Strange Fruit

Affordable and stable housing has long been a precarious and stressful pursuit for many Americans. Housing costs across the country have risen, and evictions are becoming much more commonplace than in past years.

In 2016, American property owners filed at least 2.3 million eviction claims. Princeton’s Eviction Lab, which recently released the nation’s largest eviction database, revealed that the Southern region is the area of the country’s most impacted by evictions and that Black renters are disproportionate the victims of the eviction crisis.

Eviction Lab’s report revealed that nine of the 10 cities with the highest eviction rates are not only located in southern states but are also cities that are at least 30 percent black in population.

This week we chat with Atlanta-based journalist Max Blau about why southern renters are losing their homes at such high rates, and we examine some of the social and political obstacles standing in the way of safe, stable and affordable housing for many African Americans.

The 2018 film "Boy Erased" brought conversion therapy to the attention of many film goers.

Sometimes referred to as reparative therapy or ex-gay therapy, conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity through psychological or spiritual methods.

This week we’re joined by Tanner Mobley, Director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, and Mikhail Schulz (also known as award-winning drag entertainer Vanessa Demornay), who is a self-described survivor of conversion therapy. Schulz and Mobley agree that conversion therapy is dangerous, and promotes the idea that LGBTQ people can and should change who they are.

Mobley and his organization are leading efforts to ban conversion therapy in the state, and legislation has been introduced in both the Kentucky Senate and House which aims to make it illegal to practice conversion therapy on minors.

Guests:

With the 91st Academy Awards just weeks away, we decided to have one last conversation about former would-be Oscars host Kevin Hart, his violently anti-gay tweets, and his recent reconciliation appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Tre’vell Anderson, Director of Culture & Entertainment for Out Magazine, joins us to discuss why Ellen was the wrong person to pardon Hart.

Later in the show we talk about the difference between simply fitting in and actually belonging within gay male culture.  Scholar-activist and writer Dr. Jeffry Iovannone reflects on finding his place in mainstream gay culture and finding community and acceptance among his peers.

In Juicy Fruit, we discuss a pack of polar bears that invaded a Russian town and a mother in Maryland who’s going to extremes to find her son a date for Valentine’s Day.

Studies have shown that black students learn better in school environments where their cultural identities are reflected by the school’s curriculum, teachers and administrators. This week we talk about school culture and choices, with New York Times reporter Eliza Shapiro about her feature, ‘I Love My Skin!’ Why Black Parents Are Turning to Afrocentric Schools.

Later in the show, we are joined by co-Directors David Y. Chack and Karen Edwards-Hunter, and actor Tyler Madden from “The Green Book,” which is currently running in Louisville. The play is inspired by Victor Hugo Green’s, “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” which from 1936-1967 helped African Americans traveling in automobiles across the United States find helpful services and places that were friendly to blacks travelers.

This week, filmmaker Billy Cliff joins us to discuss His new film, A Long Road To Freedom: The Advocate Celebrates 50 Years, which spotlights milestone moments in LGBTQ history through never-before-seen footage, and engaging interviews with such folks as Margaret Cho, Don Lemon, Gloria Allred, DeRay Mckesson, and Caitlyn Jenner.

Narrated by Laverne Cox, with music by Melissa Etheridge, the documentary chronicles five decades of the fight for LGBT equality, and the magazine that covered it all.

For our feature interview this week, we speak to tech guru, entrepreneur, and star of the Golden Globe-nominated hit TV show "Pose," Angelica Ross. She joins us to discuss her career, her innovative strides within the tech world, and the importance of black trans visibility.

And in Juicy Fruit: Famed restaurateur, model, author, and television host B. Smith has often been dubbed the “Black Martha Stewart.” Now she’s suffering from Alzheimer's and relies on her longtime husband and business partner Dan Gasby to take care of her. Gasby has recently announced that he has a live-in girlfriend who supports him as he cares for his wife. And she’s a white woman. Doc and I discuss our differing views on this arrangement.

Monosexism is a belief that monosexuality (being straight or gay) is superior to bisexuality or other non-monosexual orientations. It's often paired with biphobia, and both are still pervasive within, and outside of, the queer community.

This week we chat with loyal Strange Fruit listener Hayden Smith, who describes himself as, “a 28-year-old black, bisexual, writer, poet, and activist, happily immersed in a same-sex interracial marriage to my partner of five years.” Hayden joins us to discuss how bi-erasure and gay racism have affected him and had an impact on his relationship.

For our feature interview, we welcome to the studio Patrese D. McClain and Cecil Blutcher, from the cast of "Pipeline" at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Written by Dominique Morriseau and directed by Steve H. Broadnax III,  "Pipeline" is a heart-wrenching portrayal of a mother and son grappling with the “school-to-prison-pipeline” for young men of color in the U.S. education system.

For many African Americans, style has never been simply about keeping up with the latest trends or adhering to what one would consider chic. After the Great Migration--the movement of millions of black Americans out of the rural South--style also signaled financial success and social clout, despite racial prejudice.

This week, Chicago Tribune writer Lolly Bowean joins us to discuss her recent piece, “In handing down furs, black women continue a rich tradition."

Later in the show we explore another aspect of African American culture, the sometimes toxic relationship between black mothers and their children. Journalist Arah Iloabugichukwu’s explores this phenomenon in her piece, “The Strained Relationship Between Black Mothers & Their Daughters.”

And in hot topics, we discuss all the places that folks shouldn’t put Vicks VapoRub.

In his recent The New York Times essay, “I Cross My Legs. Does That Make Me Less of a Man?” novelist Brian Keith Jackson reflects on his childhood worry that crossing his legs would telegraph his sexuality. Eventually he realized he was repeating the move in an attempt to shrink from the judgmental gaze of others. He joins us this week to talk about overcoming this fear and learning to open up.

We also chat with South African HIV Activist and writer Krishen Samuel about his essay “Becoming a Real Gay Boy: Gender vs. Sexuality." Samuel joins us to offer a gay man’s perspective on what he describes as the straitjacket that is masculinity when you do not fit neatly into your gendered box.

And, most importantly, some of special friends and family send Kaila a birthday tribute that brings her to tears. Happy Birthday, Kaila!

We’re joined this week by Dr. Tamura Lomax, independent scholar and the co-founder and CEO of the online feminist and anti-racist publication The Feminist Wire, to discuss her book, "Jezebel Unhinged: Loosing the Black Female Body in Religion and Culture."

In the book, she traces the Jezebel trope (the portrayal of black women as naturally lascivious and seductive) from the black church to black pop culture. On today's show, we discuss how the persistence of this trope perpetuates heteronormativity, gender hierarchy and patriarchy within black communities and cultural institutions.

Later in the show we chat with writer Matthew Thompson about his provocative essay, “The messy relationship between f*ggots & the Black American pop diva,” which explores the symbiotic relationship between black women pop stars and black gay men.

Our featured guest this week is black gay stand-up comic Sampson McCormick, who’s headlined such venues as the historic Howard Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Laugh Factory in Hollywood, Harvard University, and the National Museum of African-American History in Washington D.C.

An award-winning entertainer, Sampson join us to talk about his decades-long career of breaking barriers, overcoming obstacles, and shattering expectations as a black queer comic. And he weighs in some of his fellow comics who’ve made headlines lately, including Mo’nique, D.L. Hughley, and, of course, Kevin Hart.

In a very special edition of Juicy Fruit, my sister-in-law Steu stops by the studio and we discuss whether it’s time for Santa to get a makeover.