[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.10,0:00:10.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today on The Laura Flanders Show, writer \Nand activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.88,0:00:17.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,discusses poetry, capitalism, and the difference \Nbetween disability rights and disability justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.22,0:00:21.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All that and a few words from me \Non Roads Less Traveled.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.09,0:00:22.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Welcome to our program.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.06,0:00:46.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hi, I'm Laura Flanders.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.51,0:00:47.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Safety.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.79,0:00:51.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every law enforcement officer and every politician \Nwill tell you that they're for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.90,0:00:55.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet for many police aren't the answer, \Nthey're a problem in the community
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.98,0:00:59.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and today's policy makers \Nare only making things worse.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.15,0:01:03.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If what we're doing isn't making \Nmany of us safer, what might?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.36,0:01:05.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our next guest has gone on a search.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.60,0:01:09.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha \Ndescribes herself
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.62,0:01:14.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a queer, disabled, writer, \Nperformer, poet, healer and teacher,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.95,0:01:17.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,inspired by poets, June Jordan, Suheir Hammad,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.63,0:01:20.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what she calls the whole \Nwomen of color pantheon.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.65,0:01:23.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She is the author of several \Nbooks of poetry including
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.46,0:01:28.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Consensual Genocide \Nand the Lambda Award winning, Love Cake.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.05,0:01:33.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She has a new book of poetry, Body Map, \Nand a memoir, Dirty River, out this year.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.46,0:01:38.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She also performs with the group Mangos With Chili. \NShe's an editor, too, of the book
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.43,0:01:45.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Revolution Starts as Home: Confronting \NIntimate Violence in Activist Communities,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.17,0:01:51.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a book that grapples with the difficult ideas \Nof addressing violence without police.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.41,0:01:55.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We also discovered that we shared \Na meal together a few years ago in Toronto.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.46,0:01:58.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many years ago. I'm happy to see \Nyou again, Leah. Thanks for coming in.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.41,0:01:59.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thanks so much for having me.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.98,0:02:04.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's talk a little bit about this notion of safety \Nand we'll come back to other things.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.79,0:02:07.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What does it mean to you?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.28,0:02:11.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that there are a million \Nsurvivors of violence out there.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.91,0:02:15.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that most people have survived \Nsome form of abuse or violence.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.16,0:02:19.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that as feminists, we've been talking \Nabout that at least since the '70s and beyond.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.14,0:02:21.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that in the criminal legal system
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.87,0:02:24.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-which I don't call the criminal justice system, \Nbecause it doesn't bring it-
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.96,0:02:27.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no one ever asks survivors of violence \Nwhat they need
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.97,0:02:31.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to have safety, justice, \Nand healing in their lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.27,0:02:33.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're told as survivors of violence that,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.55,0:02:36.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Yay! Second wave white liberal feminism works,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.95,0:02:39.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we get to call the cops \Nand send our abusers to prison."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.87,0:02:44.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know a single survivor who's ever \Ncalled the police to get justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.05,0:02:47.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of the ones that I've read about, \NI don't know a single one who said,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.46,0:02:51.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Yeah my experience in the criminal legal \Nsystem was great and I got what I needed."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.16,0:02:57.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're basically being used to create more prisons \Nand to build mass incarceration.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.14,0:02:58.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Explain what you mean by that.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.63,0:03:01.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that like a lot of feminists of color,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.30,0:03:04.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I understand why a lot of feminists in the \N'70s and '80s pushed for things
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.88,0:03:08.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the criminalization of domestic violence \Nand child and sexual abuse.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.22,0:03:10.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what black and brown feminists know
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.74,0:03:14.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that bringing more police into \Nour communities never keeps us safe.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.16,0:03:18.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My good friend Ejeris Dixon, who worked \Nfor many years at Audre Lorde Project,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.50,0:03:22.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talks about how what we're calling \Ntransformative justice is nothing new.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.49,0:03:25.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She's like, "My father is a black man from Louisiana.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.13,0:03:29.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Growing up, the police were the clan \Nand still are"; and he's like,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.33,0:03:32.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"That's not who we called when there was \Nintimate partner abuse in our communities."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.49,0:03:34.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That hasn't changed.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.51,0:03:40.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is that where the artist and poet and \Nimagination comes in of what else might we do?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.71,0:03:42.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What else have other communities done?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.57,0:03:44.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mm-hmm. [laughs] \NOne thing that I'm really grateful for
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.15,0:03:50.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,... so I'm about to be 40 which means I came up \Nas an activist and an organizer in the '90s
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.46,0:03:55.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I still... back then I would run into, you know, \Nin whatever movement spaces we were a part of,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.29,0:04:00.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a little bit of the "oh, cultural works, \Nthis very feminized unimportant thing."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.10,0:04:03.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I still remember trying to organize \Na Free Mumia [Abu Jamal] rally in 1996,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.94,0:04:06.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there was some old white \NBolshevik guy who was like...
