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'I Came Black Out the Womb': Why Filmmaker Dash Harris Denounces Latinidad
“How do we honor the Blackness within Latinidad? We don’t. Power doesn’t negotiate. That’s one. Power does not like to be shared. That’s two. And power is all consuming. — Dash Harris, Multimedia Producer, Filmmaker text It’s no secret that Latinidad has a fraught relationship with Blackness. Black Panamanian Dash Harris says that after centuries…
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'The Work Is in the Valley': Courtney B. Vance and Dr. Robin Smith Join Forces on World Mental Health Day
“The tapes are in our minds. It’s my responsibility to change the tape in my head because it’s a mind game. It is a battle. The battleground is the mind…And that’s why there are suicides, because we just want to stop the tape.” — Courtney B. Vance, Actor text In a world where Black people…
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The Color of Money: How Black Banks Build Black Economic Mobility
“We need Black-led financial institutions who have the expertise and who can really help steward the Black dollar toward more economic mobility in the community.” — Sabrina Terry, National Community Reinvestment Coalition text For far too long, Black people in America have not had fair and equitable access to financial services. It’s no surprise that…
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'We've Been Here': A History of Black Women Protesting in the World of Sports
I’m an athlete and I’m a Black woman, so I want to be able to be both on the court. And I think that’s the narrative that just needs to be understood.” — Renee Montgomery, point guard, Atlanta Dream text In America, Black women are critical in the fight for justice. Full stop. This statement…
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La La Anthony: 'Proud to Be Black. Proud to Be Puerto Rican'
“I’m Black and that’s what Afro-Latina means to me.” — La La Anthony, Actor text For actor La La Anthony, there is no separating her Blackness from her identity. After all, the Black and Puerto Rican actor knew from the outset that she was just that—Black and Puerto Rican. In her career, the Power star…
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Gone but Not Forgotten: How This Black Woman Is Carrying on the Legacy of Her Great-Grandfather and Black Wall Street
I think there’s absolutely the potential to create another Black Wall Street. I also think it’s important to support Black-owned businesses, as well as to remove our spending from corporations that only exploit us as customers. — Raven Majia Williams, founder, A.J. Smitherman Foundation text Imagine a thriving Black community with its own hospitals, schools,…
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'I Am a Descendent From People Who Have Interrupted Empire': Afro-Indigenous Poet Alán Pelaez Lopez Explores the Beauty of Radical Blackness in La Negritud
“Being a Black person means that you’re always having to build worlds. The world that one inhabits as a Black person, primarily in a colonized country—it’s a world that necessitates our elimination.” — Alán Pelaez Lopez text Growing up, Alán Pelaez Lopez always knew that they were indigenous—but, the Oaxaca, Mexico-native didn’t realize that they…
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The Big Bounce Back: Hurricane Katrina Devastated Black New Orleans, but Bounce Music Helped Revive the City
“When we came back [to New Orleans], everything was all messed up. But over time, and everybody coming together—community efforts—we rebuilt New Orleans. The people have to the keep the spirit and the culture alive.” — Big Freedia, musical artist text Bounce music is the heartbeat of New Orleans. The musical genre emerged in the…
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'Our Activism Has to Have Legs': Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Monique Judge and Chloë Cheyenne Say That Movement Building Must Go Beyond Social Media
The 2020 uprisings have proven that “the revolution” has gone far beyond being televised. This moment of racial reckoning has taken the world by storm—the “revolution” is broadcasted on television, in the streets, on our phones and online. No doubt social media has impacted movement work. Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham reminds us that while the…
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Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Monique Judge and Chloë Cheyenne Unpack Movement Work in Social Media at The Root Institute
Where, exactly, does social media and movement building intersect? As ‘me too.’ movement founder, Tarana Burke, reminded us in an earlier Root Institute panel, movements are strategic and require long-term planning. Make no mistake: Movements don’t happen by osmosis. But, with the advent of social media, there is an ease with which communities are able…
