I am excited to be to be back in New York Performing this Saturday and Sunday At Submerge. Hope to see you there.
I want to have honest conversations, conversations in which we acknowledge that ingrained in the foundation of Ameirca is an evil notion that the suffering of black persons and the violence against the black body is thought to be for the benefit of society. For so long the black body has been subjected to the horrors of torture, slavery, rape, abuse and in most cases these evils have been goverment sanctioned. Even much of modern medichine (if not all) finds it's roots in the violation of the black body. This is a reality mainstream America wishes to ignore for to see it would require a confrontation with a system (built off of anti- blackness) at the heart of these united states, it requires a confrontation with the insidious entrapments of certain manifestations of privelge,it requires a confrontation with the horrofic bigotry and racism that many people have and yet want to ignore inside of themselves.
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI
Oh so now they saying trans people of color haven't been telling the White House what support and solidarity looks like to us, oh they saying we haven't been forced to reduce our lives to numbers and present it to goverment in the form of data, oh, they saying we haven't sat in front of goverment officials and haven't talked about our lived experiences, oh they saying our lived experience is as real as falsefied documents, oh they saying that basically our sisters dying in these streets, rotting within the system of structural oppression is not enough, oh I get it, I get it, they saying that Trans women of color shouldn't be allowed to save themselves because what's a good bout of legislation without white people taking the credit for it being passed: Let me tell you this, we do not need white saviors, we have been doing the work. Is getting behind the leadership of trans people of color that dificult that... what am I saying right? Approriation is the American Way, no? Coopting is the American Way, true? People just utulizing white supremacy tactics. Another day another white saviour narrative I suppose... sigh
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI
Sidney Chase has written "Not One More" to honor our fallen sisters who are being brutality murderdered. This artistic libation is one of my favorite songs, and a moving hymn to our dead. Art as Advocacy continues to be one of the ways the brillance of our community shows up and exmplifies the way art faciltates healing and restoration. Thank you Sidney for this amazing song, and thank you SahLeem Israel for this incrediable video.
You can order your copy of "Not One More" on bandcamp. The proceeds are donated to TWOCC, pouring into our continued work of indivual and collective healing and restoration.
Reblogged sam-noche
don’t forget to read about the compton’s cafeteria riot in san francisco, one of the first riots comprised of trans women and drag queens in the united states before stonewall. trans women and drag queens would spend time in gene compton’s cafeteria because they were unwelcome in gay bars, and the police would raid the cafeteria in an attempt to close down one of the few respites that trans women and drag queens had. the riot broke out when a trans woman, who was being arrested by a cop, threw coffee in the cop’s face. a documentary was made about it, called “screaming queens: the riot at compton’s cafeteria.” you can watch some of the it here.
My book of poetry Baltimore: A Love Letter has been reviewed, Check it out then grab your copy today at http://www.ladydanefe.com/#!baltimorealoveletter/c14n9
Reblogged
For clarity and context...
Some people have felt the need to articulate specific feedback about me in social justice organizing circles but have failed to share directly, (which might have been helpful) their feedback with me. There have been anonymous blogs and secret Facebook groups formed to specifically tear me down. This is some of what I have heard; I am difficult to work with, I have an angry disposition, my tactics are aggressive and I don’t’ allow space for cis folk to engage in growth and learning. Oh yea, I hate white people.
I want to take this opportunity time to honor the truths of those who wish to speak my name in efforts to discredit and diminish my work and push me out of Black organizing spaces as well as provide some context. If you are asking me to work under white, cis-het patriarchal ideals, uhhh yes, if you are attempting to silence me through the employment of respectability politics and/or white supremacist tactics, then YES, I will be quite difficult to work with.
I have yet to read about a trans woman of color killing another trans woman of color and I have lost count of the number of my Goddesses who have been brutally murdered by cis men of color. There has been a lack of national response that speaks directly to the perpetrators, holding them accountable for the physical violence trans women of color face.
You want me to march with you against police killing Black men but you wont expand the narrative of state sanctioned violence to go beyond police brutality. You won’t talk to your brothers, uncles, fathers and friends to stop killing us. You won’t profess that it’s ok to love a trans woman of color OUT LOUD. You keep asking me to sit on your panel and contribute to your article FOR FREE. You insist I lay down my Black body for your freedom and you won’t do the same in return, so HELL YEA, IM ANGRY AF….
IT’S TRUE! My tactics are aggressive… for those who are complicit in and directly and indirectly benefit from the structural violence trans women of color face. You were silent when you saw that no trans women of color were part of the leadership in your social justice movement. You were silent when 12 trans women of color were brutally murdered in this country last year and your ass is silent now! Your silence is violence.
It’s not true that I don’t allow space for cis folk to engage in growth and learning, just not at the expense of my livelihood. I am continuously encourage all folk to actively engage in the elevation of their consciousness, including me. I have some growing and learning to do as well.
Lastly, I don’t hate white people, I loathe white supremacy and it’s agents. So, I hope you all understand a bit more when others may say that I may be difficult to work with, my tactics are aggressive or any other shady shit they wanna say about me and the work I do. Peace and Blessings.
lourdesashleyhunter
For those of you on Tumblr!
On BREW
Growing up it was great to have the Sabrinas, The Samanthas, The charmed ones, The Evil Lynn's, the Simbuls, the Amanda Seftons, the Teen Witches, and the countless other witches who graced my television screen and novel life. But I always desired to have a Kyanna, or an Ayanna or a Nandi. I always wanted to have witches that looked like me, came from where I came from, so, I said I will write it.
The Ghetto Goddess Series is being called an important peice of Literature by many who have had the chance to read it so far. Not only do we get to see a world in which black trans women are at the center but the series takes place in Baltimore.
