Black Lives Matter U.S. Community Exchange on Intersectional Feminism

A delegation of Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements from the United States is in town for a week and we would like to create a space for exchange and solidarity with Black and POC social justice activists. This informal community meet-up will revolve around INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM in light of the BLM movement in the U.S. and in Europe. How can we make our racial justice movement more intersectional and inclusive of feminist, queer, trans*, non-binary and disability issues? What can we learn from each other in that regard?

Kwame Rose is a social activist and Artist. Kwame was originally known for having boldly held mainstream media, particularly Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, accountable for its inaccurate representation of protestors during the Baltimore Uprising. Kwame was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. After the completion of his freshman year, deteriorating social conditions in his hometown of Baltimore prompted the permanent return of the young activist with a firm commitment to improve and serve his community. In 2013, Kwame helped form the organization Brothers In Action, Inc., a mentoring group for young Black males in Baltimore City. Kwame

also served as a host for the Real News Network. After writing an article critiquing the Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sander’s lack of engagement with young change agents, Senator Sanders reached out to Kwame about how to reach young people. Kwame then served as a surrogate for Senator Sanders campaign. Kwame is also featured in the new HBO documentary Baltimore Rising.

Rana Abdelhamid is an internationally acclaimed human rights organizer, 1st Degree Black Belt, public speaker and social entre-preneur focused on the empowerment of marginalized communities. She is the founder and CEO of Malikah, a nonprofit organization and global grassroots movement supporting women’s empowerment through self-defense, entrepreneurship and organizing training. Ra-na established MALIKAH at sixteen after be-ing attacked by a stranger who tried to rip the hijab from her head. Over the past seven years, (IM)WISE has engaged thousands of participants through its pro-grams across the US and internationally. In 2017, MALIKAH held its inaugural National Muslim Women’s Summit at Harvard University, training 50 Muslim American women in leadership and community organizing. Rana has personally conducted trainings and facilitated healing spaces in 17 cities globally.

Monica Cruz is a queer Afro Boriqua activist and organizer. In May 2016, she graduated from Fordham University where she led the SAGES Coalition, a student activist group fighting for reproductive justice and gender liberation on campus. During her senior year, Monica founded Fordham Students United, a student-led coalition working with faculty and alumni which organized multiple anti-racist and worker’s rights campaigns on campus. Monica currently organizes with the Justice Center en el Barrio, a grassroots community center in East Harlem, New York. She has led numerous workshops, community forums, film screenings, and open mics to address a wide-range of social justice issues. She has organized and spoken at numerous Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ liberation, and women’s rights actions and conferences. Over the years, she has traveled to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington DC to participate in a variety of social justice conferences and rallies. Her passion lies in connecting the issues of racism, women’s and LGBTQ+ oppression, war, and worker’s rights with a focus on building independent movements and grassroots organizations.

Blair Imani is an author and activist living at the intersection of Black, Queer, and Muslim identity. She is the author of Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History, which tells the sto-ries of 70 contemporary heroes who are changing the world. Following her July 2016 arrest during a Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rouge in response to the killing of Alton Sterling, Blair Imani began using her voice on a national stage as a commentator, speaker, and social media pres-ence. Blair is the founder and executive director of Equality for HER, a nonprofit edu-cational platform for women and nonbinary people. Four years after its found-ing, Equality for HER joined NBCUniversal’s award-winning accelerator pro-gram for organizations working to rid the world of discrimination. Blair is an alum of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and DoSomething.org. She currently serves as a board member with the Tegan and Sara Foundation, an organization that fights for health, economic justice and representation for LGBTQ girls and women. Blair also serves on DoSomething.org’s Civic Engagement Advisory Board and the advisory board of 260by26, an organization dedicated to extend-ing education opportunities to 260 million children globally by 2026.

Rick Leandry The word “activist” is defined as “a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change.” Rick’s form of activism is recruiting at risk youth into a loving mentored structure. His structure revolts against self hate, police brutality, red lining, mass incarceration, gender and racial inequality. “Mr. Rick” promotes positive life choices by educating and enlightening youth. His belief is that this form of activism will change the future for children from underserved communities, ultimately changing the world.

He is active in Baltimore’s community associations and supports public housing and youth programmes. For his social engagement he has been rewarded the title of “Top Neighbor-hood Dad 2015” by the Mayor of Baltimore: “Baltimore’s Top Neighborhood Dads are not necessarily fathers themselves, but have given fatherly love for their neighborhoods by working to improve the quality of life within their communities.”