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Interview with Opal Tometi (#BlackLivesMatter)

There’s a lot going on in the United States, right. So there’s a lega­cy of struc­tur­al racism that’s been impact­ing Black com­mu­ni­ties in the United States ever since we were kid­napped from Africa and brought to the United States. And so what we’re see­ing today is actu­al­ly a con­tin­u­a­tion of the racist poli­cies and prac­tices of the United States. We’re see­ing state-sanctioned vio­lence with impuni­ty on black people. 

Opal Tometi Keynote, Marching in the Arc of Justice Conference

It’s para­mount that our soci­ety rec­og­nize the role of anti-black struc­tur­al racism in the US. And that our 21st cen­tu­ry mul­tira­cial social move­ments uplift and cen­tral­ize the issues of those com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who are impact­ed and are liv­ing at the mar­gins. We know that if we do, we’ll get clos­er to real jus­tice for all of us. Moreover, it’s been wide­ly doc­u­ment­ed that the gains made by and with the black com­mu­ni­ty have always led to bet­ter stan­dards of liv­ing for all of us.