Miscellaneous Files From Racial Justice Activists in the US
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated existing crises in our systems, making the work of activists more urgent than ever. At the same time, concerns about public health and the resulting changes in behavior and regulation have forced many to reimagine the way they conduct their work. In this series of interviews, Miscellaneous Files asks activists and organizers around the world to share screenshots, videos, and other files on their digital devices for insight into how they’re navigating this time of momentous change.
The first edition of this series features interviews with organizers fighting for racial justice. Here, you’ll find my conversation with Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti-Police Terror Project (APTP), an Oakland-based organization that pioneered a model for community response to police brutality—one that has been replicated around North America. We spoke about APTP’s multi-front fight against state violence, as well as how Brooks’ own experience as a grassroots organizer, playwright, performer, and politician—having run for Oakland mayor in 2018—has informed that effort. I also talk to Eric Ward, executive director of the Western States Center, a hub for grassroots leaders in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West regions. Over decades of civil rights work, Ward has studied white nationalist movements and spent considerable time among their members. We talk about the increasing visibility of white nationalist movements in American politics, and the roots of that connection.
Along with these two US organizers, I also spoke with Sylvana Simons, Rosebell Kugamire, and Amanda Adé, activists who work in the Netherlands, Uganda, and Ireland, respectively. Since the systems of oppression that undergird racist violence extend across national borders—despite differences in its local manifestations—the effectiveness of any anti-racist conversation depends upon the extent to which it’s shared among those working across different locales. Hopefully,
