- [Protestors] Tell me what you need
What you really need, justice.
Tell me what you want, what
you really want, justice.
Tell me what you need, what
you really need, justice.
Tell me what you want, what
you really want, justice.
Tell me what you need, what
you really need, justice.
(crowd cheering)
♪ Come all you good workers ♪
♪ Good news to you all ♪
- The Economic Justice Day of Action
is an initiative of the Welfare Warriors,
a project of Queers for Economic Justice.
We are a group of lesbians,
gay, bisexual, trans,
and gender non-confirming people
with experience of poverty
who organized to make the welfare system
accountable to low-income LGBTGNC people.
Through directive action,
community education,
and coalition building
with other progressive organizations,
we seek to empower our communities
and to connect our struggles
for welfare rights to larger struggles
for economic justice.
- Woo!
- And for social justice.
- This isn't on here, but that was like
after this group was when we started
meeting at the end of the leadership group
to form Welfare Warriors.
And then we planned the
community speak out.
We have gender
self-determination in shelters,
and the first trans justice TDOA march,
Trans Day of Action march.
- They don't believe that I didn't know
there's a gay community
here in New York City,
'cause everyone in Oklahoma
or all these other states,
they know that San Francisco
and New York are the most,
this is, if you're gay, this
is where you wanna flock to,
to live your, the lifestyle.
Yeah, but I didn't know.
I was so
sheltered by my parents.
Yeah, they had these religious values,
and started to...
Well into college,
I just kinda stayed in that mindset,
that little religious
mindset where there's really,
yeah, I hear on television
there's a gay community
here in New York City, but,
and what?
- Over there it's very racist towards us.
They have a medical center there.
Well, it was a center like
how we have here in New York,
where you can just go and
socialize and hang out with
other people, and people
are so scared to get off
at that particular stop
to go to the center
because when they get off
people will harass them
or beat 'em up.
You know?
And a lot of people over there
have been beat up and killed,
and I found out from being there also that
they treat us like animals.
They will go out on a mission,
who could kill the most gay people,
and they will make it like a game.
And I was very shocked
and surprised about that.
And the center that they
had for us over there,
they had to turn it into a
medical center for women,
to see a GYN doctor or medical doctor.
But it's still a center but
you just have to sneak in there
and pretend you're going to see
the doctor when you're really
not going to see the doctor.
So that cut down the violence.
- [Protestor] We know that
when there are new tactics
developed to control people,
they're always tried first on poor people,
prisoners, immigrants,
and people of color.
The Real ID Act is
another example of this.
It's a proposal to formally combine
our driver's license info, tax info,
criminal records, welfare,
and immigration info.
For some of us who have been through
the shelter system or prison,
we have this information
about us combined already.
So when we get our
driver's license renewed,
it's an opportunity for deportation.
When we go to the welfare office,
it's an opportunity to
check our parole status.
And when we apply for green cards,
it's an easier way to deny citizenship
to HIV positive folks on Medicaid.
But my identity is my own.
Is yours?
- [Protesters] We're here, we're queer,
we're fabulous, don't fuck with us.
We're here, we're queer,
We're fabulous, don't fuck with us.
- I just need this specific
agency right now to change my F.
I have my non-drivers' license, it has F.
My Medicaid has F.
Why is it that social security is not,
you know what I'm saying,
taking me there like that.
Once you change your
name, my name was changed,
but see, on my birth certificate,
my name was Horace Bianca Crandall.
Now my name is Bianca Horace Crandall,
which was my sister's twin name.
So now I need all my IDs to say female.
So what I had to do,
I had to go through the procedures
of giving them a doctor's
letter from my doctor,
for telling them my gender and everything,
and they would have to go
from the paperwork from there
to take it and to input F on my papers.
This woman is giving me a hard
time, every time I'm comin'.
I took the same letter four times already.
So, I went to Sylvia Rivera this week
to see if I could get a lawyer
to come and represent me.
They sent me my birth certificate
because I'm a trans, intersex person.
They said I can go and
get a birth certificate
that says no sex.
But then I heard that
you can't do that now.
But they said if I'm a
United States citizen,
I can go and get a birth
certificate that has no gender.
So I'm gonna go and try that,
because they sent me my
birth certificate back
and they took it back,
because they had put the wrong gender.
So I'm trying to wait for
that to come back to me
before I start it again.
But I'm not gonna give up.
I'm not gonna give up though,
'cause this is me, this is who I am,
this is my gender, my identity.
- In New York State there's only one
treatment facility that
has a program geared
towards gays and lesbians.
That's the Manhattan State
Addiction Treatment Center.
There's nothing else.
There are a lot more of us
out there that are struggling.
