Fostering cross-racial solidarity and communal solutions to hate violence.

Thursday, December 5, 2024 • 9am-5pm

⚲ Queens College Student Union: 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY, 11367

Join the Caribbean Equality Project for its annual Queeribbean Crossings conference themed “Solidarity as Resistance.”

Hosted and organized annually by the Caribbean Equality Project, in partnership with the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium, as a knowledge-sharing space in commemoration of 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights Day, the free one-day community conference centers critical reflections and collaborative discussions on transnational cross-racial solidarities and multicultural artistic expressions through a diasporic Caribbean LGBTQ+ lens.

The 2024 "Queeribbean Crossings: Solidarity as Resistance,” features the Queens premiere screening of the short film Caribbean Queen by GLAAD Media Award-winning director Sekiya Dorsett, hosted at Queens College, CUNY. Annually, the conference brings together queer and trans Caribbean immigrants, asylum seekers, and Caribbean-descended activists, community organizers, academics, college students, and artists from throughout the region and its diasporas to foster critical conversations on themes of social justice, immigration, trans equity, decriminalization, mental health, sexual health, and other pertinent issues impacting LGBTQ+ Black, Asian, Latinx, and Caribbean communities.

For the 2024 iteration of the conference, we think critically about “solidarity” as a significant political practice, a way to build collective futures and rehearse what living in an equitable world in the 21st century could mean. We think together about solidarity as a way of doing decolonization work and crafting coalitions across borders, race, gender, class, ability, citizenship, and religion, among other social factors and realities. The conference will feature international keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops, a health and immigration resource fair, and a closing cultural & drag showcase.

Queeribbean Crossings takes a transnational approach to building solidarity. The term “transnational” here explores how queer and trans diasporic Caribbean struggle is not contained within one geography or history but forces us to contend with issues and struggles outside of the places we call home. A transnational framework to queer Caribbean liberation will think not only about the relationships between the queer Caribbean and the US diaspora, but also other adjacent political struggles and histories that we, as queer and trans Caribbean communities, may or may not experience. To truly seek collective liberation, we must think both within and outside ourselves, our histories, and our personal struggles. A transnational practice of solidarity allows us to connect queer and trans Caribbean emancipation efforts with various intersectional struggles. The name “Queeribbean Crossings” represents a commitment to a feminist and anti-colonial approach to thinking transnationally in our social justice work and solidarity movements. Our emphasis on the transnational here is largely indebted to the work of Trinidadian queer feminist scholar, M. Jacqui Alexander, who first gives us the language of “crossing” in her ground-breaking 2005 text Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, Memory, and the Sacred.

Launched in 2022, Queeribbean Crossings focused on confronting gendered and racialized violence to foster cross-racial solidarity, healing, and community-driven solutions to hate violence. The conference is grounded in multiple expressions of queer and trans Caribbean ways of knowing that include, but are not limited to, community organizing, art, and aesthetic practices, among many others. Yearly, the conference brings together community members, academics, creatives, and students of all levels and backgrounds to engage in community conversations related to issues of im/migration, gender-based violence, human rights, contemporary issues LGBTQIA+ people of color through a culturally responsive and racial justice lens.

Conference Program Schedule

9:00—10:00am

Registration & Breakfast

10:00—10:30am

Opening Remarks, Conference Overview, Land Acknowledgment, and Queens College Welcome

10:30—11:00am

Keynote Speaker, Rajiv Mohabir

11:00—11:30am

Screening of “Caribbean Queen” Short Film

11:30am—12:45pm

Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as a Tool of Solidarity for Collective Future Building Panel

Learn More

1:00—2:00pm

Lunch & Resource Fair

2:00—2:30pm

International Keynote Speaker, Daryl A. Phillip

2:30—3:30pm

Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Learn More

2:30—3:30pm

Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

Learn More

2:30—3:30pm

Rooted Voices: Collective Journey of Storytelling and Affirmation

3:30—4:00pm

DJ and Social Networking

4:00—5:00pm

Artistic Expressions: Closing Cultural & Drag Showcase

See Full Conference Program

Presenters & Participants:

