Press

TIME: This Juneteenth We Must Undo the Toxic Narratives Placed on Black People

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“More than a cause for celebration, Juneteenth is a reminder that repair is long overdue. We need a call to create a future where this society is free of anti-Blackness; a call to cultivate a world where Black people are thriving in every way.  We can’t keep doing storytelling and reporting as usual. It’s time to center the voices of Black people in society, to create spaces dedicated to Black truth-telling and expression—such as the Black Future Newsstand—and to finally begin the process of healing the deep generational wounds of slavery. Only then will we be aligned with the spirit of Black ancestors who danced in the streets upon learning of Emancipation in 1865.

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This is how we can finally honor the story of Juneteenth with the gravity and action it deserves.”

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The New York Times: What does it mean to ‘Center Black People?’

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“There is power in black people taking up space, particularly when cities are intentionally trying and succeeding in removing us, making us invisible.…Anti-blackness is both the core wound and the organizing principle of this country, a through-line that permeates all of our institutions and cultures,” Her thesis: Blackness must be centered physically, not online."

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"The threat to our bodies and our homes is physical, therefore the response must be equally physical. A physical experience for black people, having a physical space, in their own communities where they are protected and witnessed — in their vulnerability, in their intellect, in their creativity, in their expression — is necessary. This social experiment tests whether communities can truly honor blackness in a public space. It challenges people to have a relationship with blackness that sees us not as a threat but worthy of protection."

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"This is also about bringing people together to shift their beliefs about what the world could be like. The experience of centering blackness through these installations reprograms our minds and bodies about how we relate to each other, how we relate to blackness, which is necessary to create new relationships and structures in society. This physical space is a place of healing for black people, and for everyone."

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The Guardian: I became a Black woman in Spokane. But Rachel Dolezal, I was a Black girl first

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“Rachel Dolezal is, after this week, a symbol to many African Americans of the separation of blackness from black people; to me, she is an example of how American society simultaneously devalues the individuality of black women and us as a community to the point that the performance of black womanhood is preferred over the people. If blackness can simply be worn or performed, then every white woman with a weave and a cause, every white girl with a snap and a little attitude, can supplant the lived experiences of what it is to become a black woman. To be a black young woman in Spokane was, for me, to be rejected, isolated and left to find my own way. Becoming the black woman I am today was not about learning a performance, it was not about certain clothing or my hair texture; it came from first being a black girl, from the trauma of rejection and isolation and its transformation into a kind of self-taught solitary pride, from learning to preserve my own sense of true self.”

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More Reads:

• EBONY: The Real Black Women of Spokane Deserve to be Seen
• Thrillist: Harlem’s New Interactive Newsstand Amplifies Black Voices in the Media
• Black Enterprise: Black Thought Project and Media 2070 Collaborate to Release the “Black Future Newsstand”

• New York Amsterdam News: Extra, extra! Read an Edition of the Amsterdam News from 2070 at the Black Future Newsstand
• Harlem World Magazine: Black Future Newsstand, an Afrofuturist Media Experience Goes Live in Harlem
• The New York Times: Report Details Economic Hardships for Inmate Families
• NBC News: African American Women Face the Brunt of Mass Incarceration

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