Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People Are Not Jokes!

August 3, 2017

The Breakfast Club is sending a strong message to its listeners: Trans lives are jokes and disposable.

On last week, the popular urban radio show, powered by iHeartRadio, hosted Comedian Lil Duval for an interview that has since gone viral for its violent anti-trans rhetoric. The comedian’s interview occurred days after Author & Activist Janet Mock appeared on the show to promote her second memoir, Surpassing Certainty. We are deeply concerned and troubled by how this rhetoric will continue to justify and embolden violence against trans people, especially Black Trans Women, and see this as a moment of political intervention to disrupt this vile conduct.

Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People are not jokes! We stand in solidarity with Trans & Gender Non-Conforming People and we are committed to joining efforts towards building collective power, resistance, and counter narratives to transform dominant narratives that deem our communities expendable. We are equally committed to sharing strategies that we employ in our organizing work. Below is a list of links and resources regarding the incident and subsequent organizing efforts to support here in New York City and beyond.

Links to info on what happened:

General Reporting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/31/i-dont-care-she-dying-comedian-lil-duval-says-he-would-kill-a-sexual-partner-if-he-learned-she-was-transgender/?utm_term=.7e5244654618
Dear Men of “The Breakfast Club”: Trans Women Aren’t A Prop, Ploy, or Sexual Predator by Janet Mock: https://www.allure.com/story/janet-mock-response-the-breakfast-club-trans-women
Black Men, Don’t Make Black Trans Women Pay For Your Fragile Masculinity by L’lerret Jazelle Ailith http://www.forharriet.com/2017/07/black-men-dont-make-trans-women-pay-for.html#axzz4odd1FXeB
The Breakfast Club Is Normalizing Violence Against Trans Women by Serena Sonama : https://wearyourvoicemag.com/news/breakfast-club-normalizing-violence-trans-women
Our Coward Is Killing Black Trans Women by Mychal Denzel Smith http://www.gq.com/story/our-cowardice-is-killing-trans-women

Links to Responses and Calls to Action:

Marsha P. Johnson Institute #BoycottBreakfastClub Petition & Demands: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGNcDfccyx8RhPPnM35K0zsPVgv7j7xl0yWa8MmjXn8iIVLQ/viewform
Emergency Rally: #Justice4TeeTee #SilenceIsDeath Action @ Power 105.1 FM:https://www.facebook.com/events/827108087469486/827782594068702/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2229%22%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22admin_plan_mall_activity%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&ref=notif&notif_t=admin_plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1501785906809896
Trans women disrupt Charlamagne Tha God at Politico https://twitter.com/BLOSSOMCBROWN/status/891777157227204608
Written description around disruption and call to action from Black trans woman: https://wearyourvoicemag.com/news/stood-charlamagne-tha-god
Call to Action to Black Cis Women: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/for-angela-yee-and-other-silent-cisgender-black-women_us_59800f46e4b07c5ef3dc17e7
SOS’ Revolutionary Role Play to practice intervention strategies: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ubk6y85kIyEpv1KXepCrWGzAAbvfcl_2LqOJVSc0pXY/edit?usp=sharing

Hashtags (info and resources can be found here)

#BashBack

#BoycottBreakfastClub

#TransFolksAreNotJokes

Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People Are Not Jokes!

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