08/24/2020
Black Joy for Black Lives is not only an event, but a movement aimed at supporting the future of the black community in Carrboro and Chapel Hill. We are here to showcase all of the beautiful forms that black joy can take. In the process, we will be raising funds through donations to create a grant for the community to use for their endeavours to further support its black residents. Accountability is a top priority, as is transparency in operations. We want to bring everyone together as a whole community to help create space for a better future for its minorities. So please, join us in uplifting every voice that has gone unheard for far too long.
When it comes to self-expression, we all want to be able to be as authentic as possible, but most of the time it's not an easy task. The society we live in today doesn't allow for true expression of self for the majority of its participants, and the backlash that can be experienced for stepping out of line can be pretty fierce, even traumatizing. But let's not pretend like this backlash is indiscriminate-- we know it isn't. It's very apparent who is allowed to express what and when with little to no consequence, whether it be joy/excitement or anger/frustration. Being black in this society means every move you make is watched under scope and lens, scrutinized to the highest degree. Let alone being a woman, or being q***r, or trans*, or disabled. All of this gets exponentially more difficult as those identities layer, which is why intersectionality is so important to understand in efforts to support black q***rs, immigrants, trans* folx, disabled people, and all other marginalized communities. There are rules and guidelines to the "proper way of expression" for those that are disenfranchised in any way, and failure to comply could be lethal.
With that being said, we have to change this narrative. In order to do that, we as a community have to work together and support those disenfranchised voices. We must make it our duty to celebrate blackness in our own neighborhoods. What the black community needs is to live as freely as Elijah McClain deserved. The expression of black joy is imperative to our liberation from the system of racism. Black joy in our society is seen as a plethora of negatively charged qualities such as "loud," "too much," or "extra." Far too often it is also seen as threatening, dangerous, or something to be feared. The reality is black joy is powerful, magical, moving, and worthy of respect in the same way that UNC wins and Franklin St. fires are.
