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Crushing cancer, the gender binary, and anything else that might get in their way— this is activist Walela Nehanda (they/them/theirs). Their efforts recently landed them on Out Magazine’s Out100 annual portfolio recognizing honorees’ impact around the world.
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Walela is the epitome of a renaissance person. The events that progressed during 2020 as a whole demanded a lot from marginalized communities (this honestly goes without saying). Walela’s work, in many ways, has been a focused act of returning demands to those external forces.
In 2017, Walela was diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (advanced stage blood cancer). Such a diagnosis can, without a doubt, alter a person’s life in ways they never imagined. For Walela, their diagnosis seemed to be a motivating point for their activism, propelling them more fiercely into their movement for community aid.
This past year, the 26-year old Black queer disabled non-binary “artivist” and organizer mobilized over 6,000 people to register for the bone marrow donor list through Be the Match, the world’s largest marrow registry. Bone marrow transplants are an extremely under-provided pathway to recovery for leukemia patients. You can text “ItsWalela” to 61474 to register to receive your own swab kit to see if you’re a match for marrow donation.
In the midst of a pandemic & their own fight against cancer, Walela pushed forward to help their community. They were able to help 200 immune-compromised people get the supplies they needed, all while isolating with their partner, Akili.
While their recent feature in Out100 references this recent work with community activism through the pandemic, Walela’s work expands into what some may call “artivism”. Using their social platform, they uplift and highlight QTPOC voices, including their own, on social justice issues affecting the LGBTQ+ and POC communities. Their poetry and other writing focuses on the issues they themselves face as a disabled queer Black person, demanding the public approach social justice issues with intersectionality in mind.
Follow them on Instagram (@itswalela) to keep up with their latest work!
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