Before watching the film “Major!” I had honestly never heard of Miss Major. Miss Major has been a trans rights activist for over 40 years. She focuses on standing up for trans women of color, particularly in the prison system. Trans women are overwhelmingly housed in mens jails and prisons. If they are not housed in mens prisons they are typically put in solitary confinement. They are often told that this is for their own protection but it is often done to make the job of the guards easier. Many trans women are kept in solitary confinement for extended periods of time. The United Nations says that if an individual is kept in solitary confinement for more than 15 days it is considered torture. Further, the prison system is an excellent example of the systemic oppression against people of color and trans individuals. For example, in 2008 58% of all US prisoners were African American or Latino while they only made up 25% of the US population. This is even more true for trans women of color who are often unable to get typical jobs accepted by society. To survive they often do illegal sex work or sell drugs which results in the incarceration of these individuals due targeted laws such as the war on drugs. Further, trans women of color are often written out of the gay rights movements history. They are often forgotten and therefore are often the most oppressed.
The film made me wonder what individuals outside of the trans community can specifically do to aid in the representation of trans individuals and specifically trans people of color. I think that this is such a huge issue but it’s obviously still not being addressed properly and needs to be addressed by people in the LGBTQ+ community who come from a greater place of privilege. How can individuals of privilege bring to light the struggles these oppressed individuals face.
MAJOR! (2017, dir. Annalise Ophelian and StormMiguel Florez).