Collected Item: “Kenita Placide Oral History, 2022/01/27”
Title
Interview with Kenita Placide
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
Kenita Placide
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#activism, #activist, #antiBlackracism, #Black, #BLM, #Caribbean, #climatechange, #colonialism, #colorism, #exercise, #fever, #gardening, #gender, #global, #HIV, #humanrights, #immunesystem, #internationalrelations, #LGBT, #medicalracism, #mentalhealth, #organization, #outreach, #nonbinary, #partnership, #policebrutality, #race, #racism, #selfcare, #sexism, #socialmedia, #StLucia, #testing, #tourism, #Trump, #USA, #women
What is the format of your recording?
Audio
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
St. Lucia
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
mx(them/they/she/her/he/him)
What is the age of the interviewee?
35 to 44
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
Caribbean Afro descendant
Describe the oral history.
Self description:
“For much too long I guess that’s a question that I always ran away from, I think. I was born to the native island of St. Lucia. I work across the Eastern Caribbean. To my family I am my mother’s last child, I am the fifth born of the family. And I have been in activism for over 16 years. I don’t particularly like labels. But I think the label that most recently I felt a little more comfortable with is somewhere along the lines of non-binary, you know gender nonconforming kind of label; but only if and when necessary. I still prefer absolutely no labels if I can pass with it. I think my work has been, for the last 15 years, predominantly working on the advancement and rights of LGBT persons. Currently I’m over 45, still looking like 25, so I’m thankful for that. I think I’ve created a global family. So I could call, almost in any country, where there is someone I would call a friend or chosen family over the last couple years of engagement in activism.”
Some of the things we spoke about included:
Work at the Eastern Caribbean Alliance of Diversity and Equity
The pandemic and its similarities to the consequences of climate change
The pandemic uprooting a year of planning
Caribbean economic dependence on tourism; LGBT persons in the Caribbean tourism industry losing their jobs
The pandemic’s impact on LGBT people going back to live with family and on people living alone
Changing structures of services and meetings due to the pandemic, such as regular check-ins at multiple tiers: with the board, with the team, and with members; offering staff mental health break days; moving meetings onlines; weekly online activities; team building
Providing care packages, food, transportation support, and funding
Pandemics are nothing new in the Caribbean: the pandemics of HIV and climate change preceding this COVID pandemic, that there will be more pandemics to come
Similarities between COVID and HIV: misinformation, rumors, fear, uncertainty; similarities in contact tracing; learning to live with HIV and learning to live with COVID
Humans as social creatures
Inequitable consumption of COVID vaccines in the Global North in contrast to the Global South, and general lack of resources for health in the Global South–information, supplies
Global anti-Black racism; colorism
The history of slavery and colonization in the Caribbean and the legacy of colonial norms
The colonial influence of the Dutch, English, and French on the Caribbean in contrast to the contemporary influence of the USA on the Caribbean today
Unlearning colonial narratives as activists
How the collective of “Caribbean Islands” has had better success in persuading funders to support activism, than individual islands on their own
Hearing about the pandemic through an outbreak associated with a Chinese New Year celebration
Associating the pandemic with a “rich man’s disease” because it was impacting people who could afford international travel before people starting bringing the disease back with them from travel
Reduced access to goods and services; avoiding using any services other than groceries and banking; not going to a medical facility unless absolutely necessary
Businesses going online and digital infrastructure
Believing that reaction to BLM changed during the pandemic because of the slowing-down of time; needing a moment to pause and take it in
Implicit bias and overt racism’s impact on police behavior
Botham Shem Jean, a St. Lucian murdered by a police officer in the US, and the feeling of St. Lucians about the need for just for him
Trump’s migration policies, sexism and its impact on international relations with the Caribbean; holding one’s own countries in the Caribbean accountable for their own side of international relations
Testing, masks
The transformation of information into knowledge; information literacy and messaging
Peace of mind, happiness, and health
Working from home
Uncertainty about the world being left to the youth; a dropping birth rate; youth dying young
Systemic changes and revolution
Gardening and exercising as selfcare
Being in a long distance relationship
Stigma and discrimation against people with COVID
Stories of survival
Cultural references:
OutRight International’s COVID Emergency Funds, GlobalGiving funding platform, Netflix, Zoom, Whatsapp
See also:
https://www.ecequality.org
https://www.racialequity2030.org/ep/kenita-placide
https://www.thecaribbeanalert.com/the-eastern-caribbean-to-advance-lgbtq-human-rights
https://stluciastar.com/52246-2/
https://stluciastar.com/the-peoples-choice-for-person-of-the-year/
“For much too long I guess that’s a question that I always ran away from, I think. I was born to the native island of St. Lucia. I work across the Eastern Caribbean. To my family I am my mother’s last child, I am the fifth born of the family. And I have been in activism for over 16 years. I don’t particularly like labels. But I think the label that most recently I felt a little more comfortable with is somewhere along the lines of non-binary, you know gender nonconforming kind of label; but only if and when necessary. I still prefer absolutely no labels if I can pass with it. I think my work has been, for the last 15 years, predominantly working on the advancement and rights of LGBT persons. Currently I’m over 45, still looking like 25, so I’m thankful for that. I think I’ve created a global family. So I could call, almost in any country, where there is someone I would call a friend or chosen family over the last couple years of engagement in activism.”