That may not want to come into treatment
because the facilities are
not gay and lesbian friendly.
Or because it's not geared
towards gays and lesbians.
And I think that's what's keeping
a lot of us out of treatment.
When I wanted to talk
about my transgender issues
they said I wasn't dealing
with the real issues,
why I got high.
And I'm not the only one.
I know other people that were
told they weren't dealing
with the real issues
when they wanted to talk about
being gay or being lesbian.
Being pleased to say that
they're sensitive to these issues
but they're not.
On Long Island there's
only one gay and lesbian,
or they call it
Special Interest Narcotics
Anonymous meeting.
And me and some friends of
mine are starting a second one.
There's a couple of AA meetings,
but there's no Narcotics
Anonymous meetings.
The difference between AA
and Narcotics Anonymous
is AA, or Alcoholics Anonymous,
only focuses on alcohol.
Narcotics Anonymous focuses on any mind
or mood altering substance,
so it's more inclusive.
The one thing I'd love to
do is I'd love to educate
a lot of these drug and alcohol programs
on sensitivity to transgender issues,
because they're not
sensitive to these issues.
- Up with the people.
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- Up with the people.
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- Up with the people
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- Down with Bush.
- [Protestors] Boo, boo.
- And Bloomberg, too.
- [Protestors] Boo, boo.
- I said up with the people.
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- [Protestor] We're beautiful people.
- [Protestors] Yeah yeah.
- [Protestor] All wear red.
- [Protestors] Yeah yeah.
- [Protestor] You're so gorgeous.
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- [Protestor] Up with the people.
- [Protestors] Yeah yeah.
- [Protestor] Down with poverty.
- [Protestors] Boo, boo.
- [Protestor] Down with homelessness.
- [Protestor] Boo, boo.
- I said up with QEJ
[Queers for Economic Justice].
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- I said up with QE J.
- [Protestors] Yeah, yeah.
- The teacher called me a faggot.
The day, it was a rainy day.
There was not enough sun out for my Leo.
I felt a little bit depressed.
And he said, "You know what really stinks?
"Faggots don't make it into
the kingdom of heaven."
And then somebody jumped,
put their hand up and said,
"Leviticus, Leviticus."
This is where I got my confirmation
that he was directly talking about me.
He looked my directly in the eyes.
His lips moved, all I got into was
a gay faggot in hell.
And I was like, "Okay."
This is where I dropped
all the language barriers
that kept me strong.
I told the teacher, I said,
"Let me explain something to you.
"If you disrespect me in the last minute
"and 45 seconds we have
left in this class,
"I'm going to come up
here tomorrow with my gun
"and I'm going to bust a cap in your ass."
The high school hearing,
the superintendent hearing
that I attended wanted to know
my side of the story.
I pled no contest.
Or in other words, I chose
not to speak about it
and to accept the
consequences of my actions.
Which basically resulted in
a superintendent suspension.
I did not want to be 20 years
old in high school number 10.
- [Protester] Super butch.
- (laughs) Exactly.
Super butch came from a nickname
that when I lived in the New
York City shelter systems,
people started calling me.
My name is Jay Toole,
I'm the shelter organizer
for Queers for Economic Justice,
and I'm so glad to see
so many people here today
making a difference.
(crowd cheering)
My thing is homelessness.
I was on the streets of
New York for 25 years
living in boxes and then shelters,
so I know what it's like.
And these people that are here today from
the New York City shelter want housing,
and they need housing.
When I was asked to speak today,
I didn't know what I was gonna say,
and then a week ago today I walked into
New Providence's Women's
Shelter, and my heart broke.
Another woman in a homeless
shelter in New York fucking City
died naked in a bathroom.
It's deplorable that New
York does this to our people.
We have a crisis here.
There's 35,000 people in the New York City
shelter systems tonight, and
there's no housing to be done.
- What you have to realize though
is that the Village represents
people from the outside
who visit the Village,
not really the people
that live there anymore.
The Village is comprised mainly
of us who visit the Village
as opposed to the people that live there.
The people that live there are the people
who can afford those outrageous rents.
Those are not necessarily the
inhabitants of the Village.
They leave the Village, go
to work, they come home,
we visit the Village and
make the Village the Village.
They don't make the Village the Village.
They just found out that
it's a nice place to live,
and they have gentrified
it, and destroyed it, really.
- [Protesters] We're here, we're queer,
we won't turn back, yo.
We're here, we're queer,
and we won't turn back.
- Went to see our ten.
Went to SONG.
Drove to SONG, drove back from SONG.
I think one person drove
both ways the whole time.
- Yeah, I think
it's really important.
I think that there's such
an amazing group of us
that's in the car,
and we have a deep range
of experiences, right?
