At the end of the day, policy solutions cannot bring Black Liberation, nor can anti-oppression trainings. Both tactics can merely give us space to envision and articulate alternatives. Ultimately, we must create new co-operative systems and new models of social interactions that respect the inherent dignity of Black people. We must limit the power of the state to direct our lives, which means that Black communities and communities in solidarity with Black liberation must take responsibility for solving our own problems. We cannot ultimately rely on the police to make us safe or social workers and psychologist to make us whole. We must take care of our neighbors and empower our communities. We must teach each other and learn from each other new models of being our best, most gorgeous, most lovingly empathetic selves.
Social Justice
Call Me in Until You Need to Call Me Out
Reflections On Being A Leader in a Leaderful Movement Rape Culture is real. It is omnipresent. It is destroying all of our movements. I don’t know how to start this essay. I don’t really know what to say or how to say it so I’m going to be real and raw and honest. I … Continue reading Call Me in Until You Need to Call Me Out
Shouting #ILoveBlackWomen to the Universe
The goal of this week is to be intentional about telling the Black women in our lives that we love them. The goal of this week is to spend some time celebrating the Black women who created meaning, value and joy for our human existence. The goal of this week is to call-in all of us, including myself, who have sat on the sidelines for too long. The purpose of this week is to create a space to love.
#ILoveBlackWomen
I want to tell all the Black women in my life, my mother, sisters, aunts and friends that I love you. You are all phenomenal people who have given me more than I can articulate. Despite what the world may tell you, despite the constant messaging that you are ugly or worthless or less than, you are beautiful and powerful beyond measure. The more I am blessed with the presence of such intelligent, wise, creative, and wonderful Black Women, the more I realize how right my friend and gifted organizer Omolara Williams was when she said that “Black Women are magic.” Those of us used to dwelling in the darkness of our own insecurity often cannot admit your beauty because for us your radiance is near blinding.
Illogic
Illogic is a response to messages that are beamed at us constantly in the media that are supposed to provide a framework for action and thought. Illogic is the only tool capable of destroying the current logic of being that is our illiberal society.
Strength Without Power
Reflections on the cost of self control, movement stress and silence. Reflections on overcompensating for being Black and Male in America.
Letter to My Niece [and All the Black Girls Struggling in America]
Dear Jadie [and all the other Black girls growing up in a world that erases them and still expects them to carry a nation on their backs], Keep your head up. Keep your back straight. Keep your eyes open. You have your grandmother’s eyes and the world needs that light to guide it out of … Continue reading Letter to My Niece [and All the Black Girls Struggling in America]
Dear Black Women and Trans* People in the Struggle
Dear Black Women and Trans* Activists in the Struggle, I don’t know how to begin this letter. There are so many things I want to say to all the Black women in my life. There are so many things I want to say to uplift, spread and support marginalized voices within this new movement. There … Continue reading Dear Black Women and Trans* People in the Struggle
Mentally Ill Man Fatally Shot In Petworth
*this work is a piece of fiction by the author Aaron Goggans (who is alive), an attempt to process the pain of recent events.* Earlier today DC police fatally shot a mentally ill man in Petworth after a brief stand-off in front of the man’s home. Police are reporting that Aaron Goggans, 26, was shot … Continue reading Mentally Ill Man Fatally Shot In Petworth
#BlackLivesMatter Podcast
There is a movement happening in America... All across America young Black people are articulating the damage, the pain, the fear, the lynchings that come with being one of the backs upon which this white supremacist nation was built. It is important that we all bear witness to this pain. If you are Black, … Continue reading #BlackLivesMatter Podcast