Event #1:Beyond the Hashtag

 Let me just start off by saying that I absolutely loved this virtual event! This event was all about the Black Lives Matter Movement and what they stand for. The guest speaker, Patrisse Cullors, spoke about her involvement in the BLM movement and what it means to her while answering questions from college students. She explained that this movement is run by mostly black women fighting for racial justice and how it is an accountability movement. Cullors has always known that her passion was to uproot white supremacy and create a world where all of us can live and thrive. She is doing this amazing work by being a

part of this powerful movement. This movement started as just a hashtag to end police violence against black people, but now, it means so much more than that. People misunderstand that this is an actual organization, not just people protesting in the streets. There are team of strategists and experts working every day to make sure their goals are being achieved. People also think that the BLM movement is just violence but that's not the case at all. Cullors says, "it's important to know that misinformation and disinformation have been used to destroy movements". This is very important because there's always going to be people that are against your movement and are trying to discredit you and what you stand for by doing things like making accusations and trying to sabotage you. Something that Cullors said that I really liked was, "Acknowledgement is the key to change". She explained that without acknowledging that something is wrong, in the end, nothing will change. She also talked

about the importance of this election and how elections in general are important and can help a movement achieve their goals. The BLM movement and other movements in general, get what they want by holding elected officials accountable. Ultimately if these elected officials aren't complying with what the movement wants done, then they will simply just vote them out because as Cullors explained, "We take our power to the ballot box"!

This event reminded me a lot about the Tatum reading, "Talking about Race, Learning about Racism". Racism is something that we need to acknowledge and ultimately do something about. Black folks shouldn't have to live in a world where they are scared for their lives or fearful of being discriminated against for no reason other than their skin color. I think that Tatum feels the same way as Cullors when it comes to the acknowledgement of systemic racism and how getting people to acknowledge it can actually make an enormous difference in the way they our society views people of different races.

*Visit this link for more information about #BlackLivesMatter!*

https://linktr.ee/Patrisse.cullors20