That we're bringing to the south with us,
and I think it's important
that we're gonna be sharing
our experiences as people who
are struggling in the north,
and building in the north,
and making Queers for Economic Justice
the amazing space it is,
and kind of learning new strategies,
and ways to do the work,
and ways to live in our
bodies and in our spirits,
and that's what I'm excited about.
- I feel very excited about this trip
because it's my first time
really being in the south,
and it's something that
I wanted to experience,
and because SONG does
multiracial, pro-LGBTGNC rights,
organizing in rural as
well as urban areas,
I feel that it's a great
learning opportunity
for me as a first visit to the south.
It was a reminder just of how hazardous
it can be just to need
to do something as human
and regular as going to the bathroom.
'Cause you, Reg, and myself went
to the Maryland House rest
stop at about 10 a.m. this morning
and we walked into the women's room.
We noticed on the way out
that there were police.
There was a police car outside.
There were policemen
standing up on the balconies
trying to look for, how
did you say it, Kenyon?
You used a very nice term.
- [Kenyon] I said these
characters of dubious distinction.
- [Kagendo] Exactly.
Just we weren't representing the gender
that people expected would
go into a women's room,
and so we also noticed
that there was one employee
who really paid attention to us
when we were walking into this place
and must have been the
one to tip off the cops.
- Well, I heard y'all saying the cops said
that they are paying them.
Okay.
We are paying them too.
We work with our tax money.
True or false?
True or false?
- [Protestor] So it's called
when we move, you move.
Y'all know this song.
So it's when we move,
you move, just like that.
When we move, you move, just like that.
When we move, you move, just like that.
Yo, NYPD, step the fuck back.
- [Protestor] Hey, that's great.
- [Protestor] Yeah?
Y'all don't mind us cussing a little?
- No.
- Okay.
So, when we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- [Protestor] When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- [Protestor] When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- [Protestor] Yo, NYPD,
step the fuck back.
- [Protestor] When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- [Protestor] When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- [Protestor] When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- [Protestor] Yo, NYPD.
- [Protestors] Step the fuck back.
- When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- Yo, NYPD.
- [Protestors] Step the fuck back.
- When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- When we move, you move.
- When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- When we move, you move.
- When we move, you move.
- [Protestors] Just like that.
- Yo, NYPD.
- [Protestors] Step the fuck back.
- So I went to a race traitor meeting
and did some anti police
brutality work with them.
Really, really, really believe in
the abolition of the white race.
That ethic of undermining whiteness
by doing things like cop watching,
refusing privilege when you can.
So not behaving as white.
I do believe that it's a
behavior as well as a mindset.
But you act it out.
What happened was I found myself in mostly
or all white organizing
spaces over and over.
And I didn't know how to stop that
other than to stop it.
And so I took a break
from community organizing
until I could develop more relationships
with people of color in my life
and do organizing with us.
I think that's a lot
of where that emphasis
on relationship has come from for me.
And actually is a theme
throughout a lot of my work.
And so,
how to do multiracial organizing,
which is the only kind of
organizing I want to do,
from an authentic place
means actually finding people I like
and connecting with people.
I was really frustrated
without doing any organizing,
and met with Joseph DeFilippis
'cause he's a friend of mine
and I know him, and he said,
"Yeah, there's a lot of
stuff to do with QEJ,
"what do you wanna do?"
And working on the
leadership development course
with Doyin was one of the,
with Doyin Ola, who's
an amazing organizer.
Who was the welfare
organizer at that time,
was one of the things
that could use support
from a volunteer, so
I came and volunteered
and now I'm getting videotaped.
- [Protestors] We're here, we're queer,
we won't turn back, yo.
- One of the things I wanted to express,
being a transgendered woman,
is that we're also a part of the movement
for things that are going on.
We might not be as visible
as some of us might like,
but we are involved.
- Amen.
- We are the bottom
of the totem pole with all
this crap that happens to us.
The abuses that just reign
supreme in our lives.
(audience applauding)
And one of the things
that happened is we can change that.
We can stop that shit from happening.
We can all band together
and tell them we're not taking
this shit anymore, it's over.
They want to build other prisons,
they want to make them gender friendly.
They don't know what gender fucking is.
One of the things that I first did there,
we want to make sure here
that we get involved with
and know that there was a past
before this happened.
I'm a part of that past.
I was in New York, Stonewall.
(audience cheering)
Right on.
I was in Dannemora and Sing Sing
and after the Attica riots
I got sent to Attica.
Spent all my time in there in the cell,
getting to meet the guys
who pulled this thing off.
And listened, and watched, and could smell
all the abuses they were
putting those people through.
They don't need an excuse,
they just run through us.
They run through our families,
they run through our society,
they run through who we are.
