2021 Fellow

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Imara Jones

TransLash Media

Invisibility of Black trans people and culture has led to devastating impacts on the lives of trans people across the country, not only in terms of physical violence but policy violence too. By righting the historic wrong of excluding Black trans people from the nation’s racial imagination and inequality discourse, TransLash will save trans lives by telling trans stories.

Over the course of the Fellowship, TransLash will scale up the power of digital, video, audio, and interactive media to uplift Black trans stories and spur public engagement and education around critical trans issues. Imara will explore new mediums and methods to reach increasingly fragmented audiences, with stories and messages that center Black trans humanity in the fight for racial justice. Most recently, TransLash launched a limited-run investigative podcast series, The Anti-Trans Machine: A Plot Against Equality, exposing the dark money, radical figures, dirty politics and extreme ideology behind a national campaign for anti-transgender legislation.

Imara’s work is radically transforming the way trans voices are represented in the media and show up in public discourse. Ending Black trans marginalization is essential to shift culture and increase support for their inclusion in building a world that works for everyone.

We are righting our nation’s history by including Black trans people in the discourse about racial and gender equality and the reimagination of the world we want to create. We have to; our lives depend on it.

–Imara Jones