Hello Everyone! Welcome back to this weeks episode of the Queerience. This week I`m joined by Uche Onwa Co- Director of The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) as we discuss the prison industrial complex, ICE and we why they need to be abolished as well as the work QDEP is doing to help. Listen to his story here on Queerience.
QDEP assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and emotional support and services. They work to organize around the structural barriers and state violence that LGBTQIA TS & GNC detainee/undocumented folks face related to their immigration status, race, sexuality, and gender expression/ identity.
Uchechukwu Onwa (he/him/his) is a Nigerian born organizer, trainer, abolitionist and movement strategist, who fled his home country due to the repression and persecution he faced as a gay man. He is a member of the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP) with over 8 years of experience working in community outreach, public health, and human rights. He is a high-impact voice for the LGBTQ+ community and a social justice advocate. He previously worked for the International Center for Advocacy on Rights to Health (ICARH) in Abuja, Nigeria coordinating an HIV prevention program and conducting human rights advocacy work for LGBTQ+ communities. Upon his arrival in the US, Uche continued his health advocacy and human rights work by engaging in high-level work. Since March 2019 Uche has been organizing with QDEP, focusing on building and strengthening the membership base while maintaining partnerships and coalitions with other organizations. He also leads QDEP’s Leadership Development Program for Cisgender Queer and Trans Women, and Gender Non-Conforming People. Uche’s work has been featured in Windy City Times, Sunderland, Plus Magazine, Buzzfeed, Pulitzer Center and more. When he is not organizing for queer and trans immigrants’ liberation you can find him doing some fun thing with his tribes.
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