well, as the panel members struggled (unsuccessfully) to answer our “questions” and demands.

As we left the room nods of approval and appreciation from around the room were directed our way. Debriefing in the hallway, outside of the conference room, I felt a sense of excitement and accomplishment. THIS was my first direct action. However, coupled with the pride, was and still is, a good amount of sadness about how we were treated and silenced.

After getting breakfast and finding time to regain my confidence and to center myself, I went in search of another workshop. I ended up at “Kink, Race, and Class” done by Ignacio Rivera and Yosenio Lewis. The hour and fifteen minute workshop outlined how to navigate kinky and sex positive spaces and the way in which power and privilege affects the way that all of us play.

By the time I left, it was time to set up for FIERCE’s Media workshop followed by the caucus. The turn out for both was great! I was especially proud and appreciative of Karen’s facilitation and energy in the media workshop. The team (Manny, Naa, Dulani and Karen) successfully turned a 3-hour training into an exciting and informative 1-1/2 hour workshop. The caucus was equally as successful! All the participants were engaged and came with great thoughts and ideas that will help us in the planning of our National Youth of Color Organizing Summit next October.

 
FIERCE’s Media Justice Workshop
 

Over the rest of the weekend, I attended two other workshops. One done by Streetwise and Safe instructing on what to do if/when the police stop or harass you. I also went to the Queer People’s Movement Assembly done by Southerners On New Ground (SONG). It was amazing, beautifully facilitated and informative as far as the critical theory of the work we are all doing as organizers.

On Sunday, leaving Baltimore, there was so much to process and reflect on. Of course, there was the down time, parties, pool and people; however, the experiences at the workshops and at the mic check were the most salient. FIERCE had later gotten word that the Task Force’s blog about the Obama administration panel didn’t mention us or what we said. On the bus riding north, I thought about what that meant in terms of their intention and also the impact of our exclusion. I also thought about the message we sent to the White House and the faces of those I know we represented in our action. The response of the White House Liason was positive, and I could only hope that our heartfelt Mic Check was enough to shift efforts in support of queer folks over seas, immigrant queers, and queer youth of color.

I am very grateful to FIERCE for giving me the opportunity to go to the conference as a representative of the membership and as a facilitator.

See you in Atlanta, CC13 ;)

Reblog

CREATING CHANGE CONFERENCE ERASES LGBTQ YOUTH OF COLOR VOICES: MIC CHECK!

On Friday, January 27, 2012 at the Creating Change Conference Baltimore, FIERCE delivers a message to the LGBT Liaison to the White House, the Department of Defense, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development at “The Obama Administration and LGBT Community” session.

 “Mic check” a single voice, a little shaky, interrupted from the back row. 

“Mic check!” echoed nine more voices in a roar of anger, love, support, solidarity. 

“MIC CHECK!!!” a little louder now, yelled the voice more stably grounded in the feeling of security that love and solidarity gives to oppressed voices. 

“TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA A MESSAGE FROM US QUEERS:

 WE WANT JUSTICE FOR OUR PEOPLE…

WE DO NOT APPRECIATE THE WHITE HOUSE COMING HERE
TO PINKWASH AND DISPOSE OF ITS CRIMES…”

For full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHkeCvzhYfU&feature=relmfu

Our collective interruption—written down on paper so we didn’t choke up with feeling, but truly imbedded in our hearts and minds in a way that we would never forget—had one main goal: calling out the injustice we saw as LGBTQ Young People of Color trying to reframe the so called “LGBT agenda of Equality” that was about to be discussed at the Obama panel meeting. 

Later, as we reflected on what happened, everyone voiced a true feeling of fear.  A fear that was so viscerally intense that it was pulling our bodies to leave; walk out the same doors that our shaky legs and inspired minds had just compelled us to enter.  But there was something that kept us in that room.  Whether it was our individual needs of speaking out, our collective understanding of our speeches’ importance, or just out of love and support for each other.  We stayed.  We stood our ground.  We embodied our vision of “Building Power, Taking Action, Creating Change.”

The reactions to our mic check were varied.

Some people shook their heads in uncomfortable disapproval while others applauded us, seeing the truth and necessity in our words.  Those in the audience that agreed did so passively—not actively speaking up after we finished our mic check with “Is there anything anyone else needs to say?!”  This lack of response, though, might have been due to the fact that almost immediately after we were done, Amanda Simpson, a representative from the Dept. of Defense quickly and aggressively deflected with, “Okay, so back to our regular agenda.” 

Five minutes of overtly ignoring us passed while tension in the room grew.

It wasn’t until Jennifer Hadlock from CVH stood up and derided the panel for not acknowledging us that the conversation finally shifted back to addressing our disturbance. Also in solidarity, Urvashi Vaid advocated for us by asserting that we had presented a challenge to deepen and broaden the conversation of what it means to be Queer in this world.

After the attempts made by adults to validate our voices, some of the panel timidly talked around the issues with lists of the Obama Administrations’ ‘successes’, while others remained silent. But, in frustration to the lack of a direct response, we collectively exited the room.

After our exit, and as many people greeted us outside with thank you’s, one thing was for certain: we had grappled and shaken the room—transforming it into a space that promoted creating change.  We stripped away the sophisticated suit of regular panel Q&A discussions, making it much more real than it would have been. 

We uploaded the video of our mic check on Friday afternoon.

What followed has been a steady outpouring of gratitude, excitement and pride from conference attendees and social network commenters, followers and writers.

It is Saturday evening and there are 1,255 hits on YouTube.

As we take in this solidarity around celebrating and affirming our resistance and our message, we have hopped, skipped and jumped with pride. Our feet have felt more planted on the ground, our smiles wide, and our chests open, fearless.

We knew we did good. We knew we were powerful. What we didn’t know was precisely how threatening that power was.

So threatening, it was erased by NGLTF on their blog— which described a peaceful Friday morning session as if our act of dissent never occurred:

http://thetaskforceblog.org/2012/01/27/friday-at-creating-change/  

Would you have ever known about what we did and said after reading the NGLTF blog? Friday morning is history now, and that history has so quickly been rewritten.

Our voice, already shaky with a message so vital for our existence in this world, swiftly deleted. The sweat stains of fear from Friday morning have settled. Our bodies are tired from unpacking what it means to be excluded from our own movement.

Who benefits from this erasure? And more importantly - At what cost?

Does youth inclusion at Creating Change only mean hospitality suite burritos, dress up parties and photo ops? Does youth inclusion mean sitting in silence in workshops and feeling like we don’t have the language or the experience or the knowledge to speak out?

In her “State of the Movement” speech, Rea Carey (The Executive Director of the NGLTF) called on conference participants “to not [play] the game, to do something extraordinary…to work against the forces that drag us down as human beings, that pull us down and limit us as a movement, that portray us as something that we are not”.

Isn’t it ironic that a national organization claiming to represent the LGBT movement strategically polices a message from Youth of Color leaders doing exactly what Rea Carey called on us to do? What does it mean to erase a message that so boldly steps up and speaks out against the militarization and policing of our people, and demands an end to war and violence?

We are fighting for queer justice. We will not be co-opted. We will not be silenced. We will not policed and militarized. We will continue to fight for our liberation!

MIC CHECK!

 

Reblog

Fierce’s National Program and Some History

Fierce’s National Program was launched in 2007 after The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a report which stated that 20 – 40% of the 1.6 million homeless youth nationally are LGBTQ identified. From this staggering statistics FIERCE as an organization birthed the National Program as a response to the dire need to support LGBTQ youth organizing and LGBTQ youth leadership in broader social justice movement-building efforts. 

Currently out National Programs Intern Chery along with Morgan FIERCE’S National Program Director have identified organization around the country that do work with LGBTQ youth that may have a need to include leadership development or include a structure that would allow for the members or served population to have decision making power. They are now currently working on assessing the needs of individual organizations and see how FIERCE’s National Program could help build the capacity of these organizations. 

 

Facts: Many organizations in history have done national work such as the Black Panther Party which were key players in the Black Liberation Movement. They were formed in October 1966 in Oakland California by Hewey P. Newton and Bobby Seale the original name was “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense” the name was then shorten to the formerly known name The Black Panther Party. Shortly after their formation they began to expand eastward having chapters in New York,Chicago,Philadelphia,Newark,Omaha, Denver along with plenty others. The party was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation — a party whose agenda was the revolutionary establishment of real economic, social, and political equality across gender and color lines. Movements such as the Gay Liberation Front, Young Lords Party were heavily influenced by the BBP in fact even working in alliance with each other in order to insure equality for all.

 

If you would like to know more about FIERCE’S National Program or would like to take part in administering the Technical Assistant Surveys contact Chery through email at: national@fiercenyc.org .

Reblog