Join inside and outside comrades from the Support Ho(s)e Collective for a zine reading, history of organizing and a conditions update from inside an Illinois prison on Friday, April 24th 2020. 

This event will be held over Zoom, please RSVP for a meeting link. Participant Bios : Red (they/them) makes zines that center sex worker organizing, activist-oriented political education, prison/police abolition and incarcerated comrades’ stories. Alisha Walker (she/her) is a multi-media visual artist, poet, inside organizer, (former) sex worker and criminalized survivor. LeLe is a mixed ethinic, Black woman and self-described unapologetic whore. She is a member of the Support Ho(s)e Collective. Alisha is currently (forcibly) based in Decatur, Illinois. $10 suggested donation 11:30AM EST - 12:45PM EST Register here: bit.ly/SxHxZineReading 

Free em all #FreeChrystul #AlishaWalker #AlexisMartin https://www.instagram.com/p/BsrSodDgCdZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=i9f04m7n4geh

SxHx Tumblr Sunset

Hey everyone! We’re currently working on a brand new website! 

As such, we’re sunsetting our Tumblr, which will now serve as a standing digital archive. 

Thanks so much for your continued support! 

Coverage from the Hacking//Hustling Convening two of our comrades presented at! 

People asked us for the piece that Red shared this evening for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, below is their introductory statement and Alisha's poem.

Tonight I’m reading a poem written by my friend and comrade Alisha Walker. Alisha is a self-described queer, mixed, Black woman and unapologetic whore. She is a member of the Support Ho(s)e collective, a poet and an artist. Alisha is also a criminalized survivor, currently incarcerated at Decatur Correctional. LeLe was sentenced to 15 years in state prison because she fought back against a violent client, Alan Filan, who was demanding unprotected sex and threatening her and her friend with a knife. Alisha saved her life and the life of her fellow worker that night. When Judge Obbish sentenced Alisha to 15 years he ostensibly said that she should have died that night when Filan attacked her. He ostensibly said that her life didn’t matter as much as that well-connected white man’s. Alisha’s survival and subsequent punishment underscores the racist and whorephobic violence of the police, courts and prisons. When Alisha called me a few days ago, she was adamant on me also sharing with y’all the violence of erasure that prisons perpetuate. She excitedly yelled into the phone, “tell them to remember all the hos in county and in the prisons! Remember us!” She wanted me to me also share that as it’s so important to come together to mourn and grieve our lost, it’s equally important to organize and fight to end the everyday violence sex workers face at the hands of the police, the courts, the prisons, the jails, the detention centers. She sends her love, rage and support to all y’all tonight.

Here are Alisha’s words:

I wrote this poem called "Battle" in honor of December 17th, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. It's gonna take all of us to fight this hatred of us, and we need you to fight alongside us now. If you support sex workers rights you are supporting all other kinds of rights too--because it's the most diverse and marginalized profession out there. Show up for us.

"Battle"

How did I get here? What wrong did I do?

Defending myself? I guess was the wrong thing to do.

They said I should have laid down, that I should have gave up and quit.

Should have been a compliant little whore. Gave into a trick. That I have no right to say no, I don’t deserve to choose "She’s nothing, she’s useless, what’s she going to do?"

My escorts, workers, my family, you feel my pain, as I do you.

Listen

They have a plan: "take away our little security,"

Kill us off, decrease our numbers, divide and conquer

But they forget, we are mothers, daughters, partners, and friends. We have our own army. We will never end! We're survivors!

When you knock us down, it makes our skin tougher See....

We are a different breed

They fucking envy us! So they try to make us bleed.

We've lost so many in this war.

Just to name a few...

Hande Kader Alphonza Watson Vanesa Campos   Yang Song Sisi Thibert Alloura Wells

So listen up!

We as a community have shit to do. Stand! In solidarity!

Because this is a fight for our lives, WE WILL NOT LOSE!

(art by SWARM comrades)

The recording from our zine reading and talk back with our comrades Red and Alisha Walker, hosted by Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center is now LIVE online!

We made sure to include lots of resource links in the video's description too!

Thanks for Watching!

Much love to everyone who joined us and Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center for our Zine Reading & Talk Back with Alisha this past Friday! We’ll have a recording up ASAP as well—and we wanted to make a findable post for all those shoutouts we made during the event!

