WEBVTT 00:00:16.788 --> 00:00:20.654 Well i think, in this time, more trans women are being incarcerated 00:00:20.654 --> 00:00:23.123 more than ever is because 00:00:23.123 --> 00:00:27.469 even though there are a lot of resources available today, 00:00:27.469 --> 00:00:31.231 we still face a lot of discrimination, 00:00:31.231 --> 00:00:32.966 and a lot of us lose hope, 00:00:32.966 --> 00:00:37.546 that leads to prostitution, and more than likely you'll end up going to jail. 00:00:39.172 --> 00:00:40.333 And people are in prison, 00:00:40.333 --> 00:00:42.209 not because they've committed crimes, 00:00:42.209 --> 00:00:44.327 but because they're poor 00:00:44.327 --> 00:00:47.578 and they dont have money for good attorneys 00:00:47.578 --> 00:00:52.152 and public defenders are over worked, under payed, 00:00:52.152 --> 00:00:57.562 and they sort of dont know the plight of the under served and the under privileged 00:00:57.562 --> 00:00:59.693 and they also come with a whole nother, 00:00:59.693 --> 00:01:01.478 with their own set of values. 00:01:09.069 --> 00:01:10.504 Years ago, back in the '80's, 00:01:10.504 --> 00:01:15.075 when trannies were growin' up and coming of age, 00:01:15.075 --> 00:01:17.160 there was no place for us in society, 00:01:17.160 --> 00:01:20.180 and we were kind of put out on the fringes of society. 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:24.251 We were allowed by society to be the hookers late at night, 00:01:24.251 --> 00:01:25.352 do little petty crimes, 00:01:25.352 --> 00:01:27.521 be little petty drug dealers, 00:01:27.521 --> 00:01:30.190 but we were never allowed to be in somebody's business, 00:01:30.190 --> 00:01:33.060 to represent their business standing at the counter, 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:36.196 and the real safe place for us was out there on the streets, 00:01:36.196 --> 00:01:38.599 in the little underworld or whatever you wanna call it, 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.702 being petty criminals and coming in and out of jails and stuff. 00:01:41.702 --> 00:01:48.646 And um, i did, i've done a 9 year term, and a 13 year term, 00:01:48.646 --> 00:01:50.777 back to back in prison, 00:01:50.777 --> 00:01:53.414 behind growing up out there on the street. 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:58.051 ive had maybe 100 prostitution cases, 00:01:58.051 --> 00:02:02.322 um, drug and other offenses, 00:02:02.322 --> 00:02:07.794 so when you go to court, they shackle you to each other, 00:02:07.794 --> 00:02:13.433 and, um, when you go inside courtroom, a public defender's appointed to you, 00:02:13.433 --> 00:02:15.535 but you dont get to say anything, 00:02:15.535 --> 00:02:16.603 they do all the talking, 00:02:16.603 --> 00:02:20.507 so, the public defender does talk to you, 00:02:20.507 --> 00:02:21.007 asks you about your case, 00:02:21.007 --> 00:02:23.337 but you never get to talk the case in court. 00:02:23.337 --> 00:02:25.287 he just gets to talk for you, 00:02:25.287 --> 00:02:28.185 and so whatever sentence the judge gives you, you have to do. 00:02:29.374 --> 00:02:30.717 They called me a thing. 00:02:30.717 --> 00:02:32.886 You know, i had to sleep on the floor for a week, 00:02:32.886 --> 00:02:34.488 they had no transgender cells. 00:02:34.488 --> 00:02:40.473 My first day, i had to suck 65 guys off, 00:02:40.473 --> 00:02:41.820 yes, or get my ass kicked, 00:02:41.820 --> 00:02:46.633 and i was sexually assaulted by the guards, and then the guards tried to charge me 00:02:46.633 --> 00:02:52.506 for, by saying i was a homosexual, and charged me for indecent exposure. 00:02:52.506 --> 00:02:55.108 And i basically had to fight every day. 00:02:55.108 --> 00:02:57.006 We have no justice in here, 00:02:57.006 --> 00:03:02.161 um, we have to do, basically, what either a guard tells us or one of the inmates, 00:03:02.161 --> 00:03:04.686 so there_ our lives can be spared, and not be shamed. 00:03:05.458 --> 00:03:09.544 All i want to say is that prison is like the worst experience anybody can go through. 