"All Black Lives Matter" by Matice Moore, Queer|Art|Mentorship Manager. Purchase this artwork on Love Letters 4 Liberation's Etsy Page here
We are committed to centering the advancement of a more equitable, just, and safe world for Black LGBTQ+ artists everywhere as central to our mission to connect and empower generations of LGBTQ+ artists.
We observe that white supremacy in the arts and in queer community is rampant and hereby commit to holding other white and non-Black led queer and art-centered organizations and institutions accountable, as we hold ourselves accountable.
We are committed to utilizing our position as a queer organization to apply pressure to politicians to defund the NYPD and demand funds supporting police reform and jail expansion in New York City be reallocated immediately to provide housing, health, and education resources, as well as alternatives to policing, in Black communities.
We immediately support the creation of a Black-led group for resource-mapping for Black LGBTQ+ artists in the Queer|Art|Mentorship community, and we inaugurate this group with a commitment of $15,000 to be utilized at their discretion.
Please read below for a statement from Queer|Art’s Executive Director followed by a complete statement affirming details of our calls to action, accountability, and further actions we are taking, effective immediately:
As the Executive Director of Queer|Art—and particularly as a white cisgender male in a position of power at an historically white-led organization with a responsibility to support Black LGBTQ+ artists—I am committed to my own accountability and working to hold other white and non-Black led organizations accountable as well. We must all arrive at a place that exceeds politeness in a moment when this is our imperative.
Over the past week I have met with staff and with members of our community to share my fumbling attempts at a public statement and have received valuable feedback that has directly shaped the statement that follows. Initially drafted by me, the statement has transformed from a, yes, too-polite gesture of solidarity to a direct statement of our community’s collective rage and demands for action.
It should be acknowledged then that the statement has been authored through the collective labor of staff and community (Thanks again to the 20+ Queer|Art|Mentorship artists who attended our Town Hall on Monday evening and shared your feedback). The current statement has been finalized in collaboration with Queer|Art staff and board. I firmly stand by the sentiments expressed here and the rage that unites them. I am grateful to all who contributed and helped give language to our position of solidarity and our demands for action. I move forward in solidarity—and in tandem with members of our community and the staff and board of this organization—to fight for a more just, safe, and equitable world for Black people everywhere.
Travis Chamberlain
Executive Director, Queer|Art
Via @queerart's Instagram, June 2, 2020: "Outside Stonewall after the Justice for Nina Pop and Tony McDade protest, 8:30pm. Rest in Power Nina Pop, Tony McDade, Kiki Fantroy, Jamagio Jamar Berryman, Jazzaline Ware... What would it look like for you to go all in for Black trans liberation? What would change in your life? What’s stopping you?"
A CALL FOR ACTION AND ACCOUNTABILITY
ALL. BLACK. LIVES. MATTER.
As a community and an organization, we vigorously uphold the legacy of queer liberation that was made possible for us by Black and brown trans people who refused to stand down to police at the Stonewall Inn over a half century ago. We understand how profoundly our survival and present existence—the many privileges we enjoy today in terms of greater equality, equity, and inclusion—is indebted to them. While the palpable risk of abuse at the hands of authority has changed for many in our community in the intervening half century, recent events have once again shown us that is clearly not the case for all.
We are furious about the normalization of anti-Black violence in this country and the role that our current political leadership has played in advancing racism while protecting those who should be held to account.
We stand in solidarity with those who have raised their voices to protest the injustices of political corruption, police brutality, and anti-Black racism that resulted in the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Sean Reed, Tyquan Graves, and Jamel Floyd, among countless others.
We stand in solidarity with those who recognize these deaths as the result of unchecked white supremacy that has run amok and wreaked havoc upon the lives of Black people in this country for far too long.
We are committed to centering the advancement of a more equitable, just, and safe world for Black LGBTQ+ artists everywhere as central to our mission to connect and empower generations of LGBTQ+ artists. To this end, we will immediately support the creation of a Black-led group for resource-mapping for Black LGBTQ+ artists in our Queer|Art|Mentorship community.* We, Queer|Art staff and board, confirm our commitment to heed this group’s calls to action, and we will further prioritize the group’s requests for support and solidarity as we move forward in fulfillment of our mission. Queer|Art inaugurates this group with an immediate commitment of $15,000 to be utilized at their discretion. We call on our supporters to contribute generously, beyond your continuing and essential support for Queer|Art as an organization, to the further empowerment of this group at this link.