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.45,0:04:08.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we wanted to have... we were young \Npeople of color, and we were like...
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.96,0:04:10.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"We want to have MC's \Nand hip-hop artists and poets,"
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.70,0:04:14.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he was like, "That's not how you do \Na proper rally. You sell the paper!"
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.40,0:04:17.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we were like, "you're racist and irrelevant."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.42,0:04:20.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that cultural work still is minimized
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.05,0:04:24.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I think that it goes beyond just being \Nthe entertainment at the rally.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.22,0:04:26.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think it is just what you said about ...
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.07,0:04:31.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Diane di Prima once said that, "The only war \Nthat matters is the war of the imagination."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.47,0:04:33.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that it's very easy
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.95,0:04:38.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we are surviving and not surviving \Nmultiple forms of violence all of the time
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.52,0:04:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to focus on the power that we don't have.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.78,0:04:43.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One thing that the Allied Media Conference
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.41,0:04:45.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-which is a grassroots media conference \NI work with-
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.82,0:04:50.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stresses in how we organize is that we focus on \Nwhere we're powerful not where we're powerless.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.85,0:04:53.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the imagination is one place \Nthat we're powerful,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.70,0:04:57.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think that we don't have the state, \Nwe don't have the prisons,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.42,0:04:59.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we don't have the cops, thank God.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:59.05,0:05:03.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we do have is the wild, queer, \Nfeminists of color, decolonial imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.69,0:05:08.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what difference does your disability make \Nand the disability rights movement make?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.06,0:05:11.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I heard you begin to talk about it, \Nbut I think it's important.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.10,0:05:14.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right. We actually use the term disability justice \Nbecause the disability rights movement,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.94,0:05:19.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while it's incredibly important and I'm grateful \Nfor the work those organizers did,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.72,0:05:22.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has been predominately a white dominated \Nsingle-issue movement.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.99,0:05:27.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Disability justice as a term was coined by people \Nof color with disabilities who were revolutionaries,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.98,0:05:31.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially Patricia Berne and Leroy Moore \Nof Sins Invalid
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.22,0:05:35.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who got really sick of being marginalized \Nas disabled revolutionary people of color
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.80,0:05:40.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,within both white disability rights and \Nnon-disabled people of color movements,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.72,0:05:44.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I would just say everything. [laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:05:44.10,0:05:49.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cara Page, who is a beloved, beloved person, \Nwho is the ED of Audre Lorde Project right now,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.14,0:05:52.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she was part of a group called Kindred, \Nwhich still exists,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.48,0:05:55.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is black and brown queer southern healers, \Nand they came together because she was like,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.88,0:06:01.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Organizers are literally dying in the South \Nbecause of chronic illness and ableism
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.83,0:06:05.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the relentless pace of our movements \Nthat is ableist."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.13,0:06:07.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I would say that the first thing \Nthat's true for our movements
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.16,0:06:10.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that sustainability is a huge issue for us.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.83,0:06:14.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's so much that non-disabled activists \Ncan learn from disabled people
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.34,0:06:16.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's kind of one of the beginning places.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.53,0:06:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think a lot of non-disabled activists, \Nor people who don't identify as disabled yet,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.68,0:06:24.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are used to thinking of disability only in terms of, \N"Oh we need to get a ramp."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.79,0:06:29.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's really important but it's a really \Nhuge cognitive leap for non-disabled folks
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.56,0:06:33.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to become aware that disabled folks \Nhave our histories and cultures of resistance.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.64,0:06:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have crip science.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.10,0:06:38.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have incredible organizing skills that \Nnon-disabled people need to learn from.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:38.56,0:06:43.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can organize from bed. I can organize \Non the internet. I can organize on crip time.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.57,0:06:48.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can do a lot of miraculous things that are \Nnot on a 16 meeting a week relentless schedule.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:48.89,0:06:51.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can do that on no money and I am not alone.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:51.64,0:06:53.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I am one of millions of disabled folks \Nwho are resisting,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.93,0:06:58.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I would say a whole lot of other things \Nabout eugenics and the value of our bodies
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.54,0:07:03.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and how the struggle around those issues\Nare immensely connected with anti-prison organizing.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:03.78,0:07:04.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just to begin with.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.96,0:07:07.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I would just add one other thing. \NIt has to do with fun.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.58,0:07:08.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh, yeah, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.68,0:07:12.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had a disability justice activist \Ntalk the other day about aging
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.56,0:07:17.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and said to her not-disabled, \Nthey didn't think, colleagues,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.19,0:07:24.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"You want to learn how to work your body as it ages,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.37,0:07:29.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as if you're lucky it will acquire disabilities, \Nlearn from us."
