An Interview with Nupol Kiazolu
By Stephanie Younger • When we spoke with Nupol Kiazolu in 2018, she was completing her senior year of high school, preparing to attend Hampton University, and she was the President of Black Lives Matter Greater New York Youth Coalition. She is now 22 years old, and next year, she will graudate Hampton University with her degree in political science and begin law school.
A Conversation with Taylor Scott, Founder of RVA Community Fridge
By Teresa Younger and Stephanie Younger • The community fridge is a concept and a place where communities are given access to share and collect food. In August, we had a conversation with Taylor Scott, about mutual aid, how she brought the community fridge to Richmond, Virginia and founded RVA Community Fridges in 2020.
A Conversation with Garnett Achieng on Gendered Violence in the Digital World
Watch: An archive of our Instagram Live conversation with Garnett Achieng on gendered violence and the marginalization of women and queer people in the digital world, and what must be done to combat it.
A Conversation with Bisi Ideraabdullah, Founder of the Imani House On Community Care
By Teresa Younger • At Black Feminist Collective, we are celebrating Imani House, an organization that allows Black people to empower themselves through the provision of education, information and support services in the United States and Liberia.
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 founder of the SpiritHouse Project. I am honored to have had this conversation with Ruby Sales, and to have this knowledge shared with me because there are so many similarities between our journeys as Black liberationists.
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.
Queer Windows in Dembow Music
By Princess Jiménez • Originally published on Kultwatch • In the Dominican Republic, where supposedly moral society and the Church often espouse virulent homophobia and transphobia, an unusual alliance has appeared among the very poorest: singers and producers of popular music genre Dembow are working with queer people and trans women, who have become huge stars in their own right.
Interview: Student Activist Havana Chapman-Edwards
By Stephanie Younger • 7-year-old student activist Havana Chapman-Edwards was the only student at her school in Alexandria, Virginia to participate in the National School Walkout to honor the victims of the 1999 Columbine school shooting.
Art 180 Opens “Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out” Exhibition
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. On Friday, they opened the exhibition, “Lift Us Up! Don’t Push Us Out!” a mixed-reality exhibit that raises awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline, the youth and their families affected by this issue.
#HelpNotDeath: The Movement Demanding Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters
By Stephanie Younger • I recently met Princess Blanding at an art build for the upcoming National March For Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters on October 13th. In May of this year, Blanding’s brother, Marcus-David Peters, was murdered by the Richmond Police Department while he was having a mental health crisis; and just yesterday, the commonwealth attorney of Richmond, Virginia ruled the murder a “justifiable homicide.” This week, I spoke with Blanding about the movement demanding Justice and Reformation for her brother.
Patrisse Cullors on Art, Intersectionality, and Her Memoir
By Stephanie Younger • In June, 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.
Nupol Kiazolu on Womanism and Black Youth Empowerment
By Stephanie Younger • The murder of Trayvon Martin ‘ignited a fire’ within the heart of a then 12-year-old Nupol Kiazolu she says she has never felt before. “I couldn’t fully articulate how I felt at the time, but I knew I was angry,” she wrote in an Instagram post in February.