As if their battle were my own - solidarity in current protests against police antiblackness - a podcast by Avery Smith

This special episode centers around the current protests against police murders of Black persons in the United States. In the fight against antiblackness, I see an urgent need to break down the binary constructed between US and THEM that allows our common enemy to divide and conquer our communities one by one. As trans activist Leslie Feinberg notes, each of us must become "fighters against each other’s oppression...and in doing so...forge an invincible movement against all forms of injustice and inequality." 

Frederick Douglass once said, "When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people; but when I stood up for the rights of women, self was out of the question, and I found a little nobility in the act." May each of us strive towards that "little nobility" of joining other's battles for liberation as if they were our own. During this Pride month, I call on my fellow white LGBT/queer people in particular to fight against antiblackness, honoring that the first Pride was a riot led by trans women of color. 

Timestamps:

(0:00 - 3:00) The US is on fire - is your heart?

(3:01 - 4:04) white LGBT persons who are against the protests - do they not know our history? The first Pride was a riot against police brutality

(4:05 - 8:09) the binary of US versus THEM and the truth that our freedom is intertwined - Fannie Lou Hamer, MLK Jr., Leslie Feinberg, intersectionality

(8:10 - 11:19) passage from Leslie Feinberg - "What would motivate someone who didn't face the same hatred and abuse to join me as an ally?" - Finding Frederick Douglass

(11:20 - 13:44) Fighting for and taking risks for oppressed groups to which we don't personally belong; overcoming the fear of backlash

(13:45 - end) The Litany of Humility - "From the fear of being despised, from the fear of suffering rebukes...deliver me."

Further episodes of Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Further podcasts by Avery Smith

Website of Avery Smith