What Isn’t Known About Terwanda McMoore

“It was just around August. I wrote a letter to my parents in Louisville, KY, and my partner and I packed up the cats and everything we could fit in the tiny Volvo. We were living off-grid for about two years, camping for most of the time in different locations. Most of the experience, I didn’t know where we were going next.”

Driving along, Terwanda McMoore and their partner passed this Burger King in Pueblo, CO. There wasn’t much else in the small town.

“I’d seen this Burger King before, just in a dream 10 years ago,” they say. We stopped for a bite, and got back on the road.

“Then, we blew a head gasket,” McMoore says. In Pueblo, it would have cost more to replace the head gasket than to purchase the vehicle. McMoore saw it as a sign to stop for a minute.

McMoore works as the Community Engagement Specialist for The Green Solution. They do not have preferred pronouns and are a Black, gay activist in Denver. During the Black Lives Matter marches, they handed out water bottles to people with the help of her moped. They recently co-hosted a vigil and protest for Vanessa Guillen, Elijah McClain, and Breonna Taylor. Proceeds went to the McClain family and 10for10, a Black youth organization.

In June, McMoore and their organization, We Are One Denver, organized the Amplify the Voice concert with music guests Brothers of Brass, Spirit of Grace, Wesley Watkins, and more.

So, how did they get from broken down in Pueblo to a major Denver activist?

Before moving to Colorado, McMoore and their previous partner bought old, foreclosed houses and fixed them up in the poor areas of Louisville. One night, they decided to stay in one of their abandoned houses for the night to wake up early and start work the next morning.

“We hear the door busting in and yelling: ‘Police! Police!’” McMoore explains. Though they showed the officers the paperwork for the house, the officers detained them and searched for warrants. “They had nothing on us, but they could still act like they had something on us; they took one of our crowbars, a hammer, and one of our book bags.” McMoore says officers then told one of their own to keep quiet during the situation, even if they did not agree.

McMoore was then charged with criminal robbery, which was dropped down to criminal trespassing.

They reflect, “After I had gotten off house arrest, I thought, ‘I gotta go; I gotta go.’ It was right around August when I decided living in Louisville wasn’t for me.”

After McMoore’s charges were off their record, they left Kentucky with their partner and cats to escape the segregation in Louisville. “My path is to help people see that there’s more to life than what we’re already living,” McMoore says. “The majority of the world sees and respects you with action. If I can work to show people that hey, you don’t have to succumb to always depending on the government to live off of, but, at the same time, you have to put something back into the universe.”

Before working at The Green Solution, McMoore went to a school of metaphysics and worked as a nurse’s assistant in Kentucky. They believe in meditation and the importance of mental health awareness and conversations. McMoore loves to sing and is a member of Denver Women’s Choir. When they aren’t working or focusing on activism, they love to play with their dog, Abby.

McMoore started at The Green Solution as a trimmer, then in the kitchen making edibles, and now currently oversees business outreach to the community. They came to this position in just two-and-a-half years. A goal of theirs’ is to help the community understand federal laws regarding cannabis commerce.

“I want to show other gay, Black women that you can be successful in anything that you do; you can work right next to those men that are taking over everything. I’m not going to stop ‘til I get up there. I want to show the LGBTQ community we can get in there,” says McMoore. The LGBTQ community continues the struggle to have their voices heard and their rights uncompromised.

During the BLM protests, many groups within the Black community were working separately. As an activist, McMoore doesn’t want that to be the case.

“Cis, heterosexual men were trying to take over the movement when it’s all Black lives that are affected,” McMoore says.

“Black women, trans, Black lives, Brown lives—we have people locked up in cages [who] should not be locked up, whether they’re in prison cages, or ICE cages. Someone walking home should not be afraid if they will be stopped by police.”

“I think collectively, communities could use more and better mental health services for people,” McMoore adds. “If it’s being in and out of prison, suicide, sexuality, gender, or dealing with abuse, it would reduce the need for police. People could then address the issues they are having ahead of time.

“Half the time, that’s all someone needs is another person to sit down with and talk about what’s going on” McMoore continues. “I believe a lack of education and mental healthcare is a source of police problems on both sides. People say ‘defund the police,’ and I agree; they should not have this much funding. How will you implement that? How are you going to educate people?

“Some people just cause drama and chaos because that’s all they know. People on the police side of things just beat the sh*t out of some people because they have mental issues they’re going through. They use it as their coping mechanism,” McMoore says.

McMoore closes by expanding on how properly addressing mental health issues as a separate problem would also lower crime, “I guarantee a lot of the criminal activity that happens is because of mental health. Mentally, if someone is not there, or checked out, they aren’t stable, and their issues aren’t addressed. Why is it that someone thinks putting on a badge means they’re above people? That needs to be addressed. But, that’s a TED Talk conversation for the future. And eventually, we’ll get there.”

*Photos by Justine Johnson

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