Meet Camika Shelby, a woman bringing the true meaning of Christmas to LGBTQ youth.
Shelby hosted an event at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama over the weekend, which provided queer homeless youth with personal hygiene supplies and plenty of love and hugs for the holiday season. Shelby spearheaded the event in honor of her late son, Nigel, whom she lost to suicide in April.
Nigel had struggled in school as a gay 15-year-old, experiencing a great deal of bullying prior to his death. Camika has used her son’s passing as a call to action.
“I don’t want it to be, ‘the 15-year-old that committed suicide,’” Shelby told Black Magic Project. “I want it to be ‘the 15-year-old whose suicide changed the world.’”
Related: How Chasten Buttigieg overcame homelessness after his family rejected him for being gay
Shelby organized the gathering over the weekend, which presented black LGBTQ teens with gift cards, personal care supplies, and offered LGBTQ mentors to discuss bullying and homelessness.
“Sometimes family can be your own worst enemy. If they don’t love you for who you are, they don’t deserve you,” she said in her remarks. “Don’t let people tear you down for who you are. God knows who you are, and he makes no mistakes.”
The Human Rights Campaign reports that about half of all African-American LGBTQ youth were bullied or cast out of their homes by family members for their queer status. Of those, 90% also report enduring racial discrimination.
“I’m to the point where I’m realizing that my baby had a purpose, regardless of whether it is here on this earth or not,” Shelby told Alabama.com. “So now, I’m his purpose. I am going to continue to speak out. I am going to continue to tell his story.”
controversial2019
Whilst her actions seem genuine, my question is would there be a backlash against a white parent of a suicidal gay teen if the mother was only issuing help and assistance to white gays?
The article on Queerty doesn’t say that the son received racial bullying (just bullying in general) but it does specify that the mum offered assistance to black LGBT teens.
Where is the consistency?! We can’t talk about segregation needing to go and racism needing to go, if peoples ‘good deeds’ are in themselves racist or cause segregation
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
I see your point but it might be that this particular center is a place where she knew her son had friends, frequented often or she heard talk about at least once and she took it from there. For her to do something like this for any gay kid regardless of race makes it seem hard for me to believe she looked at this matter racially. I some how doubt the kids whom were harassing her son were white and if that is the case it sends an even stronger message of “there are those of us in the black community whom love our children as they are.” She made the right choice in my opinion.
2ndcoming
Of course its always about the WHITE GAYS and what they want and need. When has the GAY WHITE community done shit for the black community besides call them the N Word. The gay white community love to discriminate but cry like a bitch when the tables are turned on them. Ask Pete.
controversial2019
2ndcoming – I’m not actually white. I just don’t like people picking and choosing when to cry about racism and segregation and when to take part in it themselves.
yup5hioop
Let’s not get sidetracked by race here – she’s doing a good thing and maybe perhaps she thinks there is a lack of representation in her particular community. I’ll bet 100 dollars she has absolutely no idea what she’s doing and is still in shock. She’s lost her kid too I hate when I see stories about these poor parents who struggle to make some good out of their loss and people start criticizing them. There was a story of a white cop whois daughter overdosed and he wanted to address the issues with the drug war. Mostly people just said “serves him right” or “karma” as if that kind of bad things only happen to bad people attitude wasn’t the reason for the drug war in the first place. This woman needs our recognition and support unless you want to go there and help her in person then go ahead and critique.
Kangol2
I think she’s doing a good thing, particularly because where she lives, the dual forces of homophobia and racism are particularly strong. Anyone who has ever lived in the South knows this. (And let’s not forget misogyny, classism, etc.). So reaching out to Black LGBTQ youth, like her son, is a good step, and any child who is helped and supported through the psychic violence of homophobic (and racist) bullying is a child who has a chance to become a productive, self- and community-affirming adult.