Chat For Impact Summit: A Message from Keynote Speaker, Alicia Garza

In this second blog for the month of May 2021, we are excited to bring to you some snippets of our meeting with Keynote Speaker, Alicia Garza, Founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Co- Founder of Black Futures Lab, civil rights activist, author and advocate of race, gender, and sexuality.

About Alicia Garza’s Work~

• Alicia is the Founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, which went from being a social media post, to an organisation print to finally a civil rights organisation that mobilises people for the rights of Black communities around the world, especially starting with the USA.
• ‘Black Futures Lab’, which she co-founded, was created to place power in the hands of Black people in politics. 
• Her Book, ‘Purpose of Power’ conveys the key message that the Black community is powerful, as they endure and persevere because and in spite of systemic barriers placed against them. Her book also credits Black people as “innovators, creatives, winners and fighters”, in her own words.

Alicia’s hope for the world that is slowly being reconstructed everyday~

She spoke to us about her personal hope for the new world to be a place where nobody is left behind, where our relationships with each other and nature are nurtured and are cooperative and not predatory in nature.

Alicia on the advantages and bad of using digital media to organise~

The biggest benefit, she said, is that digital space crosses all borders and boundaries. However, she pointed out that the drawback is concerning issues like how the digital space is being politicised and everyone is impacted. She emphasised that hashtags on social media are just vehicles that people follow, but people themselves need to take a step further and come together for the movement- hashtags and social media cannot replace that.

Alicia on how to overcome fear as an activist ~ 

Normalise fear! She conveyed to us that we can be scared and still continue to move forward. We will also inspire other people and make them more courageous. 

Alicia on using ‘Hope’ as a tool~

She told us that we cannot let cynicism take over our lives and that only ‘rage’ and anger against injustices we are fighting is not enough. In fact, it can become corrosive for what may be possible. Instead, one’s optimistic vision for what is possible is what keeps one going. We should INVEST in our hope and cultivate and practise what we want the world to look like. 

Final Call To Action by Alicia Garza~

“This sector is the present, not the past or the future... More people need it to stay connected. We must democratise digital spaces as right now, it is under dangerous manipulation. More is possible in the next 4 to 6 years. The main driver for your own movements should be- what do YOU want to leave behind?”