I am beyond honored to be a peer in this incredible line up of New Yorkers who are ALL creating, living, fighting, celebrating a better city, a brighter world, a safer future for US.

This prize is about individuals, but that's not how we work. I am not the star of a show or the dictator of a movement. I am a leaf on the tree, a bee in the hive, and WE are stretching together to the sky and making gobs of sweetness.

I aim to work with all of the activists I'm meeting through this process and should the financial award come to my pockets, it will overflow to the workers I'm building a platform with on which to stand, survive, and thrive. Body of Workers. 

From the Hollaback! website:

Hollaback! is a global, people-powered movement to end harassment — in all its forms. We believe that we all deserve to be who we are, wherever we are. 
We believe we all have a role to play in disrupting harassment and building a culture where it is no longer seen as “just the price you have to pay” for being a woman, LGBTQ+, a person of color, or any other marginalized identity. We teach people to take action, and to reach across their own identities to ally with others and establish a united front against harassment each time we witness it.

“These Kinds of People”: How and Why We Must Support Asian Sex Workers
by Sammy Rei Schwarz
March 24, 2021

“They were not these kinds of people,” replied the former neighbor of Xiaojie Tan, owner of Young’s Asian Massage Parlor, in response to reports that the Atlanta shooter may have been purchasing sexual services at her business. “They were good, honest people.”
When I read these words in the Washington Post, a familiar pain pierced my gut. The implication was clear: people like me—Asian sex workers—are neither good nor honest. As an Asian American woman in the sex industry, I’m accustomed to the prejudice most people hold towards this kind of work, but it never gets easier to stomach.

While many share the grief of this tragedy, Asian women in the sex trade bear the emotional trauma disproportionately.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE