Major! Page #2

it's open season,

you know you're a marked person.

They don't want to give you

your hormones if you're

a transgender woman.

They don't want to keep you

away from the people

who want to rape us

because we're easy prey.

So, numerically I think

there are more people

who fall under the umbrella

of gender variant or gender

non-conforming who are actually

sitting in prison

or jail because

their gender presentation,

their gender identity

makes it hard for them

to participate

in legal economy activities.

When you can't get a legal job,

you have to turn to street

economics in order to survive.

You still have to survive.

We have to be housed and fed

and clothed.

I think there's this

huge myth

and rapists, and people

to be scared of" and it's

our brothers, our sisters,

our aunties

and it's everyone in between.

If rehabilitation or ability

to succeed in this world

is really your goal,

then our people could be

much better taken care of

in differ

The number of people

incarcerated in the U.S.

has increased 500%

in the past 30 years.

And so people are being

literally criminalized,

made criminals

for how they're surviving.

And we have to look at what

kind of society sets people up

and says "Well, you don't

have what you need,

you didn't pull yourself up

by your bootstraps

so we're gonna

punish you for it.

And whatever you do,

you're kind of gonna do wrong."

A lot of the girls and the guys

are put in solitary confinement.

Transgender women end up

in the SHU solely based

on the fact that

they are transgender

and a lot of times the officers

just don't want to deal with us.

So if there's any problems

that come up,

the simple solution for them

is just to put us in the SHU

and call it

for our own protection.

I'm signing the petition

to show support for

the people in Pelican Bay

in the SHU with their hunger

strike for their five demands,

which are reasonable demands

considering the sh*t

that they have to go through.

And then be a part

of everybody's making sure

that they stop this sh*t

that they're doing

to these people and so,

that's what I'm about to do now.

One of our members who

has been in the SHU since

her incarceration in

the federal prison up in Oregon,

and the atrocities and stuff

that are happening up at

Pelican Bay are going on in most

of the prisons in the country.

Even when I was in the SHU

for that very short period

of time, I was being harassed

and sexually violated

by one person, and then

basically I had to not complain

about anything because

if I would have complained

about anything they would have

kept me in the SHU

for my safety.

The courts already gave you

a sentence, but it's almost

like each guard and each warden,

they have their own sentence

that they want to put on you,

to further marginalize you

and disenfranchise you

and take away your value

and your worth.

In the SHU you don't have

access to

you don't have access

to any rehabilitation,

any educational opportunities.

The meals are cold.

It's very cold in the SHU.

They're damp.

There's moisture

all over the walls.

You get one blanket

and one sheet and one pillowcase

and it's extremely cold,

you have t

So many people have

different mental health issues,

and it's like you got to

get used to all these screams

and yells and cries for help.

And it's just like,

you'll go crazy in there.

You'll go crazy in there.

I was at a prison where I was

the only transgender person,

and I can remember

a lot of times calling

Mammy because I was just

having such a difficult time

and sometimes I just needed

to hear her voice to give me

the strength to move forward

from one step to the other.

So I often called her

and she supported me 100%.

Since I've been out

she's been there for me 100%,

she immediately

got me involved in TGIJP.

Major walk

and it is what it is and do

what you

So she relates

and she understands

and she just accepts.

It's what every family

should be.

It's the definition

of unconditional love,

no matter what.

Coming from Africa

and being broken and so forth,

Miss Major, she gave me hope.

She showed me how to be a lady.

She showed me how to dress.

From people calling me

a football player now

they call me look

at that sexy b*tch.

I'm a product of TGI Justice.

And now when I write

the children that are in jails

and prison and they read

my story and see I did

three years in immigration

prison and I did one year

in San Quentin.

And I made it through.

I've seen her sit up there

and buy money orders, and

put money on people's books,

go see them.

I'm like, you don't

even know these people!

Yes I do, they're trans,

and they're in jail.

That's enough.

And that spend a mile

in my shoes, f*** my shoes.

Wear my dress, my wig,

my hair, my perfume,

and then go out there.

And after you get beat up

a couple of times

and you come back here

to catch your breath,

you may not even be safe

in your own home because

the motherf***er you sleeping

with didn't get high yet

and he's gonna kick

your ass because

you don't have enough money.

We need to make

the girls feel safe.

Especially TGIJP, because

we understand what it's like,

we have three girls

who are helping me to run this

who just got out of prison.

And we're trying

to help other girls,

to get them in that position.

Because it is so empowering

to stand on your own two feet

with nobody holding you,

and there you are.

You know what I mean,

godammit that's

the most wonderful thing

you can think of.

I was born in Chicago Illinois

in 194mmmm.

My mother's name was

Edgar Mae Griffin-Gracy.

My father's name was

Leroy Rudolph Gracy.

They called my father Honey,

that was his name.

And my mother,

most people called her Lulu.

On my birth certificate,

it's Major Gracy.

And I took on Griffin

because that was

my mother's maiden name.

And I wanted her to be

a part of who I was.

So I'd heard that

in Latin countries

you had both names, so I thought

oh okay, that will work for me!

And then I liked the way

it sounded,

Major Griffin-Gracy,

that's so cool.

So that's how I wound up

back at being Miss Major.

I don't remember what year

it was, but I'm 73.

I've had six

different birthdays,

all of them in October,

all around the 25th,

the only thing that changed

is the year, from 40 to 49,

so somewhere in there

is an age I'm actually at.

And who cares, you know?

So what the hell.

My sister and I were really

close, she passed away.

And I was very close to my mom

even though she couldn't

understand my

transitioning stuff.

I remember going back

after I'd been on hormones

and had breasts growing,

and flashed her

and she fainted!

I was so surprised I stood there

looking at her going

"Oh my gosh!

She fainted!

What am I supposed to do?"

So of course my dad came

and threw me out,

which was highly

understandable.

The theory was

that it's a phase.

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