Elise Malary, a beloved LGBTQ leader here in Chicago is missing and we need to take action. Africans and people of color are attempting to leave Ukraine and are being faced with racism. Tevin campbell comes out but I thought he was out & we salute Ella Baker in our Women’s Herstory Spotlight.

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

00:31 – The Qube Ad, The one and only app curating the best of BIPOC & QTPOC podcasts & music. Be the first to know when the app drops. Sign up for the newsletter at https://theqube.app

01:09 – Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

01:49 – Elise Malary, a beloved LGBTQ leader here in Chicago is missing and we need to take action

03:49 – Africans and people of color are attempting to leave Ukraine and are being faced with racism

04:30 – Tevin Campbell comes out but I thought he was out 

05:15 – We salute Ella Baker for Women’s Herstory Month

8:00 – Anna’s Got A Word

Things for you to check out 

Petition: Provide safe passage for Africans and all People of Colour out of Ukraine

https://www.change.org/p/10downingstreet-provide-safe-passage-for-africans-and-all-people-of-colour-out-of-ukraine?recruiter=8602016

Gaye Magazine – Tevin Campbell Story

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gaye Magazine™ (@gayemagazine)

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

https://ellabakercenter.org/

The Story of Ella Baker (1981)

Sweet honey in the rock – Ella’s Song

---

Listen to More Queer News

---

Transcript

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

Elise Malary, a beloved LGBTQ leader here in Chicago is missing and we need to take action. Africans and people of color are attempting to leave Ukraine and are being faced with racism. Tevin Campbell comes out but I thought he was out & we salute Ella Baker in our Women’s Herstory Spotlight. 

Elise Malary is a leader here in the Chicago LGBTQ community and she’s missing. From what I’ve been told she’s been missing since last Thursday. The maintenance person in her building noticed her front and back doors were unlocked and he called her sister. Her car is gone and she is nowhere to be found. Those closest to her have not seen or heard from her which is just out of character. Everyone is worried. Yesterday I reported on Isa Dessaline who went missing in San Francisco and she was found alive. I am holding that same energy for Elise.  Elise is known for her LGBTQ advocacy work through a mix of staff and volunteer roles at Chicago Therapy Collective, Equality Illinois, AIDS Foundation Chicago, and others.  Earlier this month, Life is Work announced that Elise will be among their 2022 Trans Visibility Award recipients on March 31, in conjunction with National Trans Day of Visibility. She is an absolute gem and we need to do all we can to bring her home. At this time her family & friends are asking for amplification. Not enough people know that Elise is missing. The more visibility and the eyes out here looking for Elise the better. I do this podcast so Queer folks especially my Queer Trans people of color have a platform to be heard. For our stories to be told. For there to be balanced reporting we can trust. This is a moment where I need you to take action. If you’re on TikTok, share the videos I’ve made to amplify the story. If you’re on Instagram, share the reel I made. If you’re on Facebook, share the posts I shared. If you’re Twitter, retweet me. With all of our collective circles of influence we can raise the awareness and visibility of this story. Our collective power should not be underestimated. Let’s work together to bring Elise home alive. 

Last week, a listener of the show shared with me a link to the change.org petition urging people to sign to show support for the safe passage for Africans and all people of color out of Ukraine. She asked that I share it with y’all and I’m going to do just that. If you haven’t heard about this please visit the petition and watch the report by Al Jazeera. One video clearly shows a Black person trying to get on a train but being refused while they welcome a white person instead. Anti-Blackness is a global issue and the way it manifests itself in every country is different. I’ve included a link to the petition in the show notes. Please take a few minutes to check it out and sign if you feel compelled. I already have. 

In entertainment news, Gaye Magazine is reporting that Tevin Campbell came out? I thought he been out but maybe not. Well he replied to a tweet that said, “My mom keep telling me Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, and Tevin Campbel were gay” and Tevin replied saying, “Tevin is. Insert gay flag emoji and cool emoji period. Well he quickly deleted the tweet but his profile has a gay glag in it so I’m confused. But I guess he is out but he’s always been family. I mean always. 

Now it is women’s herstory month & I will be sharing some of my favorite women who have made profound impacts on the world around them. The inequities women still face today are awful from the wage gap to attaining leadership positions to #MeToo. The journey has been long since the suffrage movement and there is still such a long way to go. So, telling these stories & learning more about these icons brings me so much joy. So with that we salute Ella Baker. 

“We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” repeat 2x. This melody was written and performed by Sweet Honey in the Rock called Ella’s Song which was inspired by a quote by Ella Baker. If you’ve ever heard me speak publicly I always lead with this because it speaks to our spirit. Freedom & liberation work is exhausting. No one knew that better than Ella Baker. Born in 1903 she grew up listening to the awful stories of her grandmother who was a former slave. Her maternal grandparents bought, lived on, and cultivated land that was formerly a part of the plantation on which they were enslaved. They bought the land for $250, which they paid off in installments. This purchase was the source of great pride for her family, and they went on to become successful farmers. This grit enabled Ella the opportunity to study at Shaw University in North Carolina and she was a fierce disrupter from the very beginning. She graduated valedictorian and soon after moved to New York City and began her social justice journey. From the Young Negroes Cooperative League, to the NAACP, to being recruited by Dr. King to help start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, then moving on to help start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee known as SNCC. She quite literally went town to town traveling the south for 6 months of the year inspiring Black people to speak up and step out to fight for their rights. Her influence was reflected in the nickname she acquired: “Fundi,” a Swahili word meaning a person who teaches a craft to the next generation. Ella continued to be a respected and influential leader in the fight for human and civil rights until her death on December 13, 1986, her 83rd birthday. She is known as the mother of the civil rights movement and her legacy lives on in the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights located in Oakland, California. Ella Baker we see you & we salute you. 

Today, our word for the day will come from Ella Baker herself. She says, “Until the killing of Black men, Black brother & son becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of white brother and son. We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” Till tomorrow, family. Peace.  

Sources

Petition: Provide safe passage for Africans and all People of Colour out of Ukraine

https://www.change.org/p/10downingstreet-provide-safe-passage-for-africans-and-all-people-of-colour-out-of-ukraine?recruiter=8602016

Gaye Magazine Tevin Campbell Story

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca5zGW9MZJJ/?utm_medium=copy_link

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

https://ellabakercenter.org/

The Story of Ella Baker (1981)

Sweet honey in the rock – Ella’s Song

Elise Malary a beloved LGBTQ leader is missing, Africans and people of color are facing racism trying to leave Ukraine, Tevin Campbell comes out & we salute Ella Baker in our Women’s Herstory Spotlight – Tuesday, March 15, 2022