The Black GLB Community Needs To Do A Better Job Of Trans Inclusion

One of the things I have consistently complained about ever since I started this blog on New Year's Day 2006 is the GLBT community's glaring lack of inclusion when it comes to African descended transpeople.

My own people can be just as bad. Just as you're sick and tired of being ignored and dissed by the white led GLB community, me and my trans brothers and sisters are sick and tired of being sick and tired of being ignored and dissed by our own chocolate flavored GLB peeps.

As Womanist Musings editor in chief Renee wrote in a piece called 'My GLBT Brothers and Sisters Are My Family', you cannot claim to love Blackness or Black people, if you do not love openly all of its manifestations.

For too long you have ignored the 'T' part of the African descended GLBT community. News flash to the GL end of it: some of your trans brothers and sisters happen to be same gender loving people, too.

It's also past time to realize that we can contribute far more to the building and life of the African descended GLBT community than only calling the female illusionists when you want to do an HIV/AIDS benefit show.

Some of us are blessed with skill sets that allow us to be capable of organizing one as well.

Female illusionists, pageant divas or the femme queens of the ballroom community aren't the only part of the chocolate flavored 'T', nor are we defined by our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives to anti-trans violence

There are gainfully employed college educated trans men and women who make up a large chunk of it. We are engaged, politically aware and proud people who are more than willing to step up to leadership roles in this community if given the chance to do so.

I don't want to hear the BS excuse I heard last year when I slammed the trans free 33 Black GLBT leaders list that had no trans people on it that they don't know any trans activists.

Some of you who peddled that weak crap have been too busy partying to get to know ANY GLB activists, much less trans ones. We're out there and it's past time that we start working together to not only help our chocolate flavored GLBT community, but the African descended one as well.

Your trans brothers and sisters take enough crap from society at large and elements of the white run GLBT movement. We don't need it from the GLB people that share our ethnic heritage, too.

With us being three months into the start of a new decade, I hold out hope that my GL community will lead on this issue and finally give us chocolate trans people the recognition, affirmation, help and love that we need from our own people.

Thanks blkout and Zeta Phi Beta!

Wanted to take a moment to thank blkout and the Delta Theta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc for extending to me an invitation to participate in the panel discussion they held last night as part of their PHIner Womanhood Week.

College kids these days are doing some amazing work and stepping up to the plate in terms of holding the discussions on TBLG issues.

Despite the fact I'd been in Frankfort earlier that morning, wasn't missing this 'Black and Gay In America' panel discussion. It was also the first time I'd been on a panel in which the 'B' part of the community was represented.

While Dr. Story unfortunately couldn't be there last night, blkout's Jaison Gardiner did a wonderful job as moderator of the two hour discussion that covered a wide range of issues on and off campus.

It was an informative and interesting discussion in which some cogent and intelligent questions were asked by the audience concerning issues such as family acceptance, spirituality, how to be a better ally to the TBLG community and where we fit in the overall African descended community.

Thanks once again blkout and the distinguished sorors of the Delta Theta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. for giving me the opportunity to take part and kick some knowledge to you about my segment of the BTLG rainbow.

Tiger, Now That You Lost 'Honorary White Male' Status, Don't Come Running Back To Us For Support

Now that Mr. Cablinasian has fallen seriously out of favor with the predominately white fans of the golfing world over his marital woes and infidelity issues, I wonder how long it's going to take before he remembers he's Black and tries to appeal to us for support?

Save it homes. Seen this pattern before with the most recent examples being O.J. Simpson and the late Michael Jackson.

Been there and done that. The sad part is I'm a huge fan of the Athlete of the Decade, but I and much of the African-American community is just through with Eldrick Woods.

There are a lot of ways to be Black, but we get more than perturbed with the lot of you who have at least one African descended parent and are in severe denial about the African part of your heritage.

We get a little pissed with you peeps who are chasing 'honorary white male' status, ignore Black women as potential life partners as a part of that and our community as a whole during your pursuit of superstardom.

But when your ample round butts get into trouble or you fall out of favor with whites for whatever reason, you suddenly remember you're Black and start calling up African-American media outlets and magazines to do interviews. You then try to show you're down with the people in your bid to mend fences with the African-American community and garner our support.

