Our economy was built on the genocide of indigenous people and the violent extraction of labor from enslaved Africans. This cruelty was justified by white people’s created illusion that those we killed, stole from, and enslaved were inferior and that … Continue reading Reckoning with cultural extraction
Love. Let’s lead with love. I love you, in all of your tenderness and complexity and vulnerability, strength and pain. Feel that love. Words are inadequate. Yet words are what I have. Transformation feels slow. We move through cycles, change … Continue reading Breathe, Believe
“What does it take to rebuild community as a beautifully defiant act of resistance and a necessary tool in our collective survival?” Marisol Jiménez offered a beautiful, powerful, poetic testimony in response to that question at a recent CreativeMornings event. I … Continue reading “The foundation of activism…is love.”
As a person who cares about the collective narrative, the first WNC Wikipedia Record-and-Edit-a-Thon, which will be held this Saturday, is an event that I think is super important. It’s being presented by the Baird Family Reunion, the oldest black … Continue reading WNC Wikipedia Record-and-Edit-a-Thon
One does not have to be a scholar of history to know that colonizers used violence against Native Americans to take over land in this country. That white wealth was built on that stolen land using the labor of enslaved … Continue reading Legacy of Land Theft
Leaders from the historically African American neighborhoods of Shiloh, Burton Street, East End and Stumptown are partnering with the Asheville-Buncombe African American Heritage Commission (AAHC) on the installation of historic markers in their neighborhoods. The goal of the historic markers … Continue reading Historic Markers Project
“On this year’s Dia De Los Muertos, we are remembering those killed by the Prison Industrial Complex. From jails to detention centers, police and ICE collaborations to the targeting of our people, we are lifting up the death-dealing realities in … Continue reading News and Notes
The heaviness of things cannot be denied. A natural response is to close up and hide. And certainly making time for quiet introspection is healthy and necessary. At the same time, moving towards the light of love requires being open. … Continue reading Staying Open in October
“In these challenging times we need black and brown female voices more than ever, so that our nation’s song of freedom is truly in tune with our moral consciousness, and that keystone voices keep us in rhythm with justice and … Continue reading Keystone Voices
The news these days is heartbreaking. As oppression has always been. My skin color means I will never fully understand the trauma of racism. My heart calls me to feel as much as I can, and to be of service … Continue reading Trauma and Healing
