Stephanie (she/her) is a 19-year-old based in Richmond, Virginia, where her work centers the intersections Black feminism and womanism have with police and prison abolition (Virginia Student Power). Stephanie’s work regarding abolition is heavily influenced by the anti-Blackness she dealt while attending Henrico County Public Schools as a young Black girl, and her experiences being criminalized throughout her formative years. At 14, she channeled the grief she held for Black people who were murdered by police, as well as her own trauma, into writing and working with other Black youth to apply conflict resolution to address harm and violence (Richmond Youth Peace Project). Stephanie’s middle-class upbringing in Henrico County is not without privilege, and she knows that it’s imperative to commit herself to police and prison abolition by working with other Black youth and centering their voices to dismantle the youth prison system (RISE For Youth), and invest in transformative ways to address harm and violence. Her words have also appeared on Richmond Times-Dispatch, RVA Magazine and Hello, I Am.
5 Years of Black Feminist Collective
Yesterday—May 5, 2022—marks 5 years since Black Feminist Collective was created. We are an intergenerational collective of Black feminists and womanists across the diaspora who … Continue reading 5 Years of Black Feminist Collective
A Conversation with Taylor Scott, Founder of RVA Community Fridge
By Teresa Younger and Stephanie Younger • We are grateful to have a conversation with Taylor Scott for a conversation that was centered on the RVA Community Fridges, which she founded in 2020. The community fridge is a concept and a place where communities are given access to share and collect food.
A Conversation with Ruby Sales
By Stephanie Younger • At the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership (KGCCWL) Virtual Spring Conference, I had the unforgettable experience of interviewing Ruby Sales, a freedom fighter, theologian, and …
The Movement Fighting for LGBTQ+ Liberation in Ghana
By Stephanie Younger • Last week, we spoke with Fatima Derby, a Ghanaian feminist thinker, writer and organizer, who stands for freedom, justice and equality. During our conversation via Instagram Live, we discussed the violence LGBTQ+ people in Ghana are experiencing, what influences homophobic and transphobic violence against queer and trans Ghanaians, and the fight for their liberation.
No One Should ‘Enjoy Things’ at the Expense of Black Lives
By Stephanie Younger • During an uprising in defense of Black life calling for the abolition of the police state and the carceral state, it seemed that liberals who were saying “listen to Black women,” were solely speaking in reference to Black women who do the labor of “saving our Democracy.”
What Alice Walker’s Definition of Womanism Taught Me in 2020
By Stephanie Younger •
Review: Little Fires Everywhere
By Stephanie Younger • Little Fires Everywhere is a limited series on Hulu, based on the book authored and published in 2017 by Celeste Ng, that aired from …
Black People Can’t Wait Every Four Years for Our Liberation
By Stephanie Younger • During a global uprising in defense of Black life calling for the abolition of the police, liberals set the timetable for Black liberation by advising Black youth to “save it for after the election.”
The Fight For Black Lives will not be Palatable: On Liberal Co-Optation of Anti-Racism
By Stephanie Younger • 10 days ago, I climbed up the Robert E. Lee Statue at a protest in Richmond, Virginia—the former capital of the Confederacy— and I was asked to speak in front of a large crowd of protestors. This was unplanned, and I have been grieving so heavily these past few weeks and I had no idea what to speak about.
The Movement that Cancelled R. Kelly
By Stephanie Younger • Content warning: This article has mentions of sexual violence. By Stephanie Younger • Could a hashtag topple the career of a popular artist?
6 Ways I Have Faced Anti-Blackness By White Liberals in Organizing Spaces
By Stephanie Younger • Each time white liberals convinced me to work amongst them in organizing spaces, it never took me too long to realize that I was being exploited.
The Backlash Against “Karen” Memes is Peak White Feminism
By Stephanie Younger • In late January, I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed during my break in between college lectures when I came across a blog post, in which the author claims that referring to a white woman as a “Karen” is “misogynistic,” make white women feel “invisible” …
The Long Legacy of Anti-Blackness within the Feminist Movement
By Stephanie Younger • This year, a Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles, California was excluded by the Women’s March in LA. In an article for LA Progressive, Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA, wrote an article detailing the harm caused by the Women’s March.
Why I am not “Voting Blue No Matter Who”
By Stephanie Younger • When I learned that 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden won 10 states on Super Tuesday on March 3rd, I couldn’t help but think of his political legacy of fighting for segregation, and the criminalization of Black youth.
How Gender Stereotypes Intersect with Anti-Black Racism
By Stephanie Younger • Do the ways we talk about gender stereotypes represent the struggles we all go through?
Analysis: The Impact of Policing on Black and Brown Mothers and Children
By Stephanie Younger • Are all people in America served and protected by the law?
Our Liberation Must Be Centered In the Climate Justice Movement
By Stephanie Younger • Even though Black youth and youth of color – especially Indigenous youth – are the most affected communities by climate change, and have been combating this issue for a very long time, our voices are always excluded and left out of the conversation and action surrounding climate change.
Black Youth Have Been Combating Gun Violence for Generations
By Stephanie Younger • March 24th marks the first anniversary of the March For Our Lives movement, whose mission is to “end gun violence, elect morally just leaders into office and remind the world that young people have the power to drive real change.”
