Qween Jean’s “Artivism” at Stonewall
Black trans organizer explains what motivates her work
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
After a Black trans woman
in Missouri and a
Black trans man in
Florida were killed just
weeks apart in 2020, activists returned
to the historic Stonewall
Inn — and that sparked the beginning
of a new recurring demonstration.
Qween Jean and Joel Rivera
joined together and co-founded
the Black trans liberation protests
that have regularly taken place on
Thursdays, as well as some other
days, ever since last year. Most protests
revolve around the Stonewall
Inn, but they’ve also demonstrated
at Washington Square Park and
marched through the streets of
the city to underscore the importance
of trans rights and condemn
the ongoing killings of transgender
people.
Jean, a transgender woman,
said in an interview with Gay City
News that the marches are about
dismantling injustice and calling
attention to the joys of queer and
trans identity.
“Leadership looks like you and
myself,” Jean said. “When there
is a disparity, we should be able
to come together to galvanize, in
order to not only create solutions,
but to enact practices that can potentially,
and eventually change
the outcome for a lot of people and
increase their safety and their well
being.”
As just one half of the organizing
group, Jean touts Rivera as her
“chosen family” who has guided
her beyond the fi eld of activism.
She strives to lead her protests
with “radical love” — a protesting
style she attributes to the late Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., Marsha P.
Johnson, and James Baldwin.
“We have the right to hold and
share space,” Jean said. “I do believe
in my power, I believe in my
voice, and I do believe that we will
win, that we will create a better
New York City. We will create a
place where we can all proudly call
our home.”
Jean is a native of Florida and
Organizer Qween Jean speaking at the Black Trans History March.
Qween Jean delivers remarks near a Trans Flag at Washington Square Park last year.
began her career at the Florida
School of the Arts. In 2016, she
earned her Master’s degree in Design
from New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts, and she is
a well-decorated costume designer
with credits in off-broadway plays.
Jean’s art-based background has
allowed her to incorporate those
themes into the protests to create
what she describes as “artivism,”
making the events not only a tool
of liberation but also a refl ection
of her artistic side. The protests,
she says, are akin to a major stage
production and refl ect the glamour
she brings to her work.
“What became clear to me is
DANIEL LEHRHAUPT
DONNA ACETO
that the two cannot exist on their
own,” she said. “They actually have
to work in tandem.”
“This is a time when artists go
to work,” Jean said as she paraphrased
the late poet and writer,
Toni Morrison, in a 2015 essay in
the Nation, “No Place for Self-Pity,
No Room for Fear.” “This is the
time when we write. This is the
time where we are not led by fear…
This is the time that we come together
so civilization can heal.”
The trend of killings targeting
transgender people across the nation
has continued into this year.
Two Black Transgender women,
one in Miami, Florida, and another
ACTIVISM
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have
been killed within the last couple
of weeks — and those deaths have
given Jean even more reason to
drive home the importance of caring
for people of historically marginalized
genders.
“As we are advocating for Black
Lives Matter, we’re declaring to the
world that trans people are people.
And that trans people deserve better,”
Jean said. “This is something
that we’re really striving diligently
and passionately to really dismantle
the transphobia, the racism, a
lot of the oppressive systems that
continue to allow for these heinous
actions to happen.”
Yet, even as Jean vows to create
spaces for trans folks to grieve, celebrate,
and denounce disparities,
sometimes violence appears inescapable.
During the group’s protest
that started at the Barclay’s Center
on Martin Luther King’s birthday,
she recalled a frenzy of police
fl ocking to the demonstration.
“That entire march was attacked
and beaten by the NYPD,” she said.
“Literally, where trans women
were being attacked by the police,
their wigs getting ripped off, being
dragged on the concrete. There is
a parallel to the 1969 liberation
fi ght.”
It has always been painful for
Qween Jean to watch history replay
itself, especially as she continues
to stand up as an activist.
She also acknowledges a “thick,
scary silence” regarding the ongoing
trauma facing the community
in homelessness and food insecurity.
However, even at a time when
the community has been targeted
by violence, she is still hopeful. On
February 11, Jean twirled in front
of Stonewall in a lengthy red dress
with a sea of activists behind her
capturing Black trans history and
ushering in a new beginning.
“As we weave in visibility into
the fabric of what our future is,
we’ve also got to weave in acceptance
and weave in trans love,”
she said. “All of that has to be woven
together into the fabric of our
future.”
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