House of Blahnik Needs You!!!!!!!

The House of Manolo Blahnik Needs You!

November 21, 2008

Photos: Damon Humes (Founder/Father Jay Blahnik) and Stephaun Clipper Wallace (National Board Member-Stephaun Blahnik)

Dear Friend:

By now, you have heard of the economic crisis in the United States and globally. The implications of the crisis have far reaching effects that have unfortunately and exponentially, impacted small indigenous groups who work tirelessly to improve the lives of our youth, our communities and our nation.

With a record $9 trillion US budget deficit, health, wellness and civic programs for youth as well as critical access to education are in jeopardy. As the US’s fiscal problem heighten, the needs of disenfranchised and impoverished communities continue to grow. Because people are living in desperate times, are under stress or in pain and lack the money to care for themselves and/or their families; violence and/or violent crimes increase in our homes and community, education is under prioritized and rates of HIV, STDs and other health-related problems implode.

The House of Blahnik (HOB) has, and continues to respond to these issues and many more since its inception in 2000. HOB is a premiere national health and human service provider, specifically addressing education, leadership development, advocacy, HIV/AIDS and provides ongoing mentorship to at-risk lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. The HOB has membership in fourteen states; including: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North & South Carolina. The HOB’s mission is, “…to positively affect the overall development, health and wellness of its members, the larger lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities of color and their allies; while providing nurturing safe spaces for self-expression and continued growth.”

The HOB is one of the few places left for LGBT youth who participate in, or are affiliated with, the house/ball community. It is the only indigenous house who works with local not-for-profit organizations (in several states) to conduct research, health education and intervention to its peers. Lastly, the HOB has the unique distinction of providing the only national scholarship opportunity for persons in house/ball community. Last year, its first scholarship recipient graduated from Morehouse, a historically black college in Atlanta, GA; while another scholar is presently attending North Carolina Central University.

We are asking that you consider giving what you can. You contribution, of any size, will make a huge difference in the lives of over 5,000 people who are positively affected directly by our efforts. A $50 donation could provide two hours of intensive sexual health education or counseling to a young person who may be struggling with their sexual orientation that could decrease the likelihood of becoming HIV and/or STD infected. A $200 donation could ensure that one LGBT youth gets to our annual leadership development retreat; while $1,000 could help to ensure access to college; which keeps our youth and young adults off the street- giving them access to a computer lab, counselors, homework assistance and ongoing support.

We do all of this and more because of you. Your support is what allows us to make a difference in the lives of so many youth. Please consider making an end of the year tax deductible contribution. With your help, the HOB can continue to provide access to education, mobilize community, and support health & human services throughout the country during national budgetary cutbacks.

The HOB is under the fiscal management of the Men of Color Health Awareness (MOCHA) Project, Inc., a New York State non profit organization. Please send your tax deductible contributions to:

MOCHA Project, Inc.
c/o HOB Scholarship Fund
531 Virginia Street
Buffalo, New York 14202

If you would like to learn more about our programs and services, please do not hesitate to contact me at (678) 913-8629 or visit our web site at www.houseofblahnik.org. We thank you in advance for your support.
Again, thank you,

Stephaun Clipper Wallace, BS

National Board Member

The House of Blahnik

NBJC: Transgender Day of Rememberance

Dear Stephaun Clipper,

Remembering OUR Dead editorial by TJ Fleming

November 20, 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of Rita Hester’s murder, a Boston transgender woman whose brutal murder is still unsolved as many crimes against gay, lesbian, transgender and transsexual persons often are. Rita’s murder began the first visible evidence of hate-filled discrimination and violence against the transgender and transsexual community, as it sparked an online memorial for all of those in our community who have been murdered for being who they are, internally and externally.

“Remembering Our Dead” (www.rememberingourdead.org) is the first website dedicated to posting the names and stories of transgender and transsexual humans who have been killed for their gender identities and/or expressions. These names, however, are the ones for which we have accounts; many others are not reported or not classified as hate crimes based on gender identity.

Now, 10 years later, the tradition continues and so, too, do the murders of human beings who dare to live as they must: in a gender not assigned physically at birth, but assigned within the heart and spirit from conception.

On the 20th of each November we remember those who died—our dead.

What makes them ours? As a pre-op transsexual male, the murdered are my sisters and my brothers and, above all else, they are human beings who deserve to be honored, valued and remembered. But what makes them yours to remember, those of you of the Same Gender Loving community?

