The Black Moon Podcast

The Black Moon Podcast is an exploration and interrogation into Black death. This podcast aims to deepen our knowledge about the life stories of Black people who have passed away and situate their death in the societal context in which they died. The Black Moon Podcast is additionally here interrogate the understanding of death in the western world and provide vital information that will hopefully help Black people be better prepared to engage with death. Lastly, this podcast is here to hold space for collective healing. Rather than experiencing the death of Black people through viral trauma-porn and hashtags centered around the last moments of life, BMP aims to remediate the harm being done to our psyches from watching Black people die. This podcast is written and produced by Gambian-American Poet Olka Baldeh.

The fourth episode of the Black Moon Podcast honors the life of Muhlaysia Booker. Muhlaysia Booker was a 22 year old woman with a big personality. Raised in Dallas, TX, Muhlaysia was Black, Trans, dynamic, dramatic, determined, and absolutely hilarious. Muhlaysia describes herself as a comedian, she calls in that she will be famous, and in one of the last videos saved on her FB, she emphatically reminds us that time is fleeting and there’s no second chance on this life. On Saturday May 18, 2019, Muhlaysia Booker was seen for the last time getting into a light colored Lincoln. The next time Muhlaysia would be seen was around 6:40am that Saturday morning. She was found facedown in the street, dead from a gunshot wound.
Topics touched on in include: Black Trans Women, Gender-based Violence, Gender Identity, Race, Racism, White Supremacy, Homophobia & Transphobia in the Black Community.
Referenced in this episode:

• Dream Defenders Sunday school: Unlock Us, Abolition in Our Lifetime (w/ Angela Davis)
• The Muhlaysia Booker Foundation
• The Transgender District
• TGI Justice Project

US Capitol Switchboard Number: (202) 224-3121

To support Janelle Luster:

• CashApp: $JanelleLuster
• Venmo: Janelle-Vinson-1
  

Original music by: Siddy Beats

Episode Citations

The third episode of the Black Moon Podcast honors the life of Danshaun Wells. Danshaun Wells was the second oldest of six kids. He was enterprising, sweet, and wise beyond his years. By the time he was 11 years old, Danshaun was running a full service lawn maintenance business and hiring out the houseless people living in his neighborhood. His mom Dee said that Danshaun was her own personal geek squad, a walking dictionary, a boss in his own right, and he really loved his family and they really loved him. At the time of his death, Danshaun was 14 years old and soon to be a high school sophomore.
Topics touched on in include: Compassion, Black Pain, Empathy, Race, Racism, Re-traumatization After Tragedy, Media Ethics, Consent, and Police Mediocrity/Neglect.
Referenced in this episode:

• “Why the World Doesn’t Seem to Give A Damn About Haiti” by Terrence Chappell: https://www.ebony.com/news/haiti-empathy-racism/
• “I Don’t Feel Your Pain: A failure of empathy perpetuates racial disparities” by Jason Silverstein: https://slate.com/technology/2013/06/racial-empathy-gap-people-dont-perceive-pain-in-other-races.html
• “Racism and the Empathy for Pain on Our Skin": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3108582
• “Racial Bias in Perceptions of Others’ Pain”: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0048546
• “The Racial Empathy Gap: No Sympathy For The Black Working Class” by Marcus H. Johnson: https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/the-racial-empathy-gap-no-sympathy-for-the-black-working-class-1f8cea33b4b1

Original music by: Siddy Beats

The second episode of the Black Moon Podcast honors the life of Korryn Gaines. Korryn Gaines was the third child of Rhanda Dormeus. Rhanda describes her daughter as a voracious reader, precocious, outspoken, extremely honest as a child but respectful. At 23 years old Korryn Gaines was tiny, standing at 5’2 and weighing only 106llbs. In adulthood Korryn stayed true to her childhood character. She was honest, outspoken, and defiant. She was also fun, creative, loved her Blackness, and she was very aware of the history of exploitation experienced by Black people in America.
On August 1, 2016, Korryn Gaines was killed, shot several times by Officer Royce Ruby Jr of the Baltimore County Police Department. Her 5 year old son Kodi would also be shot in the face and the elbow. Both the shot to Kodi’s cheek and elbow were a result of ricocheting bullets shot by Officer Ruby.
Topics touched on in include: police brutality, anger, and white supremacists who in similar standoffs with police got to keep their lives.

Referenced in this episode:
40 day timeline of Bundy standoff in Oregon:
https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/10/oregon_standoff_timeline_41_da.html
Audre Lorde's keynote presentation at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference in June 1981:
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1981-audre-lorde-uses-anger-women-responding-racism/Original music by: Siddy Beats

The first episode of the Black Moon Podcast honors the life of MarShawn McCarrel. MarShawn, or “Shawn” as his friends knew him, was a community organizer, a poet, and a bringer of joy to everyone around him. He inspired people to help others. His tribe described him as “living the commitments that many of us talk about everyday.” They said that “MarShawn was a soldier for the liberation of all people. His spirit was effervescent with visionary beauty, creativity, and love.”
On Monday, February 8th, 2016 around 6pm, at the tender age of 23, it is said that Marshawn McCarrel committed suicide in front of Ohio’s Statehouse. He was pronounced dead at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. There were no witnesses to the shooting.
Topics touched on in include; activism, police brutality, depression, suicide, racism, and the suspicious deaths of Black activists all around the nation.
Referenced in this episode:

A Year in the Death of Tyrone West - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-8jardyX4
Original music by: Siddy Beats