Patricia "Patty" Berne Celebration of Life | Words from Talila A. Lewis | 9 Aug. 2025

[Video description: Me, Talila A. Lewis, a dark brown-skinned Black young-looking almost-forty year old wearing a white linen loose-fitting stand collar button up shirt. I am wearing dangling multi-colored teardrop earrings, a geometric multi-colored beaded Guna Yala pulseras/bracelet on one arm and a silver bracelet with a heart dangling on the other arm. I am wearing a coblat/Frida Kahlo Blue durag with a creme pinchfront cowboy hat. I am seated in front of a white wall.]

I was deeply honored to have been invited to share a few words during Patty Berne's Celebration of Life today. I will share more as time progresses and look forward to supporting with Patty's Legacy Work. For now, I just want to share this video as a form of respect for and to my Elder, now Ancestor, Patricia "Patty" Berne. Presente.

"WE HONOR US." - PATTY BERNE

Humble thanks to all the people who worked so hard to ensure that Patty's Celebration of Life was so memorable and special. Sending my deepest condolences, comfort, and compassion to Patty's families, loved ones, and all of our communities. Eternal gratitude to Patty for their offerings, love, care, encouragement and support. To learn more about Patty and to review some of Patty's heartwork, please see the resources  below this transcript.

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​ROUGH TRANSCRIPT, COMMENTS FROM TALILA A. LEWIS:
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[tips hat]  Talila A. Lewis here. 

I bring greetings from The Deep South, El Negro Sur, of what is colonially known as the united states. 
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I feel very honored to have been invited by Patty's families--families plural--communities, organizations, to share just a few minutes of words, just a few minutes! [chuckles gently]. Um . . . this has been very difficult; and I just feel very honored. 

I've had . . . Well, first giving honor, honor to The Divine Creator Spirit Ancestors who are the head of my life; honor to my family and everyone who has poured into me, including Patty, to ensure that I can be WHO I am, WHERE I am, AS I am. 

[deep exhale] 

I've had the privilege and honor of sitting at the wheels of Patty and learning with and from Patty, organizing with Patty in various formations over a span of more than a decade in different contexts. And it has been truly an honor and privilege. I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am without Patty’s love and encouragement and support and care. 

[signs *back in time* then pauses]

I don’t want to tell too many stories. I was gonna tell y’all about the last time I was with Patty, but I wanna…I’ll hold that…for now. 

One of my first interactions with Patty: Patty reached out to me over a decade ago after I created an offering and put it out into the world. Patty's work and offerings were a huge influence to this offering. And Patty reached out; and I was so shocked because I studied Patty's work and knew who Patty was, but certainly didn't think that I would ever just have a random reach out from Patty. And they reached out and said…they offered gratitude and encouragement. And I said, “you honor me,” or something to that effect; and Patty wrote back: “We honor Us.” And, I really . . . I certainly was raised in that Tradition [signs concept *generational/tradition*] without, without those specific words; and to have those specific words put to the practice of honoring one another has been something that's really stayed with me for all of these years. 

And it's the story I tell to most people about Patty when I'm first talking to folks about what I'm rooted in and what Patty was rooted in. It was not performance. It was praxis. And in a time of great performance, one thing that I can say about Patty is that Patty embodied--praxised [chuckles], practiced what they preached. Loved so deeply so generously so freely; wanting nothing in return, except that we honor one another--that we honor and take care of one another. 

And I'm just so grateful to have shared timespace with Patty in this realm. I'm grateful that I will be able to call upon Patty for guidance as time progresses. And as my time nears an end . . . [smiles noting wanting to say more]

I just want to offer heartfelt condolences to Patty's family and loved ones and to our communities. And I want to call us back to our humanity, to ourselves, to our communities, and call us into our power in this time--call us back into our collective power in this time.
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Thank you and I look forward to more conversation.

Image of Patty Berne in an off the shoulder vestido huipil blanco with red orange green flowers. Patty's jet black curly hair covers her shoulders, and she is wearing silver necklace and bracelet hammered metal. The headrest of Patty's wheelchair can be seen a bit in the background with the quote below.

​“Disability justice was a reaction to the ways that the U.S. disability rights movement “invisibilized the lives of peoples who lived at intersecting junctures of oppression – disabled people of color, immigrants with disabilities, queers with disabilities, trans and gender non-conforming people with disabilities, people with disabilities who are houseless, people with disabilities who are incarcerated, people with disabilities who have had their ancestral lands stolen, amongst others.”

-Patricia “Patty” Berne, Co-Founder, Executive & ArtisticDirector of Sins Invalid

LEARN MORE ABOUT PATTY BERNE (living list; will grow with time):

• Patty's Obituary in ASL
• Read/hear Patty's Obituary in Spanish
• Read/hear Patty's Obituary in English
• "The Late Patty Berne Was a Visionary Leader in the Disability Justice Movement," by Rabbi Elliot Kukla in truthout.org
• "In Remembrance of Patty Berne, January 21, 1967 - May 29, 2025" by Alice Wong
• SinsInvalid​

REVIEW SOME OF PATTY'S HEARTWORK (living list; will grow with time):

• Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People
• What is Disability Justice? [link forthcoming]
• Disability as an Aesthetic: Disability Justice in the Arts with Patty Berne