00:03:09.544 --> 00:03:10.290 People get sent here becuase they're poor, 00:03:10.290 --> 00:03:12.459 because they cant get jobs, 00:03:12.459 --> 00:03:14.461 because they dont have anything else going for them, 00:03:14.461 --> 00:03:15.996 because they're different, 00:03:15.996 --> 00:03:17.671 because they dont have an education, 00:03:17.671 --> 00:03:21.702 because people in the mainstream society dont want to deal with them. 00:03:21.702 --> 00:03:24.034 Thats why they're growing, by leaps and bounds, 00:03:24.034 --> 00:03:26.221 and theyre gonna continue to grow until things change. 00:03:27.377 --> 00:03:29.810 The criminal system 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:36.294 is really set in place to have people come and to be in a revolving door, 00:03:36.294 --> 00:03:40.320 to come in, and to go out, to come in, and to go out. 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:45.058 And so it becomes this sort of vicious circle, 00:03:45.058 --> 00:03:47.394 cuz once youve been to prison you cant get a job, 00:03:47.394 --> 00:03:51.131 and if you cant get a job you do have to eat, 00:03:51.131 --> 00:03:54.167 and so people are gonna eat and stay off the street, 00:03:54.167 --> 00:03:57.771 and so you commit a crime because you couldnt get a job because youre an ex con, 00:03:57.771 --> 00:03:59.339 and then youre back in prison... 00:03:59.339 --> 00:04:02.876 And you know, before you know it, 00:04:02.876 --> 00:04:07.114 your life's over, and thats what your life has been. 00:04:07.114 --> 00:04:08.782 Constant in and out of prison. 00:04:10.427 --> 00:04:17.491 Well both my tranny friends, when they go to prison, and they get out, they do the shelters. 00:04:17.491 --> 00:04:21.428 Well, when i left, and got my housing, and then i lost my housing, 00:04:21.428 --> 00:04:24.798 i went back to the shelter, and all my friends were back in jail. 00:04:24.798 --> 00:04:30.470 So i dont know __a parole violation, or probation violation, 00:04:30.470 --> 00:04:34.554 but it just, its real scary not to see em anymore. 00:04:35.585 --> 00:04:37.811 i know that if i ever went to prison 00:04:37.811 --> 00:04:42.048 i would be torn because i would be very scared that 00:04:42.048 --> 00:04:46.787 i wouldnt be able to get my hormones and my medications that i need, 00:04:46.787 --> 00:04:51.484 you know, that keep me healthy, and keep me growing as a woman. 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:53.693 Where i was from, 00:04:53.693 --> 00:04:56.635 they had a half a hose like from the fire department, 00:04:56.635 --> 00:04:57.497 and they would hose you down, 00:04:57.497 --> 00:05:00.433 and they would strip your clothes off of you, 00:05:00.433 --> 00:05:04.171 they would check your rectum, to make sure there was nothing in your rectum, 00:05:04.171 --> 00:05:06.506 and also lift up your balls. 00:05:06.506 --> 00:05:09.643 They would rape, call you names, beat you with a billyclub, 00:05:09.643 --> 00:05:11.228 and i was arrested twice. 00:05:12.007 --> 00:05:15.182 And they made me like the "house wife" of the cell, 00:05:15.182 --> 00:05:19.686 so i had to do the cores, i had to clean up, i had to wash uniforms, 00:05:19.686 --> 00:05:22.189 ihad to be the "house lady", 00:05:22.189 --> 00:05:23.898 and it was real intimidating. 00:05:30.463 --> 00:05:34.067 They perpetrate stereotypes, and report only negative news. 00:05:34.067 --> 00:05:36.770 Very rarely do you see positive stories from inner cities, 00:05:36.770 --> 00:05:40.240 for example various people rising up from their beginnings. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:45.345 They always report on gangs, and murders, and various crimes that go on, 00:05:45.345 --> 00:05:48.348 very rarely do you ever see a positive report 00:05:48.348 --> 00:05:50.459 because it's all this negative news, 00:05:50.459 --> 00:05:51.637 because negative news sells 00:05:52.129 --> 00:05:56.089 Prison is just part of a larger endemic problem, 00:05:56.089 --> 00:05:59.292 it's corporate, we gotta keep people employed, 00:05:59.292 --> 00:06:01.061 we've gotta keep prison guards employed, 00:06:01.061 --> 00:06:06.499 and sherrifs employed, and cooks in prison, and medical help in prison, 00:06:06.499 --> 00:06:09.102 and people that build prisons and construction companies, 00:06:09.102 --> 00:06:13.006 theyre all part of this whole industrial complex, 00:06:13.006 --> 00:06:15.071 that perpetuates that. 00:06:16.512 --> 00:06:20.614 Um, prisons are a big business, people are making billions of dollars off of prisons. 