Salute to SHEBA
By: Gary Hollander, PhD - Posted on: 1/18/2010

In the greatest speech of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that he was “not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution.”

Dr. King was observing and celebrating the courage of those who went through so much to get there -- to survive. He called those assembled “veterans of creative suffering” and asked that they not “wallow in the valley of despair.”

He concluded his speech saying, “when we let (freedom) ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

It is impossible for me to hear or read these words today and not think about transgender people of color, specifically about the members of SHEBA (Sisters Helping Each other Battle AIDS). Their quest for freedom has not been without considerable persecution. Yet, like those to whom Dr. King spoke in Washington decades ago, these girls are veterans of creative suffering. But they do not wallow in despair. Rather, they are learning to lead. Beautifully.

The Board of Directors and staff of Diverse and Resilient salute all of the SHEBA girls on this anniversary celebration of Dr. King. We celebrate their courage for getting through so much to survive -- to get where they have arrived.