Justan Parker-Fields, June 23, 2022

Justan Parker-Fields, June 23, 2022

Justan Parker Fields describes his early years of life in Scranton, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley, personal relationships, and work with the organization Change Now and in the play The Color Purple.

Muhlenberg College Special Collections and College Archives

Muhlenberg College Special Collections and College Archives

2022-06-23

Copyright remains with the interview subject and their heirs.

video

LGBT-35

Mary Foltz

Justan Parker-Fields

02:21:06

5.4 June 23, 2022 Justan Parker-Fields, June 23, 2022 LGBT-35 2:21:05 LVLGBT-2022 Stories of Lehigh Valley LGBTQ+ Community Members (2022 - ) Muhlenberg College: Trexler Library Oral History Repository Support for the collection of this interview was provided by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). trexlerlibrarymuhlenberg Justan Parker-Fields Mary Foltz video/mp4 ParkerFieldsJustan_20220623_video_trimmed.mp4 0 https://youtu.be/_HsSmG1HVfM YouTube video English 0 Interview Introductions MARY FOLTZ: My name is Mary Foltz, and I'm here with Justin Parker to talk about his life and experiences in the Lehigh Valley as a part of the Lehigh Valley LGBT Oral History Project. This year, our project has funding from ACLS and Justin and I are meeting at Muhlenberg College in their Rare Books room on June 23rd, 2022. And I just want to start by saying thank you so, so much for being here with me today. &#13 ; &#13 ; JUSTAN FIELDS: Thank you for having me here. I'm excited to do this and looking forward to it. 0 110 Early Years of Life/Relationship with Grandmother MF: Okay. All right. Business out of the way. I would like to start the interview today by asking you to tell me a little bit about the early years of your life. &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. So I was born in Scranton, P.A. We don't pronouce the ‘T’ the Scranton, but I was born there and into a big family. We have a huge part of our family. My great grandfather was one of 12 children and they started from Alabama and made their way up to Scranton P.A., where they finally settled. We moved to Allentown when I was five. My mom got a promotion at the post office and so, you know, moved out of small Scranton over to Allentown. And yeah, that's where I grew up. I went through the Allentown School District, Central Elementary School, Raub Middle School. I'm a 2002 Canary. But yeah, we grew up with that. My two sisters in Allentown, my mom was a homeowner, a single mom. And, you know, it was -- she was strict, but she left us. You know, we have rules. We had a curfew. 0 453 Relationship with Mother MF: You also mentioned your mom. What kinds of characteristics of your mom did you want to emulate? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: My mom didn't take any mess. She was a strong willed, single Black mother raising her three children in Allentown, and was a homeowner. And that wasn't really like a normal thing. You know, it was, you know, she did it without assistance, you know, and she knew what she wanted to do and she didn't take no for an answer. And, you know, she was somebody who had -- she's an entrepreneur. You know, she eventually, you know, retired and left the post office. But she's always somebody who is like, you have to just be your own boss. Because she just knew her path that she was going to pave. 0 574 School Days in Harrisburg &amp ; Allentown MF: Well, tell me a little bit about going to school in Allentown after your family moved here. You said you were a Canary. &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. &#13 ; &#13 ; MF: Tell me a little bit about what it was like to go to school in Allentown. &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: So I always loved school. I was a big nerd. And I think that I would sometimes, like, you know, be a class clown, probably because I was bored right on the surface of life, you know. But I went to Central Elementary School and my first grade teacher’s was Mrs. Shankwell. I know, like all my teachers’ names. That's how much of a nerd I was in school. But I just love school. I loved, you know, reading and learning. 0 1270 Safe Space in Church/Art's Alive MF: Okay. Thank you so much for sharing that story. I was really struck by you talking about how safe spaces were so important for navigating microaggressions, even if you couldn't name them at the time. And you talk about two different safe spaces, your friends. But also, I mean, those elders at the church that came to stand for you. Was that also a safe space that maybe you could just talk a little bit more about the spaces that fueled you and supported you? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah, definitely. So the Black church was always part of my identity growing up. And, you know, even now, the Pastor was looked at as, you know, the head of the church. The old church ladies, you know, who you know, you couldn't talk back to, whatever they say goes, you know, and then just all of us church kids who are just funny as adults, we share funny church stories as church kids that we went to and whatnot. But that was always a safe space because, you know, we go to church every Sunday. You know, the church family was your extended family. 0 1438 Relationship with Stepfather MF: You mentioned your stepfather a few times. Do you want to talk about the relationship with your with your stepfather? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah I can. So my relationship then and now, two different things. So my relationship with my stepfather. When I -- it was always abusive. Since I was very young and it was abusive to the point where like, you know, my mom – it would happen when my mom was at work. And it would be anything like whether it's my fault or not my fault, I'll would get beat, you know. I would -- And it's not just like a regular spanking, I would get beat and then sent to bed. Now me and my two sisters, we have different fathers, so they have the same father, my sister, [Cherise and Maria?]