Fight Together

August 6, 2021 in
The focus text of the piece reads, "We fought together then. We fight together now." The first sentence is typeset in a vintage 60's-era appearing font, each word on its own line, right-aligned. To the right of it is a recreation of the Stonewall Inn window sign, set within a combination of the traditional "male" and "female" symbol, with two linked "male" symbols above it and 2 linked "female" symbols beneath it. The second sentence is set in a modern all-caps bold condensed font, also with each word on its own line. This sentence is left-aligned. To the left of it is a Black power fist outlined in Black Lives Matter yellow. Beneath the fist are the letters "BLM."

In 2020, I was commissioned to create a design in honor of queer wrath (the replacement for Pride in the wake of the murder of George Floyd) and Black Lives Matter.

The fight together then.

I wanted to make sure I wasn’t creating a false dichotomy in my wording or the design itself. I’d seen that happening, this indication that Black folks like Marsha Johnson fought for gay rights, so now gays will fight for Black folks. But these communities are inextricably overlapping. A person’s race isn’t something that can be separated from who they are. Nor is their sexuality. They both inform the totality of someone’s lived experience.

But I also wanted to be sure that I wasn’t centering the conversation around white people or the nebulous idea of allyship. I cannot be an authority on an oppression I do not face. So ultimately, the commissioner and I settled on this specific wording:

We fought together then.
We fight together now.

As the Australian Aboriginal Elder Lilla Watson has said, our liberation is bound together. And we must work together for the liberation of all.

The fight together now.

I’m not selling this on any merch. It’s not my place to do that. While this is an important message, I cannot in good conscience as a white person profit from a movement to eradicate racism. I don’t deserve cookies for supporting a basic good.

So I’ve messaged several Black-led organizations to offer them commercial licensing free of charge, so they can profit from anyone wanting to own products with this design.

Since I’ve not heard back from anyone over the course of a year, I’ve decided to make the files publicly available for any who would like prints.

However.

Black folks, particularly Black business owners: email me at dani@fatgirlmedia.com if you’d like a commercial license to sell prints of this design! Completely free of charge from me. I only ask you to email me so that you can have it in writing.

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