Hey, y'all it's 4th of July weekend which means it’s a great a time to look back at the history of this date and how we got to where we are. #Fuck12Friday

We know the story "no taxation without representation", and tea dumping, and then a war of Patriots v. the Redcoats...but how did black folks fit into that? It's not something we learn about in our white washed history classes. #Fuck12Friday

We don't hear about Crispus Attucks, the black sailor who many historians consider the first person killed in the Boston Massacre. #Fuck12Friday

We don't hear about freed black folks like Peter Salem and Salem Poor fighting at the Battle of Bunker Hill #Fuck12Friday

How many of you learned about James Armistead Lafayette? A freed black person who pretended to be a runaway so he could spy on the British for the revolution, without his intel the revolutionary army would have lost the battle of Yorktown. #Fuck12Friday

The role of black people on both sides of the Revolutionary War has been erased from history books. And yes, we said both sides...The British offered Freedom to any American Slave who fought on their side. #Fuck12Friday

Escaping and crossing the British line was the guaranteed path to Freedom for Black Americans who were promised to be resettled in London, Nova Scotia, and the Carribean, if they turned against the colonies that were keeping them enslaved. #Fuck12Friday

This obviously wasn't altruistic on the part of the British, it's a way to fill up your ranks with loyal soldiers and make off with your enemies “property” #Fuck12Friday

While for Black Loyalists, it was a fight for liberation, for the British it was a way to put a kink in the Patriot's means of production. #Fuck12Friday

It's been the same fight since the founding of our country, Black Liberation vs. White Profit. That fight echoes through the years. #Fuck12Friday

We see it in the armies of westward expansion, which terrorized, killed, and displaced our Native family, and made way for the founding of Chicago. Once again pitting the bodies the BIPOC in opposition to White Property and Profit. #Fuck12Friday

This fight is as much the legacy of the revolution as the booming which symbolically shakes our windows every year in memory of battle. #Fuck12Friday

This holiday exists as a scar of colonialism. As Frederick Douglas said "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." #Fuck12Friday

And we are mourning, we lost another Black trans woman, Merci Mack this week. We refuse to rejoice for a country that keeps killing our sisters and brothers #sayhername #Fuck12Friday

It is the 27th week of the year and at least 18 Black Trans People have been murdered so far in 2020. #Fuck12Friday

It makes my heart hurt that we have to keep saying it, but there is no Black Liberation, without Black Trans Liberation. #Fuck12Friday

Black Trans People, and especially Black Trans Femmes, live at the intersection of state and community violence. They are on the receiving end of anti-black racism, misogony, homophobia, and transphobia all at the same damn time. #Fuck12Friday

And we see it in the lower life expectancy, and the increased likelihood to be the victims of violence, that are associated with being a Black Trans Woman/Femme in America. And this doesn't stop with Joe, the racist transphobe nextdoor. #Fuck12Friday

Black Trans people are uniquely singled out for criminalization by the police, government, and media. #Fuck12Friday

The police disproportionately charge Black Trans Women for “prostitution” for being out after dark with a condom in their purse, because wanting to protect yourself is a sign of what the state considers criminal activity. #Fuck12Friday

Until last month it was still federally legal to fire someone for being trans. And while that's a big stride, it's nothing if we can't protect trans lives and the gay panic defense is still admissable in court in defense of murdering trans women. #Fuck12Friday

To add insult to injury, this physical violence is made light of in TV, movies, and other forms of entertainment, creating an environement where black trans pain is a joke and in some cases even championed. #Fuck12Friday

All of this leads to disproportionately higher rates of underemployment, and housing insecurity too. #Fuck12Friday

Our Black Trans siblings are frequently excluded in movement work despite their enduring comittment to our collective liberation. We must ensure Black Trans people's ability to live authentic, full lives as we respect them as leaders and do the work alongside them. #Fuck12Friday

So on this day that commemorates the start of the battle between Black liberation and American profit, we want to lift up the work of Black trans organizers/activists. By working for the liberation of Black Trans people, they're working for the liberation of us all. #Fuck12Friday

LaSaia Wade @LaSaiaWade (she/her) is a proud Afro-Puerto Rican Indigineous trans woman, she is the founder of the first Black led and trans led LGBTQ center on the south side of Chicago, Brave Space Alliance. She also founded the Tennessee Trans Journey Project. #Fuck12Friday

Ianna Fields Steward (she/they) is a transfemme activist, playwright, and founder of the Okra Project @TheOkraProject which employs black trans chefs to make free, home cooked meals for black trans people and provide food delivery to unhoused black trans people. #Fuck12Friday

Imara Jones @imarajones (she/her) is a black trans journalist, focused on pushing the boundaries of intersectionality in journalism. Her series translash, is about the trans POC experience, during a time of political and social backlash against the other. #Fuck12Friday

Elle Hearns (she/her) is the founder and director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute @MPJInstitute, meant to support the voices of Black trans people. She also co-founded the Black Lives Matter Global Network. #Fuck12Friday

Toni Michelle Williams (She/Her) is the executive director of the Solutions Not Punishment Coalition (SNaP Co), an organization working to reduce state violence against black queer and trans people through abolition. #Fuck12Friday

Quentin Bell (He/Him) founded The Knights and Orchids Society @TKO_Alabama to work towards equality and justice for Black Trans and Queer people living in rural Alabama through mutual aid, education, and improving access to health care. #Fuck12Friday

Ciora Thomas (She/Her) is a former sex worker, who founded SisTers PGH @SisTersPGH to help other struggling trans women by creating a safe space for them to rest, while also helping them get access to housing and other resources. #Fuck12Friday

Dr. Lourdes Ashley Hunter @HunterLourdes (she/her) is a disabled, non-binary trans woman who has worked with the UN Human Rights Council and raised awareness about state sanctioned violence. She is now the Executive Director of the Trans Women of Color Collective. #Fuck12Friday

Dee Dee Waters @imdeedeewatters (She/Her) is the board chair of Black Transwomen, Inc. which helps Black trans women with access to career readiness progams, educational opportunities, and leadership programs. She is also a spoken word poet and public speaker. #Fuck12Friday

McKensie Mack @mckensiemack (they/them) is the founder of BoundaryWork, coaching folks in the radical work of setting personal boundaries. They are also an Anti-Opression Consultant. #Fuck12Friday

Atlantis Narcisse (she/her) is the founder of Save Our Sister United , a black trans woman of color led organization to create a safe place for trans women of color where they wouldn't be under threat of violence in Houston. #Fuck12Friday

So as we remember the start of this long battle towards liberation, let's honor those of us out there doing the work, even as they're the ones among us who are the most vulnerable. There is no Black Liberation without Black Trans Liberation. #Fuck12Friday