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NEWS & LETTERS, DECEMBER 2003October 22 Coalition controversyChicago--About 150 to 200 people came to the October 22 rally and march against police brutality at the Federal Plaza this year. There has been a history of debates over speakers at the annual rally, centering on the question of police brutality against gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and whether people from those communities should be allowed to speak. In a previous year's rally, a speaker from the Black Hebrew Israelites was allowed to denounce homosexuality from the stage. The Revolutionary Communist Party, which is a big influence within the October 22 Coalition, has only recently reconsidered its view that gay people are products of capitalist decadence. This year the Coalition finally scheduled a transgender speaker, a week before the rally, as a result of debates over these issues. The speaker, Jennie Mutation, was introduced from the stage as representing gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, but not as what she is--a transgender activist. She spoke about what it means to be transgender and the numbers of nationwide killings by police of trans people, especially trans people of color, many of them youths and sex workers. She said that she wants a society without police and landlords. There was nothing in her remarks that should have been objectionable. But her speech was rushed, while some other speakers were allowed much more time, including Fred Hampton Jr. An unscheduled speaker, Tommy Brewer, a candidate for Cook County Sheriff, was also given time. These issues were discussed at a follow-up meeting of the October 22 Coalition. Some people there claimed that Jennie "didn't address the issue of police brutality," which is simply untrue. It was also said that it was inappropriate for her to address the transgender issue. One woman complained, "There is a gay pride parade to raise that. We don't raise race issues" at the annual rally--which is not only untrue, but it retreats from what has been best and most important about past October 22 rallies. It was explained to her that transgender isn't a "gay issue," since many trans people are straight. And people who would be at the pride parade probably know that already, but a lot of people at the October 22 rally probably don't. Rally organizers admitted that there was a problem with other speakers going over their time limits, but said that there was "nothing they could do." There was however a double standard, as the political content of their speeches wasn't criticized as it was with Jennie's speech. It is unfortunate that these kind of signals, this attitude of disrespect for a whole class of oppressed people, could be spread to youth and others at the rally and afterward. Once again this year, the national October 22 Coalition mission statement, which people here didn't see until the last minute, didn't mention LGBT people. In previous years, when it sometimes has, it has been as a result of struggle within the coalition against the Revolutionary Communist Party's historically anti-gay politics, by members of the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network and others here and around the country who refuse to be kept "in the closet." The October 22 rallies here have been getting smaller, and haven't been the kind of galvanizing events that they could be. --Darrell Gordon and Gerard Emmett |
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