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On this Thanksgiving Week edition of Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, brings you highlights from the annual Anne Braden Institute Research Meets Activism Breakfast, hosted at the Louisville Urban League on November 21, 2019. The event featured a panel discussion about the intersections of journalism and racial justice featuring: - Amber Duke, Communications Manager for the ACLU of Kentucky. Learn more at https://www.aclu-ky.org/en/staff/amber-duke - Michael L. Jones, a freelance journalist and author who has reported for Insider Louisville, LEO Weekly, Louisville Magazine, and others. Learn more at https://insiderlouisville.com/author/michael-l-jones/ - Dr. Kaila Story, UofL Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pan-African Studies. She holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and co-hosts the podcast with Jaison Gardner called Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life. Learn more at https://louisville.edu/wgs/faculty/story - Dr. Jelani Cobb, a staff writer at the New Yorker, historian, and the Ira A. Lipton Professor of Journalism at Columbia Journalism School. His work focuses on race, politics, and culture while connecting the historical context of racism to current affairs. Dr. Cobb is the author of several titles including The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress, The Devil and Dave Chappell & Other Essays, and To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic. His recent work includes participating in Ava DuVernay’s landmark documentary “The 13th.” Learn more at http://louisville.edu/braden/programs/memorial-lecture/the-half-life-of-freedom-race-and-justice-in-america-today Learn more about UofL's Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research at http://louisville.edu/braden As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! airs on FORward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is used by permission from the fantastic Louisville band, Appalatin. Explore their inspiring music at http://www.appalatin.com
Tony Award-winning actor, signer, and songwriter Idina Menzel originated the role of Maureen Johnson in the Broadway and film versions of "Rent," kicking off a celebrated career and solidifying her place as an LGBTQ icon. She spoke to Jaison Gardner and Kaila Story, hosts of WFPL's Strange Fruit podcast, in anticipation of her appearance in Louisville next month. Menzel will perform at the Louisville Palace on August 6th. Check out the Strange Fruit Facebook page for a chance to win tickets to the show and a meet & greet with the artistl.
Louisville's Fairness Ordinance is one of the oldest comprehensive LGBT protections in the nation. Since early 1999, it's been illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity in our city, so many of us take it for granted that we'll be protected. But what about those members of our own community who live or work a short hop across the river, in Southern Indiana? While New Albany passed a fairness law in 2012, there's no such law in Jeffersonville - but our guest this week, Indiana University student Evan Stoner, is spearheading the effort to change that. Stoner, who's lived in Jeffersonville for the past 12 of his 19 years, says he's experienced first-hand the consequences of living in a city that doesn't explicitly embrace its queer citizens. "I've endured discrimination in the school system, on social media, from other people who also live in Southern Indiana," he explains. "I've come to the realization that there is a need right now to make progress in Indiana." Stoner has not only asked the city council to consider a non-discrimination law, but is also organizing that city's first-ever Pride Festival, to take place this summer. He joins us to talk about his efforts, and the reactions of the community. Our other guest this week will be familiar to long-time listeners, and to reality TV fans. Wil Heuser joined us in 2012 to talk about representations of LGBT people on reality TV, shortly after his stint on Big Brother. Now he's back in Louisville full-time, working as the creative director of Modern Louisville Magazine. The monthly magazine focuses on local LGBT issues and society events. And this month's issue features our own Dr. Kaila Story breaking down issues of bisexual identity and erasure. Friend to the show Chris Hartman graces the cover, and Jaison Gardner appears in Hartman's list of 2015's biggest moments. Chatting with Wil and Evan was a great way to start 2016! They're both doing important and creative work that makes our community better, and we can't wait to hear about their accomplishments throughout the year!
Louisville is looking pretty good this week! We recently got a 66% on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index—higher than the national average of 59%, and the highest rating of any city in Kentucky. The index looks at factors like non-discrimination laws, domestic partner benefits, openly gay elected officials, and more, and largely finds cities leading the way in the US, while states sometimes lag behind. This week we're joined by Cathryn Oakley of the HRC, who tells us more about the methodology, and how this year's study compares to previous years. In Juicy Fruit, we cover more Louisville news: WFPL health reporter Ja'Nel Johnson sits in to tell us about an encouraging story from the University of Louisville medical school. It will be the first med school in the nation to include specific instruction on treating LGBTQ patients. In other hot (and medical) topics, an employee of Norton Healthcare was fired after her racist facebook post went viral (including a share from our own Jaison Gardner, who was mentioned in the subsequent media coverage). Toni Morrison has a new novel coming out in the Spring, and last week was also the anniversary of James Baldwin's death, so we spend some time this week showing respect to these legends of Black literature and discussing the significance of their works. And finally, the Wall Street Journal's arts & entertainment blog, The Speakeasy, released its list of The 15 Best Pop Culture Moments of 2014. Some we totally got (the Oscar selfie, "Adele Dazeem," Pharrell's hat), and others we barely even registered this year (President Obama on Between Two Ferns, Katy Perry dressing as a Cheeto, something about Sharknado 2?). We didn't have time to include it all in this week's show, so the pop culture moments conversation is bonus fruit this week: https://soundcloud.com/strangefruitpod/bonus-fruit-the-wall-street-journals-15-best-pop-culture-moments-of-2014
On this week's show, we talked to journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas about his latest film, Documented, his organization, Define American, and his experience as an undocumented person living in the United States. Vargas described how his intersecting identities have required him to come out of two closets - one of which was easier than the other: "For me, being vocal and open about being gay, knowing where I grew up in California, was much easier than outing myself as undocumented." We also explored the idea that our equality is tied to everyone else's equality - and that we have a long way to go. " This country invented white like it invented black. And now you have all these Latinos and Asian people - everybody's just confused," he explained. "I actually think that's why we're at this very seminal moment in american history. People like to think that we live in some kind of post racial colorblind Obama era thing. And you and I both know that that doesn't exist." In our Juicy Fruit segment, we talked about UMass basketball star Derrick Gordon'srelationship with CSI actor Gerald McCullouch. Gordon is 22, McCullouch is 47, and while we don't know anything about this particular relationship, Jaison points out that it's part of a larger phenomenon of middle aged white men who only date very young black or Latino men. We discussed how in some cases this attraction is based on fetishization, and can even be predatory. And we announced an event we're looking forward to: On Thursday, May 29th, we'll host a screening of The New Black, a film by Yoruba Richen that chronicles the efforts of black LGBT activists to pass marriage equality legislation in Maryland. Our own Jaison Gardner and Dr. Kaila Story will hold a discussion and Q&A after the film. Click here for details and here to reserve your free ticket.