An Open Essay About My Experiences with the White Moderate
By Stephanie Younger • The most crushing racism I experienced was by the white moderate, who claims to be an ally, or an accomplice, until proven otherwise.
Creating our Own Tables: Why I am More Included in the Womanist Movement
By Stephanie Younger • Speech at Women’s March RVA + Expo 2019
#FreeCyntoiaBrown: Black Women Must be Centered in Conversations and Actions to End Slavery
By Stephanie Younger • When she was 16, Cyntoia Brown lived in a hotel with an adult …
Havana Chapman-Edwards on Student Activism
By Stephanie Younger • 7-year-old student activist Havana Chapman-Edwards was the only student at her school to participate in the national school walkout to honor the victims of the 1999 Columbine school shooting.
Black Girls Must Matter at School
By Stephanie Younger • In 2006, my family moved out of Charlottesville to attend school in Henrico, county outside of Richmond, Virginia. Throughout the past 12 years that I’ve lived here, I spent most of elementary school in HCPS, spent 3 years in private school, and returned to HCPS for part of middle school.
Black Youth Standing for the Closure of Youth Prisons in Virginia
By Stephanie Younger • On Saturday, November 3, the Richmond community joined RISE For Youth, Art 180, and Performing Statistics, to “honor the voices, dreams and demands of youth affected by the school-to-prison pipeline.”
Film Review: The Hate U Give
By Stephanie Younger • The Hate U Give is a film based on the acclaimed YA novel authored by Angie Thomas. Directed by George Tillman Jr., this film begins with a then 9-year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), her younger brother, Sekani (TJ Wright) …
“Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out:” Art 180 Opens Exhibition About School Push-Out
By Stephanie Younger • Art 180 is an RVA-based organization that gives marginalized young people the opportunity to create change by expressing themselves through music, poetry, dance, and more.
The Movement Demanding Justice For Marcus-David Peters
By Stephanie Younger • Last week, I met Princess Blanding at an art build for the upcoming National March For Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters. I recently had a conversation with Blanding about demanding justice for her brother, Marcus-David Peters, who was murdered by the Richmond Police Department.
Patrisse Cullors on Art, Intersectionality, and Her Memoir
By Stephanie Younger • On June 11, I met Patrisse Cullors briefly after she accepted the “Next Generation Award” at the ACLU National Membership Conference. Cullors is an organizer, writer and artist who co-founded Black Lives Matter Global Network and founded Dignity and Power Now.
When Black Girls are Robbed of their Innocence
By Stephanie Younger • My painting in Art 180’s gallery called “Everything is Connected” is about both the racism I experienced within the gun violence prevention community. The different colors represent the emotions I felt throughout the time I faced online harassment …
Nupol Kiazolu on Womanism and Empowering Black Youth in the Fight for Black Lives
By Stephanie Younger • The murder of Trayvon Martin ignited a fire within a then 12-year-old Nupol Kiazolu “that [she’s] never felt before.” “I couldn’t fully articulate how I felt at the time, but I knew I was angry,” she wrote in a post on Instagram in February.
Richmond Protestors Demand Justice for Marcus-David Peters
By Stephanie Younger • Edited and re-published on the ACLU of Virginia on July 24, 2018 • Virginia, we have a problem. We need to … Continue reading Richmond Protestors Demand Justice for Marcus-David Peters
Why I Walked Out on My Own
By Stephanie Younger • I am writing this as a young Black person who was excluded from speaking at the Virginia National School Walkout Protest at Brown’s Island in Richmond, Virginia, led by the same students who organized the local March For Our Lives rally.
20 Things Black Girls Should Never Have to Hear or Experience
By Stephanie Younger • The following list is based on my real experiences with misogyny, ableism and anti-Black racism, that I’ve written on a mixed-media piece I created in a VCU Future Studio program at the VCU Arts’ Department of Sculpture + Extended Media.
It’s Important to Listen to Black Girls in the Fight Against Gun Violence
By Stephanie Younger • Today, I spoke at a March For Our Lives demonstration in Richmond addressing the fatal school shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida. My speech shed some light onto how gun violence disproportionately affects women, queer and trans people, and Black communities.
Marching For Juvenile Justice with Art 180, Rise For Youth and Performing Statistics
By Stephanie Younger • On the evening of Friday, November 3, hundreds in Richmond, Virginia attended the Juvenile Justice Parade, organized by RISE For Youth, Art 180 and Performing Statistics calling for the closure of youth prisons in Virginia.
Richmond Marches for Racial Justice
By Stephanie Younger • On August 11-12, Klansmen, and Neo-Nazis attended the Unite the Right Rally, a demonstration against the removal of the Confederate monument.
Book Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
By Stephanie Younger • Originally published on HCPL TeenScene’s Read & Review • A 16-year-old Black teen who has witnessed the two fatal shootings of her childhood best friends, tries to make sense of the world. Starr Carter witnessed the first shooting when she was ten.
14 Black Girls, Women & Non-binary People Every Intersectional Feminist Should Know About
By Stephanie Younger • Many institutions fail to educate people about Black liberation and the feminist movement from the narratives Black women, Black girls and Black non-binary people, who are often discredited for their work on the frontlines of Black liberation …
Black Feminist Collective 