*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.
Read More*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.
Read More*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.
Read More*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
South Africa is infamous for being the world's most unequal country with an alarming 70 percent youth unemployment rate. And at a time when food prices continue to threaten the world’s poorest counties, such stark inequality has huge implications for South Africa’s future.
Read More*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
The paths to actualising reparations for communities of colour across the world are likely to be highly contextual, given the highly contextual histories of harm that different communities have experienced.
Read More*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
South Africa is facing a crisis in the delivery of basic services including water, sanitation, refuse management, electricity supply and housing, all of which are the primary responsibility of municipal governments. There is clear consensus among advocates that issues with local government accountability are at the root of the problem.
Read More*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently passed three bills to tackle gender-based violence, an ongoing crisis in South Africa. Given their newness, and histories of governmental failures, it remains to be seen whether they will be effective at protecting womxn.
Read More*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
Few events have affirmed the essential place of the internet in modern life like the COVID-19 pandemic, yet millions of people across South Africa and the U.S. remain without internet access. Governments must address infrastructure and pricing issues that contribute to these inequities.
Read More*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
Many communities of colour and poor communities across South Africa and the U.S. are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Policies to meet the challenge of the moment must be rooted in their needs.
Read MoreIn this stirring tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Atlantic Fellow Rev. Kelvin Sauls’19 reflects on the life and influence of the former South African Anglican bishop, theologian and anti-apartheid activist.
Read MoreApply to join our 2022 cohort of Fellows!
Against the odds of an unrelenting pandemic, and much grief and loss in 2020 and 2021, justice-minded people across sectors have rallied. In South Africa and the U.S., they are pushing against the forces that seek to limit the lives of people of colour.
At AFRE, we’re honoured to support a network of such leaders. And, starting today, we're accepting applications for a new cohort of Fellows to join our growing, powerful community.
Read MoreOur new magazine Moya is rooted in the belief that we cannot inhabit realties we have not first encountered in our minds. Expanding imaginations is therefore central to the work of liberation, writes editor-in-chief and AFRE Deputy Executive Director Sebabatso C. Manoeli.
Read MoreToday, many of us across South Africa will head to the polls to elect district, metropolitan and local municipality leaders. On the ballot are the candidates responsible for addressing the rising levels of hunger, youth unemployment, and broken infrastructure in communities, townships and cities across our country. And at stake are the social, political and economic issues that have plagued our country for generations and that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Read MoreIn Season Two, Race Beyond Borders explores race outside South Africa and the United States, in search of underexplored experiences of Blackness across the globe. Released monthly, each episode spotlights a thinker-doer-creative who reflects on the political and the personal dimensions of Black life in their country. In charting the global African diaspora, from each continent – from Italy to Iran, Martinique to Colombia, we will raise new questions about what it means to be Black beyond conventional notions.
Read MoreDuring their fellowship year, Senior Fellows Sithandiwe "Stha" Yeni'18 and Asanda Benya'18 created Feminist Schools to support the work of some contemporary women activists in rural South Africa. In this Q and A, Stha walks us through the historical and present-day realities of women’s struggles in South Africa, and reflects on how the space she and Asanda created with these brave women allowed them to build solidarity and shared language about their struggles.
Read MoreIn honour of South African National Women’s Day, we uplift the work and insights of AFRE’s South African women leaders.
Read MoreMeet the newest cohort of Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity—20 more outstanding change makers set to lead the work of tackling anti-Black racism and building expansive new futures in which Black people, and people of colour, are seen, valued and respected.
Read MoreNot since the fall of apartheid have we seen such dark days in South Africa. In this moment of social unrest, we’re holding space for the profound grief and loss so rife in this moment. We’re facilitating support to communities impacted by the duelling crises of COVID and social unrest. But most importantly, we are challenging ourselves to engage in radical and active hope.
Read MoreLong before the COVID-19 pandemic created serious financial strain for millions across the globe, housing advocates across the United States had been sounding the alarm about a looming eviction crisis. And while the pandemic has significantly exacerbated this emergency, the root causes are much older and deeper according to attorney, housing advocate and Senior Atlantic Fellow Rasheedah Phillips ’18. Through her work with the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and with support from AFRE, she is building power with tenant organizers to take on the effects of evictions.
Read MoreYouth Day and Juneteenth remind us that liberation is hard won, and the quest is marked by paradox.
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