Black Women's Expansive Visions

From Founding Director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab Ruha Benjamin, and award-winning singer-songwriter Thandiswa Mazwai, scholar-activists and 2018 Fellows Sithandiwe “Stha” Yeni and Asanda Benya, founder of the Collective for Black Iranians Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda, co-author of the Combahee River Statement Barbara Smith, hip-hop artist Akua Naru, and visual artists Lorryn Moore and M. Florine Démosthène–we’re lifting up the expansive visions of Black women leaders.

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Cultivating an Equitable Cannabis Industry

Across South Africa and the United States, advocates are working to address racist drug policies that continue to disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous and other people of colour. This personal reflection was written by Senior Fellow Arissa Hall, co-founder of BlackSeed, as part of AFRE’s ongoing series to amplify the ideas, strategies and voices of our Fellows and community.

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Building a new politics, from the ground up

This year, as Freedom Day arrives amid a crisis of political accountability across South Africa, there is consensus that this moment calls for renewed mass organising. Axolile Notywala’20 reflects on the possibilities and challenges of such movement building, drawing on his work on the Movement for Collective Action and Racial Equity (Movement for CARE) which is cultivating solidarity among Black and Coloured communities in Cape Town.

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Transforming Public Safety

*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures

Despite ongoing calls for community-oriented public safety practices, South Africa’s national government and the U.S. federal government have both been slow to introduce transformative policy. Nevertheless, the ground is shifting in city and state governments in the U.S.

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The Fight for Democratic Accountability

*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures

Voting rights across the U.S. are facing threats from partisan politicians who are taking up various efforts to block access to the vote for communities of colour. In South Africa, failures of political leaders in the ANC are eroding faith in the democratic process as a lever of change. We need broad-based people power—rooted in organised movements—to hold elected leaders, and public and private institutions accountable.

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Expanding Health and Wellness in Communities of Colour

*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures

Structural factors—including inadequate access to quality housing, stable employment with living wages, and food security—create adverse health outcomes in communities of colour and poor communities across South Africa and the U.S. Communities must be at the centre of efforts to transform these structural forces that impact health.

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