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My very, very close friend, Vicki Estrada, gave the keynote address at the International Transgender Day Of Remembrance memorial event, held at the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Community Center.
Below is the video of her speech (recorded by Vicki’s wife Lynda), and the prepared text for the speech. She begins her speech with the present reality that some hate us all in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, and she ends her speech with a vision of hope.
Oh how I wish that this day was not necessary. We just heard some trans hatred personal stories that we all could relate to, that we could feel. Are any of us immune from this hatred? No way. My wife Lynda and I were in New York City with 2 friends last May and we were confronted on a street corner by 2 men screaming and yelling in our faces.
“You fucking faggots…you deserve to die…. You fucking faggots….you are an abomination of God…you deserve to die…”What do you do when that happens? What do you do? If there would not have many people on the street, Lynda and I would not here tonight.
I was telling 2 women this morning about our Day of Remembrance. “How do we stop this? I asked. They both responded…
“Vicki, you can’t. It is human nature, like war, it is inevitable.”I CANNOT AND I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS.
I CANNOT AND I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS.
I believe we are inherently good but through societal pressures and learning, we develop, we change, we act like we are taught to act.
Remember Dylan Thomas, the famous Welsh poet that Bob Dylan named himself after? After watching his father slowly die, he wrote this poem. His first ever published poem.
“Do not go gentle into that good night.”
It has special meaning for us….it is short, so I will read it…
[The rest of the prepared speech below the fold.]
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.“Do not go gentle into that good night.”
What does that to us? It means….
“Don’t give up…EVER!”
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light”
Fight, complain, rail, do whatever we need to against prejudice, hatred and death.
But why are we hated so? What possible threat are we to those that hate us? It is hard for us to understand the root of this hatred, but it begins as ignorance, then fear….then hatred.
What then is ignorance?
Ignorance is the state in which one lacks knowledge, is unaware of something or chooses to subjectively ignore information.
We need to educate and inform, to eliminate the fear of transgender people; this fear that ends as hatred and murder.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.The recently signed anti-hate law is just the start, the law, in itself, will not eliminate hate. Events and marches like tonight’s are important and necessary, but ALSO need to integrate ourselves into the everyday lives of others. We need to participate. We need to show our communities that we can be positive role models, leaders, creators and teachers and contribute to the improvement of their world, their children, as well as our own.
But we need to be given that chance. We must be relentless in given that chance.
NEVER NEVER BE ASAHMED OF YOU ARE!
NEVER NEVER FEEL THAT YOU NOT NORMAL!
NEVER NEVER FEEL THAT THERE IS SOMETING WRONG WITH YOU!
NEVER NEVER FEEL GUILTY FOR HOW SOMEONE CHOSES TO FEEL TOWARD YOU!
Hold ALL of your heads up, moving forward with pride and not shame, TEACHING OTHERS. By doing so, we WILL eventually change the perceptions and feelings of those that surround us. There will come a day when we are revered, not feared, and this day of remembrance will become a day of celebration.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the lightVicki Estrada
Transgender Day of Remembrance speech, Nov. 20, 2009
6 Comments
I can just give what I chose to doI was a passivist during Viet Nam era when I went to marches, even the year I went through tear gas to find my sister-in-law working at the college administration office and she was 8 months pregnant.
After surviving being beaten and raped, I went to get myself trained in self defense taught by a lesbian with a black belt, (who helped teach raped and abused women.)
Her training very likely saved my life two years later when 3 youths with 4 inch diameter clubs made from tree branches chased me down.
Now we have a shotgun in the house, needed in rural homes, but a skilled ex Viet Nam rifleman lives here, and can shoot an armadillo at 100 feet.
Great Vid!Congrats Vicki, the best message and presented excellently. A good lesson for everyone.
Thank youThank you Tom for your nice comment. It was a very hard night to know that our murder numbers actually increased this year. I am convinced that the more trans people are in the OVERALL community, helping and volunteering in the ENTIRE community we live in, trans haters will eventually leave their ignorant state with less fear and hatred. Thank you Autumn for posting this…my bestest friend. Ar
Raise the Candles HighCandles in the rain.
Moving the mountain, one teaspoonful at a time.
I believe in personal responsibility – which makes me a conservative, though not the way that’s usually interpreted in the USA today. It means not leaving it up to others, governments or whatever. It means that even though “activism” is sooo not me, I’d love to be in a “silent majority”, I have to stand up when I see blatant injustice I can’t ignore, even if I could stand back and not be involved if I wanted. Especially then, in fact.
It’s all too rare on the Right these days. But there are some of us.
They probably didn’t get worseThe reporting got better. It’s always been like this, but until recently, there was no organised system for gathering the data from South America, just as there still isn’t in Africa and other parts of the world.
The undercount is probably at least a factor of ten.
The situation in the US, with trans people only having 17 times the rate of being murdered as the general population, is probably better than most areas of the world. Relatively, not so bad. Three times worse that any other minority group in the US of course, but that’s par for the course.
It surprises me that so many are shocked when you tell them that so many have died. Because the true death toll is so much higher, and we take that for granted. Just as we take for granted the difficulties we have in getting married, or getting the right ID, or getting employment.
We take it for granted: but that doesn’t mean we accept it.
In a GLBT context, the NACV figures for 2007 showed 5 GLBs killed in hate crimes for that year. And 21 Trans. This is typical. Actual hate crimes against Trans people were fewer, 950 vs 1400. But the ones involving death, torture, rape, crippling, dismemberment, blinding etc were higher by far.
two cans of pepper spraymight have been appropriate.