FIERCE

FIERCE Solidarity Statement

Raha Iranian Feminist Collective

4th Annual International Women’s Day Event

FIERCE Solidarity Statement

Delivered March 8, 2013 

by Tara Tabassi, former FIERCE organizer

Good Evening, my name is Tara Tabassi, and I’m here on behalf of FIERCE. FIERCE is honored to be here today to stand in solidarity with RAHA and feminist resistance to sanctions, state violence, and war-threats in Iran.  

FIERCE organizes LGBTQ youth of color in NYC to fight policing and gentrification in the West Village. Some may think that LGBTQ youth of color in New York City have nothing to do with people within the borders of Iran. But I stand here today—like so many in this room, at an intersection between the two, as an Iranian-American, and as a queer in NYC—to say that however different the faces, or lives, and fronts of struggle are between trans and queer youth of color in NYC and the women, men and queers of Iran; however different the oppressions are—the power source we struggle against can be found at the same root.

We are battling the same power source and systems of violence because those calling for war on Iran right now are sitting in the same offices as those building even more prisons and funding more domestic militaries to lock up brown and black youth, or police trans women of color in this city.

As sanctions have been increasingly imposed and as war cries are being threatened against Iran, we know who has been, and will be hurt: the people. Sanctions hurt people, just as war hurts people. People within Iranian borders, my father, my grandma, maybe your mother or sister- they will be the collateral damage. The people will be what is disposed of, not the Iranian state.

FIERCE knows what it feels like to be considered disposable by the US government. FIERCE knows what it feels like not to have access to medical resources, food, or safety. Among so many others, LGBTQ youth of color, through economic oppression and racially profiled criminalization have been some of the domestic collateral damage of US government for some time.

Today we know not to look for answers from our governments, because they are the ones creating the problems. Today our answer is the people. People standing together across the world, seeing and feeling the connection and the intersections between how we are oppressed and who is oppressing us, we— people connecting, standing up together against state violence—we are the only solution.

Our oppressions are intrinsically tied together, as those being profiled as criminals, terrorists, freaks, and most of all, those considered disposable.  Therefore, the struggle for empowerment of LGBTQ youth of color in NYC is the struggle for the self-determination of all Iranian people. Because our oppressions are inter-woven, so is our liberation. So FIERCE is here tonight with RAHA to stand, across borders, for the liberation for all people.

Thank you! Happy International Women’s Day!

Today: Fabulous & United Press Conference Against Stop & Frisk

Queers Pack the Court!!!
Rise Up to End Stop & Frisk!

TODAY: LGBTQ Communities Say No to Discriminatory Policing

At a time when so much attention is being put toward marriage equality, we’re shining light on a different front of our struggle - the struggle for safety and the right to not be profiled, criminalized, or harassed by the police merely because of who we are!

Since 2004, the NYPD has conducted over 5 million stops during the Bloomberg administration - close to 90% of those stopped are Black or Latina/o and nearly 90% are neither arrested nor receive a summons. Hidden among these statistics is the reality that LGBTQ people, and particularly LGBTQ people of color and youth, are among the hundreds of thousands of people stopped and frisked by the NYPD.

The Bloomberg administration’s stop-and-frisk policy is currently on trial in the case of Floyd v. City of New York, which challenges that its use of profiling and suspicion-less stops violate the 4th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. For more info on the Floyd lawsuit, go here: http://ccrjustice.org/floyd

Justice Committee: Statement In Solidarity with the Family of Kimani “Kiki” Gray and the East Flatbush Community

The killing of 16-year-old Kimani “Kiki” Gray is a terrible tragedy on a long list of injustices perpetrated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).  The Justice Committee sends love, strength and solidarity to his family, friends and community.  We echo Kimani’s community’s calls for an independent investigation into his death and the indictment of the officers who killed him.
 
We are deeply troubled by the fact that eyewitness accounts tell an entirely different story than the one put out by the NYPD.  Sadly, we are not surprised.  In so many other cases the same has happened.  The NYPD puts out their side of the story, painting themselves as heroes and criminalizing our loved ones and later on witnesses, discovery and/or civil suit testimonies prove otherwise.  The cases of Malcolm Ferguson and Ramarley Graham are just two examples.  Too often media outlets and Commissioner Ray Kelly imply that those killed by his officers were criminals; they had records, were suspected of being involved in a street organization, or were in possession of weapons or contraband.  Even if these accusations were to be true, they do not warrant the death penalty.  In spite of what their actions would suggest, the police are supposed to uphold the law.  They are not supposed to act as our loved ones’ judge, jury and executioner.
 
Last year, the NYPD stopped and frisked over half a million people, almost 90% of who were Black and Latino/a and almost 90% of who were found to be doing nothing wrong.  The NYPD also killed 21 people, robbed 21 families and communities of cherished members.  In the courts, on the steps of City Hall and most importantly, in the streets of our neighborhoods, New Yorkers are standing up to say, “Enough is enough!”  However, like their predecessors, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly continue to disregard the overwhelming community outrage at countless incidents of harassment and violence at the hands of the NYPD. The recent uprisings in East Flatbush are a direct result of their failure to acknowledge and rectify the abuse. The on-going indifference by the Mayor and Police Commissioner only fuels tensions, resulting in further erosion of community-police relations and an inherent mistrust of the governing body of the City of New York. 
 
It is impractical to think that New Yorkers will continue to live silently with the daily physical and emotional impact of all forms of police violence – from Stop, Question and Frisk to verbal abuse to unwarranted assaults to unjust killings. As Martin Luther King said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”  We must understand that resistance in many forms is a natural reaction to extreme oppression and is necessary for change.
 
New Yorkers must also demand accountability from officers who kill and brutalize our loved ones. The millions of tax dollars the City pays to settle police violence civil suits each year do not erase the scars left, nor do they it bring back those unjustly taken from us. Too often, the family members of those whose lives have been lost to the NYPD are re-victimize when the District Attorney’s Office fails to indict or lackadaisically prosecutes their killers.  We must understand that police violence is not an issue of a few bad cops, but a systemic problem that is perpetuated by the criminal legal system and some of our elected officials.  We must come together to address this problem and we must do it now.
 
In memory of Kimani “Kiki” Grey and all those who’s lived were stolen by the NYPD, we call on all New Yorkers to stand together to demand justice and police accountability.  Please join us!  One way to do this is to come out May 10, the Friday before Mothers Day for the Mothers Cry for Justice action at One Police Plaza.  (See: http://goo.gl/Q00Me).  Please also look out for information from us on how you can support the demand that all charges of the Cop Watchers and community members who were arrested on March 14 be dropped.
 
Email info@justicecommittee.org for more information about how you can get involved!

http://justicecommittee.org/Home/Home.html