Freedom from Violence, Gender Justice
Juneteenth
by Melissa Moore on Jun 17, 2022
Happy Juneteenth to all our Black siblings! May your lives be filled with safety, care, love, celebration, liberation, joy, and reflection.
The last enslaved people of African descent in the U.S. were freed on June 19, 1865, a full two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet, certain conditions of slavery are still legal in the U.S through our criminal legal system and still unfairly impact people of African descent. Section 1 of the 13th Amendment to our nation’s constitution states that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Black people account for 12.4% of the US population, yet they make up 38.4% of incarcerated people in U.S. prisons. That is not because Black people commit crimes at a higher rate than white people or other racialized communities, it is because they are disproportionately subjected to surveillance and profiling in a criminal legal system that was born out of slave patrols that emerged right here in South Carolina in the 1700s.
The work of emancipation never ended because slavery never ended, it just shape-shifted. June is a month of celebration and queer liberation, and Juneteenth is a day to celebrate Black liberation. We would not even have a Pride month without Black trans women, who are incarcerated at alarmingly high rates. Nearly one in six transgender Americans—and one in two Black transgender people—has been incarcerated.
We can honor both Pride and Juneteenth by putting our resources into funds that liberate Black people and queer folx! Every bail fund in South Carolina is led by a woman, and the majority are led by queer, Black women:
- Black Liberation Fund
- The mission of the Black Liberation Fund is to free the Black community. The Black Liberation Fund works to alleviate obstacles and hardships that the stigma of incarceration brings to Black families and incarcerated persons through an abolitionist framework offering direct services, education, advocacy, and resources. https://www.blackliberationfund.org
- F.R.E.E. Horry County Bail Fund
- The F.R.E.E. Horry County Bail Fund offers free bail assistance to residents who have been arrested in Horry County. The fund was founded by a group of local activists, teachers, researchers, parents and neighbors whose mission includes educating the community on the inequalities and injustices in the cash bail system. https://horrybailfund.org
- Soda City Bail Fund
- Soda City Bail Fund is a volunteer-led bail fund. Their mission is to keep marginalized people out of detention and to raise abolitionist political consciousness by organizing people to build community without jails and prisons. SCB focuses on Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, who are targeted disproportionately for punishment under mass incarceration, by securing their release from pre-trial detention. https://sodacitybail.org
Emancipation is not possible until all people are free, especially Black women. The work of liberation is incomplete as long as the conditions that create harm are allowed to exist. There are community-based funds and organizations working collectively to transform the conditions that perpetuate trauma through investments in mental health support, healthcare, housing, education, mutual aid, and all the things humans need to thrive. Here are some organizations and funds that are either led by or serve Black trans people in some capacity:
- Carolina Youth Action Project
- The Carolina Youth Action Project is an abolitionist organization that centers political education and community organizing to build power among girls, trans youth, and gender nonconforming youth. https://www.scyouthaction.org
- Every Black Girl, Inc.
- EveryBlackGirl, Inc is focused on ensuring all programs and strategies center the wisdom, leadership and needs of Black girls. Core components of their youth centered strategy include allowing for youth choice, responding to youth feedback, centering youth stories, and creating opportunities for youth to learn new skills and lead. https://www.theofficialebg.org
- Lowcountry Mutual Aid Fund
- While not exclusively trans-centric, Lowcountry Mutual Aid Fund was created to facilitate the redistribution of financial support to community members in the greater Charleston area who have been intentionally and systematically excluded from government support systems providing COVID-19 related relief. This includes: undocumented individuals, many mixed status families, and currently incarcerated folks that will not be receiving a stimulus check of their own. The fund also prioritizes communities whose existing hardships were made worse by the pandemic, including: previously incarcerated folks, single parents, unbanked and/or houseless folks, and individuals who experience housing and employment discrimination due to their identity (eg. Black, Indigenous, and people of color [BIPOC], people with disabilities [apparent and non-apparent], and queer and trans folks). https://donorbox.org/lowcountry-mutual-aid-fnd
- Southern Equality Fund
- The Southern Equality Fund (SEF) provides funding and training to Southern LGBTQ folks doing heroic organizing in their hometowns. They prioritize work addressing the intersections of race, class and gender in the lives of LGBTQ Southerners. They also prioritize groups and individual leaders whose access to funding and support is limited due to barriers such as not having 501c3 status, or being located in a rural area. https://southernequality.org/our-work/southern-equality-fund/
- Transgender Awareness Alliance
- Transgender Awareness Alliance exists to supply emergency assistance to the transgender community of SC and partners with other organizations to create an affirming network of legal, health and consumer resources. https://www.taagg.org
- Trans Love Fund
- The Trans Love Fund is dedicated to supporting the trans community through providing emergency funds to trans identified individuals throughout South Carolina. https://wearefamilycharleston.org/tlf
Communities thrive when their needs are met and they are free from harm. Transformative justice is a framework for responding to violence and harm that does not create more violence and harm. Organizations like the Lowcountry Action Committee in Charleston, a Black-led grassroots organization dedicated to Black liberation through service, political education, and collective action in the Lowcountry, are practicing transformative justice through everyday community service. Organizations like Midlands Mediation Center and the SC Restorative Justice Initiative promote justice through non-carceral approaches to responding to violence and harm.
While this is not by any means an extensive list of organizations leading transformative work in South Carolina, they are liberating dollars and Black communities on a daily basis. We encourage non-Black readers to do their own research and find individuals and Black-led organizations to support throughout the year.
We hope for a safe and beautiful celebration of Black freedom this Juneteenth season and EVERYDAY!