We highly suggest following Survived and Punished, Survived & Punished New York, Quimby's Bookstore NYC, Quimby's Bookstore, Love & Protect, Black and Pink: Milwaukee, #FreeChrystulKizer, Midwest Perzine Fest, Curandera Press, and Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration for starters!

You can support Alisha by giving to her post-release fund! https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-alisha-walker 

You should follow us on Twitter for real-time updates @ supporthosechi 

We highly suggest you subscribe to "Free:Survivors" S&P NY's inside/outside newsletter and send copies to your loved ones: https://www.survivedandpunishedny.org/newsletter-campaign/ 

Get historical! Check out archived issues of "No More Cages" here: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:np197v453

  We also recommend reading "All Our Trials" by Emily Thuma! Snag a copy from your favorite indie bookstore online! 

READ ZINES made by sex workers! Make your own! Subscribe to prison abolitionist newsletters and abolitionist zines! Write to incarcerated people! 

Some of our zines are back in stock at Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center in NYC! You can also snag copies at Quimby's Bookstore NYC and Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago!

All proceeds benefit our organizing efforts and our comrade Alisha!

December 18th, 2019 

On our way to see LeLe! Excited to see our beautiful comrade and catch up in person! Shoutout to the comrade at the IDEVASW vigil last night who gave us cash to use on vending machines for visitation today!

Want to support Alisha? Give here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-alisha-walker

Help us wish our friend and organizing comrade Happy Birthday! Join us for Happy Birthday, LeLe! Letter Writing at Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center on Saturday, February 8th from 5:30 - 6:30pm!

Not in NYC? Here are some ways to support and show birthday love for Alisha:

Please write to Alisha by mail: Ms. Alisha Walker #Y12381 Decatur Correctional PO BOX 3066 Decatur, IL 62524

(( Tips for letter writing: bit.ly/SxHxLetterWriting ))

Please write to Alisha via Connect Network email: https://web.connectnetwork.com using Alisha's 'inmate number' Y12381 and state IL

Share this video about Alisha's case, created by us, Barnard Center for Research on Women - BCRW & Survived and Punished: https://vimeo.com/255412331

Please donate toward commissary and visitation needs here: https://www.gofundme.com/support-alisha-walker

You can also contribute via Venmo now: @SxHxCollective

Please sign and share this petition created by a supporter: www.care2.com/FreeAlisha

You can also visit Quimby's Bookstore, Quimby's Bookstore NYC & Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center and purchase our zines and stickers!

From yesterday’s (1/2/2020) trip to see Alisha. It may be a new year, but we’re our same old “fuck prison” selves. LeLe sends love and appreciation to everyone who sent holiday solidarity! Below are some reflections from Red about their visit:

Finally getting together my notes and reflections (that I can share on here) from our visit. Reeling from the news of airstrikes and imperialist violence that we saw after leaving the prison.  There were car shakedowns again, which almost put us in danger of crossing into the dead zone that is afternoon count. Thankfully we were processed with 3min to spare and got in for our visit just under the wire. The arbitrary evil of prison policy never gets easier to navigate. You can build up expectations and anticipate fuckery, but it’s never “easier.” LeLe looked so good, and was excited for our own version of a new year celebration: shit talking, drinking fruit juice and holding hands across the table a lot. She spent a lot of time persuading Aaron on where to get their friendship-freedom tattoo when she’s out. She and I (and E) already have our placement planned!  We spoke more about gender, gender neutral pronouns, and practicing asking what feels good to people. LeLe is so demonstrably kind and genuine in her questions, thoughts and insights about sexuality, gender expression and freedom. People are gonna learn so much from her. We have. We ran down the list of who to thank for all the beautiful holiday cards, letters, commissary gifts and love. s/o @survivepunishNY @survivepunish @MomsUnitedChi @LoveProtectOrg @hli016 @EdenNewmar @colinasher @prisonculture @uplcchicago + so many more! Thank y'all for showing up for LeLe!  We had some deep discussions about preparing for romantic relationships, and leaving trifling men in the dust. We did small celebratory dances in our seats because the new CO was twitchy. One of the biggest takeaways from our visit was the importance of embracing the messiness of our stories and violent acts of self-love.

Happy Sex Worker Pride from some of our organizers! Here’s to building toward more radical Ho love now!

More on the 1st annual International Sex Worker Pride: 

NSWP is launching a fourth International sex worker rights day, Sex Worker Pride, taking place on 14th September each year. This day will celebrate sex workers’ self-determination and enhanced visibility and show the achievements of sex worker-led organisations. The other three international sex worker rights days observed  every year are 3rd March, 2nd June and 17th December, and call attention to sex workers labour rights, access to justice and violence against sex workers.

