Atlanta Activists Help Black, Trans, and Queer Americans Acquire Passports
As the government declares war on black, brown, gender diverse, and impoverished communities, activists in Georgia are working to secure people’s ability to travel out of a country that is increasingly hostile to their existence.
SNaPCO’s Executive Assistant Asya Fields (right) with two participants of the 2025 Passport Clinic at Fulton County Superior Court Passport Office. photo by Asya Fields
by Dr. Christy Perez
In August 2025, Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative (SNaPCo) organized a seven-day passport clinic in Atlanta, providing a critical resource at a time when access to travel and identification has become increasingly tied to questions of survival. In addition to my role as a journalist, I serve with SNaPCo as Leadership & Development Coach, and I was involved throughout the passport clinic. This piece reflects that dual position.
In partnership with Vote Riders and the Fulton County Superior Court Clerk’s Office, roughly 185 people over the course of the week-long initiative were engaged - many of them Black, trans, and queer community members navigating the complex process of securing passports. These documents, once treated mainly as tickets for travel, have now become shields against erasure, harassment, and shrinking rights.
“As a man of color, I often carry extra weight navigating systems that weren’t built for me,” said Jordan Ferguson, 25, of Atlanta. “For a long time the process of updating my documents felt overwhelming, like one more barrier in a world that already questions my existence. This clinic lifted that weight, they made everything smooth and easy; they paid for it all. It gave me hope and reminded me that community care makes all the difference. Snap Co. didn’t just help me get a passport; they gave me the chance to exist fully and authentically, and for that, I’m deeply grateful.”
Eighty-five people were provided fully paid passport appointments through the clinic, while others were referred to services such as Vote Riders for assistance with identity documents. The number of completed appointments would likely have been higher, but many participants told SNaPCo they simply could not afford to take time away from work—a barrier that underscored how economic precarity intersects with questions of mobility and safety. For those able to secure appointments, the process was transformative, representing not just a bureaucratic step but an affirmation of dignity and future possibility.
Each day of the clinic, at least one volunteer from the local community was present to welcome participants, offer encouragement, and demonstrate that their neighbors and networks stand behind them. It was not only about paperwork; it was about showing up in ways that said, you are seen, you are loved, and you are supported. This visible presence of care set the tone, shifting the atmosphere from a transactional government process into an act of community wellness.
“This clinic wasn’t just about getting passports,” said Toni-Michelle, executive director of SNaPCo. “It was about reminding our people that in a country determined to police our bodies, our freedoms, and even our ability to move, we still have the power to protect each other. Every appointment, every volunteer, every moment of care was a statement: we refuse to be erased, and we will build the futures we deserve.”
SNaPCo, a Black trans-led organization, has built its reputation on redefining public safety through practices rooted in community wellness and abolitionist vision. Rather than relying on policing, surveillance, or incarceration, the group invests in tangible supports that help people protect themselves and their families. The passport clinic is a prime example: while politicians debate rights in courts and legislatures, SNaPCo is equipping vulnerable people with the means to move freely and, if necessary, to leave. The passport clinic initiative is only one of numerous SNaPCO projects, programs and research areas.
The urgency of this year’s clinic was heightened by political shifts under the Trump administration. Attacks on trans rights have resurfaced with renewed force, echoing earlier battles over gender markers on identification documents. During Trump’s previous presidency, restrictions on trans health care and identity recognition fueled fear and instability. In 2025, with new militarization initiatives being piloted in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., many organizers see passports as part of a survival strategy. Atlanta, home to strong Black trans organizing, is bracing for similar tests of tolerance and force.
That militarization agenda cannot be separated from the wholesale expansion of policing across the country. What begins as “security measures” in one city often spreads nationally—new surveillance technologies normalized in airports, police forces armed with military-grade weapons patrolling neighborhoods, and protest restrictions reframed as law-and-order policies. The net effect is an infrastructure of control designed to police not just bodies but freedoms: restricting where people can go, how they can assemble, and even whether their identities are recognized as legitimate. Communities already criminalized—Black, Brown, immigrant, queer, trans, and poor—are targeted first, but history shows the apparatus never stops there. SNaPCo’s work anticipates this reality, creating practical defenses for those who cannot wait for government institutions to change course.
Zyaire Jackson, 38, of Atlanta, described his family’s clinic day appointment process as “quick and easy,” adding that they were welcomed by friendly SNaPCo faces. “They were smiling when we arrived. And I was blessed to hear about SNaPCo because I was going through serious depression with everything that’s going on with the politics,” Jackson said. “Not knowing what this political climate might mean for me and my family.”
For trans people in particular, accurate identification is a matter of immediate safety. Misaligned documents can expose travelers to harassment, denial of services, or worse. A passport that reflects a person’s identity not only affirms dignity but also provides an additional layer of protection in encounters with authorities at airports or border crossings. Beyond the personal stakes, the availability of passports offers communities the option of flight should conditions in the United States become untenable.
By offering this service, SNaPCo challenges the state’s narrative of “public safety,” which often justifies policing, militarization, surveillance, and restrictions on movement. Instead, the clinic points to another vision: safety as the freedom to move, to thrive, and to be recognized. For participants, many of whom might never have accessed passports without SNaPCo’s support, the clinic was more than paperwork. It was preparation for the future in an era of uncertainty.
As militarization creeps closer and political hostility escalates, the passports secured during this seven-day initiative stand as more than documents. They are testaments to foresight and collective care. They remind us that survival is not only about resisting harm but also about building systems of love, resilience, and protection. And they underscore what SNaPCo has long insisted: the work of liberation is not abstract. It is local, it is material, and it is urgent.
“A passport means more than just being able to get to safety and it means more than just the freedom of being able to travel and see the world. It means the ability to let the world see us, too,” Jackson added.
Dr. Christy Perez, also known as C-Dreams, is an award-winning journalist, visionary public theologian, and abolitionist strategist whose work bridges faith, justice, and storytelling. A 2024 PJP Stillwater Award recipient for Best News Story and Marvel Cooke Abolitionist Journalism Fellow, her writing has appeared in outlets including HuffPost, The Appeal, Filter Mag, Business Insider, and more. Drawing from lived experience and a career of movement leadership, she writes to expose systemic harm, uplift marginalized voices, and chart pathways toward liberation.