We have to do something about this.
Having all of y'all here gives me hope
that tomorrow it don't
have to be this way.
Tomorrow my younger girls can go out,
be who they need to be freely.
Freely, that's what counts.
(audience applauding)
One of the things I wanted to tell you
is I work for the Transgender
Intersex Justice Project.
We are really trying to do a lot of work
and help the girls who come out of there
not recidivate and go back to prison.
'Cause what happens when you go to prison
for such a long time, and so
often, and against your will,
you acclimate to it.
We are a resilient bunch of folks.
We get our nerves together,
deal with the bullshit that's coming
and go on with our lives.
We are going to be who we are irregardless
of what the pressures are to stop that.
(harmonizing vocals)
- Tell me what you want,
what you really want.
- [Protestors] Justice!
- Tell what you need,
what you really need.
- [Protestors] Justice!
- Tell me what you want,
what you really want.
- [Protestors] Justice!
- Tell what you need,
what you really need.
- [Protestors] Justice!
- That's how we start off--
(protestors cheering)
- I'm really trying to figure out
what actually are ways
that I can exercise my power.
And I think from that
in 2005 I started teaching at Rikers,
which is a jail in Queens slash the Bronx.
And I was teaching at this high school
called Island Academy,
and I was doing it while
through school at Columbia,
and I try to have these
real experiences about
a real shift away from this tension
between do I become part of
this larger political system?
Or do I do work in opposition to it?
And then later arrived on this question
of neither of those are enough.
Those are about conflicting,
I'm really trying to figure out
what actually are ways
that I can exercise my power.
So I was teaching at Rikers
and starting to really
think about my experiences,
someone whose parent was incarcerated,
and wanting to be in a
space where I could live
with that experience and
talk on that experience.
And even at Columbia, even in this class,
it was until the last day of the class
that I let people know that
my dad was still in prison.
And so then I joined Critical Resistance,
which is an organization that fights
the prison industrial complex,
and I think a lot of my understandings
of how we share power in
a way that doesn't mimic
what HRA, the welfare office,
understands power to be.
Or the social security administration
or this nation state.
I think that's where a lot
of my political understandings came from.
Really trying to do something new.
I think that we really
struggle with each other,
and struggle for each other,
and struggle to make sure that we're heard
and seen by each other first and foremost
and build the world that we wanna create.
So that's why I love this community.
(audience applauding)
- And shout outs to those who pioneered
theoretical and activist
efforts to challenge
the role the prison system
plays as a gendering apparatus.
(audience applauding)
And special shout outs to the new movement
with and on behalf of trans prisoners.
(audience applauding)
A radical abolitionist feminism.
(audience applauding)
- [Woman] We believe in home,
all home, all beautiful.
Home, enough bellies breathe and sigh.
Enough skin rest, dance free.
Enough courage, carry all life.
This a home, no landlord,
tenant, bank, imagine.
No passport, jail, shelter, claim.
No developer gift, no reparation furnish.
This home free a body crossing and shame.
Free a memory break.
No shame, all beautiful.
This home pray for lost and stolen.
Home now free, a traveling fence.
Finger and sky breaking open.
Free enough many home, many body.
Home and whole together.
Home safe and full, spirit prayer.
Body prayer, full desire.
Home wider song and cooking.
Wider shape of wood, brick, and stone.
Home wider shapes weave together.
Full and wide enough,
spirit return to body.
Enough whole body.
Each body, heart body wholly beautiful.
Holy, so holy.
Body homeless.
Turn home again.
We want home.
All home.
All beautiful.
Home alive, so alive.
Heartbreak, thunder, shake out of hiding.
So wholly beautiful and so wholly brave.
Everybody holy and everybody breathe.
♪ Still not free ♪
♪ There will be fire ♪
♪ There will be fire ♪
♪ Oh, so much fire ♪
♪ See to shining sea ♪
♪ You can sow magic now ♪
♪ I still got some sorcery ♪
♪ Still got me some magic now ♪
♪ I'll bring you back to living ♪
♪ I'll bring you back to living ♪
♪ I'll bring you back to learn ♪
♪ I'll bring you back to the living land ♪
♪ The people, the people
are waiting for you ♪
♪ The people, the people
are waiting for you ♪
♪ The people, the people
are waiting for you ♪
♪ The people, the people
are waiting for you ♪
♪ I still can taste your 19 ♪
♪ Still can taste your 1968 ♪
♪ Come on now ♪
♪ Bring it back down ♪
♪ Come on now ♪
♪ Take it back now ♪
♪ Take it back now ♪
♪ All you good workers ♪
♪ All you good workers ♪
♪ All you blue workers gonna
lose to you, I'll tell ♪