Naw homes. We don't want sloppy seconds. We wanted then and still want to be your first love. But your declaration you were Cablinasian, that you had every right as an individual defining himself to make, was seen as a slap in the face by those of us who are proud to be Black.

One of the biggest surprises of President Obama's Inauguration Week last year was Tiger's participation in the Sunday 'We Are One' event.

Many peeps in the African-American community expressed surprise he was even there, seeing his reluctance to speak out on any issues political or otherwise pertaining to the African-American community over the last decade. Even when he did his short speech, he did so without mentioning President Obama by name.

If we weren't good enough for you to show solidarity and pride with beyond the superficial level when you were doing all those amazing things on the golf courses of the planet, give me and the African descended community one good reason why we should show any love or support to you in return, especially in light of the fact that many of your golfing buds like Jesper Parnevik are openly turning on you like rabid dogs?

But being we African descended peeps are a forgiving bunch, after we get over the simmering anger of being jilted and ignored for the last decade, if Mr. Woods is sincere about doing a much better job in the 2k10's and beyond about staying in better touch with his African descended roots, we'll probably make room for him at the family table.

Hell, somebody's gotta show him some love. But it's definitely going to take awhile before we warm up to you again.

Every Month Is Black History Month

We're close to celebrating another Black History Month. Unlike most people, thanks to my parents and my late godmother, I have a deep love of history in general and Black history in particular.

It drives a thirst for knowledge of my people that happens 365 days a year and 366 days in a leap year.

I'm one of those people who firmly believes that every month is Black History Month. Every month contains either the birthday of a historic figure in our history besides the January 15, 1929 one of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the anniversary of a groundbreaking event, the founding of an iconic organization such as the NAACP or the date a historic achievement occurred for our people.

For example, on this January 7 date inventor W.B. Purvis patented the fountain pen.

In 1891 writer Zora Neale Hurston was born in Eatonville, FL.

In 1955 Marian Anderson, the first African American singer in the company's history, made her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera House as Alrica in Verdi's Masked Ball.

In 2002 Shirley Franklin was sworn in as the first African American female mayor of Atlanta.

We also can't sleep about the Black history that's being made right now in the White House, across the Diaspora, and the people that are making that history happen.

It's not just limited to the borders of the United States. Black history month is increasingly becoming an international event to reflect the fact that there's Black history being made in Canada, the Caribbean, in Europe, the African continent and wherever African descended people reside on this planet.

History is more than just remembering dates, places and larger than life personalities. It is the story of a people as well and endless What Ifs that had they occurred, could have changed the world we are living in at this particular moment in time.

And as I must remind people, just because we are GLBT people, it doesn't mean we became less Black. African descended same gender loving people and trans people have and will continue to play major roles in driving events shaping our people's history such as Bayard Rustin's involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and Marsha P. Johnson being involved in the 1969 Stonewall Riots and the events after it that resulted in the early trans rights movement.

Kelly Miller wrote in The Voice of the Negro in 1906, 'All great people glorify their history and look back upon their early achievements with a spiritual vision.'

Well, we African descended Americans come from a great people who reside on the second largest continent on our planet.

Those of us who ended up in the Western Hemisphere either voluntarily or on that involuntary boat trip have done remarkable things and contributed mightily to building this country.

And we need more than 28 calendar days to properly pay homage to that history.

Am I A Black Transleader?

Friday night I received an e-mail from a young African descended transwomen based on the East Coast who I have high regard for and admire as a trans activist. Her closest friend is another young and musically talented African descended transperson I admire as well.

Her e-mail floored me by expressing hers and the other transwoman's admiration for me. She continued to say in it she saw me as an inspirational role model and expressed her desire to have a long sit down chat with me that will result in us getting to know each other a lot better in 2010 and beyond.

I was shedding a tear or two after I finished it because I was having a bit of a crummy day before I received that e-mail.

Even though I've heard for a decade how much of a leader I am and a positive influence on the African American transgender community and the trans community in general, I kind of take it in stride because I have a cadre of close friends that ensure I never get 'big head syndrome'.

I also have my detractors and haters who at regular intervals let loose their negativity at me as well.

I just do what all people do that are thrust into leadership roles and ignore the haters. As an additional layer of defense against 'big head syndrome' I still filter whatever positive commentary that flows my way through the definition of Black leadership attributed to University of Maryland political scientist Dr. Ronald Walters.