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.16,0:07:32.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh I need to say this. \NMy friend Naima Lowe said recently,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.30,0:07:33.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she's like you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.24,0:07:34.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The thing that non-disabled folks \Nhave to learn from us
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.94,0:07:37.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we've already survived some of \Nthe worst things that can happen;
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.54,0:07:42.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I don't just mean what ableism sees \Nas the individual tragedy of our bodies,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.30,0:07:45.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean surviving ableism and capitalism, \Nand we know how to do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.45,0:07:49.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we are thriving and we are surviving \Nand we're not always surviving but we are."
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.75,0:07:51.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So yeah, exactly.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.32,0:07:55.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When that, y'know, break-neck speed \Nburn-out able-bodied activist
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.51,0:08:00.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gets cancer or diabetes or, you know, gets an \Namputation and is like, "Oh my God, my life's over!"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.21,0:08:01.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we're there to be like it actually really isn't,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.89,0:08:04.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you need to change the way your life is \Nand the way movements are
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.74,0:08:07.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we can actually be part \Nof that radical imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.63,0:08:09.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] And we can have fun.\N[Leah] And we can have fun.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.20,0:08:11.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] Talk about fun.\N[Leah] What do you want to know?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:11.22,0:08:13.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] What you're into.\N[Leah laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.10,0:08:14.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] I'm watching you and I'm thinking
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.55,0:08:21.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're talking about some of the most intense, \Nhardcore stuff and yet you're clearly relishing it.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.88,0:08:23.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Leah] I'm not dead.\N[Laura laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.52,0:08:26.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was like many survivors who make it to 40.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.60,0:08:29.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was not supposed to ... I'm going to \Nquote somebody who's going to make you cry.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:29.76,0:08:35.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean June Jordan, right? \NThe revolutionary queer black poet.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.11,0:08:40.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cancer survivor and, y'know, cancer not-survivor \Nsaid right after 9/11,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:40.65,0:08:45.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Some of us did not die. I guess it was our fate \Nto live, so what are we going to do about it?"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:45.32,0:08:51.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was talking with one of my chosen family members \Nwho is also a hardcore survivor who's 42
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.34,0:08:56.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who painted this cane and they were like, \N"We made it. Now what do we do with it?"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.36,0:08:58.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We survived and we have all that knowledge.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.32,0:09:01.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm thankful every day and not in some \Nweird bourgie Christian way.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:01.68,0:09:04.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm just like, I get to be alive.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.33,0:09:07.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughs] I get to have made it through \Nsome of the roughest stuff,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:07.06,0:09:10.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's not to say that there's not going \Nto be disasters that keep coming.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.86,0:09:13.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have a poem in the book called \NThe Worst Thing in the World,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:13.46,0:09:15.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the truth is, it will keep happening.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:15.14,0:09:20.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, we're about to run out of water in \NCalifornia in a year. Octavia Butler was right.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:20.17,0:09:23.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What one thing that we also have power over
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.73,0:09:26.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is our capacity for joy and pleasure
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.03,0:09:28.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's something that queer and trans folks \Nhave always held onto,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.87,0:09:33.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is, y'know, we don't have to be homonormative. \NWe actually don't have to.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:33.11,0:09:39.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have so much that's about sex and joy and pleasure \Nand the powers of decadence on no money.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.22,0:09:46.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You have great examples of how people do confront \Nviolence without recourse to the police in your book.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.12,0:09:47.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Leah] Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.37,0:09:52.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The group UBUNTU stands out in my mind. \NThe word meaning born to belonging.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.37,0:09:54.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Leah] I am because we are.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:54.77,0:09:56.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I am because we are.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.58,0:09:58.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Talk about how they work and why you thought \Nit was important to put them in the book.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:58.75,0:10:03.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,UBUNTU is one of the most amazing groups \Nthat I've ever run into ...
Dialogue: 0,0:10:03.09,0:10:07.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alexis Pauline Gumbs, who is a queer black \Nfeminist troublemaker genius ...
