Intersection of Targeted Groups
February 2025
Embedded Files
We all know that Donald Trump and his enablers are aggressively moving to eliminate Black History Month, along with any other acknowledgement of the critical role of African Americans in the history of this country. This is just one element of their goal to crush all signs of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
There is no reason for us to acquiesce, comply, go along with this outrage. Rather, we should increase our efforts to push back, to learn more, and to celebrate.
Each year the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH ) suggests a theme for Black History Month.:
"The 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture. Be it the traditional agricultural labor of enslaved Africans that fed Low Country colonies, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or organized labor’s role in fighting both economic and social injustice, Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. The 2025 Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work."
Coincidentally, 2025 marks the 100-year anniversary of the creation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids by labor organizer and civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph. This milestone, highlighting the first Black union to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor, is something to learn more about and to celebrate!
A brief look at the Pullman Porters and how they contributed to the creation of the Black Middle Class:
Unique Coloring (7:30)
For a more detailed story of George Pullman and the history of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids, watch the PBS special below:
Aired 10/6/2023 (56:46)
Larry Tye, who also wrote The Jazzmen, provides a comprehensive and very informative book about the Pullman Porters.
Watch the video at right to hear him, along with several former porters, speak about the history and legacy of the Porters and Maids.
It's a very engaging and entertaining book talk!
Note that, while there are a few glitchy moments with the audio, they do not reduce the value of the book or the presentation.
Much of the new administration’s agenda will harm Black Americans, and other minorities. But right now, its biggest target seems to be LGBTQ Americans, laser-focusing on the transgender community. And because the issues faced by the LGBTQ and the Black communities are rooted in bigotry, often intersect, and are both included under the target umbrella of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), the content of this website going forward will encompass both.
To start our conversation about the Transgender Community, we offer two references. The first summarizes the ways, since January 21st, Trump, and his enablers, through executive orders, are threatening and changing the lives of these citizens. The second provides an ongoing mechanism to track the administration’s effort to erase the Transgender community.
‘Erasing everything that you are.’ In Trump’s policies, a denial of trans existence.pdfThe Boston Globe February 7, 2025
Scrolling through the webpage below allows you to track Anti-Trans bills, both state and national; highlight most active states and topics; view relevant Executive Orders; and explore the texts of the bills.
More erasure....
NBC News February 14, 2025 (1:36)
"Stripping transgender people from Stonewall’s history is not just an act of historical revisionism—it is a calculated effort to erase an entire community from the very movement they helped ignite. Among the sweeping efforts to purge transgender identities from government records, passports, and healthcare guidance, this stands out as one of the most blatant attempts to rewrite reality. The Trump administration’s agenda is clear: to systematically erase transgender people from public life, beginning with the very acknowledgment of their existence. When a leader comes to power by demonizing a minority and one of their first acts is to erase all official recognition of that group, it should be a blaring alarm. This is not just political posturing—it is the groundwork for something far more dangerous, and something that transgender people are intent on resisting."
Erin in the Morning (February 14, 2025) *
And ..... The New York Times Editorial Board 2/16/2025 (The Sunday Opinion Section)
The Times is finally moving to the forefront on this issue.... but where have they been?
This is an important editorial. Click the graphic below.
The New York Times February 9, 2025
"What the piece conveniently omits, however, is the Times’ own complicity. No other major paper has done more to legitimize the very arguments fueling these attacks than The New York Times itself."
"The New York Times does not get to erase its role in how we got here. It laid the foundation for framing transgender existence as a debate for cisgender people to adjudicate, for portraying trans people as a threat, and for positioning our medical care as a matter for public discourse rather than a decision between patients, doctors, and—when relevant—families. It legitimized both-sides coverage of basic science and human dignity, and now, as the side that opposes both stands victorious, enacting an agenda of eradication, the editorial board sees the writing on the wall. They know they will be culpable for what follows. What happens next remains uncertain—but what is certain is that The Times cannot be allowed to rewrite its own history."
Erin in the Morning (February 16, 2025) *
*Who is Erin?
Erin Reed is a Transgender Journalist reporting on LGBTQ+ legislation, news, and life every day. Linktree/Socials: https://linktr.ee/erininthemorn. For more information about Erin, click HERE.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse