taking a moment to point out a large part of WHY we remember marsha p johnson in ways we dont remember silvia rivera
i think a lot of people think it was simply because she was an icon
because she fought for a huge chunk of the rights we have today
during a time at whoch she risked very serious risk of imprisonment and death even more than we face now
and she did it all as a trans woman of color
BUT notably silvia rivera did all of these things too!!! and they co founded a queer rights together the two of them called street transvestite action revolutionaries AKA STARs and yet marsha p is remembered and silvia died homeless and poor
so why remember marsha p specifically???
well we have someone specific to thank for our yearly reminder to remember marsha p
this dedicated to paye written by none other
now zie wasnt solely responsible for it a lot of movement happened before and after to ensure we memorialize her right but its notable why feinberg asked we remembered her why the book was dedicated to her
"Dedicated to two trans warriors who fell in battle"
feinberg talked about this later in an interview in the ann arbor agenda issue 119
this is the section in question specifically
"KELLY: Can you tell us about the people who you dedicated the book to - Brandon Teená and Marsha P. Johnson?
FEINBERG: I dedicated the book to Brandon Teena, a young white male who was arrested by the pólice who later exposed to the town that he was born female and he was kidnapped and gang-raped and beaten by two men after this discovery and later stabbed to death along with two other people by these same two men. No one has yet carried out a community investigation into the role of the police in instigating this violence against Brandon Teena. But his death has served as a rallying cry not just for the trans communities but I think also for the lesbiangay bi communities and the women's movement to put a stop to this violence. Marsha P. Johnson, who I also dedicated the book to, was an African-American drag queen who was a combatant at the Stonewall Rebellion against pólice brutality and bigotry. She was found floating in the Hudson River a little more than four years ago. The police conducted an investigation that consisted of two phone calis and ruled her death a suicide. But when a people's postering campaign began in Manhattan and the Village we discovered reports that a group of young bashers had been surrounding her on the same piers near where she was found. So, I think that both of these people's lives are an indication that orí the one hand we don't even know how many people were killed or died under similar circumstances in the past and whose lives and deaths were rendered invisible. But Brandon Teena's and Marsha P. Johnson's deaths are a demand now for us that this cease; that we're going to put our energy into stopping this kind of violence . . . and the cover-up."*
these two trans people were not just memorable but were also killed in incredible acts of violence had their deaths barely investigated and even covered up
i hate when people make everything about trans discourse as often it just puts a wedge between us and i do not want to taint the memory of remembering the death of a most influential black trans woman by petty oppression olympics still i think its worth pointing out that as people keep trying to act as if trans men arent oppressed trans men arent in the same kinds of danger as trans women that trans men dont get killed in hate crime acts like trans women even despite the death of lucas redbeard knapp this year that we remember not only WHY we remember johnson but also i want us to remember the man whose death was first uttered in the same sentence as marsha p johnson most well known remembrance rallying cry
brandon teena a trans man whose death was incredibly violent and the end result of sexual assault that got actively covered up by police
this year i plead i beg of you all let us remember both
*notable here feinberg calls marsha p johnson a drag queen because during the era of ballroom culture when marsha was alive and the trans community was quite literally segregated drag queen/king were the terms poc used to describe themselves many went on later to identify as transgender (such as rivera did later in life) as definitions changed and grew and connotations changed and marsha p was again a co founder of street TRANSVESTITES action revolutionaries so she fully was trans
