No One Is Disposable is a series of discussions I’ve been hosting as an activist-in-residence at the Barnard Center for Research on Women. Through these conversations, I’ve been speaking with activists about the issues most pressing in our lives. I started these conversations as a small intervention in a political climate where imprisonment of poor people, people of color, people with disabilities, and people who are immigrants is happening faster than ever before; a climate where trans women of color and low income trans people’s very survival is criminalized—whether that’s fighting back against an attacker, as in CeCe McDonald’s case, or meeting your basic needs through sex work, as Monica Jones’s activism has reminded us.
Through this series, which will continue to happen both online and in person, I’ll be working to put the spotlight on the incredibly brilliant ways we as oppressed people are fighting back, surviving and building strong communities in the face of enormous violence. By doing that I hope to the flip the script and highlight the power and agency of marginalized people, particularly trans and gender nonconforming people who are low income or people of color.
Reina Gossett and Dean Spade: Imagining Justice Beyond the State
Sylvia Rivera Law Project Teach-In at OWS