Dialogue: 0,0:10:07.31,0:10:08.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] Who's been on this program.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.50,0:10:11.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Good! I feel blessed every time \NI'm in Alexis's presence.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:11.98,0:10:16.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I ran into UBUNTU's work when I was stealing time \Nfrom my day job at the eviction hotline.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:16.83,0:10:22.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They came together after the Duke University rape \N-I hesitate to call it a trial-
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.18,0:10:26.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but where several white male \NDuke University Lacrosse players
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.48,0:10:30.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sexually assaulted black female sex workers \Nwho they'd hired to dance for them at a party.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.55,0:10:37.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I always talk about that story when I'm asked \Nto talk about transformative justice
Dialogue: 0,0:10:37.19,0:10:39.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because that is an example where, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:39.90,0:10:42.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, just the forces \Nof anti-black racism, whorephobia,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:42.77,0:10:45.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know it's a perfect storm of everything awful.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:45.47,0:10:48.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It would be really easy to feel like \Nthere's nothing we can do,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:48.93,0:10:50.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and UBUNTU came together and they said,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:50.89,0:10:55.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"We can't control the courts but we can \Ndo a national day of truth-telling march
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.35,0:10:58.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,past the house where the assault happened \Nholding signs saying,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.02,0:11:01.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Someone I love is a sex worker," and, \N"I believe survivors,"
Dialogue: 0,0:11:01.06,0:11:04.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and do a dance routine to Audre Lorde's \NA Litany for Survival
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.18,0:11:06.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in front of the house where the assault happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:06.52,0:11:11.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They just grew to do incredible anti-violence work \Nin Durham, North Carolina and beyond.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:11.31,0:11:13.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just speaking to that,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:13.57,0:11:16.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this example that is in the interview that \Nwe did with Alexis that pops out at me is that,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:16.93,0:11:20.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know they had multiple examples of just, \Nthey were like,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.23,0:11:22.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Yeah, we were just walking down the street one day \Nand we ran into this young woman
Dialogue: 0,0:11:22.57,0:11:26.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who'd just been assaulted by her partner and we\Njust said, hey, what do you need? Come with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.61,0:11:30.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We took her into our home. We made her tea. \NWe talked about our experiences.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.11,0:11:32.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We called her family and her faith leader."
Dialogue: 0,0:11:32.36,0:11:36.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when I asked Alexis, "So that's something \Na lot of feminists wish they could do,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:36.95,0:11:39.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but when something like that happens, we freeze, \Nso what made that possible?"
Dialogue: 0,0:11:39.72,0:11:41.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cycling back to what you said about relationships,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:41.63,0:11:45.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she was like, "90% of our work doesn't \Nlook like traditional activist work.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.02,0:11:46.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's doing childcare. It's hanging out.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:46.56,0:11:51.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's building with each other so we're not a clique, \Nwe're an actual community,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.80,0:11:57.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we know that we can call on each other during \Nthe times of deepest crisis and we can respond."
Dialogue: 0,0:11:57.88,0:12:00.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's why I think we need to do relationship work
Dialogue: 0,0:12:00.92,0:12:03.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's work that's looked down on \Nbecause it's feminized
Dialogue: 0,0:12:03.21,0:12:06.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's not seen as like big, beating the chest, \NI'm leading the rally, work.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.71,0:12:09.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just what women and feminized people \Nhave always done.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:09.30,0:12:12.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I always say we have a big fight around \Nthe shredding of the social safety net
Dialogue: 0,0:12:12.97,0:12:16.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but what we don't talk often enough about \Nis not the net but the fabric.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.89,0:12:19.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to re-stitch the social fabric.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:19.93,0:12:23.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which I think is what you're talking about \Nwhen somebody opens their doors.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:24.92,0:12:27.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So much to talk about.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:27.16,0:12:29.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mentors. I'd love to hear about \Nmore of your mentors.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.33,0:12:31.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What you've learned from different people.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.16,0:12:34.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then this word transformative justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.38,0:12:38.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This idea that you're in a transformative \Njustice moment. What do you mean?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.33,0:12:40.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughs] You want me to start with that?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.12,0:12:41.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:41.08,0:12:42.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yeah. We're in a transformative ...
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.95,0:12:45.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean we've been in a transformative \Njustice moment all of our lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.02,0:12:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that right now it was really intense being \Nat the Color of Violence 4 Conference,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:50.100,0:12:52.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which happened this past weekend,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.53,0:12:58.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and feeling, really feeling, how I feel like I've been \Nin movement with the folks who were there,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:58.58,0:13:02.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the black and brown women who were there, \Nfor 15 years,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:02.21,0:13:05.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for so many of us we started, y'know, \Ngoing back to that ...
Dialogue: 0,0:13:05.78,0:13:08.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the early Incite documents of like,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:08.04,0:13:10.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the police don't work for us \Nas black and brown folks.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:10.32,0:13:13.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When they're called, they arrest us, \Nthey beat us, the deport us.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:13.62,0:13:17.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's never safe to be a black sex worker who calls \Nthe cops when your partner is beating you up.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:17.36,0:13:19.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's never safe. It's never going to add to that.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.76,0:13:21.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What do we do instead?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:21.16,0:13:23.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And to go on these, what Alyssa Vera calls,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.46,0:13:27.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"marvelous journeys and stories \Nthat are still being written."
Dialogue: 0,0:13:27.87,0:13:31.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that we're in an incredible moment right now
Dialogue: 0,0:13:31.17,0:13:34.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with Black Lives Matter as a black feminist-led \Nmovement and created movement.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:34.82,0:13:39.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is incredible for me to look at Rolling Stone Magazine, \Nto look at that article that says that,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:39.78,0:13:43.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Policing's a dirty job and it turns out no one \Nhas to do it. Here's 10 alternatives."
