Building Political Power
For us, building Black political power isn’t just about electing Black people to office, nor is it sufficient to merely have Black people at the tables where decisions are being made. For us, building power is building our ability to:
- Determine our own circumstances, and the circumstances of others
- Shape the story of who we are as Black people, and who we can be
- Determine where resources are distributed, and to whom
- Determine what is right and wrong, just and unjust
- Reward when our political agenda, rooted in our values, is upheld, and mobilize consequences when our political agenda is challenged or undermined
This is why we work to enact policies and elect Black people to office–because we deserve to set the table, not just have a seat at the table. We need Black elected officials who represent our values, and transform those values into policies that lift us all. We need people representing us who don’t just speak for themselves–we deserve elected officials who will bring us together to develop solutions to the challenges facing our communities, and who will fight to make those solutions the laws that govern us.