The task of Black leadership is to provide the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.

These objectives have been variously described as freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires disturbing the peace. And we constantly carry on a dialogue about the fitness of various leaders and the qualities they bring to the table to fulfill this mission.

It is this definition of leadership I use as a measuring stick in terms of my own leadership qualities. I try to follow in addition to the Walters definition of Black leadership the sterling examples of leadership from Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the late Rep. Barbara Jordan from the home state, the late Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the late Coretta Scott King and a host of other leaders past and present.

I'm cognizant of the fact that people do look up to me and I never want to be a disappointment to them.

But yes, I'm also human as well. I wonder at times if I have the qualities necessary to carry out such a critical and important mission.

That mission, ladies and gents is getting our African descended cis brothers and cis sisters to recognize that their trans brothers and trans sisters have the same African heritage, history and cultural ties. Our issues as African descended trans people are the same as Black America's issues.

It is getting our cis brothers and cis sisters to accept that we aren't going away and for them to do their part in ensuring that our humanity and our human rights are respected and protected.

It is calling out and speaking truth to power to those people inside and outside the community who align themselves with the same white fundamentalist-GOP Dixiecrat Forces of Intolerance who opposed our 50s and 60's era march toward full equality and our constitutionally guaranteed civil rights.

It is also praising our allies when they do something right on our community's behalf and chastising them with Kingian love when they don't.

So do I have the right stuff to carry that mission out?

Well, the IFGE Trinity Award on the mantel is a big clue that I know a little something-something and have some skills to execute this mission.

But my fellow African American transpeople will let me know one way or the other soon enough.

The African-American Transsisterhood Initiative

Transpeople make up about 3% of the 36 million people that identify as African-American.

The 2Ks will be over in about two weeks and yet we still have problems in the African American transgender community with not knowing our history, not having working relationships with each other and not knowing other African American transpeople.

Well, the 2K10's will be starting soon. One of the things I have constantly complained about is the lack of national community and infrastructure we African descended transpeople have vis a vis our white transsisters. We need our own, and we needed it like yesterday.

To quote Kwame Toure, 'In order to participate in the greater society, we must first close ranks.' When I say African descended transpeople must close ranks, I'm talking about following the historic examples of our cis ancestors, parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

Just as they gathered together to form the organizations, fraternities, sororities and other self help groups that are household names in our communities today, that same spirit of collective organization needs to happen in the African American trans community as well.

I'm blessed to know and have the acquaintances of many African American transpeople in various locales around the country. Some are activists, some aren't. What I would like to do is step it up another level and build lasting, lifelong friendships with many of these wonderful folks as well.

So here's how I envision and propose we do that.

We are hooked up on one level or another on Facebook or other social networking media. We can start by resolving in 2010 and beyond to get to know 5 African descended transpeople you didn't have a lot of communication with or face time this year. We should also include in this effort African descended transwomen that aren't on the Net as well.

Your job as part of the African American Transsisterhood Initiative will be to select five people you've wanted to get to know as friends, and for one year do exactly that. Where they live doesn't matter. They can live in your city or outside of it, but one member of your sisterhood circle must be younger than you, another must be older than you. You can even do more than five people if you wish.

That way as you're getting to know your five peeps, you are getting to partake of the wisdom of your trans elders and your trans younglings.

That education will also be a two way street because we senior trans mamas can kick knowledge about our lives, our history and mentor our trans younglings.

At the same time we get the benefit of finding our more about the lives of our trans younglings, and they can enlighten us with fresh perspectives of looking at issues that will benefit both us and the entire AA transgender community.

One of the things that has immensely helped my growth on my feminine journey is to have been included in the sisterhood networks of some of my cis women friends. They have had my back on many issues, been a font of wisdom and knowledge when it comes to getting my gender act together, have helped me grow spiritually and get better attuned to living life as a Black woman.

At the same time me being the transwoman of the crew has opened their eyes to some of the issues I and other transwomen deal with as well and helped them realize there's not much besides superficial differences between a ciswoman or a transwoman.

I believe we African descended transwomen can benefit from forming sisterhood networks with each other, and what better time to do so than at the start of a new decade, the 2010's.

