Strange Fruit: The Intersection Of Race And Family Dynamics

09/06/19 • 35 min

Conversations about the intersections of identify can be awkward, uncomfortable and sometimes emotionally exhausting -- especially when discussing race and gender. And especially when these conversations have to happen between parents and their children. To that end, this week we chat with parents who are having very intentional conversations with their respective family members about ways the world assigns value to -- or holds stereotypical expectations of -- women of color. We’re joined this week by two thought-provoking writers. Author Kay Bolden explains “Why Women in My Family Don’t Scrub Floors.” And later, Canadian writer Anam Ahmed is the mother of two biracial girls – one who shares her Pakistani brown skin and another whose skin and hair more closely resembles the complexion of her Dutch-English-Canadian husband, which she writes about in “My Biracial Children Are Noticing We’re Not All the Same Color.” Support Strange Fruit! Visit donate.strangefruitpod.org

Previous Episode

Strange Fruit: Black & Queer Stories In Fashion News

From its practical and everyday uses, to Black celebrities and fashion icons donning it on red carpets, the durag is finally getting its just due. Fashion & beauty editor Jamé Jackson of TheBlondeMisfit.com joins us this week talk to us about her essay, "How the Durag Became a Political Statement." It illuminates the cultural and political significance of the durag, and how it’s always represented much more than just a hair accessory.

Later in the show we switch gears and turn our attention -- and the conversation -- to last spring’s Met Gala where fashion theme was “Camp: Note on Fashion.” Jackson explores the queer, black and urban roots of camp, and argues that ideas around and performances of camp belonged to Black and queer communities long before it became popular at the annual ball.

In our Juicy Fruit segment, we’re surprised by just how long many Americans will go without changing their underwear.

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Next Episode

Forming Intergenerational Friendships In the Queer Community

What are some of the barriers that prevent intergenerational bonding and mentorship among LGBTQ people? What are some of the factors that hold us back from sharing knowledge and wisdom between folks of different age groups within the queer community? This week we explore intergenerational mentorship and queer concepts of chosen family. Philadelphia Inquirer photo journalist Heather Khalifa introduces us to a black trans woman and her fiancé who act as stand-in parents to LGBTQ youth in their Philadelphia neighborhood. Andrea Lamour-Harrington has opened her home to struggling LGBTQ young people since the 1980s, and as the “mother” of the House of Lamour she has mentored some eighty-seven “children.” Later, Writer and former ActUp NY activist James “Jim” Finn notes that there is a popular perception that intergenerational friendships don’t exist among gay men and other queer people. In his essay “LGBTQ Generations — Mentoring and More,” Finn says that queer folks’ hesitation to mentor youth is rooted in internalized homophobia and deep-seated societal stereotypes that posit older gay men as sexual threats to younger men, and says that his life has been enriched by his friendship with a gay college student more than 30 years his junior.