Oral History Interview with Shawn Ka'Ron Bumpase

Partial Transcript: "Okay, um, it's October 8, 2020, I'm Ethan Sharp and I'm here with Shawn Bumpase. And Shawn, would you like to introduce yourself?"

Segment Synopsis: Interviewer and interviewee introduce themselves.

Partial Transcript: "And Shawn, I'd like for you to, if you could start us off by talking about where you were born and where you grew up, and you know - what your - your personal journey has been, uh you know, through your life?"

Segment Synopsis: Shawn discusses his background from childhood to college. He notes that he grew up in Lexington, KY and was very involved in the church when he was younger. He says that his involvement with Americorps is what started his community outreach and engagement. In 2012, he helped form Bluegrass Black Pride and then helped create Kentucky Black Pride, which serves the whole state of Kentucky.

Keywords: bluegrass black pride; Bluegrass Black Pride; kentucky black pride; Kentucky Black Pride; LGBTQ; lgbtq; lgbtq+; LGBTQ+

Subjects: Kentucky; LGBTQ Life

Partial Transcript: "Yeah, so Bluegrass Black Pride is - is like a chapter of Kentucky Black Pride or - ?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase describes the difference between Bluegrass Black Pride and Kentucky Black Pride. He explains that his focus is on teenagers and advocating for the younger generation while also supporting adults. The gay house that he is a part of gives residents a "gay mother and father." Bumpase is a father in the house and has 62 gay "children" (18 and over). Bumpase says he has a passion for the "underdogs" and those who are rejected by their households.

Keywords: bluegrass black pride; Bluegrass Black Pride; coming out; Coming out; lgbtq; LGBTQ; lgbtq+; LGBTQ+

Subjects: Kentucky; LGBTQ life; Pride; Youth

Partial Transcript: "Um, so is it a physical house then?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase explains the "gay house" he mentioned previously is not an actual house, but more like a social club. He gives advice to younger people about safe sex, HIV awareness, school, etc.

Keywords: gay house; Gay House

Subjects: LGBTQ Life

Partial Transcript: "So this year with the pandemic, will you - will you have the Thanksgiving event? How - how is that affecting those relationships?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses how the pandemic shifted some of their gatherings and plans.

Keywords: coronavirus; Coronavirus; covid-19; Covid-19

Subjects: Kentucky; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: "Maybe you could just talk quickly about what you do at the plantories for everyone?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses his job and the plantories. He notes that he used to be a hotel manager, but changed careers in 2018 to take care of his sick father. He talks about the difference between being a Vista member at the plantory and working for Americorps. He has had a lead manager position for a year and a few months. This organization assists non-profits.

Keywords: americorps; Americorps

Subjects: Kentucky; Pride

Partial Transcript: "Well let's talk a little bit more about Kentucky Black Pride and um so you were - you were talking about how you're different from Bluegrass Black Pride, but - but you have a good relationship with them and work with them?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses the origins of Bluegrass Black Pride, which was created in 2013. They held a pride in 2014, but then stopped and focused more on workshops. Bumpase wanted to keep pride going, so he stepped out of Bluegrass Black Pride.

Keywords: bluegrass black pride; Bluegrass Black Pride; kentucky black pride; Kentucky Black Pride

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "But do you also work with PCSO (Pride Community Service Organization)?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase talks about PCSO and his work with them. He helps give ideas when they throw pride festivals, and they have a great relationship.

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "Is there anything else before we get into 2020 that you wanna highlight about 2020, things you've worked on, achievements - those kind of things?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses all that Kentucky Black Pride has accomplished and done. He notes that they had several town hall meetings and are open for everyone regardless of race, color, or sexual orientation.

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "Um, so can we talk now about 2020, and maybe we can start with the pandemic and how that, you know, going back to March, you know, how that impacted you and your work and your family, if you'd like? There's - there's a lot there that we could talk about."

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses how the pandemic in 2020 affected him personally. He notes that various family members and friends of his passed away. Bumpase describes in detail the death of his good friend who passed from Covid-19, although he was not officially diagnosed. Bumpase also discusses the death of his father, who did not pass due to Covid-19, but the pandemic's restrictions prevented Bumpase from seeing his dad in his final moments.