Sex Worker Pride is an opportunity to celebrate and share stories of sex workers’ self-determination and the achievements of the sex worker rights movement over the last year.

Sex Worker Pride extends to all marginalised by criminalisation, discrimination and stigma across the sex worker movement and celebrates the diversity within our community during International Sex Worker Pride.

We hope you will join us in celebrating Sex Worker Pride and our members will organise their own actions to mark the day, including hosting local events or online actions to share experiences with sex workers around the world.

https://www.nswp.org/news/nswp-launches-sex-worker-pride-14th-september

Want to support our work and our comrade Alisha Walker with real-time donations? Give here: http://gofundme.com/support-alisha-walker or send us donations via Venmo: @SxHxCollective

A few of us roadtripped to see Alisha yesterday!

We brought her a copy of Emily Thuma's "All Our Trials" and some of her favorite magazines (unfortunately the racist mailroom at Decatur censors Source Magazine now, so we couldn't bring that one in to her).

We spent over 5 hours with our friend, and have lots to share in reflection posts soon!

Want to support Alisha? Help us get to $5k so we can start a post-release fund for our friend! Link below to support! 

https://www.gofundme.com/support-alisha-walker

Beautiful images of beautiful resistance and love. Endless thanks to everyone who made today’s gathering what it was. Deep gratitude to Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration and to all our co-sponsoring comrade organizations. Photos by Love & Struggle Photography. 

###

Alisha sent us the follow to share on her behalf, since the state of Illinois is still caging her and keeping her from her friends and family and all of you, in her broader community. Alisha wanted us to also remind you that sex working people, hustlers, those that make their living in anyways they can are also mothers, caregivers, chosen family too. Sex workers are treated as disposable by our society and that means their families can be victimized or criminalized by association. Please remember that, hold that hurt with us and with Alisha, today. And let us also celebrate our collective resistance and resilience in the face of whorephobic state violence. 

### “Being incarcerated is already hard enough but being seperated from the ones you love,  wanting to protect them from the world? How can you possibly do that over a series of phone calls and strained rushed video visits, when in person visits are an 8 hour drive and there’s no car to get them to you? I Have to hear the pain in their voices as they try to jump through lifes hoops and breakdown when they feel as though they've failed. Knowing there is nothing i can do to ease the pain besides suggestions that go through one ear and out the other, then they get frustrated when they can't seem to figure it out for themselves. I am my family's fixer, I’ve been the one that eases the pain. Over the last 5½ years they have had to learn what life is like without me there to give them the quick money fix, solve the disputes between them or be the sound voice of reason when things are scary. For them, as my mother say's "i'm just waiting for you to come home, then everything will be normal again"... So they've resorted to surviving, just waiting on “normal” again. That's a sad reality. My father acts like everything is sunshine to me on the phone, my mother tells me differently while becoming defensive of her miserable mentality, my sister is lost in pain with no real desire for direction while having to learn to raise two infants without fathers all the while becoming entitled and careless, and my brother is becoming resentful towards everyone while trying to hold on to his childhood. This family is not the family i left 5½ years ago. Incarceration is a cancer that spreads and feeds off of loved one’s heart strings. Incarceration is tearing down my family. I will keeping fighting for our survival.”

LeLe sent us updated photos! Look at our beautiful comrade! Have you been looking for ways to support Alisha?

Please donate toward commissary and visitation needs here: https://www.gofundme.com/support-alisha-walker

You can also contribute via Venmo now: @SxHxCollective

Please sign and share this petition created by a supporter: www.care2.com/FreeAlisha

Please write to Alisha by mail: Ms. Alisha Walker #Y12381 Decatur Correctional PO BOX 3066 Decatur, IL 62524

Please write to Alisha via Connect Network email: https://web.connectnetwork.com using Alisha's 'inmate number' Y12381 and state IL

Share this video about Alisha's case, created by us, Barnard Center for Research on Women - BCRW & Survived and Punished: https://vimeo.com/255412331

You can also visit Quimby's Bookstore & Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center and purchase our zines and stickers!

TODAY celebrate Alisha's birthday by signing and sharing this newly created petition! The community member who created this is working with us to ensure actions and urgent updates can be sent out to all those who sign!