Episode 71: Activist - Marsha P. Johnson
Transcript
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Welcome to the pusher pivot podcast, a podcast that inspires you to trust yourself and the crossroads of life. I'm your host, Thea Charles. As a life coach. I know that when you put fear aside and trust yourself, you'll know when to push through adversity, and when to stop, reassess, and pivot.
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I believe magic happens whenever a push or pivot story is shared. And that magic is exactly what you'll find here.
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I've taken a lot of history classes through the years. From AP American history in high school to Western civilization in college. I was pretty deep into my adulthood before I learned about the Stonewall uprising of 1969. The uprising is considered one of the most important events leading to the gay liberation movement. Upon further research, I was able to learn about pivotal members of the movement, like Marsha P. Johnson.
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When I started,
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experience was the living embodiment of human rights. If you're black, you're acting as a female that was against you, against you, everything is against you in those days. Marsha P. Johnson was an African American transgender and gay rights activists. In addition to being an activists, Marcia was a drag artists sex worker, and a well known part of New York's Greenwich Village street life.
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Marcia was born Michael Malcolm James Jr. in New Jersey on August 24 1945. Marcia began wearing dresses at the age of five, but stopped after being harassed by neighborhood boys. Marsha said that as a child, the thought of being gay was like some sort of dream and not a life that was actually possible. After graduating high school, Marsha moved to New York City and after meeting gay people in the city I realized it was possible to be gay and came out
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right away
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and then I started doing them different draft and I thought we were under high heeled shoes you know, and I started putting docking and I started becoming a drag queen.
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Marcia initially use the name black Marcia, and then settled on the drag name Marsha P. Johnson. Johnson came from the restaurant chain Howard Johnson. And the P stood for pay it no mind. Pay it no mind is what Marsha told people when they questioned her gender. She had a very flat voice and we use color field voice and shed Yes. And what is the P stands for and choose not to snap judge right. Just pay it no mind.
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That's exactly what I'm gonna do.
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My Johnson, Masha Pay no mind Johnson. I recently started to name Marsha P. Johnson drag queen named because I used to go down to 42nd Street and everybody used to call me Michelle. And I was an old boy and I think that was a nice name for a boy
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named Johnson from Howard Johnson's restaurant.
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I see her but I am acutely aware that Marsha is from a time where people did not ask what your preferred pronouns are. And even the term transgender was not widely used during that time. It has been noted that Marsha seemed uncomfortable. If called Marsha or she her when presenting as Malcolm
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Marcia referred to her style of drag is not serious. Marcia found clothes at thrift stores out of the trash and handed down from friends. Marcia was known for wearing beautiful crowns made of flowers. The flowers sometimes came from the leftovers from the city flower district, or Marsha sometimes slept under the flower sorting tables.
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Marsha was one of the first drag queens to go to the Stonewall Inn after it started admitting women
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People in drag. Prior to this, it was for gay men only.
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On June 28 1969, the Stonewall uprising started. It was a clash between police and the patrons of the club after the club was raided, while some credit Marcia for being a spark in the uprising. Marsha denies being there for the start.
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Marsha says she arrived as the crowd was forming about 40 minutes after the raid began.
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Following the uprising, Marsha joined the Gay Liberation Front and was part of their drag queen caucus. On the first anniversary of the uprising, Marcia marched in the first gay pride rally. And with her dear friend Sylvia Rivera founded star street transvestite action revolutionaries, to support young transgendered people and created the star house as a shelter for gay and trans street kids.
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In 1973, Marcia and Sylvia were banned from marching in the Pride Parade, because of biases against drag queens, not wanting to back down they defiantly marched ahead of the parade. In an interview, Marsha said that her goal was to see gay people liberated and free to have equal rights that other people in America have.
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Why are you here today?
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My gay rights now.
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Sisters got their right, especially the women.
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will this affect you and your job?
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This country discriminates against
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gay people
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trying out women, honey. Thank you very much for talking to us. Why are you here today? I'm here cuz of a dike?
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Well, I mean, I hope they, you know, come to their senses and pass a normal bill.
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That's what
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Marsha's sense of style and larger than life personality caught the attention of artists Andy Warhol. In 1975, Marcia was photographed by Warhol for his ladies and gentlemen Polaroid picture series.
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Marcia continued her activism through the 80s and 90s Marsha was part of act up a grassroots organization working to end the AIDS pandemic. Then in 1990, Marsha was diagnosed with AIDS
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shortly after the 1992 Pride Parade, Marsha's body was found in the Hudson River. Marcia was 46 years old. Police ruled Marsha's death a suicide. Marsha's friends believe that there was foul play. Her death was not picked up by mainstream media.
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We knew that she she were towards the end, she was getting more fragile. I think she was getting sicker. And she got a phone call and he said Marsha come up from the bottom of the barrel. And it was true. Marsha may have elucidated I thought she saw her father in the bottom of the river or my thought that she could walk home across the river to here and Hoboken on the water. You know where she's been harassed and jumped in the river to escape we'll never really know if the word went out in the community that Marcia had been found in the river and supposedly It was a suicide and she had been harassed in that area. Obviously, this was some kind of shady killing and had gone on. But unsurprisingly, the cops just twiddle their thumbs and said, suicide. It's a it's a black gay person. We don't care what happened investigate down.
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Everybody was outraged.
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at the funeral up at the church. We hadn't counted on hundreds of people coming. The church was packed. They had to stop people from coming in. And it was gonna be carried down to the river. Well, we had arranged to go on the sidewalk, but I looked around and there were literally hundreds and we couldn't go outside. I talked to one of the police who I knew I had a store on Christmas tree. I knew most of them. I said, Look, her family, I can't do it. You know, you've got to give me the street. We said we can't give you a street need a permit, yada, yada yada. I said look, it's for Marsha and the head cop look nice. And Marsha was a good queens Go ahead, give them the street. And we got the street from our street. And so it was that kind of effect that Marcia would have which is talking about people you wouldn't expect a cheaper car
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to suddenly close down Seventh Avenue because Marcia Johnson is going to be carried down to the river.
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As a black, poor, gay, non gender conforming person. Marsha certainly knew what it was like to be marginalized. Despite Marsha's own physical and mental health issues, she spent most of her life helping others. Marsha's drive to continually show up as her true self and fight for the rights of others is truly commendable.
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A monument and Marsha P. Johnson's name is set to be unveiled in New York's Greenwich Village. In 2021. Almost 30 years after her death, a new generation is beginning to know who Marsha p Johnson was.
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This concludes our four episode Black History Month spotlight. I hope you've been inspired by Marsha, Shirley Chisholm, William grant still, and john Michel Basquiat. I chose these people because for me they represent living life the way you want, and not being confined to stereotypes. Sometimes simply being who you are, is a form of protest for marginalized people.
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