Everything That Glitters Isn’t Gold: An Account of White Supremacy and Its Impact On A Black Trans Business Owner
By: Ivory Jean Leveau
Tags: Accountability, Respectblackfemmes, Racism, Displacement

Everything That Glitters Isn’t Gold: An Account of White Supremacy and Its Impact On A Black Trans Business Owner Ivory Jean Leveau Aug 12·16 min read

Reported by Jaimie A.Prince

As we move nearer into our third year of surviving a global health crisis, it is critical that we address the issues presented for Black queer trans individuals in obtaining safe housing and living conditions. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen many folks suffer under abusive living situations, this of course is exasperated for Black queer trans people by fascism, racism, classism, fatphobia, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia. It is destabilizing (to say the least) whenever someone must leave an abusive home, let alone moving while running your own business. Transitioning into a safe environment where one can flourish and feel supported is critical in healing from that previous trauma.

Oftentimes, we turn towards our communities in moments like this, and ask for support. What then, do you do moving forward when your new home isn’t a place of refuge at all? After tolerating relentless bigotry and racism from their new roommate/land mate and unsafe living conditions Ivory Jean Leveau (@shopaloevintage on Instagram ), with the support of their close friends and witnesses, was forced to write this callout post detailing their experiences. No one should have to tolerate what they have endured by their former roommate/land mate Sara Ann Spurlock (@Sara.Ann.Spurlock). Writing these statements is not meant to incite drama or vitriol but rather to bring greater understanding to the harm that was perpetuated by Spurlock. After an unsuccessful mediation and a threat to “call the cops” on Leveau, this was a final resort and one not taken lightly. While reading this we ask for justice and accountability from Spurlock and that others in our community uplift Leveau and their story as valid.

In the last week of April 2021, Leveau began living with Spurlock. Leveau visited the house while they were residing in an airbnb as they had received a 5-day notice of eviction from their previous landlord. This previous landlord had neglected their role and allowed Leveau and their animals to be threatened by their neighbors due to nepotism and general neglect. Leveau was shown a converted school bus as a living space and was offered by Spurlock the inside loft of her home to use as an office space. While showing the property to Leveau and a friend, Spurlock mentioned that there were certain repairs that needed to be made, however Spurlock said if the supplies were purchased by Leveau that Spurlock would complete those repairs over a three month trial period of living together -before doing a sit down check in to talk about moving forward with permanent housing for Leveau on the bus and property.

For example, Leveau would buy an AC unit, then Spurlock would install it. If Leveau bought a bathtub, then Spurlock would build an outdoor shower. If they bought supplies for a skylight, Spurlock would install it into the emergency exits of the bus. If Leveau would buy a mini fridge, Spurlock would plug it in. But in order to do so, Spurlock would have to install power outlets, as the bus was powered by one extension cord to the house. In fact, the bus used veggie oil instead of gas when it was used by Spurlock and her boyfriend to travel for 7 years. Leveau was told that Spurlock would remove the veggie oil barells from the bus for shelving space, and many other promises were made during this initial meeting.

Leveau was told when they came to view the house and over the phone that Spurlock did not “believe in rent” and would not be charging Leveau rent. Leveau was told to pitch in on bills equally, and that it would cost about $150. For the duration in time that they lived there, they paid $350 in their half of bills each month. Leveau estimated that their approximate total bills alone must have been around $700. A friend later pointed out that this amount seemed quite high for rural living without AC.

In the beginning, when Spurlock and Leveau were still discussing living together, Spurlock asked what would be a good amount of time for Leveau to get to know one another. Leveau and Spurlock decided that three months would be a good time period to have a check in and discuss what was and wasn’t working in order to move forward with housing together. Spurlock and Leveau agreed that Leveau’s office would be in the lofted area of the main house next to Spurlock’s bedroom, office, kitchen, and living room. However, this was to be a temporary situation, as Spurlock had made an offer that after the 3 month check in Leveau could buy a cabin-making kit so that their office could reside outside of the property as well. After making a verbal agreement, Leveau moved into the bus.

Within the first week of living on the property, Spurlock informed Leveau that if they opened the windows there would be a cross breeze. It was at this point that Leveau already began to notice that their items were molding, causing them to begin discarding personal items. Leveau initially thought their items were molding due to their windows being opened and the cross breeze while it was raining, but the windows had to remain open as there still was not AC installed on the bus. Despite Leveau having bought a unit at the beginning in May, Spurlock had still yet to install it per their arrangement. After three weeks of living on the property, Leveau realized that even more of their belongings had molded and they began to attempt to restore their items. Spurlock noticed Leveau cleaning and mentioned that she took silica packets and sprayed things with a rosemary spritz to slow down the molding. Spurlock insisted that when Leveau got the AC unit installed the mold wouldn’t be as much of an issue.

