Good morning!
Welcome to Digestable, your mouthful of things happening in the world.
Today’s news, fermented:
Hi friends. This issue is a little scrambled—I couldn’t get myself together to publish on Friday, so here we are with a hybrid.
My excuse: I had an appointment at the DMV to get a new license that identifies my gender as X, instead of either of the more standard options. Why? Well, it really sucks to know yourself one way, and then have the bureaucracy either completely ignore, or deny, that you are that way, because of a letter.
This is not the whole picture, of course, and I’d actually found myself rethinking the choice to swap my former marker out for an X in the past couple weeks. There’s no doubt in my mind that I am who I am, and that person doesn’t fit into a binary box. But, as is ever so clear in the anti-trans views of both Texas and Russian governments, sometimes it’s a really horrible idea to come out to the state.
So I went back and forth, and kept landing here: as a white person, the likelihood that I get arbitrarily stopped by police is low. As a person with financial means, the likelihood that I am not able to escape a legal or military barrage is low(er). The intersection of my privilege and safety is not a good thing that I endorse, but it is true. And, I think there is value in, when you have access to a greater margin of being able to say no to the things that society/governments force us to say yes to, it’s an important bit of resistance to do so. (Thanks to Jenny Odell for this idea; see Chapter 3 in How To Do Nothing.)
Per this last idea: this official marker of my transness is not an effort towards martyrdom. Rather, it’s an opportunity for me to say (in the Census, state records, etc) that there are trans people here, and we are not afraid to exist. Again, my privileges intersect with my buffer against fear, which I think makes it all the more important to be unafraid—because while it is horrifying to watch attacks on trans kids and their parents, I have a lot less to be afraid of, personally, than them.
Which brings me to the next thought. It is horrifying to watch Texas attempt to take kids away from their parents when those parents have gone above and beyond to get those kids the care, which is often lifesaving, they deserve.
This weekend, I read a piece that gave me a new understanding of the specific levying of “child abuse” claims on parents of trans kids. Sierra Crane Murdoch’s Good Mother: Custody and care in the shadow of colonization is about her relationship with Lissa Yellow Bird, the subject of Crane Murdoch’s book (which is incredible, and very worth your time!).
The piece, in short, is about Lissa (a Native woman) asking Sierra (a white woman) to be a reference for Lissa’s application to be a foster parent. There is a long and violent history of the US Government preventing Native people from parenting their own children (check out This Land for more context). One of the morals of Sierra’s story is that her whiteness is considered a more powerful tool for establishing motherhood credentials up against Lissa’s Native identity, although Lissa is the one who has birthed and raised five kids.
Which brings us back to the idea of “child abuse.” Child abuse is a real and bad thing, certainly. And—when deployed by the state, it is often divorced from any real child abuse. The purview of child abuse is used to take kids away from Native parents; it’s used to take kids away from homes where the water has been shut off, which has nothing to do with how parents parent, and everything to do with the criminalization of poverty.
So, here’s what stands out to me about the use of child abuse claims to attack parents of trans kids: usually, crying “abuse” is a tool to get kids away from BIPOC parents, or poor parents. Such is the nature of racial capitalism and the history of American genocide that these two groups of parents often overlap. And, such is the nature of these things that too often, systematic removal of children from parents is seen as acceptable, and even good. (This removal, too, is a kind of genocide.)
But this stratification of identity and access isn’t applicable with trans kids. Many trans kids—particularly those with parents who can access gender-affirming care like puberty blockers—are white and have money. Already, families of trans kids are preparing to flee Texas. I saw a tweet last week (which unfortunately I did not save, and cannot credit) about how when legal structures emerge to criminalize identities, the people most vulnerable to persecution are least able to run from it.
See also how this plays out in Ukraine, as African refugees are treated differently, and war on blue-eyed Ukrainians is considered less acceptable than similar attacks on nonwhite folks in Afghanistan, Yemen, and other sites of ongoing conflict. Of course it is not okay to kill people, and of course it is not okay to persecute families with trans kids—and, it is crucial to acknowledge the persistent shape that white supremacy gives to our collective sympathy.
To bring this back home, I’ll say: as a trans Jew of Ukrainian and Russian descent, it’s been an emotionally trying few weeks. That’s important because feelings are important, but my work—and perhaps yours—is to hold both the danger and aggression and the bigger picture of what puts you in or keeps you out of the crosshairs. And, I suppose, how to leverage the privilege that you do have as a buffer, however small, against the collective onslaught.
(via)
DJ tomoro’s low-key music show
It’s always Big Thief’s new album o’clock ‘round here these days. I can’t help but feeling like there’s a song for every feeling or possible emotion and then some. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to this masterpiece now, but I continue to hear something new each time.
If you haven’t checked out Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, this is your sign. Dig into one of my favorite tunes below and don’t let your heart break with its perfection.
*Hot Goss*
Brought to you by the superb Latifah Azlan.
If there was ever a celebrity who I would never ever think would find themselves in a modern-day Rasputin-esque situation, it would be British actor Daniel Kaluuya.
Ever since his breakout performance in critically acclaimed Get Out, Daniel has slowly been on the up and up as one of Hollywood's most talented and versatile actors. He even won an Oscar last year for his performance as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, and will be appearing in the latest Jordan Peele horror flick, Nope, as well as the second instalment of Black Panther coming this year. Daniel's also cultivated a pretty good reputation for himself in Hollywood. But a latest Page Six article reveals that insiders are concerned with his behavior of late, including firing his long time team of managers, agents, and publicists, and believe that he may be getting a little bit too close to a "life strategist" known only as Heir Holiness.
Little is known about Heir Holiness other than some sparse information that was up on her LinkedIn page before it was taken down. But on it, she described herself as Daniel's "personal manager," and listed herself as having degrees in Holistic Health and Parapsychic Science from the American Institute of Holistic Theology. Multiple sources also confirmed that Heir Holiness was on set whilst Daniel was filming Nope, but her behavior was so concerning that people began questioning her influence on Daniel's life and career. Apparently, the production crew was also scared of her after multiple blow-outs that happened during filming.
According to Page Six's reporting, Daniel and Heir Holiness are so close that he would fly her out to Los Angeles from Las Vegas every week during the filming of Judas and the Black Messiah for "spiritual healing, mental exercises, and a diet of herbal supplements to lose weight." There is also a photo of the two hugging on a hot air balloon -- though it was a side-hug, which we all know can mean anything from just friends to fcking on the low and have been doing so for the last 3 months.
Interestingly enough, the article goes out of its way to explicitly mention that Daniel is single -- contrary to reports over the years that Daniel has been in a long-term relationship with Amanda Crichlow, daughter to famous British activist Frank Crichlow and an actress and producer in her own right. Although the pair have never confirmed their relationship, Amanda and Daniel have attended and been photographed at multiple events together since 2018. Obviously, this doesn't necessarily mean they were dating, but the rumors have always been around and for Page Six to explicitly state otherwise makes me think that there really might be something to all of alarm Daniel's people are feeling over his friendship with Heir Holiness.
A woman contacted by Page Six did confirm herself to be Heir Holiness but denied that she worked closely with Daniel. In any case, that shade of crimson you're suddenly seeing wash over your vision is not the hue of rose-colored glasses, but the sight of a farm of red flags flapping in the wind. It's quite a trip to see Daniel falling into the Sunken Place in real life, but hopefully he comes to his senses soon and makes his way out.