Scenes from a Black trans life | D-L Stewart

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2020

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At the crossroads of life and livelihood, scholar D-L Stewart invites us into scenes from his own life as he resists and reflects on the dehumanizing narratives that shape the Black trans experience in the US. With each word of his captivating and poetic dissection, Stewart emphasizes the magnitude and urgency of the rallying cry "Black trans lives matter" -- and calls on others to uphold that truth, too.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hume. Being black means you face racism,
0:09.1	and being transgender means facing transphobia. D.L. Stewart exists at the intersection of both
0:15.9	as a transgender black scholar, an activist. In this TEDx CSU talk from 2019, DL maps out that difficult
0:23.4	terrain, which doesn't get enough attention to affirm that black trans lives matter.
0:31.3	Hello. Hey. As you just heard, my name is D.L. Stewart, and I'm a faculty member here on campus
0:41.3	at Colorado State University. But what's most important for you to understand about me right now
0:46.3	is that I identify as both black and as transgender or trans. And yes, I'm going to talk to you today
0:55.0	about how black trans lives matter.
0:58.0	As I do so, I'm going to share a few scenes from my own life,
1:02.0	mixed in with the ways that race and gender
1:06.0	have historically and currently intersected
1:10.0	to shape the lives of black trans people.
1:12.6	Ready?
1:14.6	Scene one.
1:16.6	I am at home with myself.
1:20.6	My body, a sovereign country.
1:23.6	Sovereign meaning, it is superlative in quality, of the most exalted kind, having generalized
1:33.6	curative powers of an unqualified nature, unmitigated, paramount, possessed of supreme power,
1:44.0	unlimited in extent, absolute, enjoying autonomy,
1:49.5	independent, royal. My body defies the restrictions of a society consumed by boxes and binaries,
1:58.7	and are you a boy or girl?
2:02.0	Independent of such conventions, my body clings instead to the long ago Lord that understood
	...

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