Episode 15

full
Published on:

19th Sep 2020

Transgender Black Women Talk Global Liberation

On this episode of Black Diplomats we’re talking to three Transgender Black Women in three different countries about what liberation looks like for them. There is more transgender representation in media and politics than ever before, but transgender people still have to deal with hate and misgendering. Host Terrell J. Starr brings together a brilliant panel of activists from the US, Nigeria, and South Africa to fill us in on where the movement stands today, what it means for their fight to be connected on a global scale, and the true sound of freedom for Transgender Black Women everywhere.

Our guests include Diamond Stylz in Houston, Texas, Executive Director of Black Trans Women Inc., a national non-profit that is led by Black trans women focused on social advocacy, positive visibility and building strong leadership among Black trans advocates, activists, and our allies.

We also have Audrey Mbugua, a Kenyan activist who heads Transgender Education and Advocacy (TEA), an organization that defends the rights of transgender individuals in Kenya. In 2014, Mbugua won a landmark case, wherein the Kenya National Examinations Council was ordered to legally change Mbugua’s name and remove the existing gender designation on her academic certificates.

Rounding out our brilliant panel is Ricki Kgositau, an openly identified transwoman from Botswana who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. She is Executive Director to an International NGO known as Accountability International, which has a global team in Belgium, Kenya, Sweden (where it was founded and registered) and South Africa (where she is based in the Cape Town office).

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Black Diplomats

About the Podcast

Black Diplomats
The world is full of black people, but when the mainstream media talks about the world, we hardly ever hear from them. Black Diplomats—a podcast dedicated to international politics and culture from the perspective of people of color—is going to...
Founded in 2020 and led by Terrell Jermaine Starr, Black Diplomats is the go-to podcast for those who want relatable content on global affairs that doesn’t center the perspectives of white male experts.

Few foreign policy shows are led by Black people or center the opinions, experiences and expertise of people of color. Black Diplomats is one exception. Guests are mostly people of color and people who are indigenous to the regions the episodes focus on.
Support This Show

About your host

Profile picture for Terrell Starr

Terrell Starr

Terrell Jermaine Starr is the senior reporter at The Root, where he writes about the 2020 election and foreign policy, mostly U.S. relations with Ukraine and Russia. He is also the The Root’s 2020 correspondent and is tasked with interviewing presidential candidates and traveling to communities around the country to see who voters are eyeing to cast ballots for during the 2020 primary and the general election.

Some of the people Starr have conducted sit-down interviews with include U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former U.S. Congressman Beto O’Rourke, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, U.S. Senator Cory Booker and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, among other politicians.

Before working at The Root, Starr was at Foxtrot Alpha, a blog that focuses on military, technology and policy. Prior to that, he worked for FUSION as a national political correspondent covering the 2016 presidential campaign. He lived Ukraine as a Fulbright fellow, and Georgia as a Peace Corps volunteer. Starr has over four years of experience living in the former Soviet Union and more than eight years working as a reporter. Starr uses his media skills to break down Russia-U.S. relations in ways that make him not sound like a Washington hack. He is a frequent guest and co-host of the popular podcast In The Thick and his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Mother Jones and Buzzfeed.

Starr is a regularly sought after speaker on U.S.-Russian relations, Ukrainian politics and the intersection of race and politics in America.