College mentor: Julia Pavlick
About the projects:
“We chose to protest as our topic for our Writing for Change project. We wanted to show how protest is tied to freedom since thousands of people do it on a daily basis to obtain their liberties or rights. Trans people are entitled to the many freedoms and rights that their counterparts get, which are cis-gendered people. They should have the freedom to go out in public without the fear of being harassed or even harmed for simply living their life. Whatever these people identify does not affect the lives of others and should be respected. Black trans women especially should have the liberty and rights to be able to obtain medical treatment, job positions, and etc, without the prejudice of their race and their identity on top of that. We, as a society should stand up for these individuals and help them, not silence their voices”
-Fabela Montufarrosales
Artist Statement:
“When people look at this I want them to see the names of trans women and trans men who have been killed by people who dislike them. I want people to see that transgender women and men are being killed for just being transgender”
Names listed on project :
Merci Mack – 22 year old
Brayla Stone – 17 year old
Muhlaysia Booker – 23 year old
Shantee Tucker – 30 year old
Akhenaton Jones – 36 year old
Kiesha Wells – 54 year old
Kelly Stough – 36 year old
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/16/health/transgender-deaths-2018/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transgender-killed-in-2020-merci-mack-18-total/
Artist Statement:
“I want to protest about the injustices that many trans people face, especially black trans women as a matter of fact. They face discrimination and violence everywhere in the world just for being who they are and are easily targeted. I want to advocate for them through art because it’s a way to grab people’s attention quickly. If they see something like a mural, they would want to stop and see what it is and see the message that it was to tell them. I want to stop people and make them look at what’s there and take in what’s really happening. I want to show a black trans woman protesting for justice for herself and the others that have been harmed because of hate. I wanted to make the main focus of this piece a black trans woman protesting for trans rights especially because there’s an epidemic going on harming them and most of the time the news doesn’t even cover their stories when this happens. I think we shouldn’t silence them and even black trans people are the ones leading protests for their rights like Marsha P Johnson in LGBTQ+ rights protests. And this is why I chose to use a quote by her for my piece. Black transgender women deserve credit for the state of LGBTQ+ progress today on top of that”
Writing For Change 