. 0 1763 Time at Allen High School MF: And that made think about what else was happening besides school when you returned to Allen High School. You're living with your mom. What's happening in your school life? Are you dating? Like what -- what's happening around your education and family? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: So I dated a lot in middle school, but I didn’t date in high school. And I think it's because I was so busy like I -- when I was in Scranton in ninth grade, I started working at McDonald's at 14. So I transferred to McDonalds when I came back to Allentown, 11th and 12th grade. 0 1976 Life After High School&#13 ; JF: And so work -- you know, to get that offer from management, I was just like, okay, forget college I'm liking in the fast money now and I didn't have any kids at the time. Like, let's just do it. And that's kind of how I put school on hold, and became a manager McDonald's, but if I didn’t continue to work there, I wouldn’t have, you know, met the mother of Samir and Sheileen and I kind of -- how that worked out. &#13 ; &#13 ; MF: Tell me that story. 0 2366 Co-Parenting MF: How did you figure out that co-parenting in the beginning? Because you're in your early twenties. &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. &#13 ; &#13 ; MF: You're being a parent to her first child. Your first child, she gets pregnant. How did you navigate what parenting together would look like? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: So even before Shamir, we learned so much with Sheileen. I was excited, you know, just to take on that role of responsibility, because I love her so much and I love your daughter and I want us to be a family. 0 2581 Post-Break Up / Living Unsheltered MF: Can you tell me a little bit about the time around the breakup and then what happened after that as you were coming to terms with your identity? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. So around the time of the breakup, I became unsheltered because, you know, I wasn't really welcome in the house anymore and I didn't really have anywhere to go. So I was kind of couch surfing and, you know, not realizing that I was really like, a statistic LGBTQ who was homeless or sheltered, you know, that was kind of the way it went. I didn’t really have a support system that much. 0 2787 First Boyfriend / Work Life MF: How did you meet John? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: I met John on a dating app. So before there was, like, Grindr or stuff like that, there's an app called Adam for Adam. I can’t believe I‘m talking about this. But I met John on Adam for Adam. And it's funny because, you know, we started talking and we didn't really even exchange, pictures, but we're like, oh, you know, let's go, let's hang out. And I remember I went to go, I went to go meet him. But of course, you know, we didn't know each other – what we looked like at the time and he thought I was somebody else and he almost like retreated was like, I'm not going to meet you because like, I’m not attracted to you. 0 3098 Coming Out JF: So I told Jahmira at work. I was like, yeah, I got to tell you something, because, you know, me and you are cool. And I really consider you as friend, not just coworker. John, is not my best friend, he's my boyfriend. She said I knew it. What do you mean? She was like, I knew it I was waiting for you to say something, you know? And then I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, I was so -- I felt so comfortable to be able to talk about John as my boyfriend at work, still not out or open, you know, but I was able to confide in and my friend Jahmira, who I always, you know. Just like, if it wasn't for her, you know, or me, you know, even coming out to her, you know, how long would I still be closeted for? It was just felt -- it was like. It was such a sigh of relief. 0 3645 Community Organizing / Black Lives Matter Lehigh Valley MF: So I want to make sure that -- I want to kind of turn a corner to…You're working full time, but you're also when do you start to get involved in organizing, community organizing? I want to definitely talk about your city council run, but we're not quite there yet. Tell me when that started to become really important for you in your life? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: I thought that it was always important because I grew up in Allentown. So when you're Allentown, we always say, you know, we are Allentown, you know? But I was just always -- just was like a member of community, like I didn't do organizing, I didn't do any of that. All of that happened by accident, happened with the Black Lives Matter protest. I didn't plan on it, on doing anything with community organizing until Kevin put the idea in my head, really. Prior to the Black Lives Matter of protest, two years prior to that, I put on Facebook that I was going to do a silent protest for Philando Castile, who was murdered by police officers. 0 4588 Chain of Nonviolent Protests&#13 ; MF: So BLM Lehigh Valley started. You had the meeting with the police. You made the -- you suggested. And then at your suggestion, they made their use of force policy publicly. What happened next for the organization? