After the past four years of in-your-face hate and blatant incompetence, it can be easy for those who don’t have the battle of discrimination and white supremecy on a daily baisis to feel like the war has been won. But for many, it’s just another opportunity for injustices to go into hiding and for allies to take their foot off the gas.
As Dr. Akilah Cadet explains: “When the soap opera of ’Who is president?’ was over, everyone was like, ’Oh my God, you must be so excited.’ And I wasn’t. I wasn’t because I immediately went into the work that still has to be done. So there’s this illusion that now that we have a South Asian, a Black, a Caribbean woman in office, and we have Biden—and Biden is, by affiliation, Obama somehow—that things will be fixed. But I don’t feel that at all.”
“There’s this illusion that now that we have a South Asian, a Black, a Caribbean woman in office, and we have Biden—and Biden is, by affiliation, Obama somehow—that things will be fixed. But I don’t feel that at all.”
-Dr.Akilah Cadet
“There’s more work that needs to be done than ever because we can see it. We see it on our phones. We see it on the news. We see it in our conversations. So that’s why the Black Truth, and the call to celebrating yourself and the call to that renewed allyship, is important, not just for the four years that they’re in office, but everything we’re doing moving forward, those small incremental steps and holding the new administration accountable.”
WATCH DR. AKILAH CADET’S ’S FULL BLACK TRUTH VIDEO HERE.
“Who are those people that just kind of move around us? Watching human beings be killed and then just going back into their lives like nothing happened?…And in the last year, we’re seeing those people. All 74 million of them.”
-George McCalman
For George McCalman, the election results—and the 74 million people who voted for Donald Trump—dredged up a specific moment in time: “In the early 1900s, the blockbuster events of the summer in a lot of American history were public lynchings. And I would always look at those photos and say, ’Those people are still alive. They’re alive. They’re here. Who are those people that just kind of move around us? Watching human beings be killed and then just going back into their lives like nothing happened? Because to them, nothing happened.’ And in the last year, we’re seeing those people. All 74 million of them.”
WATCH GEORGE MCCALMAN’S FULL BLACK TRUTH VIDEO HERE.
KEEP READING.
History isn’t a story, solidified in amber—something for us to simply admire or memorize. It’s context. It is the outline that allows the present to be truly visible.
From microaggressions to blatant acts of outright racism, each of our subjects has come up against the reality of trying to succeed within a white supremecist system, and, for better or worse, that has professionally shaped who and where they are today.
On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who handcuffed him and kneeled on his neck until he died. The brutal, 8-minute-long-video was beamed to nearly every single phone on the planet.
“There are things that Black people are sharing—they are being more vulnerable with themselves, asking for advocacy, asking for non-Black people, particularly white people to come in and do the work and to keep moving forward,” says Dr. Akilah Cadet.
Black joy is both a celebration and an act of resistance—a blowing defeat to a system that is designed to keep happiness and success just out of reach for entire communities of people. We talked to our subjects about how they find joy, how they express it, and how they share it.
After the past four years of in-your-face hate and blatant incompetence, it can be easy for those who don’t have battle of discrimination and white supremecy on a daily baisis to feel like the war has been won. But for many, it’s just another opportunity for injustices to go into hiding, and for allies to take their foot off the gas.
There is no talking about Black Truth without wading deep into the realities of racism. From the persistent sting of microaggressions to the gut punch of hate speech, each subject has a unique—but sadly familiar—story to share.
When advocacy is built in to everything you do—work, relationships, parenting—self-care isn’t an indulgence, it’s an act of survival. Our subjects reveal what keeps them sane and showing up every day—from trashy reality TV to shopping to sharing stories with others.
So where do we go from here? Can we ultimately heal the deep wounds and achieve an anti-racist future? Our subjects weigh in.