Dialogue: 0,0:13:43.49,0:13:46.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To feel that all over North America, \Npeople are saying,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:46.56,0:13:49.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Actually calling the cops always ends up \Nwith someone getting killed,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:49.84,0:13:54.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so what are we actually do instead? Because \Nour lives are on the line all the time."
Dialogue: 0,0:13:54.59,0:13:59.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've felt complicated about transformative justice \Nand I'm someone who's helped organize it.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:59.33,0:14:03.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Revolution Starts at Home came out in 2011 \Nand I was very optimistic and I thought,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.61,0:14:06.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Oh and you know we just had the US social forum \Nand in 3 years we'll just abolish the police.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.24,0:14:07.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It'll be great."
Dialogue: 0,0:14:07.75,0:14:11.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it turns out that this project of replacing \Nthe state with community based alternatives
Dialogue: 0,0:14:11.11,0:14:16.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is thrilling, maddening, exhausting, you don't know \Nwhat's going to happen around the corner.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:16.88,0:14:21.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's very hard to work ... \Nit's the most triggering work you can do.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:21.31,0:14:29.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To speak to especially people in our communities \Nwho we love who cause harm,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.48,0:14:31.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to be able to be in the place where we say,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:31.54,0:14:34.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I love you. I do not want you to be \Nlocked up for the next 40 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:34.37,0:14:37.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What you did is absolutely not alright \Nand we're not going to let you keep doing it."
Dialogue: 0,0:14:37.52,0:14:41.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have not been trained to do this and it takes \Ndeveloping a lot of emotional muscles to do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:41.49,0:14:44.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I believe that we are doing it \Nand it's also not a straight shot.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:44.20,0:14:46.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your life is so not the straight shot.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:46.07,0:14:47.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Leah laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:14:47.37,0:14:51.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You are performing. You are organizing. \NYou have 2 books coming out this year.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:51.70,0:14:53.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You've written a memoir already.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:53.50,0:14:58.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A. How do you find the time? \NAnd B. Is it a little early for a memoir?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:58.02,0:15:04.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No. [laughs] I know. I mean, my niece Luna \NMerbruja, formerly known as Askari González,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:04.87,0:15:08.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who's an incredible 22 year-old \Ntransgender Latina organizer
Dialogue: 0,0:15:08.58,0:15:12.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who co-organized the first trans-women of color\Nnational gathering ever last year.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:12.32,0:15:16.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her memoir Trauma Queen came out \N2 years ago, she's 23.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.56,0:15:17.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laura] She beat you to it.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:17.45,0:15:18.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think she did. She did.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:18.100,0:15:21.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dirty River took 13 years to write
Dialogue: 0,0:15:21.49,0:15:24.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it makes me think a lot about \Nthe stakes for feminist of color writing.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:24.96,0:15:29.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alexis, as you probably know, she was one of \Nthe first people to get access to June's archives.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:29.74,0:15:34.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,June wrote, what 27 books over her life time? 30?
Dialogue: 0,0:15:34.79,0:15:38.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alexis has spoken a lot about, "Yeah, I read \Nthe correspondence where June was like,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:38.73,0:15:40.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'I couldn't pay my phone bill that month.'
Dialogue: 0,0:15:40.45,0:15:43.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or where she was fighting so hard with \Nthe publishers of poetry."
Dialogue: 0,0:15:43.74,0:15:47.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The people who wanted her to delete the subtitle \N"a revolutionary blueprint."
Dialogue: 0,0:15:47.95,0:15:53.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I feel immensely lucky to be a queer, \Ndisabled feminist of color writing,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:53.09,0:15:57.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's not, you know, it's not ... \Nno one dinged me on the head with a star.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:57.58,0:15:59.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not automatic. It's taken a lot of collective labor.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:59.87,0:16:03.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't happen if our presses \Nand media movements don't keep going.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:03.69,0:16:09.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And like a lot of queer working-class, \Nfeminists of color, disabled folks, fill in the blank,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:09.09,0:16:12.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we've really led real lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:12.03,0:16:17.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My memoir is about me running away from America \Nwhen I was 21 to set a national boundary
Dialogue: 0,0:16:17.57,0:16:21.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between me and my parents and their love \Nand their abuse and their internalized racism,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:21.28,0:16:26.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and walking straight into a movement moment \Nin Toronto in the late 90's that was filled
Dialogue: 0,0:16:26.15,0:16:29.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with queer feminists of color and Desh Pardesh
Dialogue: 0,0:16:29.09,0:16:33.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was a revolutionary cross class \Nsouth Asian queer organizing center
Dialogue: 0,0:16:33.38,0:16:37.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the biggest global diasporic \NSri Lankan community in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:37.29,0:16:40.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, y'know, nothing like being in love
Dialogue: 0,0:16:40.34,0:16:43.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a queer brown crazy boy \Nwho you're reading Franz Fanon with
Dialogue: 0,0:16:43.89,0:16:46.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who also hits you when he's triggered too;
Dialogue: 0,0:16:46.17,0:16:49.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's where my feminism \Nand my organizing comes from.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:49.09,0:16:50.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we need those road maps.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:50.70,0:16:52.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I partly wrote that book because ...