Let's resolve to finally do the work to make this decade one in which Black transwomen take control of their destinies, not be passive spectators in what happens and begin to make serious moves to take our rightful place at the African American family table.

The first and I believe the easiest step in the long journey to do that is getting to know and becoming friends with the Phenomenal Transwomen that are in our midst.

Donnie McClurkin's Hatin' Again

One of the things that I hate as a Christian is people who have used my faith as a shield to try to mask their bigotry and hatred of GLBT people.

I've also been distressed about this negative trend that started in the mid 90's. We have had increasing numbers of conservative Black megachurch pastors cooning for white fundamentalist pastors. They have not only acted as a conduit for injecting these misguided beliefs into our community, they have pimped their own hatred of GLBT people for media attention and faith based bucks.

I've also been angry about the appalling silence from progressive Black pastors and their failure to call out the conservafools for sullying the activist legacy of the Black church.

I don't like the conservative megachurch ministers or the 'prosperity gospel' they pimp from their pulpits. I believe it has been harmful to our community and the civil rights cause. It has caused a schism in the Black community and diverted the attention of the Black church away from its historic ongoing mission of speaking truth to power and standing up for the powerless.

In too many cases, these megachurch ministers have spent more time doing photo ops, kissing up to a party that has no love for us. and opposing the advance of civil rights rather than being on the front lines fighting for their passage.

They've spent so much time mouthing the words 'Thus sayeth the Apostle Paul' than saying 'Thus sayeth Jesus'

One of the people I really can't stand is so-called ex-gay Donnie McClurkin. He's a real life Amityville horror (was born in Amityville NY) who has a long history of anti-gay statements and Republican ass kissing.

But at the recent COGIC convention in Memphis he outdid himself by calling gay people 'vampires'.

Donnie, you need Jesus. As a matter of fact you need to be praying to God and asking to take the anti-gay hate away.

I as a proud African descended transperson have enough to deal with from white and Catholic fundies. Now here you go drinking the Hateraid Fierce from 55 gallon drums and stirring up the Black ones.

Some of my TransGriot readers over the last two days hit me up on Twitter and Facebook. They stated I should have made Donnie the Shut Up Fool! award winner for the week and I'm beginning to concur with you. His self hatred and jealousy of Tonex is so obvious at this point that even Stevie Wonder can see it.

But he's definitely in the running for the Shut Up Fool! Of The Year Award.

The sad thing is that McClurkin and ministers like him are turning gay and straight people away from Christianity in droves with this repeated anti gay rants.

It's also sad that people like Donnie McClurkin who claim to be 'Christian' are anything but that

I Love This Afrocentric Barbie!

This is the 50th anniversary year of the birth of Mattel's iconic Barbie doll.

Barbie has had a somewhat interesting relationship with Black women and the Black community. The first Black Barbie dolls weren't created until 1980, although Christie dolls were available starting in 1968. The Oreo Barbie was a PR disaster, but the AKA Barbie they created for the sorority's Centennial celebration last year was a big success commercially and PR wise.

However, the reviews inside and outside the Afrosphere about Mattel's announced intention to make their iconic doll more Afrocentric have been mixed as well.

I own nine Barbies of various shades, but they still have the same Eurocentric Barbie nose and lips. In addition, the dolls have substituted light brown, brown and green eyes for blue.

Well, if they want a better idea how to do it besides take their stock Eurocentric doll with straight hair and make it slightly darker, they need to surf on over to Tabloach Productions and peep the retooled custom Barbies Loanne Hizo Ostlie does.

It may seem insignificant to some of you reading this post, but when you are a minority, you have to constantly be on guard against the negative messages that the dominant culture constantly and insidiously bombards at us and our children.

So yeah, I'm definitely loving and feeling these Afrocentric Barbies.

H/T Womanist Musings

School Daze-Straight And Nappy

School Daze is one of my favorite Spike Lee movies even though it was released in 1988. One of the issues that he brought up in this film is the contentious one of our hair.

Here's the musical take on that age old community discussion from the movie.

My GLBT Brothers And Sisters Are My Family

TransGriot Note: A guest post by my Canadian sister Renee, the editor and scribe in chief at Womanist Musings.

