Sacoya Cooper, a Black trans woman, has been missing since August and her family needs our help. Poet22 a young Black Queer woman has a crowdfunding campaign happening to raise money for her first album. Let’s support her. For our Black History Month spotlight we salute one of Anna’s all time favs, Gladys Bentley.

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

00:32 – Rate & Review Queer News Ad

01:00 – Intro Music

01:40 – Sacoya Cooper, a Black trans woman, has been missing since August and her family needs our help

03:24 – Poet22 a young Black Queer woman has a crowdfunding campaign happening to raise money for her first album. Let’s support her

05:10 – We salute Gladys Bentley during our Black History Month Spotlight

06:27 – Anna’s Got A Word

Things for you to check out 

Report Sacoya Cooper Missing

Contact the Special Victims Bureau at 614-645-2358 or the Missing Person’s Unit at 614-645-4280. You can also call Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous at 614-645-4749. 

Sequoia Cooper’s GoFundMe
https://www.gofundme.com/f/finding-sacoya-devin-m-cooper

Poet22’s Crowdfunding Campaign 
https://ifundwomen.com/projects/i-made-album-during-pandemic

Anna DeShawn’s TikTok LGBTQ History Spotight – Gladys Bentley

@annadeshawn LGBTQ history on @e3radio #QueerRadioDoneRight #lgbtqhistory #harlem #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #news #lesbiansoftiktok🏳️‍🌈 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage ♬ original sound – annadeshawn

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More on this episode

Family, this is your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn here with our queer news from today. 

Sacoya Cooper, a Black trans woman, has been missing since August and her family needs our help. Poet22 a young Black Queer woman has a crowdfunding campaign happening to raise money for her first album. Let’s support her. For our Black History Month spotlight we salute one of my all time favs, Gladys Bentley. 

Our leading story for today is coming out of Columbus Ohio. We saw this first reported on Gaye Magazine’s Instagram page and we appreciate them amplifying this story and we will do the same. Back in August, yes I said August Sacoya Cooper, a 33 year old Black trans woman, went missing. She was reportedly going to the store but never came back home. The car she was driving was found two weeks later and the police are saying that the findings in the car suggest she may have been the victim of foul play. Her family and the police held a press conference a couple of days ago because they are out of tips and leads. 

Months ago her boyfriend reported to police that he received a text message demanding money to speak with or return Cooper. It’s also being reported that in the beginning the family didn’t believe Columbus police really took Cooper’s disappearance seriously. Back then the police said they didn’t think it was foul play but now they are reporting that it is. Chile’. It’s been six months & Sacoya’s family is devastated.

They haven’t heard from her, which they say isn’t like her at all. They need our help and that’s why I’m sharing the story. If you live in Columbus or have connections to the area maybe you can make some calls and alert your people of this story. Anyone with information on her disappearance is asked to contact the Special Victims Bureau at 614-645-2358 or the Missing Person’s Unit at 614-645-4280. You can also call Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous at 614-645-4749. 

Now our next story is one I’m really happy to share to support a young Black queer woman who I connected with on TikTok. I want y’all to meet Poet22. She drops vidoes about queer artists you should be listening too and is overall just great vibes. Well, during her senior year of high school she made an album titled Chrysalis in the midst of the panorama with her producer Tamira. She’s since graduated and is looking to fund her album. She says this album “was the opportunity to show myself and the world who I really am. Battle scars and all”. Last year she dropped a single on Spotify and garnered her first hit with 30,000 streams. Hear from Poet22 on why she needs our help. [PLAY CLIP]. Yea it takes money to put yourself out in the world and we got to support our own. We all we got. So if you’ve got a few dollars to contribute visit her campaign fund link in the show notes. We’ve already donated as we wouldn’t ask you to do something we haven’t done ourselves. You already know. 

Ya’ll know its Black History Month and in every episode this month we are going to celebrate living at the intersections of being Black & Queer. There are so many Black LGBTQ folks who have made history but their sexuality was left out of the story. I’m here to change that. E3 Radio is here to change that. So with that our Black History spotlight today is Gladys Bentley. 

As reported by NBC News, Gladys was a gender-bending performer during the Harlem Renaissance. Donning a top hat and tuxedo, she would sing the blues in Harlem establishments like the Clam House and the Ubangi Club. According to a belated obituary published in 2019, The New York Times said Bentley, who died in 1960 at the age of 52, was “Harlem’s most famous lesbian” in the 1930s and “among the best-known Black entertainers in the United States.” She would set the keys on a piano on fire while looking so fly in her all white tux. If you want to hear more about her check out the TikTok I did that has over 11,000 organic views. The link is the show notes. Gladys Bentley we see you & we salute you. 

Let’s wrap up Queer News today with my word of the day. Y’all know Anna’s always got a word. Today’s word is “Don’t wish for it work for it.” This quote sits behind me in my office and in my home gym. I see it every single day. We stay wishing for things but when are you going to work for it? Nothing comes to you just because you think you deserve it. That’s not how it happens. You have to go out and get it. You have to put in the time, the energy, the love. Family, don’t keep wishing for it, work for it. Till tomorrow, peace.

Sources

Gaye Magazine

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZvHPC_MqT_/

Columbus police to provide update on case of missing transgender woman, Sacoya Cooper

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2022/02/07/update-expected-case-missing-transgender-woman-sacoya-cooper/6694744001/

Columbus Police believe woman last seen in August 2021 may be victim of foul play

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/columbus-police-providing-update-on-disappearance-of-sacoya-cooper-2-7-2022

I Made An Album During The Pandemic

https://ifundwomen.com/projects/i-made-album-during-pandemic

16 queer Black trailblazers who made history 

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/black-history-month-17-lgbtq-black-pioneers-who-made-history-n1130856

Black Trans woman Sacoya Cooper is still missing, Let’s support a Black Queer woman who’s crowdfunding for her first album & we salute Gladys Bentley during our Black History Month Spotlight – Wednesday, February 9 2022