It’s been just over 2 years since sex workers and their trusted accomplices banded together to create “Support Ho(s)e,” we’re a small but mighty crew and we couldn’t have been nearly as impactful without the incredible community around us for support.
Endless love to Alisha, her momma Sherri Chatman, and their whole family, for rolling with us and not just fighting for LeLe’s freedom but advocating for the freedom of all incarcerated survivors and for the rights of all sex working people.
We want to take a moment to give thanks to those who’ve been particularly supportive and inspiring to us. There are, as always, too many folx to name and tag here, some of whom are not on this socials platform; but we see you, love you and thank you.
To Third Wave Fund for believing in our work and giving us our first grant. To Survived and Punished for their amazing guiding vision and analysis, for including sex working/trading people at the table during conferences, and their commitment to rejecting ‘perfect victim’ narratives. To Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration for always reaching out to include Alisha and Sherri’s stories in their actions and for complicating what it is to mother and care-provide in this world, acknowledging that labor is often made invisible. To Love & Protect for centering radical acts of self-defense as acts of self-love, and for your continued support. To Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls & Young Women for always being down to amplify and signal boost our calls to action, and for your amazing media guide materials and for opposing FOSTA/SESTA and leading the charge amongst anti-violence organizations to do the same and sign on to your letter. To Chicago Community Bond Fund for reminding people that Alisha would have stood a better chance of defense if given the option of bail when she was first arrested (almost 2 years before her trial). SWOP Behind Bars for creating amazing wishlists for incarcerated sex workers, allowing us to co-curate Alisha’s list and for their crucial prison newsletter. To SWOP-Chicago for offering resources and shared space whenever possible. To Barnard Center for Research on Women – BCRW for their beautiful work on the case video for LeLe and for their material support of our efforts in NYC. To The Sex Workers Project for showing up to support our actions, involving us in their own projects and always asking what SW community needs. To Lysistrata for their crucial efforts toward mutual aid and care for sex working people, and for amplifying our efforts. To Vice Versa Press for believing in our work and publishing “No One’s Victim,” a graphic storytelling of our first trip to visit Alisha.
And of course, THANK YOU! If you are reading this, sharing posts, or following this page, coming out to actions or events, you’ve likely been the foundation of our efforts. To everyone who has donated their time, labor, money, to supporting Alisha, her family and our work to get her free, we thank you! We would not be able to do this without you. It takes community to do this work.
Thank you for adding “Free LeLe! Free them all!” to your rallying cries. We invite you to continue this work with us, for the end of whorephobia, for the end of incarceration.
-SxHx