We Deserve to Live

“People must understand that trans people are part of our society,” Translatin@ Coalition President and CEO Bamby Salcedo, told the Los Angeles Blade. “Our message tonight was to let the world know that we as Trans people deserve to be humanized, acknowledged and valued. We are claiming our righteous space in society.”

"Hello Beautiful People!! As many of you know, yesterday Sunday October 28, 2018 we showed the world that we as Trans people will continue to reclaim space in places where we have been excluded for far too long. TransLatin@ Coalition dropped a banner stating that, “Trans People Deserve to Live” at the Dodgers vs. Red Sox World Series game. Even though we were immediately escorted out of the stadium, our message was clear and created consciousness to many people. It was unfortunate that #foxnews did not focused their camera and chose not to show our banner so that we can reached many more people. We did this action because we have been marginalized in all aspects of society for far too long and it has caused our people to experience severe hardships in our lives, as well as lose our lives without justice. Many people think that our efforts were only done on Sunday, but what people do not know is that these was a conscious building strategy where we placed banners in different points leading to the Dodgers stadium which culminated at the main event dropping the banner on Sunday.

This effort is a way for us to continue to fight and seek justice and healing for our people. Despite the sad news that we have been dealing with, perpetuated by the current fucked up administration, we felt that it is extremely important that now more than ever to be visible to the world and to let them know that we are going to continue to fight and stand up for our existence and be a voice for many members of our community who are not able to speak. From now on, Trans people will not be in the shadows and remain hidden while our communities are under attack. We will not be erased and we deserve to live dignified and productive lives!

This country is rooted in white-supremacy, transphobia, anti-blackness, and many other ideologies that harm our people. Let us not forget that even the Dodgers Stadium itself has a long history of violence as it displaced and harmed many Chicanx people living in Chavez Ravine as the stadium was created.

To our trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex people, we will continue to fight for all of us and we will not be complicit in times of injustice. Political leaders have always targeted us and they have never come to our rescue. In fact, to many who claim to be our allies, they only use us as photo props for them to say that they are doing something for us when in reality they are not doing enough. Many politicians think that giving us commendations and resolutions will address our social conditions. WE NEED YOUR POWER AND PRIVILEGE TO ALLOCATE MONEYS TO TRANS LEADERSHIP AND TRANS LED ORGANIZATIONS! We can organize and create ourselves. Our communities will be the ones leading the fight toward our liberation and we will not stop until all of us are free!

TO MY TRANS & GNC SIBLINGS, STAY STRONG! It important that we acknowledge that these attacks on our communities are creating generational trauma and meant to destroy and dis-empower our communities, but let's not bow down or retreat to the bullshit, WE WILL OVERCOME! In these times, we are making a call of action to our supporters, friends, comrades and familia to stay engaged, support us organize, speak out against these injustices and support us to lead the fight. Trans people have historically fought for your rights and this time we are counting on you and we hope you will do the same for all of us to better the livelihood of trans people and our positionality in the United States and around the world."

Bamby Salcedo