13th Annual Queer & Trans Students of Color Conference at Portland State University: CANCELED
13th Annual Queer & Trans Students of Color Conference at Portland State University: CANCELED
Dear Community -
This year's Queer & Trans Students of Color Conference (QTSOCC), which was scheduled for Saturday, May 4th 2024, will be canceled. For 13 years, we have been gathering students from across Oregon and the US to build communities of change, focusing on the liberation of Queer and Trans Folks of Color. It has been an honor to be leaders in this space, and as leaders we must recognize the power we hold to call attention to those actively experiencing harm.
We, the QTSOCC committee, want to be clear that we are canceling this event not in fear of the ongoing occupation of the library or protest happening on Portland State University’s campus. We are canceling the event to call attention to, honor, uplift, and shift our focus to the voices fighting for the liberation of Gaza and the Palestinian people - recognizing that our coexistence is inherently linked. In that same vein, we also cannot in good faith invite or encourage Queer and Trans students of color onto PSU's militarized campus, putting their lives in danger.
We are alarmed by the PSU administration’s decision to ask Portland Police Bureau (globally notorious for their violence) and Oregon state troopers to forcibly and violently remove protesters from the PSU Library and subsequently turn against peaceful protestors bearing witness to police violence. We feel enraged by the lack of attention and transparency from the university administration in addressing the needs and concerns of students. We stand in solidarity with students everywhere who are exercising their right to protest the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Therefore, we encourage those who are supporters of our work, including those who had plans to attend or present, to shift their energy to Palestine.
While we will miss the opportunity to gather folks on campus, we urge you to reflect on the theme we had crafted for this year's conference: Rejecting Resilience through the lens of Liberation and Community.
“Resilience has historically been ascribed to oppressed peoples as a way of recognizing and acknowledging their strength in the midst of systemic adversity and mistreatment. However, many affected communities have expressed the potentially harmful weight this notion holds in creating an unspoken set of expectations where they have been forced into a position to uphold and perform without accounting for their consideration or energy.
In addressing the severity of this, we hope to call attention to and acknowledge the importance of community as a crucial role in our liberation as historically oppressed peoples. Our current political, social and economic systems were made with the intention of wearing us down—people living at the intersections of marginalized identities being the most affected—making it more difficult for us to achieve liberation in our lifetime. It is vital that we recognize that achieving liberation requires our active commitment and efforts in creating these sustainable care networks with and for one another. Being immersed in spaces with people and resources that align with our values and interests helps to reinforce the practices we are trying to integrate into our lives.”
We envision and work toward a world where all people are free to live, free to learn in safety, free to have their voices and experiences not only heard, but centered, celebrated and valued. At Portland State University, our administration and leadership is actively building dystopic and violent realties that perpetuate the same militarized state that is responsible for the ongoing genocide of Palestianians in Gaza.
From the death of Jason Washington, to the death of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, to the violent militarized attacks on students and local community protestors all across the nation, our fight for justice is one. We cannot and will not turn away or participate in the cognitive dissonance that blinds the people in power across the United States. We will not perform and uphold these dystopian realities by proceeding as normal and hosting a conference. Instead, we turn towards the people of Palestine, we turn toward each other and all people fighting for the liberation of marginalized bodies who currently exist under forced colonization by imperialist governments, institutions and systems. We want to remind you that community is all around us. Lean into those relationships, allow yourself to feel and grieve the pain in our midst, emerge with a new strength to continue to change the world.
- Queer & Trans Students of Color Conference Planning Committee (comprised of PSU students and staff)
Resources, context, and more information:
@occupypsu4freepalestine
Live, active updates of on-campus protest
@blackflaglibrary
Updates on community-oriented on-campus events
Defense Fund PDX
@defensefundpdx
PDX_Defensefund@protonmail.com
Community Resources from the National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network
nqttcn.com/en/community-resources-2/
When PSU is open, the QRC drop-in space is open M-F 9-5 pm. Staff are available for appointment by emailing qrc@pdx.edu.