Activists Rise Up!

I recently had an amazing opportunity to be in a room of Black women activists, leaders, and entrepreneurs to address how we can come together during these politically divisive times to fight the dismantling of our rights and wave our activist flags to signal our commitment to push on.

Any opportunity I have to meet and work with activists on the front lines fighting for social justice, I’m in! This is my second time meeting Tamika Mallory, a social justice leader, movement strategist, and now new author of “I Lived to Tell the Story.” Her book takes a deep dive into her journey as a Harlem-born girl, raised by the Blackest of Black power parents to becoming the activist and voice of our time. She is a force and example for us all to follow as we continue to fight for equity and equality in these challenging times. Why? Simply put, she’s not scared! And she has strong, wise mentors to back her up. Mentors who have stood firm to support and guide her as a young, Black, woman activist leader, pushing back on the opposition (which at times were those standing on the same battle lines with her) to preserve her place in this movement. Joining her in the room were mentors Cora Masters, Melanie Campbell, and Monica Ray. And if you don’t know who they are in Cora’s words “Google us!” 😂

Black, brown, and Indigenous people, LGTBQ, and women are at a crossroads in this country. We are waking up every day to one stride after the next being rolled back. Rights that took us centuries to obtain are being stripped in the name of so-called “equality for all.” Let that marinate for a moment. Equality, equity, and a fair chance have never been more out of reach for us than now. Black people only just acquired equal rights 60 years ago. Look at the vast disparity in Black homeownership, access to equitable education, and health opportunities. Those disparities are due to systemic barriers that kept us out for years and years and years. And today, we are losing rights that were rights afforded to us to address and close these gaps to ensure an equitable society for those left behind.

I hope you’re wondering what are some of the things you can do to lift your activist voice. Let’s start with the widespread boycotts of companies rolling back DEI policies to appease our political administration. Here are the companies actively rolling back their DEI policies and creating new agendas to remove diversity from their internal operations.

So, staying quiet and allowing this to happen, not a chance. This is the work that gets me out of bed every day and into the community to raise our activist voices. We will not sit back and allow our rights to be taken, our history to be erased or our future to be destroyed. Let’s do this work together. Let’s collab. 💪🏾

“Say Drake…”

To finish that sentence, Kendrick Lamar, looked intensely into the cameras during his epic Super Bowl performance and said: “Say, Drake, I hear you like em young…you better not ever go to cell block 1” The crowd both at home and in the stadium, went wild. For several reasons, the main one being the questions and doubts that he would even perform this now global diss of Drake. In the weeks leading into the Superbowl, news circulated that NFL executives didn’t want Kendrick to perform the now Grammy award-winning diss at all. Well Kendrick, instead chose lyrical violence and put on a performance that will go down in musical history.

Kendrick’s performance quite frankly was everything essentially missing in communications today. It was a merging of culture, politics, history, street smarts, lyrical gameplay and so much more. From Serena Williams taking the stage in Crip blue and crip walking to “Not Like Us”, after sparking controversy for crip walking during her Wimbledon win in 2012 to Samuel Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam demanding KDOT stay in line and “Do Better” Kendrick told a story that continues to resonate days, weeks and months after. When you take a moment to watch the show again, you can’t ignore the symbolism weaved throughout. Kendrick’s dancers were outfitted in the American flag colors, red, white, and blue, drawing a representation of the labor of enslaved people who built this country. The set was designed to represent a prison yard, a direct connection to disparities in mass incarceration. That’s storytelling and communications at its finest - not only powerful words but illustrative themes and symbolism to back it up and give it emotion.

Today, we are in a climate of immense polarization and racial divide at the hands of our administration (I can’t bring myself to type the word “president”), and Kendrick let us all know now is not the time to fall in line, play nice, and be quiet. We are in the midst of a revolution and whether we like it or not, we ALL must choose a side. Choose a battle. How you communicate the side you are on, must show up in your voice both as an organization and as a leader, you can’t afford to lay low in hopes this too shall pass. It won’t and the time to join forces with like-minded leaders and organizations that are standing firm in their work on equity and equality is now.

Does your organization’s messaging and narrative resonate with the people you are working so hard to help and the partners you need to work with to evoke change?

Let’s work together to rise and stand firm in your work, show the world you came to do good, but plan to stay to do better. Because after all in the poignant words of Kendrick “They not like us.”