WMG Volume 6 • Issue 22 November 20, 2019
Wilton Manors Gazette Facebook.com/groups/WMGazette
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Wilton Manors Shines Spotlight on Trans Community The proclamation names Nov. 20 as Transgender Remembrance Day By Sallie James When Rajee Narinesingh accepted a city proclamation declaring Nov. 20 as “Transgender Remembrance Day,” her voice cracked with emotion. The proclamation, presented at the Nov. 12 City Commission meeting, also pronounced Nov. 13-19 as Transgender Awareness Week. “My prayer is that what the (LGBT) flags represents is truly the reality for our community,” said Narinesingh, a transgender activist who was targeted and brutally beaten in 2002. “I am so thankful to God that I lived to see these better days. I’ve been able to see these better days for transgender people here in this county. We’ve come a long way but we have a long way to go.” The pink, blue and white transgender flag has been flying at Jaycee Park for the past week, and will continue flying through the Nov. 20.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance Service will be from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 20 at the Schubert Building at the Pride Center, at 2040 N. Dixie Highway. The public is invited to attend. Twentytwo transgender people have been killed nationally in 2019 to date, Narinesingh said. According to the proclamation, the Transgender Day of Remembrance is set aside “to memorialize those who lost their lives due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice and to help raise visibility of people who are transgender, gender nonconforming, and perceived to be transgender.” “It’s the day we honor our fallen. These trans people who were killed because of who they are paid the ultimate price,” Narinesingh said. “The trans community deals with so many injustices regarding employment, housing, healthcare, health
The pink, blue and white transgender flag has been flying at Jaycee Park for the past week, and will continue flying through the Nov. 20.
insurance and just maneuvering around our community.” Wednesday’s keynote speaker Tatiana Williams, a black trans woman, said events like the remembrance service offer an important chance for community members to share stories that highlight the risks faced by transgender people. Williams said a close transgender friend was fatally shot in 1999 in front of her. Her friend’s murder, along with the deaths of a few other acquaintances, were never solved, she said. “Nothing happened. Their deaths were not investigated. It was like their lives didn’t matter,” Williams said. “Things are a little better today. Now you can get an officer to at least look at the case.” Wilton Manors began flying the transgender flag on certain occasions in 2017. In March 2017, the City Commission voted unanimously to fly the transgender flag on International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31), Transgender Flag Day (Aug. 19), Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20), and the week of the city’s Stonewall Festival in June. In her speech to the City Commission
on Nov. 12, Narinesingh noted that Wilton Manors has declined to fly the transgender flag year round. “I think it’s been two occasions where the request was turned down,” she said on Nov. 12. “I understand why. Because we have an LGBT flag, our rainbow flag, that represents the unification of our community. I’m one of the trans people in the community who understands why that flag is supposed to be enough for us.” WMG
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Opinion
WMG Comfortably Numb President Trump is Coming to Broward; Where Are the Protests?
2520 N. Dixie Highway • Wilton Manors, FL 33305 Phone: 954-530-4970 Fax: 954-530-7943
By Sal Torre Photo via Pixabay.
Hey you, out there in Broward County, can you hear me? Donald Trump is coming to the heart of Democratic Florida on Nov. 26 for a Homecoming Rally. Really? A Trump Homecoming Rally here in Broward County? This is not the Villages or some other Republican bastion in our state. This is Broward County, the Democratic stronghold of Florida. Yet I hear no talk of protest, demonstrations, or blocking streets to the BB&T Center. Perhaps we have all become comfortably numb, in some sort of drugged state of social media overload, no longer able to realize what is actually taking place in our community and in the world around us. Yellow Jackets in France, daily protests in Hong Kong, Lebanese families turning out to protest government corruption, all lending a view that there is a growing movement worldwide. People are starting to demand their fair share of what currently flows more and more only to the wealthy 1 percent. These County, and I hear no calls for action. Have we protests are demanding better services, retreated into a fantasy world where listening better education for their children, better to the Racheal Maddow Show or posting healthcare, higher wages, a better quality of opposition statements on social media offers a daily relief valve to the mounting insanity? life, and a better tomorrow. Many are baffled as to why there has not We might be fooling ourselves into thinking that if only we make it to the been a robust, organized next election, everything will and vocal protest be OK. I will be out movement here in the U.S. Have we somehow masked We see major grassroot in Sunrise on the trauma and pain of the support for leaders such as Tuesday, Nov. Trump presidency? Have we Elizabeth Warren, Bernie become comfortably numb, Sanders and Alexandria 26 to show no longer able to respond, Ocasio-Cortez. support with no longer able to see what is However, we see no happening, no longer able to massive demonstrations fellow South act? when this President Floridians that When Congressman Allen takes us out of the Paris West was invited to speak Donald Trump Agreement tossing years here in Wilton Manors years of work on global warming and his clan of ago, there was a very large, out the window, when bullies are not organized, and vocal response he tears up car emission from our community clearly guidelines, or has his welcome here. stating that such a divisive criminal associates go hatemonger and bigot was not around the world making illegal deals with oligarchs, plays with our welcome here in our community. Community military on a whim, locks up innocent leaders came together, mobilized and sent a children and criminalizes people looking strong message that our values, our beliefs, and our community would not be lessened for a better life. by such an individual. Yet where are the protests? Now we have a President who can be And now this. A Homecoming Event for Donald Trump right here in Broward described as Allen West on steroids. Trump’s
November 20, 2019 • Volume 6 • Issue 22
Publisher • Norm Kent norm.kent@sfgn.com Chief Executive Officer • Pier Angelo Guidugli piero@sfgn.com Associate publisher / Executive Editor • Jason Parsley jason.parsley@sfgn.com Copyeditor • Kerri Covington
Editorial
Art Director • Brendon Lies artwork@sfgn.com News Editor • Sallie James
Correspondents
Sal Torre • James Oaksun
Staff Photographers
J.R. Davis • Carina Mask • Steven Shires
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Sales Manager • Justin Wyse justin.wyse@sfgn.com Advertising Sales Associate • Edwin Neimann edwin.neimann@sfgn.com Advertising Sales Associate • Clark Rogers clark.rogers@sfgn.com
words, actions, criminal behavior and total disregard for decency make Allen West look like a sweetheart. This man is coming into our community here in South Florida to what his social media peddlers have called a Homecoming Event. A Homecoming implies the act of coming home, welcoming back someone by those who consider the person as one of their own, a cheerful and heartfelt outpouring of sentiment, a celebration. I am having a hard time believing that this is the message we want to send out to the world on Tuesday, November 26. The BB&T Center in Sunrise holds 19,000 people. We have the ability to demonstrate that Donald Trump is not welcome here in South Florida. Let us turn this so-called homecoming into a show of what the residents of Broward truly demand and want from our President and other elected officials. I will be out in Sunrise on Tuesday, Nov. 26 to show support with fellow South Floridians that Donald Trump and his clan of bullies are not welcome here. Hopefully, you will join us. Only by standing up for what we believe, ready to protect our values of decency and the rule of law, and to face down bullies shall we continue to make life just better here. WMG
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Photo via the City of Wilton Manors, Facebook.
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Photos
Taste Of The Island By J.R. Davis
On Monday, November 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Richardson Historic Park was transformed into a food paradise as guests were treated to a chance to taste and celebrate the many delicacies found throughout Wilton Manors.
The Pub.
Ethos Greek Bistro.
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