What’s Required for Building Transformative Power?

This June, we asked our Fellows, "Where's our power to transform this challenging moment?"

The question stems from the painfully familiar refrains of today’s context: persistently high unemployment and inequality, a rollback on rights and liberties, and heart-breaking gun violence and mass shootings from Cape Town to East London, to Buffalo and Uvalde.

Indeed, these are hard times. But moments like this also invite us to deepen our hope, and to cultivate steady grounding to withstand the shifting tides of social change.

In the video above, Senior Fellows Busisiwe Dlamini'19, Mary Hooks'18, Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari'20, Devon Simmons'19 and Sydelle Willow Smith'20 offer ideas to support the practice of deepening our hope and finding our power.

Together, they remind us of the opportunities to build power in engaging our histories, of deep connection in community and of building power across different sectors and communities. Their reflections are informed by the memorials and celebrations that mark June each year, including Youth Month and Youth Day in South Africa, and Juneteenth and Pride Month in the U.S.

We hope their voices energise and deepen your hope, as they have ours, and inspire you to action.