Xoë Sazzle: Conference Co-Host

Artist • Activist & Asylum Seeker • Cultural Researcher & Professor • Communications and Digital Content Creator, CEP

Tifa Wine: Conference Co-Host

Cultural Researcher & Professor • Writer • Drag Artist • Organizer • Board Member, CEP

Rajiv Mohabir: Keynote Speaker

Poet • Memorialist & Translator • Assistant Professor of Poetry, University of Colorado

Daryl Phillip: Keynote Speaker

Co-founder & President, Minority Rights Dominica (Miridom)

Mohamed Q. Amin: Speaker

Founder & Executive Director, Caribbean Equality Project

Vanessa Arias-Martínez: Speaker

Senior Community Liaison, Gilead Sciences

Sekiya Dorsett: Panelist—Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as Solidarity for Collective Future

Director, Caribbean Queen • Assistant Professor, Hofstra University

Karl O’ Brian Williams: Panelist—Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as Solidarity for Collective Future

Writer & Actor, Caribbean Queen • Lecturer, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Ansi A. Rodriguez: Panelist—Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as Solidarity for Collective Future

Actor, Caribbean Queen

Murtada Elfadl: Panelist—Beyond Decriminalization: Storytelling as Solidarity for Collective Future

Culture Writer • Critic • Film Curator

Ace Sutherland: Moderator—Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Trans Rights Activist • Organizer & Policy Advocate • Board Secretary, CEP

Tiffany Jade Munroe: Panelist—Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Trans Justice Coordinator, CEP

Mateo Guerrero: Panelist—Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Trans Justice and Leadership Program Manager, Make the Road NY

Chanel J. Lopez: Panelist—Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Deputy Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs, Office of the NYS Governor Kathy Hochul

Shivana Jorawar: Panelist—Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Lawyer • Activist & Organizer • Co-Director, Jahajee

Yanery Cruz: Panelist—Gender Liberation: Reproductive Justice and Legislative Reform Through Action and Education

Director of Advocacy and Programs, New York Transgender Advocacy Group

Kadeem Robinson: Moderator—Building Community Safety: Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

Board Treasurer, CEP

Carlyn Cowen: Panelist—Building Community Safety: Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer, Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC)

Jovante Anderson: Panelist—Building Community Safety: Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

Scholar & Community Organizer

Nikita Boyce: Panelist—Building Community Safety: Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

Budget Equity Coordinator Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF)

Kishi Chad: Panelist—Building Community Safety: Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

South Florida Organizer, CEP

Valeria Paz Reyes: Panelist—Building Community Safety: Organizing as Resistance to Attacks on Marginalized Communities

Manager of Organizing & Strategy, New York Immigration Coalition

Funky Reggae House Party: DJ & Vibes

Simone Devi Jhingoor: Performer

Writer • Organizer • Artist • Healer, & Cultural Worker

Sundari the Indian Goddess: Performer

Drag Entertainer & LGBTQ+ Rights Activist

Alicia Love: Performer

Trans Performer & Trans Rights Activist

Afrospehone Applegate: Performer

Drag Entertainer & Mental Health Advocate

Jawdan: Performer

Reggae & RnB Artist

As you prepare to share space with us at the Queeribbean Crossings conference, we invite you to reflect on the following questions:

What is solidarity for marginalized queer and trans Caribbean communities, and how do we build it for ourselves and our political comrades?
How does solidarity become an act of resistance? Why is such an act necessary in our contemporary LGBTQ+ liberation moment?
How does queer and trans solidarity center both our local communities and those who we may never come to meet or whose struggles we may never experience?
How do we transform coalition from a noun - or simply a word we use/say - to an everyday practice of solidarity as resistance?

Please join us on December 5, 2024, for an extraordinary one-day Queeribbean Crossings conference featuring conversations, performances, and community engagement!