As most of you are aware, since Kamala Harris’s election loss (which trans people were not in charge of nor responsible for), Democratic politicians and pundits have been signaling that they plan to throw trans people under the bus. Sadly, this came to fruition last week, when Republican congressperson Nancy Mace pressed house speaker Mike Johnson to
That’s going to be damn-near impossible. The Black Panthers existed in a social setting that is completely different from the physical and social reality of trans people here in the early mid 21st century.
Black panther organizations were extremely local affairs. They were based in black neighborhoods and were built around engaging with those in the immediate area. That’s the kind of setting that an armed militia actually makes sense in. The Black Panthers existed in dense, urban, majority black neighborhoods.
Compare that to trans people, who are a scattered 1% of the population. There are no “trans neighorhoods.” Even the broader LGBT “gayborhoods” of the 20th century are now mostly memories. Now, if discrimination against trans people really did get bad enough, history suggests that you might actually start seeing some trans-specific neighborhoods form. But we’re a long way from that point.
I mean, just think of the logistics. So you want to get a group of trans people together and form a militia. You find a group of people; they live scattered across a broad suburban metroplex. Where exactly are you going to patrol? What neighborhoods will you seek to protect? Where exactly, physically, is the home you’re supposed to all be defending?
That’s the problem with this. An armed Black Panther-style movement really needs to be confined to a certain geographic area. And there is no such area for the trans population.
People don’t seem to find it hard to protest