About three weeks into the living situation, Leveau’s car broke down on the way to go to an airbnb for work. Spurlock arrived with her girlfriend. Leveau was short with Spurlock and quiet as they were upset about their truck breaking down. The next day, Spurlock texted Leveau saying she was upset about Leveau being short with her and they discussed it further. This led to Leveau sending Spurlock an email about ‘respectability’ and that they would not act in a certain way to appease white people. Spurlock did not reply for over a week and then randomly brought it up while the two were alone together. Spurlock deflected blame, comparing Leveau’s actions to those of a friend who had romantic feelings for her. In fact, in the first few weeks of living there, Leveau and Spurlock had a great rapport, spending lots of time together. Spurlock was flirtatious, Leveau did not want to accuse her of flirting so they told Spurlock they had developed a crush on them and wanted to be upfront in an attempt to name the dynamic they were witnessing. Spurlock replied “ Well, I don’t want anyone to be rude to my girlfriend.”

As the months went by and Leveau got more and more settled into their new home they increasingly found themselves being tasked by Spurlock with taking care of the property and her animals. For a while, Leveau still used the kitchen in the main house, as they didn’t have running water on the bus. This took about one month for Spurlock to fix, so that they could use the kitchen on their bus. Spurlock asked Leveau to watch her garden and care for her animals for a week when she left for Atlanta. Leveau fed the animals twice a day and cared for the garden that week, including 40 chickens, half of which were meat birds. For the duration of living together, Spurlock was gone nearly every weekend and multiple times during the week, resulting in Spurlock asking Leveau to care for the property, which Leveau said yes to.

A conversation between Spurlock and Leveau about shopping at Walmart led to Leveau vocalizing how uncomfortable they felt living in rural confederate Mississippi, after discussing their discomfort Spurlock volunteered to do monthly shopping trips to the store if Leveau pitched in money for Spurlock to travel on their behalf. However, Spurlock never once went to the store for Leveau. Additionally when discussing bills Spurlock asked Leveau if they would pitch in for food for the chicken and Leveau agreed to pay for food for only the chickens that lay eggs as Leveau planned to eat said eggs as they lived there. While discussing bills, both internet and power, Spurlock estimated over the phone that the total would be about $150 a month. In total Leveau paid $1,128.80 after living on the property for two months.

July 5th

Leveau was in the bathroom when they heard their dog barking at someone, they quickly put on clothes and saw a truck outside pulled into the drive. A white man got out of the truck, he wore a Punisher t-shirt, a well known white nationalist symbol. Later Leveau was informed he is one of their neighbors who also lived in the confederate south. The man asked Leveau, while walking towards the entrance of the house, if they knew about a stolen generator he was searching for. Leveau informed him that they had no idea what he was talking about, he then asked Leveau if their dog was friendly, and they replied that their dog didn’t know him. He proceeded to ask Leveau questions as if it were an interrogation until Leveau finally said they knew nothing about the generator but they hoped he found it. He then left.

July 11th

One day after Leveau’s birthday celebration, Leveau was making breakfast for a few friends in the kitchen of the main house when Spurlock came up to Leveau and began discussing their neighbors. This neighbor, Debby, was described by Spurlock as having an 8th grade education and is someone who has said the n word with a hard r. Debby had apparently had a discussion with Spurlock about Leveau, saying that they were rude to the other neighbor looking for the stolen generator. Spurlock then told Leveau not to bring undue attention to the house and to be “nicer” to said neighbors in order to better protect her image. Leveau brought up that the neighbor came at 8 am and Spurlock said that 8 am is the middle of the day for people who live out in the country. Leveau countered that he had driven far down the driveway (as they lived on a secluded road) and Spurlock said people do that all the time in rural towns. Leveau attempted to further explain their discomfort from being randomly questioned by a vaguely strange and menacing white man about stolen property, but Spurlock brushed it aside and said that the man was merely asking questions and not accusing Leveau.

Leveau further explained that Spurlock, of course, wouldn’t be able to appreciate the dynamics of living in a rural community while being Black. Spurlock, being a white woman, would always be treated with respect and given the benefit of doubt. Leveau mentioned that even if they came outside bearing, “a tray of cookies they aren’t gonna look at me the same.” Spurlock didn’t respond to that and so Leveau attempted to end the conversation. This led to Spurlock claiming Leveau had “heat in their voice”, causing Leveau to end the conversation. At this time, Spurlock drove away. She later texted Leveau and apologized for mentioning the neighbors during their birthday party and left Leveau with a stick shift car since Leveau’s car had been broken for about two months.

Later that night, Leveau began to have panic attacks, afraid that because white supremacists didn’t like their attitude and with the knowledge of Leveau’s home (and the fact that they barely can drive a stick shift so the car was basically useless), there was no way they could escape to safety. Without knowing any of the neighbors personally, or having any semblance of community support around them, Leveau talked with several friends on the phone Sunday through Tuesday until they fell asleep due to their intense panic attacks. Over the next week, things escalated further. Leveau wanted space and Spurlock rushed Leveau into finding a mediator to talk about what had happened. Leveau found two friends who had lived with them to reach out to Spurlock in order to mediate. The first conversation Spurlock had with those two friends was just a discussion of her side of the story. In that conversation, Spurlock was racist, bringing up Leveau’s cleanliness and chores, referring to Leveau’s posts on social media as genuine and targeted physical threats. Spurlock said, “I mean, what do I do? I mean, I don’t want to call the cops’’ in response to Leveau taking some personal space away from her. Their friends ended the mediation and continued to hold space for Leveau.

July 15

Leveau notices more mold on their possessions in the bus and, once again, asks Spurlock to put the AC unit in the bus. Spurlock finally obliges, begrudgingly.

July 21

Spurlock sent Leveau’s friend a demand for Leveau to move out of the property by August 10th, insisting that she’d raised $2,000 for them to move out and was working to pay back the $700 Leveau had paid in rent as she no longer had that money. Leveau’s friend texted back informing Spurlock that Leveau wouldn’t be moving out by then. The money Spurlock raised was raised without consent by Leveau, and wasn’t discussed in the three month check in for the trial period.

July 22

Leveau texts Spurlock in order to open up lines of communication. Informing her that they won’t be moving out because it would only be 3 weeks notice. Leveau also informed Spurlock that they were contacting a new person to mediate. During this time, on and off for three weeks, Leveau had been staying at airbnb’s and friends’ homes as the property was too uncomfortable to reside in. Spurlock continuously found Leveau taking this space away from her as uncomfortable. Leveau was worried about how Spurlock’s animals were fairing. When they were on the property, they noticed the donkeys were making distressing sounds, and Leveau couldn’t remember seeing anyone feeding them or the 23 chickens.

After Leveau stopped caring for the animals, they noticed mistreatment as unlike Spurlock, Leveau had been feeding them consistently. The neglect of the animals paired with the unsafe living environment due to their roommate’s racist behavior began to cause Leveau’s stress to build. In order to curb some of that stress, Leveau stayed at multiple airbnbs with the help of their friends. This continued on and off for about three weeks.

During The Mediation

Leveau spoke first and talked specifically about the incident on July 11. Spurlock then spoke , for a long time really- uninterrupted. Spurlock started off by explaining that Leveau’s “crush” on her had crossed boundaries, which was 100% false. In the email about respectability Leveau sent, they told Spurlock that they had zero romantic interest in her. Leveau had only mentioned and phrased the flirtatiousness they were feeling from Spurlock as a “ crush “ to give Spurlock a chance to form her own opinions and be honest about what was going on.

Spurlock revealed a lot in the time that she was able to speak uninterrupted. She took up as much space as she could and a majority of the mediation focused on “ I feel “ statements with no concrete truths.

In the mediation, Leveau’s struggles with addiction, mental health, and “ crisis” as Spurlock would put it, were brought forth as reasons why Sara Ann would be evicting them. It is important to highlight how Leveau’s mental health was brought up in mediation several times, while they have been consistently in therapy , and most certainly being mentally affected By the toxic black mold They have been breathing in since the last week of April. Leveau’s animals Have both had nose and eye allergies for most of their stay at this home, and will need to be taken to the vet to check on their health after living in what was poison. Leveau themself needs a $400 mold test to see where their health stands after this entire excruciating endeavor.

Spurlock and her support person brought to advocate for her in mediation both tried to coerce Leveau into picking a date to move with 5 minutes left in the mediation. Leveau and their support person advocated for a different set of demands. It was agreed that Spurlock would take several action steps moving forward:

Show Leveau physical copies/ a breakdown of what They have paid so far in bills

Enroll in therapy to start working on her mental health issues that have always affected Leveau for the duration of their tenancy there.

Introduce Leveau to the neighbors so that Leveau could regain security in a space that had begun to be very unsafe.

Spurlock did not follow through with any of the 3. Sunday August 8th, Leveau and their Friends left the space throwing away letters from dead friends and the memories of Ivory Jeans’ last decade/childhood.