Keywords: 2020; coronavirus; Coronavirus; pandemic; Pandemic

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: "Maybe - maybe we could um go back a bit and talk about also how - you've obviously been through a lot - but how did the pandemic affect your work - and - and your community activities?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses how the pandemic caused a lot of organizations to back out of Plantory. He also notes that he worked from home and they were not able to do Pride. Additionally, they had to turn down money due to the cancellation of all their events.

Keywords: 2020; plantory; Plantory

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "And - and being a nonprofit, so are you the director or are you on the board, how -"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase is the chairman of the organization, but plans on stepping down in the following year to let someone else take over. He's thinking about moving out of Kentucky soon. Bumpase talks about the zoom meetings that he and others from Kentucky Black Pride held during the pandemic, as well as hosting virtual panel discussions online. He also notes they're working on doing the pageant in February with no audience.

Keywords: virtual panel; Virtual panel

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "Talk about the sort of uh, the explosion of protests, um and how - how you were - your perspective on those and - and you know um, your - your struggle to include trans voices there and other LGBTQ+ voices?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses the current events regarding the protests. He notes that he is not only fighting for justice, but for equal justice for everyone that identifies as a person of color. He does not do much protesting himself, but he works in the background. He discusses that he has privilege beacase he is Cis, and that trans people have more difficulty.

Keywords: LGBTQ; lgbtq; lgbtq+; LGBTQ+; pride; Pride

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "You've talked to some of the BLM protesters, and you - you - you've said that you don't feel like trans voices, other voices aren't being included. Could you talk a little bit about that?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses that Lexington activists recognize only Lesbian and Gay voices and don't reach out to Trans people and others. He explains a particular instance of when a black Trans woman was assaulted by Black men.

Keywords: black lives matter; Black Lives Matter; BLM; blm; protest; Protest

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "Um, so in your connections with the Trans community, uh how have you seen them impacted by the pandemic? Has it - uh - you know, because of the, you know, it's not easy to get together and, you know, get the support that you need."

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses the importance of mental health for trans people. He talks about the impact of the elections and bringing in a Supreme Court Judge that could take away their rights depending on the election.

Keywords: trans; Trans

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "Well maybe we could talk about now the um event that you did in Atlanta - you know, you're connected at the national level, and I just wondered what that was about and what you talked about there?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses the event in Atlanta that was sponsored by Center for Black Equality. Once a month the leaders from all states in Black Pride get on a conference call. They all get together and learn how to pull corporate sponsorships and get money, Bumpase was asked to be on a panel for Atlanta Black Pride, which was one of the largest pride festivals. The panel discussed Covid-19 and how pride went virtual basically everywhere.

Keywords: atlanta black pride; Atlanta Black Pride; center for black equality; Center for Black Equality

Subjects: LGBTQ Life; Pride

Partial Transcript: "But it seems like with that virtual town hall, you could reach more people. I don't - I don't know, do you have a sense of - did it, did it have more people attending because it was virtual?"

Segment Synopsis: To reach more people with virtual events, they had to market well. Attendance would be higher for well-marketed events, but lower for events with less advertising. Bumpase describes the upcoming virtual panel that will be about black trans people. The people on the panel will talk about their life and experiences to raise Black Trans Awareness.

Keywords: attendance; Attendance; transgender; Transgender; virtual panel; Virtual panel

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride

Partial Transcript: "I don't know if there's anything else about 2020 that you'd like to uh address, um, if you could talk about the pandemic or anything else that you wanna bring up."

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase remarks that every Thursday night he hosts Color for Exchange on the radio and they get to feature someone from the community each week.

Keywords: pandemic; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: "Well if there's - if there's nothing else that you would like to share, um, we could probably leave it there. The next, um the last question I would ask is you know, how do you see things coming back in the next year for Kentucky Black Pride or the Plantory and everything else you are working on?"

Segment Synopsis: Bumpase discusses his hopes for the future post-pandemic for Kentucky Black Pride and Plantory.

Keywords: kentucky black pride; Kentucky Black Pride; plantory; Plantory

Subjects: Kentucky; Lexington; Pride