UPDATE: Once more, it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the day on which we honor the memory of a great man who has proved so inspiring to so many of us. I, too, have a dream and I pray each day for the day we can each can celebrate our diversity and our equality throughout this country and the world.
I originally posted this one year ago today [i.e., January 2008] on my old Yahoo 360 blog, while the wound from transgender people being excluded from ENDA by HRC and Barney Frank was very raw (it still is).
Today is the day in the United States that we celebrate the dream of equality and freedom that the Rev. Martin Luther, Jr. inspired in this country and, I hope, in the world. There is not much that any of us can add to his inspiring words, so I simply invite all of you to take 17 1/2 minutes of your day to listen to his words and to share his dream. (The video and the direct link to YouTube are below.) As you do so, you might want to note as I did, the following words, which seem so appropriate today as we struggle for recognition of equal rights for all transgender people against the argument that we need to wait our turn, that incrementalism is the path to freedom and justice for us:
“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” (Beginning @ 5:15 on the video below)
I followed up the next day with another post on Martin Luther King’s opposition to incrementalism and how he convinced LBJ that that was not the right approach:
As I noted yesterday, in his “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. opposed applying “the tranquilizing drug of gradualism” to the civil rights struggle of that time.
More information about Dr. King’s opposition to that strategy came out last night on Bill Moyers’ Journal on PBS. During that program, Moyers recounted a previously unrevealed conversation between Dr. King and Lyndon Johnson that Moyers was privy to as a young presidential aide. (You can watch or read the transcript of this program here: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/watch4.html.) Initially, LBJ tried to convince Dr. King to quell the demonstrations and other unrest that he and others were encouraging, in order to help Johnson convince the white supremacists in Congress to approve the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In keeping with his words at the Lincoln Memorial, King refused, saying that “his people had already waited too long. He talked about the murders and lynchings, the churches set on fire, children brutalized, the law defied, men and women humiliated, their lives exhausted, their hearts broken.” After listening to King, Johnson changed his mind and told King to “keep doing what you’re doing, and make it possible for me to do the right thing.” King did as asked, LBJ used his legendary arm-twisting skills in the Senate and one of the most important pieces of legislation of the last century, and one that today provides the only glimmer of hope for protection against employment discrimination for most trans women and men in the U.S., was passed.
So, Lyndon Johnson insisted on doing what was right at the time, rather than what he thought was practical or pragmatic given the resistance he faced. As civil rights pioneer and U.S. House of Representatives member John Lewis said on the floor of the House during the ENDA debate last November [2007], “It is always the right time to do the right thing.” Johnson, King and many others knew this in 1963 and 1964. Why is it that today so many people believe that this principle doesn’t apply to our own struggle for equal rights?
Today is still the time to do the right thing! Perhaps, with Barack Obama’s inauguration tomorrow as our next President, we will finally begin to achieve the civil rights, the human rights, that we all deserve.
Living My Life 
[…] (Once again, cross-posted from my personal blog.) […]
Amazing post! I particularly love the way you pointed out the futility of incrementalism. I notice that you are an Obama supporter. If you visit my site, you will see that I clearly am not. However, I was wondering if I could have your permission to repost what you wrote on my blog (obviously I’ll give you credit and provide a link back to your site).
I really like reading what you have to say. The primary reason I identify as “queer” as opposed to “gay” is because “gay” has become so synonymous with the HRC agenda. In my experience, gay men tend to be more transphobic than heteros. Plus, I’ve never seen a stronger enforcement of gender fascism than what I have witnessed in gay male circles.
I read another post where you talked about doing whatever it takes to combat injustice, even if it just means speaking out. I agree, and I grow so weary of people responding to critiques of an LBG (and T “when it makes us look bad not to tack it on at the end”)organization (or a president) with comments like, “At least they are doing something about it instead of just complaining” or “well, you shouldn’t be so negative. Why don’t you get off your ass and do something positive to create change?”
Arrrgh. I had a post on the Bilerico Project yesterday that was critical of Join the Impact. A few people reacted as though I had just taken a shit on their laptops. First, how does someone out in cyberspace know enough about me to make comments on what I have or haven’t done? Second, criticism IS doing something and, until recently, public criticism was a valued part of the political process and civic life because it incited debate and resulted in change. Finally, the reason I am so “negative” about orgs like HRC is because their agenda is self-serving and excludes transgendered people (more than any other group), queer people of color, queer people who are poor, etc…yet they have managed to present themselves successfully to the world as though they speak on our behalf. What, I should be positive about that?
I mean, even the “mainstream” LGB people should have felt anger about some of the things mentioned in that post. When did it become taboo to express anger? Like you said in one of your posts, transgendered people are murdered at an alarmingly high rate (and no one, not even the “allies” in the LGB community, seems to give a fuck)….and if you point out that fact, you’re just “being negative” instead of being the change you want to see or whatever. Well fuck that. Rage is the only healthy and natural response to shit like that.
Ahh…..the tranquilizing drug of gradualism (which, in my opinion, Obama epitomizes, but anyways….).
Keep up the great blog!
Thanks, Elian. I’m glad you liked this piece. You have my permission to repost it on your blog if you’d like, provided, as you said, you give me proper credit and a link back here.
I can’t say that I agree with all of your views. I see nothing wrong with criticism, but sometimes criticism (not yours necessarily, since I haven’t read your Bilerico piece or anything else you’ve written) is simply mean-spirited and destructive. I don’t believe that we always have to suggest a solution whenever we are critical of others, but it sure goes a long way toward showing that our efforts are not meant simply to tear others down. Whether we like it or not, if we are to have any hope of real change in our lifetimes, we do have to find ways to work together, or, if not together, at least toward the same goals in ways that support, rather than undercut, each other.
Thanks Abby!
I’ve had more time to peruse your blog, and it sounds like you are doing some amazing work out there in AZ! My partner and I dream of living in the Southwest eventually. I’ve never been to Prescott, but I love AZ and NM. When I moved from the Southeast to San Francisco, I drove cross-country. I’d never been west of the Mississippi at that point in my life. When I got to NM and saw the desert for the first time, I almost decided to abandon the plan to live in SF and settle somewhere near Santa Fe ( I’d never even been to SF anyhow, so I came very close to actually doing just that). There is…what’s the word?….an energy (that’s the best I can do) that just pulsates from certain parts of the Southwest. That was 10 years ago, and I can still feel that energy calling to me.
I remember marveling at how the landscape started to change as I crossed north Texas, and somewhere just east of Albuquerque (after almost running off the road several times because I was overcome by the beauty of the landscape and consequently not paying attention to the road) I felt a sense of peace that I’d never experienced in my life up until that moment. I mean sure I’d felt calm and peaceful before, but the peace I felt then had a different texture. It was almost sacramental, really. That’s the best way I can describe it.
ACIM is a beautiful book, btw. I read it in my early 20’s and it helped exorcise some of the evangelical Christian demons that haunted me from childhood. It is obvious from your blog that your life has been transformed by it and that it has given you peace. And I think that is so wonderful and precious.
Thanks for the permission to quote you and link back to your blog, even if the front page is now an homage to Obama ;)
Peace,
Elian