“AIDS chose me, I always say, I didn’t choose it. I tried to look at skills I already had that I could use to raise people’s consciousness, especially since I was cognitive trained in this whole perception idea of if you can change a person’s perception, you can change their behavior. So it was about knowledge. But that’s one of the saddest things about having to live all these years through the process of the epidemic and have been there in the beginning when people were motivated and sad and angry but at the same time they were driven to help themselves. Because that’s what it was. The government wasn’t helping us. So what little bit of funding we were having we were using it to stretch to do all kinds of things. I mean, I cannot count the number of countless hours we spent in meetings just talking about the future. Or what prevention could look like in people of color communities.”
Hear more of Mali’s story of organizing in AIDS education in Oakland and his love story with Randy in Mapping Queer Oakland, eastbaylgbtqstories.com/mapping
Illustration by Rami KD
Funding from the City of Oakland
“My name is Norma Austin. I'm 66 year old female, identifies as lesbian. I got the opportunity to work construction. And my brother says, if you work construction, you'll make a lot of money and you'll be too tired to get in trouble. So I became a plasterer. There's these twin buildings downtown Oakland on 14th by Clay Street. I worked on both of those buildings right there. That high rise, when you get way on the very top, there's a cap. You can walk around up there. And I put the cap up there and I ran this mold that goes throughout the whole building. So I went around putting all the detail everywhere. And that's why I could carry 200 pounds up several flights of stairs after doing that eight hours a day. So I was yolked up. That's what got me, the ladies though.”
Hear more of Norma Austin’s story in Mapping Queer Oakland, stories of LGBTQ+ elders eastbaylgbtqstories.com/mapping
Illustration by Rami KD
Composition by Chanelle Ignant
Funding from the City of Oakland
#Oakland #Oaklandqueerhistory #queerhistory #lgbtqOakland #Oaklandstories #queerstories #lgbtqstories #pride #oralhistory #lgbtqoralhistory #lgbtqhistory #mappingqueeroakland #oaklandlgbtqstories #oaklandstories #lgbtq #queeroakland #gayhistory #lgbtqoakland #lgbtqOakland #lgbtqstories #construction #plasterer #lgbtconstruction #womeninthetrades
“I am Kenneth Kozi Arrington. Everyone knows me as Kozi throughout Alameda County and the Bay Area. I am a 67 year old African-American male. I also identify as a gay male. I was born in San Francisco and I now live in Oakland, California. Fremont High School was pretty interesting. Some days, the same bus that would take me to school, if I take it in the opposite direction, it took us to the Oakland airport. Where at the time, we could fly roundtrip to Los Angeles for $15. So sometimes I'd leave in the morning, we'd meet, and we'd go to the airport, fly to L.A. and fool around and party all day and still make it home in time for my curfew that night. Just fast huh?”
Hear more of Kenneth Kozi Arrington’s story in Mapping Queer Oakland, stories of LGBTQ+ elders eastbaylgbtqstories.com/mapping
Illustrations by Rami KD
Composition by Chanelle Ignant
Editing support by Emiliano Villa
Funding from the City of Oakland
#Oakland #Oaklandqueerhistory #queerhistory #lgbtqOakland #Oaklandstories #queerstories #lgbtqstories #pride #oralhistory #lgbtqoralhistory #lgbtqhistory #mappingqueeroakland #oaklandlgbtqstories #oaklandstories #lgbtq #queeroakland #gayhistory #lgbtqoakland #lgbtqOakland #lgbtqstories
Find more of Melanie DeMore’s story in Mapping Queer Oakland, stories of LGBTQ+ elders eastbaylgbtqstories.com/mapping
“My name is Melanie DeMore. I am a vocal activist. In other words – like my students always say, 'this is a Ms. DeMore-ism' – I use my voice as a weapon of mass connection. I was in the Cultural Heritage Choir, founding member with Linda Tillery. And Linda came up with this concept that would help preserve traditional African-American roots folk music. So she called together these folks. I was with them for 18 years and that completely changed my life. Being in that band completely changed my life. And being in the company of such extraordinary Black women. It was another one of those things that changed the trajectory of my life.”
Illustrations by Rami KD
Composition by Chanelle Ignant
Funding from the City of Oakland
Hear more of Jim Allio’s story in Mapping Queer Oakland, stories of LGBTQ+ elders: eastbaylgbtqstories.com/mapping
“My name is Jim Allio. I live in Oakland, California. I'm a Bay Area native. I was born in San Francisco in 1951 at Saint Joseph's Hospital. Raised in South San Francisco, I've been in Oakland for about 40 years. I was in love with that singer, Lesley Gore. I was in her fan club and I just loved her. And when I found out she was a lesbian, I made it even better. In the ‘60s she was all over pop radio. She had a lot of hits and she was on TV all the time. And, you know, we became friends. Oh, it's a long story. I called up her record company one day…”
Illustrations by Rami KD
Composition by Chanelle Ignant
Funding from The City of Oakland
#Oakland #Oaklandqueerhistory #queerhistory #lgbtqOakland #Oaklandstories #queerstories #lgbtqstories #pride #oralhistory #lgbtqoralhistory #lgbtqhistory #mappingqueeroakland #oaklandlgbtqstories #oaklandstories #lgbtq #queeroakland #gayhistory #lgbtqoakland #queerhistory #lgbtqOakland #lgbtqstories
Hear more of Janet Halfin’s story in Mapping Queer Oakland, stories of LGBTQ+ elders eastbaylgbtqstories.com/mapping.
“My name is Janet Kimberly Halfin, a.k.a. Lady Janet Halfin. I'm a resident of Oakland, California, born and bred. Been here most of my life. The only time I left Oakland was when I was in the military. Oakland is my home. I'm like the A's. I'm rooted here. Every place that I've been, I always turn around and come back home. That's because this is where I'm known. This is where my family is. This is where my heart and my roots are. And ain't nothing like the root and the heart of The Bay.”
Illustration by @RamiKDart
Funded by the City of Oakland
Music by HoliznaCC0, "Nowhere To Be, Nothing To Do"