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: So, there was this group formed. It was like this, Lehigh Valley coalition right, and it was a group of like minded individuals who got together like a cohort. And that's when the chain of protest started. Cause a lot of protest -- some of the protests were like BLM protests, but other ones like it was BLM and other protests. But it was all of us together as a collective. It was myself, Darian Colbert, it was Rodney Ibene, who was Pastor A. Edwards’ son, Ashley Strange, Yamelisa Taveras, who's head of Lehigh Valley -- Ashley Strange, Lehigh Valley Stands Up, Yamelisa Taveras from Unidos, Arthur. It was just a group of us and it was so grassroots, organic and we’re just like okay we’re just going to meet. And we're going to just start planning out, you know, things in in protest. It was a big leap away. And from there, you know. We showed up in protest in meetings with different organizations like groups wanted to talk to us.&#13 ; 0 4865 Election Season / BLM Endorsements MF: What happened after that summer? Did you continue through the fall? And how? Tell me a little bit about that process. After an incredible period of energy, what occurs after? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. So we started brainstorming because, we’re like election season is coming and we have to start putting people in positions of power. People haven't seen the table or voting for candidates that are already out there, you know, supporting them and backing them. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in the Lehigh Valley, especially in Allentown, we were big supporters of Ce-Ce Gerlach and Josh Siegel and even Cynthia Mota, you know, because they were their allies, they understood it. 0 5284 Becoming a City Council Candidate MF: So how did you become a candidate, if you weren’t supposed to do be? How did that happen? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: So we were meeting, the cohort was meeting one night and they had threw the idea out that, you know, -- it was supposed to be Arthur, Arthur Benson was going to run for city council and Rodney was going to run for school board. And so we sort of started plotting a plan, like we're going to start like infiltrating city council and the school board, and, you know, we Lehigh County. And, you know, we thought that time, you know, we had Amy Zanelli, and Zakiya Smalls, and you know, Geoff Brace. So they were like, okay, county’s good, like, you know, we can show up and assist and help them. It's the city level that we really need to get, the school board. 0 6155 Change Now MF: I will -- I know -- I want to acknowledge that. But you also have this incredible nonprofit that is something that you and Kevin have been working on. So could you tell me a little bit about Change Now and how you're putting your energy toward that organization in just 1/2? Okay. So could you tell me a little bit about change now? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. So we had co-founded Change Now, me and Kevin, because we knew that Black Lives Matter Lehigh Valley was like our group, but it wasn't ours. It was already like a national group. We had no ownership to it. It was just something that we did locally and had a huge following. Like, remember, we have like five or 4000 followers and we were like, wow, like this is something. 0 6617 Doreen's Christmas Baskets / Kevin Jefferson's Mother KJ: And so then we put the groups of presents together and we were have a Post-it note with the mom's name and the kid's name and their ages. And so then when -- we would be messaging the families back, hey, you're your order number this. This is -- your number 15, your number 16, or if they forgot the number, we look up their name and they're like, okay, you know, so-and-so's here, okay, that's number 12. And then we get the Post-it note and take the presents downstairs. And that's how we did our Christmas toy giveaway. We did Doreen's Christmas Baskets ; Kevin's mom passed away -- in memory of her five children.&#13 ; &#13 ; And to keep her memory alive, we wanted to do that cause she was such a big supporter and Kevin was the only, you know, he’s the only son out of all – he has four sisters, he’s the only son. And he had a really – like he was super close to his mom. He was a mama's boy, you know. And, you know, she passed away a week before Christmas and it was hard for him. And I just remember, like, I remember just – and even people say to him, but like, wow. 0 6828 Meeting Kevin Jefferson / Relationship with Kevin MF: Do you want to share that your -- how you met Kevin, who has been your partner with Change Now and your partner in [inaudible]. &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Yeah. So, I met Kevin on a dating app called Badoo and really, I wasn't even sure Kevin was gay because on Badoo, you get -- when you look at someone’s profile it says that they're interested in men or women or nothing at all. And Kevin's, either said nothing or it said women. And I was just like, I’d never been on the app before, maybe people want this app to find friends. I make I mean, as an adult, how do you make friends? 0 7749 The Color Purple at the Civic Theater MF: We didn't talk about the Color Purple. &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Oh, my gosh. We didn't. Wow. &#13 ; &#13 ; MF: Do you want to talk about…? &#13 ; &#13 ; JF: Life changing? Can we real quick? 0 8443 Closing Remarks MF: I just want to close by saying I am just so grateful that you took the time to sit down today and to share some of your life story. And I'm also just grateful to live in a community with you and to know you. So thank you so much. 0 MovingImage Justan Parker Fields describes his early years of life in Scranton, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley, personal relationships, and work with the organization Change Now and in the play The Color Purple. Copyright for this oral history recording is held by the interview subject. video This oral history is made available with a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). The public can access and share the interview for educational, research, and other noncommercial purposes as long as they identify the original source. 0 /render.php?cachefile=