Dialogue: 0,0:16:52.71,0:16:56.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean I'm a book nerd and I have an\Nincredible collection of small press literature
Dialogue: 0,0:16:56.44,0:16:59.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's currently in a storage unit in Berkley.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:59.11,0:17:02.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The incest survivor and survivor narratives \Nthat are out there
Dialogue: 0,0:17:02.75,0:17:07.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are often very white, very from \Nsecond-wave feminism, very single-issue,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.33,0:17:11.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I wanted to document all of our true life \Nadventure stories of actually how we survive,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:11.88,0:17:13.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a very complicated way.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:13.96,0:17:16.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now there's never a moment on this program \Nwhere I don't use the word queer
Dialogue: 0,0:17:16.79,0:17:18.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and someone doesn't email me and say,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:18.23,0:17:21.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"How can you be insulting people. \NWhat, are you going to use the 'N' word next?"
Dialogue: 0,0:17:21.38,0:17:22.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What does queer mean to you?
Dialogue: 0,0:17:22.64,0:17:28.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Queer means everything that's not straight that's \Nin the practice of moving always towards freedom.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:28.20,0:17:31.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, Leah, you agreed generously to read something \Nto us. What are you going to read?
Dialogue: 0,0:17:31.51,0:17:34.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm going to read a poem called \NWrong is Not Yours,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:34.16,0:17:36.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after June Jordan, \Nand it's from my new book Body Map.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:37.40,0:17:42.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"One day you are a 22 year-old with \Ndread-locked half Desi hair
Dialogue: 0,0:17:42.02,0:17:44.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you decided to lock when you did \Ndouble dip mescaline on New Year's Eve
Dialogue: 0,0:17:44.96,0:17:48.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after staring at pictures of sadhus from south India.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:48.60,0:17:53.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Years before Carol's Daughter in Target or \NPalmer Coconut Hair Milk or Kinky Curly,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.35,0:17:58.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have no idea what to do \Nwith all that curly, curly hair.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:58.37,0:18:00.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you decide you want to change your name
Dialogue: 0,0:18:00.60,0:18:02.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Albrecht to no more Albrecht.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:02.56,0:18:04.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You want your great grandmothers'.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:04.62,0:18:09.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You are a 22 year-old on a straight diet of nothing \Nbut Franz Fanon, Marlon Riggs, and Chrystos.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:09.46,0:18:13.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You are a Sri Lankan daughter \Nof the Dutch East India company.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:13.08,0:18:15.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You want no more Albrecht.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:15.56,0:18:17.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No more rape in your pelvis.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:17.16,0:18:18.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No more, "Where'd you get that name?"
Dialogue: 0,0:18:18.76,0:18:20.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No more, "Are you adopted?" No more.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.73,0:18:24.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even though your grandmothers whisper, \N"Keep a white name for the passport."
Dialogue: 0,0:18:24.32,0:18:28.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, keep as many passports as possible.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:28.56,0:18:30.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You never know what boat \Nyou're going to have to get on.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:30.83,0:18:33.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who you'll have to bullshit in an immigration office.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:33.24,0:18:35.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You'll never know where we'll have to run to.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:35.89,0:18:37.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make home on. Sip your tea.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:37.85,0:18:39.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cook your rice. Wait for death.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:39.65,0:18:42.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Looking at an ocean almost like your own.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:42.81,0:18:46.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But you, you want your great grandmothers' name\Nwho eats hot pepper.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:46.46,0:18:49.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who walked out of Galicia with 13 children.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:49.31,0:18:50.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your other great grandmother
Dialogue: 0,0:18:50.98,0:18:54.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose name is a foot-note in a Lankan \Nhistory books' cross-reference index,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:54.69,0:18:58.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you find researching your senior thesis \Non mixed race women in Sri Lanka.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:58.50,0:19:01.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Teachers, union organizers, and sluts, \Nevery one of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:01.96,0:19:06.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you get something infinitely Google-able. \NAnd infinitely unpronounceable
Dialogue: 0,0:19:06.88,0:19:09.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,except for Ukrainians and Lankans and Dravidians.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:09.34,0:19:12.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even when Dennis Kucinich runs for president
Dialogue: 0,0:19:12.39,0:19:15.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and puts and Mp3 file on his website \Nsaying how to say his name
Dialogue: 0,0:19:15.50,0:19:19.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you think it might be a good idea, too.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:19.29,0:19:21.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your name is not wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:21.23,0:19:23.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Wrong is not your name.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:23.41,0:19:27.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is your own. Your own. \NYour own. Your own.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.04,0:19:27.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.75,0:19:29.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Own."
