Dear community,
I am but a seed planted on land that is not mine, a body I do not own, and rights that they will not loan, where am I to grow, how am I to know which way to sew when they say the sky is the limit but the sky is riddled with “No’s”.
Every year we think about “what Juneteenth means to me”? But, I want to move past what it means to me, and into what it stirs in me as a black transfemme, what does a celebration of liberation stir, in times of turmoil ? It stirs an unquenchable thirst for defiance, against any narrative that says “NO”, You can’t do that, you can’t love like that, you can’t look like that, you can’t exist like that. A defiance to stare “NO” in the face and say “YES I CAN”.
I defy because my ancestors once defied. When the world tried to tell them they could not exist as anything other than 3/5th of a human, that they could not want for anything beyond the plantation, they dared to defy and show they were capable and deserving of so much more.
That spirit to defy stirs in me to shine as bright as can be beyond the “NO’s” of this world, to be the beacon in the night to help guide us to that land called freedom, as distant as it may seem, and rejoice in the light of the day again and continue to SHINE ON.
Signed a fierce Femme
San Diego Pride raises funds primarily through festival ticket and beverage sales, and through sponsorships, and exhibitor fees. These funds support San Diego Pride’s community philanthropy which has distributed more than $2.5 million in advancement of its mission to foster pride, equality, and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities locally, nationally, and globally.