This Summer during New York's Pride celebration, violinist and opera singer Tona Brown will become the first trans woman of color ever to perform at Carnegie Hall - headlining the first LGBTQ-themed production ever to be staged there. We were lucky enough to speak with Tona this week about the music she will play there, and the importance of transgender people in LGTBTQ history. NYC Pride 2014 will focus on commemorating the Stonewall Riots, which were lead by trans women of color. Tona says she's been able to reach the level she has in her career because she took a non-traditional path. "Everything that I do is as an independent, freelance artist," she explains, which means she produces her own events and released her album, This Is Who I Am, independently. "Now if I had tried to do it the traditional way, of going to The Met competitions and doing all of that sort of thing, and meeting a conductor that can say yea or nay to me being hired," she says, "I would have had a different experience." She encourages other aspiring artists to hone their craft and be persistent, even if discrimination slows their progress. "If you have a talent and you have a drive to not let people tell you what you can and cannot do, you will succeed. It will just take you longer." With the help of GLAAD, she's raising funds to support the production. We'll be keeping up with her on Facebook and Twitter and will keep you posted on her progress (and let you know when tickets go on sale, for those who can make the trip!). We absolutely adore Tona and can't wait to see what she might accomplish next! Since we'reLove And Hip Hop Atlanta fans, we had to talk about Mimi and Nikko's sex tape this week in our Juicy Fruit segment. Whether you think so-called "leaked" sex tapes are publicity stunts or the real deal, they share a troubling common denominator: "The thing that kills me about all of these sex tapes that come out, like Kim Kardashian and now Mimi," Kaila says, "is that in all of these straight copulation videos, there's no condom! I mean, in 2014, it's really not time for you straight women to keep sleeping with men raw. Just an FYI, that's not a good look." And as Jaison adds, "Pregnancy's the least of your concerns." Indeed, women now account for 1 in 5 of new HIV infections - with African-American women particularly at risk - mostly from heterosexual sex. So why do we only see free condom distribution and mobile STD testing trucks outside gay bars? What would happen if straight people were encouraged to keep track of their status as conscientiously as gay folks are expected to? Would we see a celebrity safe-sex tape one day? Also in Juicy Fruit, we touched on the always-controversial subject of corporal punishment for children, inspired by a Louisville mom who is accused of punching her teenage son in the mouth, busting his lip and loosening one of his teeth. And we had to toot our own horn a bit, because Jaison Gardner recently appeared before a committee of the Louisville Metro Council to talk about the challenges faced by tipped workers who make a $2.13/hour minimum wage. Check out his remarks and let us know what you th
Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evars has garnered Kentucky's Poet Laureate, Frank X Walker, a nomination for an NAACP Image Award. He calls this book of 49 poems his finest work to date, and says it has an educational component along with its poetry. "The initial motivation was based on having a conversation with my students and finding out that they had no idea who Medgar Evers was." We spoke to Walker on this week's show about his life, his work, and what it means to be Affrilachian. Our Juicy Fruit segment this week looks at the man who got in trouble for paying too much child support, the chef who wants to ban babies from his restaurant, and CeCe McDonald's release from prison. And our very own Jaison Gardner filled us in on his new column, In Visible Ink, appearing every other week in LEO Weekly!
It continues to shock me that in a group of oppressed people (like the transgender community) how much there is oppression/pre-judgment/racism in our community. You would think a person that has been pre-judged simply for how they dress would be a little more understanding about people being pre-judged on the color of their skin. Well, this show is going to open some eyes (if we have open ears and hearts) about the race issues in and about the transgender community. I will have two guests that are good friends of mine that will offer a perspective on this topic that might be a little direct and maybe even difficult for some to hear but that is needed. Jaison Gardner and Monica Roberts join me for this very important topic. Jaison is a community activist and organizer in the Louisville area and a board member of the Fairness Campaign along with a co-founder and President of the Derby City Black Pride Organization. Monica Roberts is our other vrey special guest. She is a trans human rights advocate and blogger. Many of you might know her blog, "TransGriot" Blog. Monica is also involved in activist work in the Houston, TX area. Listeners can call in live during the show. Thanks!