Dialogue: 0,0:19:29.83,0:19:36.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Listening to you read Leah, I hear references to home. \NYou have the word tattooed on your chest.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:36.14,0:19:37.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Leah] I do.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:37.27,0:19:39.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,June Jordan also wrote a collection \NMoving Towards Home.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:39.96,0:19:41.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What does home mean to you?
Dialogue: 0,0:19:41.27,0:19:43.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh, you sucker punched me.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:43.21,0:19:47.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that, for those of us who are diasporic, \Nhome is always a question.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:47.55,0:19:50.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that part of the reason why \NI got "home" tattooed there
Dialogue: 0,0:19:50.10,0:19:54.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that this body is the only thing that \NI'll ever own, and it's on loan.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:54.06,0:19:57.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that for those of us who \Nhave been forced from our homeland
Dialogue: 0,0:19:57.36,0:20:02.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through, y'know, the top 5 of colonialism: \Nrape, genocide, war, imperialism, et cetera,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:02.13,0:20:07.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we carry home in our body's memories. \NIn our cells. In our bones.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:07.50,0:20:10.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We make home wherever we are.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:10.50,0:20:12.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whether it's a prison cell. \NWhether it's Brooklyn.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:12.22,0:20:15.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whether it's wherever we go \Nwhen we're gentrified out of Brooklyn.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:15.16,0:20:17.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we make it in the imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:17.27,0:20:21.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we also get to envision where home's \Ngoing to be that hasn't happened yet.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:21.53,0:20:23.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't just have to be loss.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:23.69,0:20:26.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't have to be the thing that \Nwe're imagining that we want to get back to.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:26.22,0:20:30.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When Palestine is free, it's going to be \Na different place than it was in '48.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:30.09,0:20:31.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yeah. And we make it with each other.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:31.83,0:20:33.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right. Exactly.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:33.35,0:20:35.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can find out more about our guest Leah,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:35.43,0:20:40.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and June Jordan, the Poetry For The People founder \Nand professor at UC Berkley at our website.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:42.57,0:20:45.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is Airport Ode #1\Nfrom Body Map.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:45.45,0:20:47.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"the truth is, I ask for the opt out.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:20:47.51,0:20:51.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I ask for it every single time.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:51.45,0:20:56.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would rather be patted down by a 60-ish white \Nworking class woman who looks just like my mom
Dialogue: 0,0:20:56.26,0:20:59.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who I will studiously ma'am and ask about her day,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:59.22,0:21:02.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than to sit sweating waiting for it to happen.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:02.78,0:21:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than to have beam of atoms shot through my body
Dialogue: 0,0:21:05.22,0:21:10.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and still get barked aside, patted down, tarot card, \Ncock and coconut oil wanded.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:10.63,0:21:13.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once on my way to a red-eye \Nfrom a performance in a cocktail dress,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:13.37,0:21:15.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you were young and brown and queer
Dialogue: 0,0:21:15.21,0:21:19.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you said damn, it'll be easy to search you, \Nyou're hardly wearing anything at all
Dialogue: 0,0:21:19.20,0:21:20.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you complemented my mukkuthi
Dialogue: 0,0:21:20.60,0:21:23.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and because I am a frequent \Nqueerartbrownlady flier,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:23.35,0:21:26.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you remember me from a week or two ago
Dialogue: 0,0:21:26.34,0:21:28.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is where we are in 2012:
Dialogue: 0,0:21:28.28,0:21:31.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I chat friendly and deliberate \Nwith the sister who searches me
Dialogue: 0,0:21:31.86,0:21:32.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,legs spread out in front of the other,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:32.93,0:21:36.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the back of the hand on sensitive areas\Nyour zipper line, your bra
Dialogue: 0,0:21:36.49,0:21:41.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,casual spread eagle in public as everyone \Nhops on shoes, puts laptops back
Dialogue: 0,0:21:41.20,0:21:48.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not too long ago, every airport line a panic attack, \Nevery airport four hours sweating armpit rank,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:48.58,0:21:53.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,every bus crossing the small room and barking \Nguards who don't even pretend to be polite
Dialogue: 0,0:21:53.16,0:21:56.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who go through all your things \Nand take you to the glass toilet
Dialogue: 0,0:21:56.66,0:22:03.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every time they chirp or bark, "I'm going to pat your \Nhair now" I go deep inside and all the way out
Dialogue: 0,0:22:03.33,0:22:06.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,once, my girlfriend picked me up at the airport \Nwith a little tupperware of dinner
Dialogue: 0,0:22:06.75,0:22:09.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and fucked me in long term parking \Nbent over the hood of her car
Dialogue: 0,0:22:09.63,0:22:14.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was too nervous to come but \NI loved how she wanted to feed me,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:14.75,0:22:16.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how she wanted to fuck me back
Dialogue: 0,0:22:16.66,0:22:24.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the middle of all these concrete cameras wands \Nscanners fingerprints nexus red blinking eye
Dialogue: 0,0:22:24.29,0:22:26.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this place that hates us."
