December 18, 1992 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Page 5

Lesbian poet Audre Lorde dies of cancer

by Aras van Hertum

Audre Lorde, an acclaimed Lesbian author who became a prominent figure in the national gay rights struggle and helped shape the gay people of color movement, died on Tuesday, November 17, at her home in Christiansted on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

She died of metastasized breast cancer, according to her close friend Barbara Smith, publisher of Kitchen Table Press.

Lorde, the author of 13 books of poetry and essays, was named poet laureate of New York State last year. She published her first collection of poems, Cables to Rage, in 1968, and went on to publish eight other books of poetry, including The Black Unicorn, Our Dead Behind Us, and From A Land Where Other People Live, which was

nominated for a National Book Award. A tenth collection, The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance, is forthcoming.

Her acclaimed semiautobiographical novel, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, filled with images of Lorde's youth in Harlem, reflected upon her life as a black lesbian in a white and male-dominated society. She also published several collections of essays, including Sister Outseder (1984).

During the 14 years that followed her diagnosis with cancer in 1978, Lorde became a role model for lesbians fighting breast cancer. She explored her struggle with cancer in The Cancer Journals (1980) and in the essay "A Burst of Light," which is part of the 1988 collection of the same

name.

In appointing her to a two-year term as

New leads sought in 1982 murder of gay man

The Maryann Finegan Project, the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office are working co-operatively in the investigation of the murder of a young gay man, Christopher Unick, whose body was found in the Rocky River Reservation in the autumn of 1982.

It is believed that Unick, a 25-year-old hair stylist and drag performer, was bludgeoned to death the weekend of the "We Are Family" picnic in September.

Local authorities were frustrated at the time of the murder by a resistance from many in the community to working with the Metroparks and prosecutor's office, but they believe improved relations with the community may result in people coming forward.

Christopher Unick

Northern Ohio Coalition, Inc. (NOCI) is offering a $1,000 reward for any lead resulting in conviction, but anyone with information is encouraged to call Aubrey

Wertheim at 522-1999 (Maryann Finegan Project of the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center) or Det. Ernie Oergel of the Cleveland Metroparks at 243-0442.

'Take a Stand' raises $100,000

The Health Issues Taskforce has released figures for the "Take a Stand" benefit reported on in last month's issue. Over 500 people attended the November 2 event, raising $100,000 to be used in providing direct services to people afflicted with HIV/AIDS in the greater Cleveland community. Last year's event drew 350 people and raised $59,000.▼

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New York's third state poet, and awarding her its Walt Whitman Citation of Merit for Poets, the New York State Writers' Institute described Lorde as "a poet of passion and purpose, a voice of eloquent courage and unflinching honesty."

New York Gov. Mario Cuomo bestowed the honor on her at a ceremony in November 1991. Lorde announced she was accepting the award on behalf of "all the poets of the oppressed, disenfranchised, and silenced peoples within this state."

She often introduced herself as a "black, lesbian, feminist, warrior, poet, mother." Through her writing, she championed the rights of women, racial and ethnic minorities, gays, and others whom she saw as suffering oppression.

"I am a black woman born in a classist, racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and homophobic America, and I will end my life in a racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and homophobic America" she said in an interview with the Washington Blade last year. "Hopefully, some of the work I've done will change some of that."

Born in New York City of Caribbean descent, Lorde was a graduate of the City University of New York Hunter College and the Columbia University School of Library Science, both in New York City. At Hunter College, which established an Audre Lorde Poetry Center in her honor, Lorde served as professor of English from 1981 to 1986, teaching poetry.

Lorde in 1981 cofounded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in Latham, N.Y., the only publisher in the U.S. of literature for women of color. She also helped found Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South

Africa (SISA), and was an early member of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays.

She received an honorary doctorate of literature from Hunter College last year, an honorary doctorate of letters from Oberlin College in 1989, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Haverford College in 1989. In 1988, she was honored with the Manhattan Borough President's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Lorde found herself at the center of controversy in 1983 when chosen to speak on behalf of the gay community at the March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom. The march marked the 20th anniversary of the march at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream" speech.

March organizers originally barred an openly gay speaker from addressing the crowd. Following an intensive lobbying effort by the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, including a sit-in and arrest of four members at the office of then D.C. Del. Walter Fauntroy, the march organizers agreed to allow Lorde to speak.

"We marched in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King, and dared to dream that freedom would include us," she told some 100,000 marchers in her speech. "And today, we march again, lesbians and gay men and our children, standing in our own names together with all our struggling sisters and brothers here and around the world."

Washington, D.C. lesbian filmmaker Michelle Parkerson is currently working on a film about Lorde's life and work.

Reprinted with permission from the Washington Blade.

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