First, it must be stated that the sexuality of POC has been used against us as a weapon. Black women have been understood to be hypersexual Jezebels, constantly in search of the next available penis. Black men have either been understood as thug rapists, or as highly effeminate. In each instance this has been to promote White supremacy. POC are not allowed to experience their sexuality as naturally occurring, rather it exists simply to satisfy the needs of others or to promote our bodies as a continual threat to Whiteness.

Due to the White leadership of the mainstream GLBT community, many have refused to accept and or embrace our same gender loving members. Homosexuality is not a White thing; it is not a perversion of bodies of color. Many believe that by rejecting homosexuality that they are rejecting Whiteness, when indeed what they are truly rejecting is our OWN PEOPLE.

The marriage of Michael and Jamil set off quite the firestorm in the Black community. A Morehouse College administrative assistant Sandra Bradley sent the following e-mail.

"I can't believe this wedding. It's 2 men. They don't smile in a lot of pictures and they look like a few brothers I've seen in the streets looking STRAIGHT. Black women can't get a break, either our men want another man, a white woman (or other nationality that's light with straight hair), they are locked up in jail or have a "use to be" fatal disease. I'm beginning to believe Eve was a black woman and we Black women are paying for all the world's sins through her actions (eating the apple)."

Some may view this e-mail as simply a commentary regarding the difficulty of young professional Black women to find a successful Black mate and others see homophobia. It certainly cannot be denied that Black women are likely to remain unmarried or will partner below their class level. This has to do with the ways in which Black femininity has universally been devalued.

The sexuality of Michael and Jamil has nothing to do with the supposed drought of eligible men. It would seem to me to be a very basic fact – Gay men are not attracted to women and any coupling with them would be unsuccessful based on this one simple truth. To belittle them, or question their masculinity is to misplace anger.

When AIDS first became a serious threat many in the Black community, so many refused to speak out and claimed it was the price for engaging in “lifestyles” that were either patterned on White behaviour, or displeasing to God. The very same people who express rage at the genocide that occurred during the middle passage, easily ignored the deaths of thousands. These people had much to contribute to our community and now their voices have been silenced forever, without even a murmur of regret.

Whether someone is same gender loving or trans they are still Black. Their color did not disappear because they chose to live their lives not hiding who they are. We speak about the Black community but what community exists when we deny the happiness and well being of our members? Same gender loving people marched alongside Dr.King for our rights. Same gender loving people are subjected to racism and hatred just as any other person of color. They did not give up their race because they decided to be true to who they are.

When I read commentary like the above I wonder who they think wins when we decide that the same gender loving people in our community do not deserve to be embraced. In fighting and divisiveness serves Whiteness. We must speak with a unified voice to demand equality and by choosing to silence those in our community that make us uncomfortable due to undeserved privilege, we are supporting the very same system that keeps us all understood as secondary citizens. You cannot claim to love Blackness or Black people, if you do not love openly all of its manifestations.

UMass Amherst Student Facing 30 Years For Defending Himself Against Hate Attack

Nope, that post headline is not a typo. University of Massachusetts Amherst student Jason Vassell is facing 30 years in jail for defending himself against two white men who attacked him on campus.

In the early morning hours of February 3, 2008 Jason was in his first floor dormitory room at Mackimmie Hall when he discovered two inebriated white males, Jonathan Bowes and Jonathan Bosse peering into it.

They weren't UMass students He told the two men to leave, and after declining their vitriolic invitation to fight, broke his dorm room window while repeatedly uttering 'nigger' and other racial slurs at him.

After calling an on-campus friend for help while the RA's called the UMass police, Bowers and Bosse bumrushed their way into the dormitory lobby and assaulted Vassell, breaking his nose in the process.

After warning his assailants, Vassell took out a pocketknife and defended himself from the unprovoked assault against the two assailants.

So, in light of the fact you have two inebriated white males with a history of racial attacks and associations with white supremacist groups who jumped this off against a person with no criminal record and an exemplary academic and personal reputation, several witness in the Mackimmie dormitory who corroborated Vassell's story, videotaped evidence blowing Mack truck sized holes in the stories Bowers and Bosse told the UMass po-po's that Vassell 'viciously attacked' them, and medical evidence of Vasser's injuries, who did Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel choose to press charges upon in this case?

Jason Vassell.

