Garza was born to a single mother in Oakland California, on January 4, 1981. [48], While Garza has been critical of Donald Trump,[49] she has also been critical of Barack Obama[50] and Hillary Clinton, saying: "The Clintons use black people for votes, but then don't do anything for black communities after they're elected. She is one of the co-creators (with fellow activists Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi) of #BlackLivesMatter, which has become one of the most powerful social justice movements in the world, and a cofounder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, an international organizing project to end state violence and oppression against Black people. Go deeper into fascinating topics with original video series from TED. var ue_furl = "fls-na.amazon.com"; Every single day, we confront things that we believe . Garza, 39, was named to The Root's 2016 list of 100 African American achievers and influencers and is the recipient of the 2016 Glamour Women of the Year Award and the 2016 Marie Claire New. [28] She has given speeches to audiences across the United States of America, from union halls to the United Nations Office of the High Commission on Human Rights. The famed Black gay author Langston Hughes rose to prominence both for his literary work and also as a leader in the Harlem Renaissance in pre-World War II New York City . var useSSL = "https:" == document.location.protocol; } if (sourcesToHideBuyFeatures[i] == source) This country has always been deeply divided, and the work ahead of us is the sameit's to face that history, and our present, courageously, so that we can go about the business of changing it. As for the private sectors role in change, Garza (who founded her company, Black Futures Lab, a policy, advocacy, and leadership training fellowship, in 2018), is equally unsparing. Amplifying 2 million women across the U.S. I was holding her hand when she died.[12]. What will it take? In that relief, will we hold the Biden-Harris administration to a new set of standards? Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Alicia Garza is co-presenting at this year's National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) Conference with fellow feminist and prison abolitionist Angela Davis, launching a weekend of conversations about the intersections of feminism and racial justice activism and academia as both NWSA and the historic Combahee Amid outrage, the three words became a rallying cry for thousands around the world protesting violence and systemic racism against black people. In 2005 she joined People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in BayviewHunters Point. Now,. return false; On May 26, 2017, Garza delivered a commencement speech, which was dedicated to black women, to 35,000 San Francisco State University Graduate students. What unites them for me is that everyone right now is longing for something different, something better. "[38][39], Garza participated in an attempt to stop a Bay Area Rapid Transit train for four and a half hours, a time chosen to reflect the time that Michael Brown's body was left in the street after he was killed. That means understanding how it is that we elected a sociopath as the President of the United States. "What I know from this last four years is that Trump and his administration is not only not good for black people, but it's not good for our movements." Alicia, along with Patrisse and Opal, is one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. At a time when so many of the inequities and systemic problems in our society have been laid bare, people are looking for meaningful ways to be part of creating positive change, and the need for effective activism, organizing and movement building has never been greater. [1] Alicia Garza is the wife of Malachi Garza . Queen of the South follows the life of Teresa Mendoza (played by Alice Braga), a money changed who works her way up to become the head of her own drug cartel. Black communities are a critical part of the infrastructure needed to create communities of change, and yet we are often missing from those communities of change. Taking credit for shit that ain't his to take credit for #GAGovDebate. var cookie = cookies[i]; It must be the thing that wakes us up in the morning, the thing we fall asleep thinking about. Garza: For me, this election wasn't a wake-up callit told a story of what's been happening in this country for a long time. She was a member of the Black Liberation Army in the 1970s, an extremist offshoot of the Black Panthers. What is on your mind in the wake of this election? I have daily practices that help me get that rage out. window.csa("Config", { Then came her call to action, alongside fellow activists Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. [13] The same year, POWER organizers published a book analyzing how capitalism and imperialism were threatening the livelihoods of San Francisco and the Bay Area's working-class communities of color. This movement crosses so many others, which shows that we can build new kinds of communities where everybody can belong, and where everyone can be valued and where everybody can be powerful. @aliciasavesface. Explore a billion-year-old volcanic mystery on Lake Superior, A journey of the senses through Abu Dhabi, These Lake Superior islands are no place for amateurs, One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. Schnall: In 2020, we faced one challenge after another, all in the background of a global pandemic and ongoing instances of police violence against unarmed Black Americans. Who leads your company? [46] The first project for Black Futures Lab was the Black Census Project. Garza reflects on a lifetime of activism in this 2018 interview with our editor-in-chief. Alicia Garza, a cofounder of the Black Lives Matter organization, came to Berkeley Thursday night "to rant for a minute" before settling into a somber talk about BLM today and the urgent need to fight threats ranging from fascism and extra-judicial racial terror to white supremacy. For more on Alicia Garzas work, you can visit her website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @chasinggarza. _Q: [] var ue_t0=window.ue_t0||+new Date(); The event ended when police removed the protestors by dismantling part of the train. But this? I think, I know, that black people deserve to be powerful. Garza advises that companies not make these calculations in a silo. [32], Previously, Garza had served as the director of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in the San Francisco Bay Area. She serves as trusted counsel for organizations across the country looking to build their capacity to lead and win organizing campaigns. Following graduation, Garza held various social-justice positions. . Garza was named one of the 100 Women We Love named by GO Magazine in 2018
Alicia Garza was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 2, 2018. Words have power. The ethnographic museum of the past is making its way to the exit.. Once this protest ended, Garza started a new generation of civil rights leaders. stylesheet.type = "text/css"; var googletag = googletag || {}; Alicia Garza, a labor organizer in Oakland, espouses a type of ecumenical activism. In 2005, the first Walmart in that area opened. [19] The organization Black Lives Matter was spurred on by the killings of Black people by police, racial disparities within the U.S. criminal legal system, mass incarceration, police militarization, and over-criminalization. She was ranked #3 on the Politico50 2015 guide to Thinkers, Doers, and Visionaries with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi; the Roots 2016 100 list of African American Achievers between the ages of 25 and 45; 2016 Glamour Women of the Year Award; 2016 Marie Claire New Guard Award; Community Change Agent at the 2016 Black Entertainment Televisions [BET]s Black Girls Rock Awards; Fortune Magazines 2016 list of the Worlds Greatest Leaders; and was a member of the 2016 Tribunal of the US Black Womens Truth and Reconciliation Commission held at the United Nations; and the Local Hero award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. [CDATA[ Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people.Its primary concerns are incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. I was so proud that the first ever Black person had been elected Presidentand then I think a lot of us found that being Black in that role wasn't enough. The cancer cells have spread all over her brain". [Garza challenges] a nation that has failed to live up to its stated belief that 'all men are created equal. }, Alicia Garza's Facebook post on July 13, 2013, responsible for sparking the Black Lives Matter movement[16], With Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, Garza birthed the Black Lives Matter hashtag. But she also acknowledges that there are challenges moving from symbol to substance. Of the critiques to defund the police, Garza references the criticism Black Lives Matter received for years. Among the most potent words of recent years is the phrase "Black lives matter." In July 2013, after the acquittal of the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, community organizer Alicia Garza posted a Facebook message proclaiming, "Black lives matter.". I sat down with Alicia Garza principal at the Black Futures Lab and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, and most recently, co-host of the Sunstorm podcast with labor activist Ai-jen . Absolutely! In opposition to the changes they saw in their communities, POWER formed a coalition between other groups against the project's developer, Lennar. a[a9]._Q.push([c, r]) That's my contribution to the whole. Four-fifths of the country's most powerful people are white A new analysis by the New York Times found that of the more than 900 officials who head the likes of government, media, finance, and . There is a longing for who we can be together. window.csa("Events")("setEntity", { For Garza, identity isnt an afterthought when it comes to business decisions; its the driving force. var ue_sid = "563-6386860-4805612"; for(var i=0; i