Dialogue: 0,0:22:30.68,0:22:32.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That was a poem from Leah's new book Body Map,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:32.88,0:22:35.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about which you can get more information \Nand find out how to get a copy for yourself
Dialogue: 0,0:22:35.68,0:22:37.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at our website: GRITtv.org
Dialogue: 0,0:22:37.74,0:22:39.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's hard to imagine an American poet
Dialogue: 0,0:22:39.85,0:22:43.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more celebrated than 4 time \NPulitzer Prize winner Robert Frost.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:43.78,0:22:46.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whose most famous poem concludes
Dialogue: 0,0:22:46.16,0:22:50.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Two roads diverged in a wood,\Nand I, I took the one less traveled by.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:50.99,0:22:53.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that has made all the difference."
Dialogue: 0,0:22:53.12,0:22:56.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the most celebrated poets' \Nmost well known lines praise difference,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:56.56,0:22:58.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why is it that we're so scared of it?
Dialogue: 0,0:22:58.59,0:23:00.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Maybe we need more poets."
Dialogue: 0,0:23:00.12,0:23:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's what John F. Kennedy said \Njust weeks before his death,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:02.96,0:23:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the groundbreaking of the \NRobert Frost Library at Amherst College.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:06.63,0:23:09.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis,\Nthe Cold War was raging on,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:09.87,0:23:14.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,10 million Americans needed jobs, \N"America needed strength", said Kennedy.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:14.11,0:23:16.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"But strength takes many forms,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:16.44,0:23:20.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the most obvious forms are \Nnot always the most significant."
Dialogue: 0,0:23:20.10,0:23:21.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His words.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:21.35,0:23:25.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The men who create power make an indispensable \Ncontribution to the nations' greatness,"
Dialogue: 0,0:23:25.52,0:23:27.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the president continued,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:27.10,0:23:30.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"but the men who question power make \Na contribution just as indispensable.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:30.77,0:23:34.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For they determine whether we use power,\Nor power uses us."
Dialogue: 0,0:23:34.38,0:23:38.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Music and poetry and the arts \Npush us, said Kennedy.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:38.04,0:23:44.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"When power leads man toward arrogance, \Npoetry reminds him of his limitations.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:44.87,0:23:48.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When power narrows the area of man's concern,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.37,0:23:53.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,poetry reminds him of the richness \Nand diversity of existence."
Dialogue: 0,0:23:53.49,0:23:55.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That was half a century ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:55.85,0:24:00.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today we have entire months \Ndedicated to something we call diversity,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:00.39,0:24:03.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including this one, June, LGBTQI Pride.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:03.22,0:24:06.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Except mostly, we don't celebrate diversity.\NWe celebrate sameness.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:06.90,0:24:11.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We honor all the progress that we lesbian \Ngay bisexual and trans Americans have made,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:11.86,0:24:15.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,becoming accepted as normal by straight America.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:15.34,0:24:18.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I'm for everyone enjoying \Nthe same rights in these United States,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:18.68,0:24:22.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I support that ongoing project, for everybody.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:22.47,0:24:25.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I would like to celebrate \Nsomething else this June:
Dialogue: 0,0:24:25.02,0:24:27.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Roads Less Traveled.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:27.42,0:24:34.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Especially the roads less traveled that \NLGBT people have taken, and take daily.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:34.02,0:24:37.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The same old roads will take us \Nto the same old places.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:37.32,0:24:40.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's divergence, \Nas the straight white poet once wrote,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:40.89,0:24:43.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that makes all the difference.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:43.27,0:24:44.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tell me what you think.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:44.34,0:24:46.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Laura@GRITtv.org
Dialogue: 0,0:24:46.55,0:24:48.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And thanks for listening.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:57.49,0:24:59.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today on the Laura Flanders show,\Nfrom the archives,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:59.66,0:25:02.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an interview with author and law professor\NDean Spade.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:02.98,0:25:06.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Spade] One of the really interesting, \Num, contests, inside trans communities,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:06.87,0:25:08.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and more broadly in queer and trans politics,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:08.89,0:25:11.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is whether or not hate crimes laws actually work.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:11.60,0:25:13.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Flanders] And an exclusive preview of
Dialogue: 0,0:25:13.12,0:25:15.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Spade's new film about pinkwashing.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:15.32,0:25:18.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[speaker] Israel is gay friendly \Nwhen it serves its purposes...
Dialogue: 0,0:25:22.98,0:25:30.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[speaker]... every year, chemical pesticides\Nkill no fewer than 3 million farmers.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:32.27,0:25:41.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every day, workplace accidents \Nkill no fewer than 10,000 workers.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:41.21,0:25:48.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every minute, poverty kills \Nno fewer than 15 children.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:49.38,0:25:53.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These crimes do not show up on the news,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:53.10,0:25:58.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they are, like wars, normal acts of cannibalism.