Category: Statements

Note: This statement has been edited to address the helpful feedback we’ve gotten. This is meant as a statement of TAAAP’s values. Decolonization is a long process that will never be fully completed, but members of TAAAP want to be held accountable for the ways in which we perpetuate and participate in colonial thinking and actions. We welcome further feedback and corrections. 

The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project was founded in the United States, and almost all of our members, as well as the people in the communities we serve, reside in the United States or in other colonized countries. Colonialism is violence, and living as a settler in colonized countries means participating in that violence. Even as we fight to bring attention and resources to our underserved and underrepresented identities, it is essential that we respect and acknowledge the rightful caretakers of colonized lands. We must also always remember and acknowledge the history of violence against Indigenous peoples, and the violence still practiced and institutionalized in our societies today. TAAAP is based out of Maryland, which is the traditional home of many Indigenous peoples, including, but not limited to, the Accohannock, Anacostan, Massawomeck, Manahoac, Nentego, Piscataway, Pamunkey, and Susquehannock peoples. (You can check what peoples have claim to which lands at this site: native-land.ca.) Some of these peoples are not listed on this map or acknowledged today, but we know that they still exist and wish to acknowledge them as well. Many of these peoples were driven away, were enslaved, or were killed, whether through violence or disease. Plenty of these peoples survive today. Now, around the world, Indigenous populations are more likely to live in poverty, be disenfranchised by colonial governments, and face violence than almost any other population.

The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project stands in solidarity with all the protesters around the country and the world, demanding an end to the state-sponsored violence against those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. We condemn police brutality in all its forms, as well as the prison industrial complex that over-punishes and mass-incarcerates the most marginalized and most vulnerable members of our society.

We remember that our movement began, not with a “peaceful protest”, but with a riot. During the first Pride at Stonewall, fifty-one years ago, queer people of every orientation, gender identity, and race, led by trans women of color, stood together against the police violence in our community. Just as we protested the violence against the disenfranchised then, we still stand together to call for the end of over four hundred years of assaults against Black communities and individuals.

If you would like to support the protesters or try to help change this broken system, consider contributing to ActBlue’s community bail funds, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Equal Justice Initiative, or Black Lives Matter.