Nikkita Oliver: Black Anti-Militarism and the Trans Ban

In this excerpt from the April 2, 2018 Queer Anti-Militarism Townhall at the Seattle Public Library, Nikkita Oliver says, “There’s a lot of folks who don’t know that they’re buying into a narrative. That’s why they think trans folks being excluded from the military is a violation of human rights, as opposed to seeing the military and what we do abroad as a violation of people’s global human rights and human dignity.”

In the wake of Trump’s trans military ban, the media has been filled with patriotic and pro-military images of trans military service. But what about how we hate war and militarism? In this town hall, speakers explore queer and trans resistance to militarism and the racist, sexist, transphobic, and environmental violence of U.S. imperialism.

Thank you: Angélica Cházaro, Davida Ingrahm, Orlando Lugo, Manochehr Nourizadeh, and Bean Yogi, Seattle Public Library, Seattle University School of Law, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. Filmed by Sabel Roizen, Edited by Dean Spade and Hope Dector. “Trans Liberation Not More U.S. Invasion” art by Micah Bazant.

For additional resources on Queer and Trans Anti-Militarism, and a toolkit for doing anti-militarism queer/trans outreach, visit queertranswarban.com.