August 6

The mediation occurred and didn’t go well. At the end of the mediation with five minutes left, Spurlock attempted to force Leveau into choosing a date to move. Leveau’s friends, Spencer and Justin, drove several hours to Leveau in NOLA in order to help Leveau as they were not feeling well and needed help taking care of themselves and their animals. While their friends were hanging out on the bus, they began to rip back the wooden paneling only to discover blackmold covering the foundations of the bus. This led them to notice that the entire bus was covered not in dirt (like Leveau had originally assumed) but more black mold.

The un-insulated food cabinets had large cracks in the, allowing an ant infestation. The stove where Leveau cooked was also unsafe, as well as most of their possessions, as everything was covered in the toxic mold. The AC unit Leveau had on the bus needed to be moved inside where Leveau and their animals would need to sleep because their bus was a health and safety hazard. The next day, Leveau and their friends looked at the guest room and found more black mold, they checked the office and found the same thing. Even in the loft area, they noticed a handmade leather bag was covered in the black mold.

A 14 carat antique mirror damaged by black mold

Several camera, including two Canon DSLRs, were all damaged by black mold

Back on the bus, while packing up their belongings, Leveau noticed that their cameras were molded, the curtains in the living room were molded, their entire record collection and the records inside them were permanently damaged by mold. Everything had to be thrown away. They managed to save some things, but the black mold on the bus and inside the house had caused irreparable damage to their vintage clothing inventory and their personal effects including irreplaceable memorabilia. Leveau’s friends also mentioned that they’d been sneezing and unable to sleep in the cabin space on the property that Leveau had offered, so they decided for safety reasons to all stay in a hotel.

Many of the records destroyed held great sentimental value to Ivory Jean

Cat carrier damaged by mold

Where Things Stand

Leveau is staying in a hotel for the next week as it was impossible for Leveau or their animals to stay in the bus or the house. Because Spurlock wouldn’t listen to Leveau, Leveau’s support person from the mediation reached out to try and hold Spurlock accountable. They attempted to share their experiences as another white person who had been called out for their racism to explain where Spurlock went wrong and where she doesn’t understand the harm she has perpetuated. Spurlock denied accountability. Leveau hasn’t been able to work for over a month due to the stress this situation has caused. They now have a payment plan with their therapist for over $600 owed for the PTSD inflicted upon them from July 11th onward. Now that Leveau has lost irreplaceable personal items like relics and letters and their store inventory being covered in mold and compromised, this has further halted their business and put them in even more of a financial bind.

This situation was woven with blatant racism, stereotypes, and a complete doubling down in white supremacy. The history of the rural south is a sordid tale of lynchings, racial violence , and specifically Mississippi is the home of great segregation and continuous racial divide. As we are in the midst of what could be a never ending pandemic in which black and brown people are the most vulnerable, attempts at forced eviction at this time are fatal to the lives of especially black trans people existing under the perils of capitalism in addition to trying to navigate their own mental health. The impacts of Sara Ann’s actions go far beyond this situation, and the grief and loss inflicted upon Ivory Jean is just another story in the book of white woman specifically villainizing black femmes and wielding power when threatened. Accountability is a must in situations like these, and we have yet to hear that from Sara Ann Spurlock.

There were a multitude other microaggressions transmitted against Ivory Jean: Missing washcloths, Ivory’s clean clothes moved outside overnight without communication, Sara Ann continuing to invite only white people into the space after Ivory Jean expressed discomfort, and lastly, Sara Ann going so far as to describe Ivory’s birthday celebration as a “ bender” when recounting her side of things to the original mediator. But we know how this story goes, and we don’t need examples of white passivity, manipulation, and violence to believe black femmes when they speak out about their experience with a seemingly “sweet” and “nice” white Woman.

The biggest tragedy is the loss of Ivory’s personal effects, the financial burden this has had and continues to have, and the complete dehumanization inflicted upon a black trans person who simply advocated for safety.

In addition to the black toxic mold, Ivory Jean and their friends noticed several structural safety hazards affecting the bus that Ivory Jean had been living on. This included a flat tire that made the bus un-level, and the water system that Sara Ann had installed caused water to accumulate in the corner of the stove area, which is a dangerous recipe for a grease fire. This space that was offered as a habitable safe space to Ivory Jean was, in fact, full of hazards, due in part to improper construction, and, in addition, Sara Ann’s negligence.

Old vegetable tanks that were never removed as promised by Sara Ann

If you would like to support Ivory Jean moving on from this situation of great grief, loss, and reinforced racial trauma and discrimination during this time — their cash app information is as follows:

Cash app: $ivoryjeanleveau

Venmo:shopaloevintage

PayPal email:shopaloevintage@gmail.com