Incorporating The Prison Industrial Complex And Experiences Of Queer Youth of Color Into...
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Transcript of Incorporating The Prison Industrial Complex And Experiences Of Queer Youth of Color Into...
Incorporating the
Prison Industrial Complex and the Experiences of
Queer Youth of Color into our Anti-Violence Work
Broadway Youth Center
Objectives
Explore the ways in which gender is policed and criminalized in the U.S.
Envision an anti-violence movement that centers trans youth of color
Discuss historical connections between the criminalization of gender non-conforming folks of color and the the PIC
Identify the barriers that exist for trans youth of color attempting to access institutions and systems
Discuss practical strategies for integrating these conversations around the PIC into our individual, group, and activist/organizing work with youth and adult allies
Defining the Prison Industrial Complex
Timeline of the PIC
History of the PIC
Quality of Life Policing=policing gender of poor people of color increasing
Manifests in the criminalization of the following: Loitering Panhandling Squatting/Trespassing Petty theft Solicitation Turnstile Jumping/CTA “crimes” Gender Non-Conforming/Trans folks Drug Sales and Posession
Excerpt from Keynote Address at Critical Resistance Gathering in New Orleans in December, 2006 as a part of theAmnesty for Prisoners of Katrina: Weekend of Reconciliation and Respect for Human Rights
Film Excerpt from Democracy Now
Angela Davis, writer, activist, lecturer, professor
The certainty of racism & incarceration
Barriers for Trans Youth of Color How is gender policed in this society? Trans youth are disenfranchised by various
systems and institutions and therefore disproportionately impacted by PIC: DCFS, DHS, DV/SA agencies/shelters, schools,
hospitals/medical/mental health, Harry Benjamin/trans standards of care, housing, homeless services, faith-based services, anti-sex work agencies, legal, police, incarceration, work/employment (specifically entry level, hourly wage jobs), post-secondary education
Institutional violence means lack of basic survival needs
Preventing someone from accessing basic needs is violence, creates public health crisis.
Scope of the Impact on Trans Youth 1 in five, or 20% of transgender youth are or
have been homeless (Mottet, L.L. & Lifson, A.R. (2004).
In a GLSEN report, 90% of trans youth report feeling unsafe in schools, as compared to 46% of gay or bisexual males and 41% of lesbian and bisexual female students.
In the recent NGLTF report entitled LGBT Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness, they report that:
71% of trans-identified youth they interviewed had been sexually assaulted or raped
83% had suicidal thoughts, and 54% had attempted suicide 46% had engaged in sex work
Murder rate of Trans people is 16 times the national average More than 1 murder a month
How are Trans Youth Impacted by the PIC? “Transgender women are more likely to end up in
prison than virtually anyone else. The oft-quoted statistic about African American men -- that one in four has a history of incarceration -- is dwarfed by the available stats on people who are male-to-female, or MTF. A San Francisco Department of Public Health survey conducted in 1997 found that almost two thirds of MTF respondents had been incarcerated. More than 30 percent had spent some time behind bars during the preceding 12 months. “ (http://womenandprison.org/violence/woodward.html)
Trauma completely erased. Q/TYOC conditioned to expect it as part of their daily existence.
How are Trans Youth Impacted by the PIC? Trans youth of color are disproportionately
impacted by quality of life policing. The criminalization and incarceration of
trans people is normalized, minimized, and silenced.
And, as anti-violence movement co-opted by the state, with increasing focus on utilization of criminal legal system in response to IPV and hate crime violence, trans youth of color face intense barriers to safety.
The Cost of Criminalization
Dehumanizes, disenfranchises a generation of queer and trans youth of color.
Re-inscribes gender binary for reasons of necessity and safety. Negative impact on trans communities,
specifically in the ways that genderqueerness becomes white and class privilege.
The policing of queer and trans youth of color is often replicated in youth service agencies without PIC/anti-violence/harm reduction framework.
Implications for Trans Youth Experiences of IPV When we look at trans youth of color
experiences of IPV through a lens informed by the PIC and the broader systems of transphobia, racism, and classism, we recognize: Trans folks have fewer ways to get safe Disproportionate death, murders, sexual violence Dehumanization impacts people’s ability to
advocate or believe in their right to exist with rights Role of silence and normalization of violence (no
one is organizing statewide campaigns to end violence against trans women of color)
Societal investment in gender binaries differentially impacts trans women of color (experiences of femininity tied with violence/power)
Why are these conversations lacking in anti-prison/abolition conversations
Transphobia.
Reimagining Our Work
Frameworks: Harm Reduction
principles of harm reduction Anti-Oppression
Connecting various forms of oppression and violence that youth experience as well as the relationships (inherent power dynamics) that adult allies/social service providers/white people hold
Trauma Informed… Necessity of simultaneity
Increasing analysis of trans issues in anti-prison activism, having analysis of trans issues inform our work with young activists.
Individual Work
Relational Work is KEY. The integration of individual, traumatic
experiences within larger systems of oppression and the spectrum of violence leads to healing, identity integration.
Working through issues of internalized oppression and experiences with state/institutional violence, for example, is therapeutic, normalizing, …transformative, reduces isolation, break silence, allows individuals to build/have language to describe experiences, contextualize experiences
Anti-violence work is…
Group Work
Fostering the leadership of trans youth of color (and facilitators)
Incorporating this framework into more traditional workshops/issues. Street Law Workshops Anti-Oppression Workshops Harm Reduction Education
Recognizing the ways that becoming politicized can be really triggering and initially destructive for survivors of trauma.
Self care. Project based work, w/ incentives. Really thinking about what youth are at the table –
rejecting the idea that “there are no trans youth in this community” and interrogating why trans youth are not coming to group.
Youth Activism and Organizing Increasing our analysis of trans issues
and gender policing in our prison abolition work
Also recognize that we must commit to increasing access to basic survival needs in our organizing spaces to make them accessible to trans folk.