Per the
press release of NYTRO, spokesperson Joann Prinzivalli stated:
Quote"The Westchester County legislature has failed for nearly eight years to amend the county human rights law to explicitly protect transgender people ... It is shocking to see county legislators who have dragged their feet on this vital issue doing the equivalent of a KKK blackface show to mock my people."
Joann, speaking for NYTRO, was pointing out historic parallels. Prior to the civil rights era, some white politicians performed in blackface -- these politicians portrayed African-Americans as simple-minded and buffoonish. These same white politicians participated in government that had either created, supported, or failed to repeal laws that oppressed African-Americans.
With the three Westchester politicians, these cissexuals performed in drag -- portraying crossdressed people as simple-minded and buffoonish.
For the past three years, these same Westchester legislators have had civil rights legislation on the docket that would protect Westchester County residents on the basis of gender identity and expression. They have not acted upon the legislation that would provide civil rights protections to their county's transgender residents.
And when African-Americans weren't being portrayed as simple-mined and buffoonish, blacks were also portrayed as
perpetrators ready to rape white women...
QuoteClearly, there is a fanatical fear expressed through the [Birth Of A Nation]'s characters and plot of miscegenation and unbridled 'Negro' sexuality. This is why there are two attempted rape scenes in the film, one by a 'renegade' African-American, Gus, and the other by a mulatto leader, Silas Lynch (who tries to force Elsie Stoneman to marry him); and why for the women of the South (Elsie and Pet sister Flora) death is preferable to sex with a freed African-American; and why the film presents freed slaves carrying fictitious placards reading "Equal Marriage" alongside genuine placards like "40 Mules and an Acre." The "Film Society" website states, "The film is not so much anti-black as it is pro-segregation with its three [sic, two] main villains being mulattoes." Well, the film is anti-black and pro-segregation.
The fear of African-Americans raping white women was one of the reasons for having
Jim Crow laws that legislated separate restrooms for blacks and whites.
Transgender people have recently been portrayed as
predators who are
ready to perpetrate crimes on women and children in public restrooms, and was cited as a reason just a couple of weeks ago by
Focus On The Family[/i] for not approving Colorado's
recently approved public accommodation law.
Basically, Joann and NYTRO were pointing out the historic correlations between these modern politicians performing in drag to the politicians of the pre-civil rights era that performed blackface. The Westchester politicians haven't grasped the parallels -- that's the point.