Order your copy today Pour into the workd of a black trans author. http://www.ladydanefe.com/#!brew/c1bcu
Dane Figueroa Edidi
Reblogged 17mul
handsometruth
siryoungthe2nd
✊ afro-brazilian
laurenlafemme
Yes I care!
rudegyalchina
world wide anti blackness/ genocide
thirtymilewoman
I do
It really is a world wide ting
ON ERASURE, MOVEMENTS AND SOLIDARITY...
I go into the bathtub, I hear two trans women were found murdered. I come out of the Bathtub I see one more has been found murdered.... and I am remembering sitting in a room with a group of leaders who berated me and my trans sisters of color for the fact we vocalized the erasure that was occuring and stood up to those who had internalized systematic oppression and were acting as it's mouthpeice. I am remembering a time when I spoke how I did not feel safe in certain spaces and my cis "allies" organizing an event choose not to assure me I would be safe or even simply to check in, I am remembering times when I was told my rage was too much, my voice was too loud, my tears were too distracting, and the space I carved for myself and my sisters and vice versa was a problem. I am constantly being told by cis people to erase myself in favor of "The Greater Good" and "solidarity". And I remember the countless freedom fighters who were deleted from history books because they were trans, or queer, or a cis woman. I remember Bayerd Rustin who choose the movement over himself (by the way without him there would have been no Dr. King.) I remember everyone who was erased. People like Marsha P Johnson who fought for the rights of all communities who met at her intersections, this includes trans and black to name a few.
And on the note of Mister Rustin, people talk about commending him for he put himself aside for "the greater good". And yet his queer descedants still treated like shit, still told they going to hell, still getting killed. It seems the greater good is relative depending on who is demading the right to live. "The greater good" always seems to be about switching positionality in structural oppression not doing away with structural oppression itself. "The greater good" seems to always be about participating/cosigning in the genocide of whole segments of our community as oppose to battling the systems that call for our deaths. When will "the Greater Good" be about our sisters, when will" the greater good" be about Trans and queer people's right to life. When will "the greater good" be about our collective right to thrive. When will "the Greater Good" be about liberation.
I am a black trans woman, the Daughter of Queens, The descendant of hostages of war, the mother of generations to come, the mother of a verbal revoltuion: I made history by simply being born, I am the fleshly embodiment of revolution; I am a black trans woman, I am a priestess of Oya, I am a devotee of the DIvine Feminine, I am a lover, a sister, a fighter, a healer, a teacher, a Goddess, I am enough! AND I will not be your martyr, I will not give you my body, my time, my love, my name, my joy, my coin or my compliance in the name of your "greater good". I am here to stand in solidarity with those who Stand in solidarity with me. And a note to all others, "Your oppressor will never save you". I don't care about your lip service, your cis centered movements, your broken record disdain, your television interviews or your mission statements that never call YOU into accountability to practice what you preach. You can't have my blackness without me, you can't have my tranness without me, you can't have my love without me. I WILL NOT LET YOU DEVOUR ME! I will not let you steal my brillance and discard me like a token that has already been spent.
That is all.
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI
Have you ordered Yemaya’s Daughters yet? Baltimore:A Love Letter? Brew? Why not grab all three at once. Pour into the work of a trans woman of color author.
YEMAYA’S DAUGHTERS
INANNA AU-SET OYA A TRANSWOMAN, PRIESTESS, AND STORYTELLER WITH DEEP CONNECTIONS TO THE GODDESS, EMERGES FROM A PROVINCE IN AFRICA UNTOUCHED BY COLONIALIST HANDS TO FIND A WORLD TWISTED WITH MISCONCEPTION AND PAIN. SHE AND HER SISTERS CHOOSE TO GO FORTH AND CORRECT THE IMBALANCES FOUND BY USHERING IN AN AGE OF LOVE AND WORTH.
MARYAM, MOTHER OF JESUS, HOLDS FAST TO HER CONVICTIONS WHEN FROM TRADGEY IS BORN A NEW GOD. WITHOIUT SISTERS, OR GUIDANCE FOR HER CHOICES SHE FINDS A WORLD UNDER ROMAN FOOT AND IS DETERMINED TO CREATE A SPIRITUAL REVOLT THAT WILL CREATE RIPPLES FOR AGES TO COME.
YEMAYA'S DAUGHTERS TELLS THE TALE OF TWO DIFFERENT WOMEN WITH BUT ONE GOAL IN MIND: HOW BEST TO CHANGE THE WORLD WITHOUT LOOSING THEMSELVES IN THE PROCESS.
BALTIMORE: A LOVE LETTER
LADY DANE FIGUEROA AUTHOR OF YEMAYA'S DAUGHTERS AND BREW IS A NATIVE A BALTIMORE. CALLED PROLIFIC AND REVOLUTIONARY, HER WRITING IS SAID TO CARRY THE FIRE OF LIBERATION.
IN BALTIMORE: A LOVE LETTER, SHE SHARES A COLLECTION OF POEMS CENTERED ON REVOLUTION, REFLECTION, LIBERATION AND LOVE.
BREW
Arjana Rambeau, a trans teenager from Baltimore, carries many secrets, one of which is she is a witch. Beginning to start a new school, she finds herself at the center of an unwarranted conspiracy. As she makes new friends, while attempting to maintain her old ones, she must learn how to distinguish who she can trust, because it seems everyone wants a piece of her and her growing powers.
Bembe Rambeau is a mystery, infamous amongst the magical community, she has very few friends but a collection of enemies; enemies, who seem to be attempting to remove not only her allies but her daughter as well; threatening both her small empire and family’s legacy. Bembe must now combat shifting loyalties while crafting an alliance with an enemy who she once wished dead.
Brew follows the lives of a mother and daughter, one who thinks she knows everything and another discovering what she knew isn’t true at all.