We call for immediate accountability and action directed at white and non-Black led organizations and institutions. We observe that white supremacy in the arts and in queer community is rampant and hereby commit to holding other white and non-Black led queer and art-centered organizations and institutions accountable, as we hold ourselves accountable, for inaction and insufficient statements of solidarity. We begin this work by calling out now to white and non-Black led organizations and institutions with whom we have built close relationships: What are you doing to leverage your power? What risks are you taking to disrupt white supremacy in your fields? How are you deferring to Black experience and leadership? How are you reorganizing your budgets for the long term to support this work? What structural, programmatic, and budgetary changes can you commit to making now to support the movement for Black lives? How will your organization build the infrastructure to support this work long term?
We are committed to utilizing our position as a queer organization to apply pressure to politicians to defund the NYPD and demand funds supporting police reform and jail expansion in New York City be reallocated immediately to provide housing, health, and education resources, as well as alternatives to policing, in Black communities. In 2019, the city allocated nearly $6 billion to the NYPD, compared to $1.9 billion for the health department; $2.1 billion for homeless services; $1.4 billion on housing, preservation, and development; $907.3 million on youth and community development; and $73.8 on workforce development. To the mayor and our city officials, this is simply unacceptable. We look to the leadership of abolitionist groups such as Decolonize This Place, Free Them All 4 Public Health, and No New Jails for guidance on how we can be most effective in our solidarity to affect meaningful change on these issues.
As we move forward with these commitments at the forefront of our hearts and minds in the days, months, and years ahead, we invite the continued feedback, collaboration, and calls to action of all Black LGBTQ+ artists everywhere. Of everyone else, we request support, solidarity, and a commitment to demand justice and action on their behalf and on behalf of all Black lives.
Queer|Art Staff & Board:
Dani Brito / Travis Chamberlain / Alexander Chee / Cristhian Escobar / Lola Flash / Nile Harris / Bobye List / Ellen Marks / Matice Moore / John Oursler / KT Pe Benito / Max Rifkind-Barron / Ira Sachs / Nelson Santos / Carolina Silva / Rio Sofia / greer x / Judy Yu
AN IMMEDIATE CALL TO ACTION
DIRECTED TO ALL WHITE AND NON-BLACK LED ORGANIZATIONS
Clockwise from top left: Ianne Fields Stewart, founder of The Okra Project; Devin Lowe, founder of Black Trans Travel Fund; Morticia Godiva, founder of Black Trans Femmes in the Arts and co-founder of Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund; Elle Hearns, founder of Marsha P. Johnson Institute; Asanni York, founder of For The Gworls; Ceyenne Doroshow, founder of G.L.I.T.S
In conjunction with the statement above, Queer|Art’s executive staff and board of directors have made a collective commitment of $10,000 to support six Black trans led New York City-based organizations and initiatives: Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund; Black Trans Travel Fund; For The Gworls; G.L.I.T.S; Marsha P. Johnson Institute; and The Okra Project. These organizations and activist groups are creating spaces of care, sharing resources, and fighting to end violence against Black trans people in this city, and we call on other white and non-Black led organizations to give in a similar manner to these or other front-line Black-led groups working at the intersection of supporting Black and trans lives.
DONATION LINKS
Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund
Black Trans Femmes in the Artists, founded by Morticia Godiva, is raising emergency funds for Black trans protestors in New York City. Excess funds will be redistributed to Black trans-led orgs doing the work to minimize violence against Black trans people.
Donate via: PayPal CashApp Venmo
Black Trans Travel Fund
Devin Lowe is the founder of The Black Trans Travel Fund, a mutual-aid fund that provides Black transgender women with the financial resources necessary for them to be able to access their self-determined safest alternatives to travel.
Donate via: PayPal CashApp Venmo
For The Gworls
Asanni York is the founder of For The Gworls, a collective that provides gender affirming surgery, rent, and medical assistance for black trans and gender non conforming youth through rent parties and grassroots fundraising.
Donate via: Venmo CashApp PayPal
G.L.I.T.S
Founded by Ceyenne Doroshow, G.L.I.T.S approaches the health and rights crises faced by transgender sex workers holistically using harm reduction, human rights principles, economic and social justice, along with a commitment to empowerment and pride in finding solutions from within their own communities.
Donate via: Website
Marsha P. Johnson Institute
Founded by Elle Hearns, The Marsha P. Johnson Institute protects and defends the human rights of Black transgender people by organizing, advocating, creating an intentional community to heal, developing transformative leadership, and promoting collective power.
Donate via: Website
The Okra Project
Founded by Ianne Fields Stewart, The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever they can reach them.
Donate via: PayPal