Thanks to ingrained racism in the UMass PD, whose officers on the scene repeatedly stated that Vassell was a 'drug dealer' and the prosecutors office, the decision on who to prosecute were made based on the race of the persons involved, not the evidence.

Incredibly, Vassell was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is facing thirty years in jail for defending himself against these racist thugs who sent him to the hospital with a broken nose and a concussion.

Meanwhile, the legal system turned a blind eye to the thugs in question and the serious felonies they committed, including the potential hate crime violations.

Bowes only received misdemeanor charges carrying a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail. On March 13, 2009 a jury acquitted John Bowes of a misdemeanor civil rights violation and found him guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

His punishment? A year of probation. John Bosse was never charged.

In the meantime, the court case against Vassell grinds on.

Sounds like the ugly echoes of the Jena 6 and the Jersey 4 cases.

White peeps start crap, then Black peeps get legal hammer thrown at them by white dominated justice system for daring to defend themselves against the white peeps who started the mess in the first place.

On December 31, 2008, Jason’s defense submitted a Motion to Dismiss his charges on the grounds of selective prosecution.

This 52-page document lays out in greater detail the events of that evening. It adds radio transcripts of the UMass Police responding to the incident, taped interviews between police investigators and Bowes and Bosse, eyewitness statements, the criminal histories of Bowes and Bosse, as well as the charges that could have been brought against Bowes and Bosse.

This document has demonstrated that both Bowes and Bosse have histories of violent racially motivated assaults; that the UMass Police Department’s investigation was racially biased by immediately assuming Jason’s guilt while treating Bowes and Bosse with care and respect; and that the prosecution has continued this bias through their selective prosecution of Jason Vassell.

There is racist and clueless BS being spouted by some commenters on the various Massachusetts area media sites covering this case. In addition to dissing Justice For Jason, they are futilely trying to rationalize the attack by Bosse and Bowes upon Vassell with specious logic.

It's time to wake up and smell the injustice and get a sobering dose of reality.

Whites have had a consistent centuries long history of initiating and visiting racist violence upon people of color, not the other way around.

We know the justice system is stacked in your favor, so POC aren't going to just start any crap unless we are provoked, attacked, or in fear of or defending our lives. But if we're put in that no win situation, we will end it.

So don't start none, won't be none.

Speaking of the Justice For Jason group, they are keeping track of the ongoing legal fight to get the charges dismissed and clear his name.

It would be a travesty of justice to have Jason Vassell's life ruined and society lose his potentially valuable contributions to it because he defended himself in an unprovoked attack perpetrated by drunken, racist thugs.

Model Diandra Forrest Helps Raise Awareness About Albinism

The hottest model on the international catwalks these days is 19 year old New York native Diandra Forrest.

She's a 5'11" tall, African American with blonde hair, high cheekbones, hazel eyes and full lips.

Diandra is also an African American with albinism. It's a hereditary condition that occurs in one of of every 17,000 births in which the skin, hair and eyes produce little or no melanin, resulting in a lack of pigmentation.

ABC's 20/20 is doing a story later tonight at 10 PM EDT on people that have this condition. In Tanzania people with albinism are being attacked, killed or mutilated by witch doctors who believe that their organs or potions made from them can bring luck or cure disease.

In Zimbabwe people with albinism are reportedly being raped by those who believe that sexual intercourse with them can cure HIV/AIDS.

Those atrocities and the persistent discrimination have galvanized people around the world with albinism to organize and become more active and vocal in combating the discrimination and negative stereotyping they face.

Diandra Forrest knows all too well about that. She was teased, taunted and had her ethnic background questioned while growing up in the Bronx.

Thanks to Melissa Reed, her sixth-grade teacher who was also an African-American with albinism, the future model began to undergo a transformation from a shy, quiet child too afraid to speak up to an outgoing young woman unafraid to speak her mind and pursue her dreams.

Diandra's career is starting to take off. She's signed with the prestigious Ford Models in Paris after initially starting her career with Elite.

She just took her first trip outside the United States to France in order to walk the runways during Paris fashion week and fulfill a lifetime dream.

"I'm a model, but I'm not a model just because I'm albino," she said. "I have the look, the body and it's just something that I've strived for, that I've always wanted to do."

She's also expanding our definition of beauty at the same time as well.