Some of the things we spoke about included:
Work at the Eastern Caribbean Alliance of Diversity and Equity
The pandemic and its similarities to the consequences of climate change
The pandemic uprooting a year of planning
Caribbean economic dependence on tourism; LGBT persons in the Caribbean tourism industry losing their jobs
The pandemic’s impact on LGBT people going back to live with family and on people living alone
Changing structures of services and meetings due to the pandemic, such as regular check-ins at multiple tiers: with the board, with the team, and with members; offering staff mental health break days; moving meetings onlines; weekly online activities; team building
Providing care packages, food, transportation support, and funding
Pandemics are nothing new in the Caribbean: the pandemics of HIV and climate change preceding this COVID pandemic, that there will be more pandemics to come
Similarities between COVID and HIV: misinformation, rumors, fear, uncertainty; similarities in contact tracing; learning to live with HIV and learning to live with COVID
Humans as social creatures
Inequitable consumption of COVID vaccines in the Global North in contrast to the Global South, and general lack of resources for health in the Global South–information, supplies
Global anti-Black racism; colorism
The history of slavery and colonization in the Caribbean and the legacy of colonial norms
The colonial influence of the Dutch, English, and French on the Caribbean in contrast to the contemporary influence of the USA on the Caribbean today
Unlearning colonial narratives as activists
How the collective of “Caribbean Islands” has had better success in persuading funders to support activism, than individual islands on their own
Hearing about the pandemic through an outbreak associated with a Chinese New Year celebration
Associating the pandemic with a “rich man’s disease” because it was impacting people who could afford international travel before people starting bringing the disease back with them from travel
Reduced access to goods and services; avoiding using any services other than groceries and banking; not going to a medical facility unless absolutely necessary
Businesses going online and digital infrastructure
Believing that reaction to BLM changed during the pandemic because of the slowing-down of time; needing a moment to pause and take it in
Implicit bias and overt racism’s impact on police behavior
Botham Shem Jean, a St. Lucian murdered by a police officer in the US, and the feeling of St. Lucians about the need for just for him
Trump’s migration policies, sexism and its impact on international relations with the Caribbean; holding one’s own countries in the Caribbean accountable for their own side of international relations
Testing, masks
The transformation of information into knowledge; information literacy and messaging
Peace of mind, happiness, and health
Working from home
Uncertainty about the world being left to the youth; a dropping birth rate; youth dying young
Systemic changes and revolution
Gardening and exercising as selfcare
Being in a long distance relationship
Stigma and discrimation against people with COVID
Stories of survival
Cultural references:
OutRight International’s COVID Emergency Funds, GlobalGiving funding platform, Netflix, Zoom, Whatsapp
See also:
https://www.ecequality.org
https://www.racialequity2030.org/ep/kenita-placide
https://www.thecaribbeanalert.com/the-eastern-caribbean-to-advance-lgbtq-human-rights
https://stluciastar.com/52246-2/
https://stluciastar.com/the-peoples-choice-for-person-of-the-year/
On what date did you record this oral history?
2022-01-27T14:39