Alicia Garza: The Purpose of Power (A FAN Webinar)
In 2013, Ms. Garza wrote what she
calls “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal
of the man who murdered 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. She wrote: Black people.
I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. Coupled with the
speed and networking capacities of social media, #BlackLivesMatter is the
hashtag heard round the world. Yet long before #BlackLivesMatter became a
rallying cry for this generation, Ms. Garza spent the better part of two
decades learning and unlearning some hard lessons about how to come together
when things around us are falling apart. She offers reflections on how making
room amongst the woke for those who are still waking can inspire and activate
more and more people to join the fight for the world we all deserve.
Ms. Garza is the Principal at the
Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Fund, co-creator of
#BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, strategy and
partnerships director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and host of
the Lady Don’t Take No podcast.
Ms. Garza will be interviewed
by Liz Dozier, Founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond, an impact investor
that backs the fight against the inequities pervasive in Chicago’s communities.
Since its inception, Chicago Beyond has invested more than $35 million in local
nonprofit organizations and community leaders that fight for all youth to
achieve their full potential. Because there is no single barrier to equity,
Chicago Beyond invests in everything from education, to youth safety, to health
and wellness, and beyond. Ms. Dozier’s work has been featured in How Children
Succeed by Paul Tough (FAN ’12 and ’19), and CNN followed her
career as a turnaround principal at Fenger High School (2008-15), at the time
known as one of the most violent and underperforming schools in Chicago, as a
part of its 2014 eight-episode docu-series, Chicagoland.
This event will be recorded and available later on the FAN website and YouTube channel.
