PBS News Hour

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Sreenivasan

THIS WEEK MARKS THE START OF PRIDE MONTH, THE ANNIVERSARY OF A DIFFERENT REBELLION THAT TOOK PLACE 51 YEARS AGO, WHEN L.G.B.T.Q. PEOPLE RIOTED AT NEW YORK CITY'S STONEWALL INN AFTER A SERIES OF POLICE RAIDS AND ACTS OF BRUTALITY INSIDE THE BAR. NOW, IN THE MIDST OF RENEWED PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE, A RECENT WAVE OF KILLINGS AND VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK, TRANSGENDER PEOPLE HAS MANY ACTIVISTS CALLING FOR TRANS VOICES TO BE CENTERED IN CALLS FOR "BLACK LIVES MATTER." NEWSHOUR WEEKEND'S IVETTE FELICIANO SPOKE WITH IMARA JONES, A SOROS EQUALITY FELLOW AND CREATOR OF TRANSLASH MEDIA. >>

Reporter

THIS IS THE START OF PRIDE MONTH. OBVIOUSLY, IT'S THE 51st ANNIVERSARY OF THE STONEWALL REBELLION. HOW DOES THAT MOMENT IN L.G.B.T.Q. HISTORY CONNECT TO THIS MOMENT WE'RE HAVING RIGHT NOW? >> YEAH. NOT ONLY IS IT THE 51st ANNIVERSARY OF STONEWALL RIOT, IT'S ALSO THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MARCH, SO IT'S ALSO SIGNIFICANT IN THAT WAY. WE NEVER WOULD HAVE HAD A STONEWALL IF IT WASN'T FOR A BLACK TRANS WOMAN SAYING "ENOUGH" DUE TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND POLICE MISCONDUCT. AND THE TRAGEDY IS THAT BLACK TRANS PEOPLE HAVE NOT BENEFITED FROM THE MOVEMENT THAT THEY STARTED. AND THAT MEANS THAT-- WE CANNOT REPLICATE THAT. IN A MOMENT WHEN THE LIVES OF BLACK PEOPLE ARE BEING CENTERED IN A MOVEMENT THAT FOCUSES ON EQUALITY, THE ENDING OF POLICE VIOLENCE AND THE CENTERING OF BLACK PEOPLE'S HUMANITY, BLACK TRANS WOMEN, BLACK TRANS PEOPLE, CANNOT BE LEFT OUT AT THAT MOMENT. WE CANNOT REPLICATE AND WAIT ANOTHER 50 YEARS FOR US TO BE ABLE TO TRY TO HAVE SOME WAY OF CREATING EQUALITY. >> MOST RECENTLY, YOU'VE BEEN CALLING ATTENTION TO THE BRUTAL BEATING OF IYANNA DIOR. CAN YOU PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO SHE IS AND WHAT HAPPENED TO HER? >> WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HER IS THAT SHE IS A YOUNG BLACK WOMAN WHO LIVES IN THE MINNEAPOLIS/ ST. PAUL REGION. I BELIEVE THAT THE INCIDENT TOOK PLACE AT A CONVENIENCE STORE ACTUALLY IN ST. PAUL. WE KNOW THAT THERE WAS SOME KIND OF ALTERCATION OVER A VEHICLE, AND THAT ULTIMATELY ENDED UP WITH HER ESSENTIALLY BEING CORNERED AND BUM-RUSHED BY A GROUP OF-- IT APPEARS TO BE MORE THAN TEN, TEN TO 15 PEOPLE, WHO SET UPON HER IN THIS STORE. AND THEY WERE DELIBERATELY MISGENDERING HER, IDENTIFYING HER AS GAY, WHICH SHE'S CLEARLY NOT. AND, SO, HER GENDER IDENTITY WAS CLEARLY A PART AND A DRIVER IN THE WAY THAT SHE WAS SAVAGELY BEATEN. >> SO, WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO HIGHLIGHT IYANNA'S STORY? I MEAN, IT WAS NOT A POLICE- INVOLVED KILLING. THE PEOPLE SEEN IN THE VIDEO PERPETRATING THE VIOLENCE AGAINST HER ARE BLACK. YOU KNOW, HOW DOES THIS INCIDENT FIT INTO THIS NATIONAL CONVERSATION WE'RE HAVING AROUND BLACK LIVES MATTER AND POLICE KILLINGS? >> BECAUSE, OVERWHELMINGLY, WHEN PEOPLE HIT THE STREETS, AS WE'VE SEEN SINCE 2014, IT'S IN THE DEATHS OF BLACK MEN. AND THE DEATH OF BLACK MEN AT THE HANDS OF POLICE IS MYTHOLOGIZED DUE TO ITS LONG HISTORY AND-- AND ATTACHMENT WITH LYNCHING. BUT IT'S ALSO REALLY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT BLACK WOMEN WERE LYNCHED, THAT BLACK CHILDREN WERE LYNCHED, AND THAT THOSE STORIES OF DEATH AT THE HANDS OF THE POLICE OF ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT HIGHLIGHTED. NOT TO MENTION THE DEATH THAT'S CAUSED AT THE HANDS OF OTHER BLACK PEOPLE. SO, FOR INSTANCE, LAST SUMMER, WE HAD A SPATE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK TRANS WOMEN, WHERE IN MANY WAYS THE RAGE THAT'S BEING FELT AND SHOWN ON THE STREETS IS WHAT I FELT FOR MY COMMUNITY, AND YET THERE WAS NOT THIS RESPONSE. AND THERE'S NEVER THIS RESPONSE. AND THIS LACK OF EQUANIMITY MEANS THAT THERE IS NOT SUSTAINED PRESSURE ON THE SYSTEMS THAT OPPRESS US, THAT WE VALUE CERTAIN LIVES MORE IN THE COMMUNITY THAN OTHERS. AND AS LONG AS THAT'S THE CASE, IT'S VERY HARD TO MAKE PROGRESS. >> WE ALSO HAD THE RECENT KILLINGS OF NINA POP IN MISSOURI AND TONY McDADE IN TALLAHASSEE. AS A BLACK TRANS WOMAN AND AS A JOURNALIST, YOU KNOW, WHAT HAS THIS MOMENT BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? ARE BLACK TRANS VOICES BEING CENTERED DURING THESE PROTESTS? >> NO, AND I THINK THAT THAT'S A PROBLEM. I THINK THAT ONE OF THE ISSUES WITH THE-- WHAT WE SAW FROM THE VIDEO AND THE WAY IN WHICH IYANNA WAS TREATED IS THAT NOT ALL BLACK LIFE, EVEN WITHIN THE BLACK COMMUNITY, IS VALUED THE SAME. AND THERE'S NO WAY THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO TRANSFORM THIS MOMENT INTO ONE OF TRUE LIBERATION UNTIL WE UNDERSTAND THAT FACT AND EMBRACE THAT FACT. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THIS INCIDENT HAS RAISED, AMONGST A LOT OF BLACK TRANS ACTIVISTS, IS THIS TENSION THAT PEOPLE FEEL IN THIS MOMENT, OF, HOW HARD DO YOU TAKE TO THE STREETS AND FIGHT FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T SHOW UP FOR YOU? THERE'S SO MANY INSTANCES WHEN WOMEN OVERALL, BUT SPECIFICALLY BLACK TRANS WOMEN AND OUR MURDERS AND OUR PAIN ARE TOTALLY ERASED BY THE LARGER BLACK COMMUNITY, AND THAT HAS TO END. >> IMARA JONES, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME.