Year End Interview with Janetta Johnson

Below is an interview between zee, Executive Assistant to the CEO and Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center’s CEO, Janetta Johnson

zee: So, what are the urgent priorities for abolitionist organizing and especially Black trans abolitionist organizing now?

• Janetta: When it comes to abolitionist and Black trans organizing and supporting people transitioning out of different states of being captured, and in the process of supporting people in transitioning back to a society that does not really respect them or honor them, there’s still a lot of people that have been impacted and affected by various very harsh, painful systems of incarceration, or the foster care system, that there’s a lot of healing and transformative justice that needs to be done in order to return people to a better state [like] before all this harm that has been caused against them has happened. And [in order to give people] given a better opportunity at being in a position to fully participate in the movement and in the work. And it’s just like, to me, it’s just like, I mean, if you think about all the women and all the trans, GNC, queer, non-binary, Black trans people that are in the freedom school now, how do we restore those communities so that they’re being cared for in a way that they don’t have to re-offend. We don’t want our community members to feel like they have to reoffend for their sustainability, for their survival, for their existence. Because if we’re talking
• about abolition, in order to address some of the issues that we would have to address, there is no prison industrial complex for them to go to [in an abolitionist world]. So we have to make sure that we’re a lot more prepared [wo the PIC] to meet the needs of community members and remember those their voices and their bodies and their strength is important for this movement, as well. And also their wellness, in terms of mental wellness, as well, and meeting the needs of … So when I think of abolition, there’s many, many lenses of abolition. So I’m thinking, on that lens is making sure that we’re not disposing of people and leaving people behind. I feel like I could go on and on about that particular piece around … 

For the urgent priorities, you’re saying like wellness, dismantling the PIC so people don’t feel like they have to stay reliant on it, economic … 

• Sustainability.
• I mean… and it’s always like being prepared. And it’s always being and feeling more organized in a way that brings about some comfort and safety. Because we get to be in spaces with some amazing thought leaders to help us be in a more organized state of being. It’s about safety, feeling safe in our bodies, feeling safe in our environments that we live in and thrive in, feeling equitably safe, sustainably safe. You know. 

Yes.

• Healthcare safe.

And I guess, how does that tie into like what it means for the Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center having its own building?

• A place to call home, a safe place to be. Enough space to keep people separated long enough. I think about at the beginning of the pandemic, it would have been so much better to have had ownership of our own building. I think it would have caused us a tremendous amount less trauma.

I’m sure. And I guess now, with having this building, especially with looking back, what is your vision for the next year, five years, or like … Actually, we can start off looking at what you’re talking about in the pandemic and the tremendous trauma that could have been averted, what are you most looking forward to for the organization or this work now, having this building?

• I look at us as being a national (and some international) TGIJP, Black Trans Cultural Center, human rights commission, national Black trans, queer, gender nonconforming, organizing group of people creating national Black trans cultural spaces and centers and … I mean, you know, like really building and expanding and creating a lot of “for us, by us, and with us,” you know? 

Just opening up all the different opportunities.

• Yeah, and it’s sort of kind of like really and truthfully, if you think about … it makes a huge difference if we could pop up, if we could pop up with, if we could pop up with … Right now … You know, Black-owned strip malls, owned by Black folks in every major city, you know, every major Bay Area city, something like that, you know. Where we prioritize, you know, Black folks working for us and, you know, and creating more jobs for more Black people, you know?

Absolutely.

• We all build our own industry and start, you know, investing in each other and not having to rely on the government funding. But it would be really, really complicated. It would be very interesting, though, if there was any way possible, like, example: if we own every business within that whole block on the block where our building is and we created all these businesses that are thriving. And let’s just say it’s 75, 85% Black, so we’re … you know, we can make some decisions on how do we invest in Black students? You know, and we can create our own hospitals, you know?

No, literally though.

• But… I got off on that one.

No, no, but that’s connected to when you said, when they were asking, what is your vision for the next year, for the next five years, or even 20 years, I definitely, I see that, like I see that vision of like what you’re saying creating a alternative economy, because when we’re creating like alternative systems to incarceration, incarceration is an economy, it is a profit, a capitalistic economy. And when you think about creating a different separate block and things, that’s creating a whole separate economy that’s countering the one of incarceration that’s like a multi-billion dollar economy, you know? So like it, I feel, yeah, I don’t know. I just want … Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Like I really saw that. I really saw that when you said that, so … Yeah. I guess, with that, like, and these visions, and what you’re looking forward to, what’s… What do you see as one of the greatest challenges that face our work now?

• The 2025, 2028 election, the election that just happened. Sustainability. I mean, we have a building. We have a building and we have an asshole who’s the president. And the fear that we will experience. Because also, even in the world of social media, we have to, we can’t talk too much shit, you know what I mean? Fucking with Trump. You know what I mean? Because he could squash us like a bug, right? Our organization. He can squash our shit like a bug.

Yeah. Yeah. 

• You know, it ain’t nothing to wipe out Black trans labor.

No. Well, in light of, like, all that is, like, coming with that and those challenges, how do you think this year we’ve been preparing for that? Like, how do you summarize 2024 for the Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural year? Like, I mean, Cultural Center, but cultural year, like we hit one year, right, of purchasing this building. So like, how have we already been doing the work? Or like summarizing the work that we’ve been doing this year.

• Oh, I mean, it feels very good and rewarding and you know, despite all the trials that we’ve experienced as an organization, growing and building and trying to ensure that we bring the right ambience into the organizational work and making sure that we’re not recreate [recreating] a system that is not in the best interest of the communities that we care for. And also learn how not to be that system that disrupts community members. I think…

Yeah.

• And also tapping a little bit more into the focusing on freedom, liberation, and joy and what does the community-building look like? And what does it mean for us to be together as a community and to care for each other? And as hard as it may be, possibly let go of some petty resentments.