You must remember because we are cut from the same cloth, albeit of a different pattern. We desire the same human rights: that is, to love who we want, identify however we want, and express our sex or gender in whatever means comfortable and innate to our true selves. Transphobia is as alive and vicious of a monster as homophobia and oftentimes dwells in the same hearts and minds. To “them” we are all “freaks of nature,” “misfits,” unworthy and intolerable. To “them” our civil rights are not their civil rights; our lives are not worth as much as their own; our love is not love. To this, we must stand together and become responsible for one another, collectively.

They are our dead because, as the living, we still have a voice, and we must speak loudly and unwaveringly to end homophobia and transphobia in our time and for our next generation.

As you awake on November 20th, remember Rita Hester from 1998 and remember Duanna Johnson murdered on November 10, 2008 and all those past, present and future. In nations across the world people are gathering to remember those needlessly killed by hate: www.transgenderdor.org, is a site that has a listing of where you can get involved in your region.

On November 20th, this year and every year, stand up and be heard, because our dead cannot.

Remember.

http://www.atypical.net/ archive/2002/11/20/4th-annual- day-of-remembrance – Article on Rita Hester.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/ 11/18/us/18memphis.html?em – Article on Duanna Johnson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=1wy4EAigSBw – video titled “Hate Crimes in 2008- Fight OUT Loud”

Biography: Talib “T.J.” Fleming is an FTM writer, parent, and social activist residing in Jersey City, NJ with his partner and daughter. www.brotheroutsider.org

Photo © Emmanuela de León/Dust Jacket Press

The Prop 8 Blame Game

By Kai Wright | TheRoot.com


Why white gays and black homophobes both need a reality check.
Nov. 12, 2008--Somebody forgot to tell gay people that race wars are no longer in vogue.

While the rest of the country has spent the last week reveling in the afterglow of Grant Park, gay America has devolved into a Sarah Palin rally.

The issue is a particularly nasty California ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which passed last Tuesday with just over half the vote. Prop 8 repealed a historic state Supreme Court ruling that gave gays the right to wed—and it appears to have won massive black support. That's a fact that ought to shame black folks everywhere.

But it also ought to finally convince the white-led gay rights movement to take people of color seriously, a case black gay activists have been trying to make for the better part of the past 30 years. Addressing the destructive reactions of too many of my white gay compatriots in recent days would be a good place to begin.

It started when a CNN exit poll declared that 70 percent of black voters supported the initiative. That finding led many in Cali's white gay community to conclude they lost their rights because of black homophobia. Things went downhill fast from there. Much of the ensuing outcry has been nasty, even hateful. As one college student wrote to the black gay blog Rod 2.0 in describing a Los Angeles protest, "It was like being at a Klan rally, except the Klansmen were wearing Abercrombie Polos and Birkenstocks. "


I wish his remark could be easily dismissed as hyperbole. The comment sections of blogs ranging from progressive standard-bearer DailyKos to black lesbian rabble rouser Jasmyne Cannick have been swarmed with racist rants and reports of slurs hurled at African Americans. Big-name gay scribes have piled on. By 10 a.m. the day after the election, popular columnist Dan Savage had shot off at the mouth, declaring himself "done pretending" that "the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans" aren't a bigger threat to gays than racist gays are to blacks. Whatever that means.


There is no question that homophobia runs deep in black America—or that it wreaks far more acute damage than denying marriage rights, frankly. Just ask the families of Sakia Gunn or Rashawn Brazell or any one of the scores of black queers whose murders have been met with a collective shrug in black communities. Or all the families destroyed by a raging AIDS epidemic we go on ignoring, in large part because of our uneasiness with sexuality of any sort, let alone the homo and bi and transgender kind. It's long past time black people have a conversation about this ugly reality.

But first, as with all things involving race and sex, there's a whole mess of facts about the California marriage fight that must be straightened out.

Not least of these is the shaky assertion that black voters made the difference. DailyKos diarist Shanikka has gained small celebrity for her post debunking it. The fact that blacks are densely clumped in just nine out of 58 California counties makes any race-based claim in CNN's geographically random sample muddy at best. Further, the poll excludes all of the state's 3 million early votes and counts blacks as 10 percent of voters when they're less than 7 percent of the population.
Of course, you don't have to get into such devilish details to notice something weird about this blame-the-blacks narrative.

Even if 70 percent truly did support the marriage ban, why single them out? So did six out of 10 people over 65. Ditto white Protestants and people with children under 18. Look at the electorate through any of these lenses and you identify a far larger share of the vote than when viewing it by race.
"The reason why people are so fascinated with the 70 percent number is Obama and this kumbaya moment that we were having," says Ron Buckmire, a leader in L.A.'s Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, a black gay group. "To discover that not everyone was in the same place was really shocking and surprising for some people."
It should have been a no-brainer.

