We Want the Airwaves: QPOC Artists on the Rise

In part 2 of my interview with tech activist Lynn Cyrin, we discuss anti-Black racism at Facebook, Google, Dropbox and Reddit. Lynn explains why Facebook won't change its "real names" policy and how Quirrel (the social network she is building with CollectQT) will be better/queer-friendlier. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia .

Black trans woman tech activist Lynn Cyrin discusses being homeless in SF, crashing fancy tech events, and crowdfunding enough money to get a place her own (after moving to Portland). Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia .

Indigenous multimedia artist Grace Rosario Perkins discusses Thin Leather, a series of paintings she collaborated with her dad on, the whiteness/maleness of the music program at Mills College, and UIUC's racist school mascot. She is part of the Black Salt Collective which has a show at SOMArts called Visions into Infinite Archives from January 14 to February 10, 2016. More info at http://www.somar...

micha cárdenas has been on the cutting edge of using technology for social change since the Myspace days. In this interview she discusses virtual sit-ins, designing an app to help immigrants find water in the dessert, and being one of few trans Latinas with a PhD. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia .

Monica Trinidad is a Chicago-born, Chicago-based artist, activist, and prison abolitionist. In part one of this interview we discuss her work with Brown and Proud Press, Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, and her impressions of protests in Oakland versus Chicago. Part two is coming later this month. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/...

Back in April, I had the privilege of interviewing (straight) Australian comedian Aamer Rahman while he was touring the US. Rahman is perhaps best known as part of the comedy duo Fear of a Brown Planet, and for the video that went viral of his joke about "reverse racism". In this interview, Aamer and I discuss growing up brown and Muslim in Australia pre-9/11 versus post-9/11, getting into comedy...

Elena Rose is a mixed-race, mixed-class, trans woman of color performance poet and minister. In this interview she described how her mom's working-class values shaped her ideas of womanhood, finding out she had a trans great aunt in the The Philippines, and her own transition as death and rebirth. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Musician. Author. Filmmaker. What doesn't Vivek Shraya do? Back in April, I sat down with the Toronto-based artist to discuss the economics of touring and self-publishing, racism in the music industry, and our shared love of the 1993 Salt'n'Pepa album Very Necessary. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia . Photo by Karen Campos Castill...

Ajuan Mance is a visual artist and my former literature professor. She has been an actively involved in The Art of Living Black for several years and draws a portrait series called 1001 Black Men. She is also the author of Inventing Black Women: African American Women Poets and Self-Representation 1877-2000. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/arta...

Visual artist Texta Queen and I discuss the differences between the US and Australia in terms of racism, making a living as an artist, and organizing DIY events. Come see both of us at the  Queers & Comics Conference May 7th & 8th, 2015.  Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivitnia . Find more episodes at artactivistnia.com .

Indira Allegra explores issues of violence against people of color and LGBTQ people through her video and textile work. In this episode, she discusses losing her hearing while working as an ASL interpreter, getting her first film picked up for distribution in Canada, and developing a disability justice political framework. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at p...

Mixed-race queer Arab indigenous poet Amir Rabiyah and I discuss how to "respectfully reintegrate" parts of your racial/ethnic heritage that have been assimilated away, growing up mixed in Hawai'i, and the politics of editing an anthology. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia . Find more episodes at artactivistnia.com .

Miyuki Baker spent fourteen months traveling to sixteen countries and making zines about the queer cultures she encountered in each place. In this interview we discuss how she found the funds to travel, the connotations of "queer" in different countries, and international polyamory. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia .

Devi K is the artistic director of Peacock Rebellion , a Bay Area-based queer and trans people of color performing arts organization. Peacock Rebellion produced a cabaret about the nonprofit industrial complex in 2012, and is currently training a cohort of queer and trans people of color to become activist stand-up comics. Manish used to be my boss, then we became close friends, and we just recent...

Totally Radical Muslim zine editors Shenaaz Janmohamed, Aliya Karmali, and Roxana Dhada discuss how to enable prisoners to participate in zine culture, tensions between Sunni and Shi'a Muslim communities, and building solidarity between Muslims across racial and ethnic lines. (Aliya Karmali is not pictured.) Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support the podcast at patreon.com/arta...

When trans women of color take over the world,  Lexi Adsit will be to blame. This recent SF State graduate is currently co-organizing the first International Trans Women of Color Network Gathering for the upcoming Allied Media Conference. In this interview, she discusses her background as a student organizer of the Queer Yo' Mind Conference, and her research on trans women of color affected by the...

Let's be honest. Relationships between queer communities and communities of faith are often icy at best, and outright antagonistic at worst. So where does that leave queer people of faith? This week, We Want the Airwaves' new East Coast correspondent Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes interviewed transqueer poet  J Mase III to find out how being raised by a Baptist mom and a father in the Nation of Isla...

Veteran. Fashion Designer. Yoga Instructor. This interview investigates the many lives of Kiam Marcelo Junio , world-traveler and former resident of the Philippines, Japan, and Spain. I sat down with him in Chicago to find out how he explores themes of colonialism, assimilation, and nostalgia through performance, queer "drag", and fashion. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia . Support...

Cartoonist. Nationally-recognized activist. Bookseller. This week I sat down with Van Binfa, co-founder of the Soy Quien Soy Trans Empowerment Collective to talk about learning to put himself before the movement, working full-time while homeless, and which nonprofits to watch out for. Highlights include: - why he prefers retail to non-profit work, - how you can make money writing fan fiction, and...

Fabian Romero is a queer Chicano poet, performance artist and community organizer. In this interview, Fabian opens up about how getting sick, losing weight, and gaining thin privilege have affected their career. Be sure to listen all the way to the end for a sneak preview of their forthcoming pieces about call-out culture and anti-black racism in communities of color. Highlights include: - why int...

Love Corazón is an incredibly wise (and accomplished) young woman who has just published her first book, Trauma Queen, about surviving childhood sexual abuse. In this interview, she shares some of her wisdom on how survivors can support each other, when "harm reduction" isn't enough, and the tyranny of self-care. Highlights include: - Why she quit sex work, - How she got her book deal, and - Why w...

It's the radicals versus the assimilationists. But wait, are we talking about the queers or the DREAMers? In this case, it's both! Undocuqueer activist illustrator Julio Salgado discusses his political progression from painting a picture perfect portrait of undocumented students to a framework that recognizes even if your record isn't squeaky clean, you don't deserve to be deported. Highlights inc...

Chemist. Poet. Fifth-degree black belt. Meet Ryka Aoki, author of the new Lamba Literary Award-nominated book of poetry (and more), Seasonal Velocities. In this interview, we discuss her previous job doing weird science (really, really weird science), publishing her book with a brand-new DIY all-trans press, and her Lamba Literary Award nomination. Highlights include how judo prepared her for a li...

Magnoliah Black hates Tyler Perry. This week I sat down with the burlesque performer, writer, and speaker to discuss media representation of plus-size black women, living next-door to your heroes, and having a Dom that buys you gift certificates to Whole Foods. Listen in to find out how she went from awkward black girl to Rubenesque Burlesque sensation! Originally posted on 5/1/2013. Read the tran...

Kim Tillman has been writing her Grammy acceptance speech since she was a little girl. Now that she's moved to LA to focus on her music career, she's closer to achieving that dream than ever. She's currently recording songs for an upcoming American Girl film and working with Pixar animators on her next music video. Stay tuned till the end for an exclusive live recording of Kim's last show at Actua...