00:06:20.614 --> 00:06:24.549 It takes millions to build them and theyre making billions of dollars off of prisons. 00:06:31.825 --> 00:06:33.601 I think its deplorable. 00:06:33.601 --> 00:06:35.896 Once upon a time when i was younger, 00:06:35.896 --> 00:06:37.664 schools used to be the thing, 00:06:37.664 --> 00:06:42.369 but you know, times went on and people started debunking schools, 00:06:42.369 --> 00:06:43.770 and doing what they want to do, 00:06:43.770 --> 00:06:45.305 getting in trouble, 00:06:45.305 --> 00:06:48.369 and now they say that jail is the thing. 00:06:48.369 --> 00:06:50.366 but i dont think that jail is the answer. 00:06:50.366 --> 00:06:54.481 What we need is good psychological help for people, 00:06:54.481 --> 00:06:57.183 so we wont have as many prison systems, 00:06:57.183 --> 00:06:58.968 therefore, we can fund more schools. 00:07:04.157 --> 00:07:09.863 Because im sick and tired of seeing so many of my trans sisters being incarcerated 00:07:09.863 --> 00:07:12.432 over something that couldve been prevented, 00:07:12.432 --> 00:07:13.900 and i would like to make a change. 00:07:13.900 --> 00:07:15.304 thats why im in school, 00:07:15.304 --> 00:07:18.587 im taking care of my business, and im doing what i can do in this society. 00:07:20.181 --> 00:07:24.177 So i just felt that i had a response to her answer to the question, 00:07:24.177 --> 00:07:27.948 and i think the transformation of the individual level that way 00:07:27.948 --> 00:07:30.717 really has such a powerful rippling effect, 00:07:30.717 --> 00:07:32.619 because i think energetically, 00:07:32.619 --> 00:07:36.523 you know, theres a really big impact on the community, 00:07:36.523 --> 00:07:39.326 all around her, 00:07:39.326 --> 00:07:44.998 it just redirects that negative energy, you know, from stressful conditions, 00:07:44.998 --> 00:07:47.734 and you know, the disparities, 00:07:47.734 --> 00:07:49.336 you know, in another direction thats productive, 00:07:49.336 --> 00:07:53.065 thats positive, thats not not contributing to the prison system. 00:07:58.540 --> 00:08:01.791 i dont think that people in general are safer with more prisons. 00:08:01.791 --> 00:08:04.751 i think the status quo is safer with more prisons 00:08:04.751 --> 00:08:08.088 because they create scare tactics 00:08:08.088 --> 00:08:15.829 in which they say that "oh theres an epidemic of black people running amok 00:08:15.829 --> 00:08:17.831 or people of colour running amok", 00:08:17.831 --> 00:08:22.967 so they scare the nation, the united states of america, 00:08:22.967 --> 00:08:27.974 on television, saying that uh we cant stand it no more, 00:08:27.974 --> 00:08:32.684 we're gonna start lootin', and, as if thats our thats our M.O., our stereotype, you know? 00:08:35.135 --> 00:08:38.107 Hi! My name is Miss Billie Cooper, 00:08:38.107 --> 00:08:40.520 and im a proud member of TGIJustice, 00:08:40.520 --> 00:08:43.249 and i oppose prisons. 00:08:44.841 --> 00:08:49.095 My names Patti, im a proud member of TGIJustice, 00:08:49.095 --> 00:08:50.895 and i oppose prisons. 00:08:52.085 --> 00:08:55.035 Hi, my name is Bo-Derek and im a part of TGIJustice, 00:08:55.035 --> 00:08:59.472 it stands for Transgender, Intersex Justice Project, 00:08:59.472 --> 00:09:01.526 and we oppose prisons. 00:09:02.441 --> 00:09:06.479 My name is Broderick, im a proud member of TGIJustice, 00:09:06.479 --> 00:09:08.310 and i oppose prisons. 00:09:10.150 --> 00:09:14.421 Hi, my name is Kiki Robinson, and i am a proud member of TGIJustice project, 00:09:14.775 --> 00:09:16.975 and i oppose prisons. 00:09:18.463 --> 00:09:21.482 Hi, my name is Lyn Johnson Rawles, 00:09:21.482 --> 00:09:24.397 and i am proud to be a member of TGIJustice, 00:09:24.397 --> 00:09:27.031 and im opposed to prisons. 00:09:28.308 --> 00:09:31.977 Hi, im Trisha, and i am a proud member of TGIJustice project, 00:09:31.977 --> 00:09:33.915 and im very opposed to prisons.