The Mormon-funded, anti-gay side aggressively targeted every racial and ethnic group in California—often dishonestly. Anti-gay operatives launched a robo-call scheme directed at black voters that falsely claimed Barack Obama supported their initiative. Obama does not support gay marriage, but neither did he support Prop 8. (Not that Obama did a hell of a lot to counter the lie.) The underfunded, pro-gay side responded with too little, too late.


These shenanigans explain why many black voters supported the marriage ban. Still, that's no excuse. "I am far less concerned with a white gay backlash than I am with the need for us to have a dialogue within the African-American community about what it means to have equality," says H. Alexander Robinson, who heads the National Black Justice Coalition, a black gay rights group.

Here, here.

Let's be clear, these hateful repudiations of gay relationships hurt black people. According to the U.S. Census, 10.5 percent of same-sex households are black, and they are at least twice as likely to be raising kids as their white counterparts.

Denying these families access to civil marriage bars them from hundreds of rights and responsibilities.

Many black folks wince when they hear gay rights compared to the black civil rights movement. And when it comes from white gays whose only interest in black people is appropriating our history, I do too.

But here's what Coretta Scott King had to say, in an address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. "Homophobia is as morally wrong and as unacceptable as racism," she declared. "We ought to extend to gay and lesbian people the same respect and dignity we claim for ourselves. Every person is a child of God, and every human being is entitled to full human rights."

The whole community faces consequences when those human rights are denied. Look no further than AIDS for proof. Black people were overrepresented from the epidemic's outset, but fear and hate of the gay men who bore its first burn paralyzed the community as the virus spread. Now black people account for half of all new infections.

At some point, we all must ask difficult, self-critical questions. No, as black people, we're not any more or less homophobic than anybody else. And yes, the white gay community needs to look at its own failures before casting blame on others.

But so what? Too many of us are homophobes, and we need to talk about it. Last Tuesday's vote should remove any doubt about the urgency of the discussion.

http://www.theroot. com/id/48845/ page/1


"I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Dr. King Feb. 28, 1954

Just Stopped In.......

WOW!

Ok, so much has happened since the last time that I really came on and gave my thoughts to something. Mainly due to my increasing responsibilities at my primarily place of employment MOCHA and these darn college classes that are wearing me out (they always want me to write....lol).

So ok, as you all probably know by now, our new President-elect is Illinois Senator Barack Obama, but what some of you may not know is that he has literally hit the ground running in post-election strategy planning and meetings with officials in varying capacities. I am so in awe, I would be remiss if I didn't add that his acceptance speech brought tears to my eyes. For your review, in case you haven't watched it enough, I posted the clips below. This election and specifically the results, have made me feel very proud (for one of the first times in my life) to say that I am American. Finally, it appears that the glass ceiling has been obliterated and people can finally start to have open and honest dialog about their differences, while at the same time celebrating our similarities. To his credit, John McCain delivered a (seemingly) heartfelt speech giving much credit to the Obama campaign and his ability to mobilize American's around his platform. (There is so much to be said for community organizing!!!!!!!!).

Additionally in the news, Obama has started going about the business of identifying potential candidates for cabinet positions, being very clear about his intention to retain a bipartisian cabinet. The world has taken notice of American and our presidential selection, and I believe wholeheartedly that this election also did some potential healing of our international image.

***********
Obama Acceptance Speech Part 1

Obama Acceptance Speech Part 2

SOVO: Beyonce's Borrowed Moves

Alice Walker on Obama's Presidency

An Open Letter to Barack Obama - By Alice
Walker | TheRoot.com

http://www.theroot. com/id/48726


President-Elect Barack
Obama

Nov. 5, 2008

Dear Brother Obama,

You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being
the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you
are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the
torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade,
century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of
justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear. And yet, this
observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and,
indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a
different place. It is really only to say: Well done. We knew, through all the
generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and
of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part
of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your
wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope,
previously only sung about.

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that
the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the
world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to
cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient
time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on.
One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White
House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their
wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so
lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does
your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so
bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state,
you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really
want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the
attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is
not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the
reach of almost everyone.

I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most
damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings
occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or
racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused
adversaries who are ourselves in disguise. It is understood by all that you are
commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved
country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say,
quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner."
There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more
dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened
to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where
it has led.

A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the
Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese
government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be
preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but
when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers,
to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which
we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and
lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept
happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting
our way, and brightening the world.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.


In Peace and Joy,
Alice Walker