Submission from Saint (they/them) received on 07.08.22
I am a part of Black Liberation Autonomous Collective (BLAC), Black Anarchist Community Council (BACC), and Food Not Bombs (FNB), and we are cool with the Abortion Defense Committee (ADC), so I was excited for all of us to collaborate as we commonly do. I learned about the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and Socialist Alternative (SALT) maybe a few months ago and was educated about their dangerous behavior. When I hear people’s experiences, I agree with the survivors. My degree is in Criminal Justice and Cyber Forensics. We are taught that 4 out of 100 allegations have the potential to be false or have a false part to them. Our society and the rest of the world are very ignorant and insensitive to survivors and victims of assault, sexual assault, and abuse of all kinds and it shows within PSL and SALT.
I am not from Allegheny County so I was rushin’ to the protest just for the Women’s March to still be talking when our protest was supposed to begin. PSL and SALT was trynna hand stuff to me when I was making my way to the rest of the group but I ignored them. There was hella police, hella politicians–we don’t like that. We are sure the Women’s March asked the police to have a heavy presence since most of them are DL bootlickers in my eyes, yet all the groups tried to wait patiently for them to finish so we can speak and hurry up with the march.
While people from the Women’s March were wrapping it up, PSL and SALT were trynna make they way up to the platform where all the groups were at. I was the first person to notice it, and of course I told they asses to take they behinds right back to where they was. I am a loud person, so other people around me started to notice and also say that they need to leave and/or get off the platform. Yes I called them names. Yes I cussed at them because that’s how I fuckin’ talk. Dena from TransUniting came over and told me to walk away and that she would handle it, so I did what mutha said. I’m not sure what Dena said or did, but at least four cops or so then stood between my groups and PSL and SALT(this is what SALT tried to use against us in their statement which we had nothing to do with). They kept trynna inch they way back up to the platform. I kept yellin’ at them to stay down there because even then they kept trynna come back up. Pigs kept eyein’ me up so I walked away ‘cause I ain’t finna get in trouble for just yelling and I was furious and needed to calm down.
After all of that, still members of PSL and SALT kept coming up to tell us that they are going to be a part of the protest and asking what the problem is. When one of the members asked why they need to leave, I told them it is because they are terfs and abusers. The response was, “we have queer members we can’t be terfs.” That shit is honestly what pissed me off the most that evening because I am a Black trans person. They may not have known, but someone who is not a part of that community does not get to tell trans people that. We trans people often get left out of most issues, including the current issue of Roe v. Wade, so being dismissive of what I say and my experiences speaks volumes about those organizations.
Our protest finally started and members from ADC got on the mic. We started off with chants, and PSL and ‘em tried starting their own, so I came over with my megaphone and chanted over them. We did land acknowledgment, plus other stuff I forget ‘cause honestly I was keepin’ my eyes of PSL and SALT. I remember a member of ADC called out PSL and SALT, saying we don’t want abusers and terfs here nor do we want the cops here. I started a “no terfs” chant. You do not get to harm people and play innocent then expect folks to be nice.
Fast forward to us actually starting to march, me and other marshals stayed near the platform to make sure PSL and SALT didn’t join in. We tried talking to them (it was loud since there were drummers there so it was really yelling) and members from the group said they didn’t want to listen to us and that we were not worth it. Saying all of this to trans and queer Black people. Meanwhile, PSL is holding up a trans flag with their logo on it, how crazy is that?
So they goofy asses stayed there and apparently were talking to themselves as I saw from the photos they posted. We went about our protest, and when we got back, PSL (I am not sure if SALT was still there; I can tell PSL was ‘cause the ugly ass t-shirts they wear) were in the parking lot across from the City County Building. After the protest ended, folks burned pamphlets they for from the two organizations. I was twerkin’ and chanting “Fuck PSL”. Cause Fuck PSL and fuck SALT!
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
Filler_PGH@protonmail.com
We’ll try to get back to you in a reasonable amount of punk time.
Send reports in email form, as an attachment, or better yet, on an easy to use (and free) Riseup Pad or CryptPad.
FILLER // ZINE & DISTRO 