Listen • 4:33
Here on West Dayton Stories, we’re exploring the concept of Black Joy. With so much focus on the trauma of race in America, we turn to this important source of celebration, resistance, and healing. Community producer LB, who’s also known as Leah Byrd, takes us back to the time he found the joy he didn’t know he needed in his life.
I grew up going to a predominantly white Catholic school. I spent 13 years there and somehow, still turned out as Black and gay and trans, as I am.
But anyways, because of this upbringing at school and being raised at home by predominantly the white side of my family, I had a disconnect with my identity. I was in denial of this disconnect with my identity until a Black professor pointed out my internalized anti-Blackness for the first time when I was an undergrad. This professor also recommended that I submit my thesis project to the BlackStar Film Festival, which I did. And to my surprise, my web series got in
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