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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2015)
July 1, 2015 Page 7 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. O PINION Remembering My History and Who I Am An act of terrorism and nothing less D ANTE J. J AMES (copy, use italic WUHDWPHQWIRUZRUGV ‘that and those’ in UG WR ODVW SDUD- graph and at end) 6LWWLQJ RQ )D- WKHU¶V 'D\ UHÀHFW- ing on my father, ZKLOHDWWKHVDPHWLPHVZLP- ming in the aftermath of the massacre in Charleston (“trag- edy” is just such a benign WHUP,WKRXJKWRIZKR,DP DQG ZKR DQG ZKDW , DP FRQ- QHFWHG WR 0\ IDWKHU ZDV WKH grandson of a slave, his father the son of a slave. I have pho- tos of my great grandfather BY taken after emancipation. I am the great grandson of a slave. The conversations about race, racism, bigotry, the con- IHGHUDWH ÀDJ KLVWRULF RSSUHV- sion; these conversa- tions are not abstract ti d discussions for me, n nor for many others ZKR FDQ WUDFH WKHLU Z im immediate lineage to s slavery. , NQHZ WKH VRQ a and grandson of a s slave, my grand- father and father. I can still feel my grandfather’s beau- tiful, smooth, dark leathery VNLQZLQFHDWWKHUHPHPEHUHG KDUVKQHVVRIKLVZKLVNHUVDQG hear the gruffness of his voice. They are both long since gone, and the chance to, as an adult, KHDU WKH VWRULHV RI KRZ OLYHV ZHUH OLYHG LV QR ORQJHU DYDLO- able. It is my obligation to not forget, to consciously remem- EHUP\KLVWRU\DQGZKR,DP 7KH HYHQWV RI ODVW ZHHN last month, last year, and the years gone by, create a con- VWDQW ZHDULQHVV LQ PH DQG WKRVH ZKR ORRN OLNH PH :H FDQ¶WDOZD\VDUWLFXODWHLWEXW DVEODFNIRONVZHDUHDOZD\V ZRQGHULQJZKDWWKHQH[WKRU- UL¿F H[DPSOH RI UDFLVP ZLOO EH:RQGHULQJZKDWQHZVWR- U\ZLOOHPHUJHGHVFULELQJKRZ ZH ZHUH H[SHULPHQWHG RQ E\ the government, (the most recent NPR story describing a World War II experiment ZKHQEODFNPHQZHUHORFNHG in a room and subjected to FKHPLFDO ZHDSRQV WR VHH LI GDUN VNLQ ZDV PRUH UHVLVWDQW WKDQ ZKLWH VNLQ , DP WLUHG , DP ZHDU\ , DP PRWLYDWHG to try to help non-black folks understand. %XW ZK\ GR , QHHG WR H[- SODLQZK\WKHFRQIHGHUDWHÀDJ LVDJURVVUHPLQGHURIZKDWP\ father, grandfather and great grandfather had to suffer? :K\GR,QHHGWRH[SODLQZK\ diffusing the conversation about racism by describing the murderer as “mentally unsta- EOH´GRHVQRWDFNQRZOHGJHWKH fact that the immediate cause of his acts in that church, mur- dering those African American PHQDQGZRPHQZDVUDFLVP not mental illness? Why do I need to explain that the prob- OHPLVQRWZLWKEODFNIRONVEXW ZLWKZKLWHIRONV" My current job is to address institutional racism in govern- PHQW+RZGR,KHOSP\SHHUV my colleagues, my bosses un- derstand the need to say some- thing, to express that they hear, see and feel the pain that this mass murder has caused? 7KLV ZDV DQ DFW RI WHUURULVP nothing less. The perception of constant DWWDFN RQ EODFNQHVV ZKHWKHU by killing or failing to care, killing or failing to provide needed and deserved services, killing or ignoring, killing or failing to speak, killing or UHIXVLQJWRORZHUDÀDJLQUH- VSHFW DOO DUH ZRXQGV WKDW LQ- fect the system, the system of a person’s biology or the sys- tem of government. , DQG DOO ZKR ORRN OLNH PH ZLOO SHUVHYHUH EHFDXVH WKDW LV ZKR ZH DUH DQG ZKDW ZH GR My father, grandfather and great grandfather deserve no less. Dante J. James is director RI 3RUWODQG 2I¿FH RI (TXLW\ and Human Rights. When Claiming an Identity as Transgender 6RPHWKRXJKWV IRUIRONVZLWK questions BY A RIEL H OWLAND 2IWHQ ZKHQ , WDON WR SHRSOH ZKR DUH questioning their gender or are con- IXVHG ZKHUH WKH\ ¿W in the gender uni- verse, they’ll express very sim- LODU FRQFHUQV 6RPH H[DPSOHV DUH ZRQGHULQJ LI WKH\ KDYH D ULJKW WR XVH WKH ZRUG WUDQV- gender to describe themselves, ZRQGHULQJ LI WKH ZRUG DSSOLHV WRWKHPZRQGHULQJLIWKH\DUH WUDQV HQRXJK HWF 6R KHUH DUH some things that I tell people ZKHQ WKH\ DUH SRQGHULQJ WKLV stuff and some other informa- WLRQHYHU\RQHVKRXOGNQRZ The modern meaning of the ZRUGWUDQVJHQGHULVDQXPEUHO- la term for anyone that doesn’t ¿W LQWR WKH JHQGHU QRUPV RI society based on their gender LGHQWLW\DQGRUJHQGHUH[SUHV- VLRQ ZKR ZDQWV WR FODLP WKH WHUP7KLVPHDQLQJZDVSRSX- ODUL]HGE\DFWLYLVWVDVDZD\WR EXLOG EULGJHV EHWZHHQ WUDQV- sexuals, genderqueers (people ZKRKDYHDQRQELQDU\JHQGHU no gender, a combo of male DQGIHPDOHJHQGHUZKRKDYHD ÀXLGJHQGHUHWFFURVVGUHVV- ers, and everyone else that is gender YDULDQWLQVRPHZD\ so that they could ¿JKW JHQGHU EDVHG oppression. Many people incorrectly assume the term is just a synonym for transsexual. Most transgender activists still use it as an um- brella term. ,WLVUHDOO\SRZHUIXOIRUJHQ- der-variant people to claim an identity as transgender, gen- derqueer, transsexual, etc. It makes other trans people feel less alone and it educates cis- JHQGHUSHRSOHWKRVHZKRIHHO comfortable identifying as the JHQGHU WKH\ ZHUH DVVLJQHG DW ELUWKDERXWZKDWLWPHDQVWREH trans. It disrupts the assump- tion that everyone is cisgender. There are real differences in levels of privilege in transgen- der communities that shouldn’t EH LJQRUHG +RZ PXFK WUDQV- phobia someone experiences RU KRZ PXFK SULYLOHJH WKH\ have doesn’t determine if WKH\ DUH WUDQV RQO\ KRZ WKH\ feel about themselves. It also GRHVQ¶WPDWWHULIWKH\ZDQWWR take hormones and get sur- gery. Many trans people don’t ZDQW WR WDNH KRUPRQHV RU JHW surgery. There isn’t one cor- UHFW ZD\ WR EH WUDQV ,W¶V DOVR not appropriate to respond by policing people’s gender iden- tities. For many transgender peo- ple having their gender iden- tity invalidated is a frequent experience. The most common ZD\ WKLV KDSSHQV LV WKDW RWK- er people assume their gender based on appearance and then use incorrect gender pronouns or gendered language. For example saying “Have a nice day miss” to a trans man inval- idates his gender identity as a man. Another example is say- LQJ³6KHZHQWWRWKHVWRUH´WR refer to a genderqueer person ZKRXVHV³WKH\´DVDSHUVRQDO pronoun. When people misgender WUDQV SHRSOH RU DVVXPH ZKDW their gender is, that is a type RIWUDQVSKRELD$JRRGZD\WR avoid this is to ask “What pro- QRXQV GR \RX SUHIHU"´ ZKLFK is much preferred to asking “Are you a boy or a girl?” For various reasons many people have an urge to engage in “gender policing.” This LV ZKHQ VRPHRQH GHFLGHV WR bother, harass, or attack peo- ple because their gender ex- pression stepped outside the expected norm. This happens to everyone but it especially impacts trans folks. Here are some examples. When a little girl is told she can’t play soccer because it’s not ladylike. When a trans ZRPDQ LV WROG VKH¶V LQ WKH ZURQJ EDWKURRP QR PDWWHU ZKDW SXEOLF EDWKURRP VKH XVHV*HQGHUSROLFLQJLVDZD\ to reject the validity of trans people’s genders and maintain the gender status quo. It’s important to understand that transgender, transsexual, and other terms have specif- LF KLVWRULHV DQG IUDPHZRUNV DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK WKHP 7UDQV- sexual is a medical term and is often used as part of a per- VRQDOLGHQWLW\DVZHOOVXFKDV transsexual man or transsexual ZRPDQ , ZLOO VRPHWLPHV XVH WKH ZRUG WUDQVVH[XDO WR GH- scribe myself, but only rarely. , SHUVRQDOO\ KDWH LW ZKHQ other people call me a trans- sexual. This is because the PHGLFDO¿HOGKDVDQXJO\KLV- tory of pathologizing the gen- der differences in people. The term transsexual is also often associated by MTF (male to female) and FTM (female to male) transsexual descrip- WLRQV 6RPH IRONV OLNH WKHVH WHUPV DQG WKDW¶V ¿QH (YHU\- one should use the language that feels good for them. For me, male to female implies I used to be a man. I don’t like that because I disagree that I ZDV HYHU D PDQ :KHQ 07) LV ZULWWHQ E\ LWVHOI LW LPSOLHV ,¶PDIUHDNDQGQRWDZRPDQ, don’t like that either. Another thing to keep in mind is that transgender, trans- VH[XDOHWFDUHZHVWHUQWHUPV There are many different cul- WXUDOSHUVSHFWLYHVRQZKDWWKH meaning of gender is. Gender diversity has occurred in some form in every historical peri- RG DQG UHJLRQ RI WKH ZRUOG +RZHYHULW¶VLPSRUWDQWQRWWR SURMHFW ZHVWHUQ FXOWXUDO LGHDV on to everyone. Ariel Howland is gender- queer and a trans woman. She is an activist, a professional speaker, and an aspiring writ- er. You can follow her work at queersocialjustice.wordpress. com.
