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" As a community organizer who holds a degree in history, I understand the fascination with history. However, there is a tendency for many of us to get engrossed in the recounting of our history, which often amounts to purely intellectual activity without material action. "

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" To me and to a number of other activists from the U.S., we believe that the human rights movement has to evolve and understand the global implications of structural racism. This means engaging the United Nations and a variety of other human rights bodies. "

Opal Tometi

Understand

Rights

Racism

" Let's demonstrate, illustrate, the ways in which our communities are being undermined time and time again, and make sure that the broader public and those in power choose to stand with us. "

Opal Tometi

Time

Stand

" I think it's really important that we understand the ways in which blackness plays out, right, and discrimination against black people impacts different communities in different ways but ultimately leaves them undermined and really devalued in our society. "

" The valuation of profit over people impedes human rights across much of the world. "

" I often think of Audre Lorde and her saying that we don't live and we don't fight for one specific struggle. "

" Black people, we are fully deserving of the room and space to fully express our humanity. This is what Black Lives Matter is truly about. "

" If black lives mattered, I believe that policing and immigration enforcement would not be the devastating force that it is in our communities. "

" When we say 'Black Lives Matter,' we're not saying that any other life doesn't matter. That has never, ever been our message. Our message has always been from a place of love. "

" In my own personal experience, I've had different family members who have been held in immigration detention because they've had some sort of challenge financially, and they were making difficult decisions, and that led to their immigration detention and, eventually, deportation. "

" I call on Democrats to use their leverage to fight for a clean DREAM Act and to reject Trump's racist agenda - not only in word but in deed. "

" We actually know that all lives do matter. And we believe it is so much so that we had to create Black Lives Matter. "

" The black immigrant experience in the U.S. must be understood not in contrast to the African American experience but as an integral part of it. "

" We have to start imagining a new reality - this will mean fewer police and more social workers and teachers. This will mean creating more economic possibilities and investment that preserves and does not displace our communities. "

" We can't continue to sit on our hands and sit idly by as people are being brutalized, disenfranchised, and left out of the system. "

" Police cannot be allowed to continue aggressive, violent, and often unconstitutional policing with impunity. "

" I have two younger brothers, and I know my parents have spoken to them about driving and interacting with police. They didn't have those conversations with me, but they did have conversations about being exceptional black people. "

Opal Tometi

People

Parents

" Fortunately, the leadership of black immigrant communities has always been present in all black liberation movements from leaders like Marcus Garvey to Shirley Chisholm to Malcolm X and Harry Belafonte. We know this is our legacy. "

" Some of us have held the hands of friends or brothers as they struggled with military and police academy recruiters, and though many of them never dreamed of being policemen, a lack of opportunities led them to those positions. "

" Anti-black racism operates at a society-wide level and colludes in a seamless web of policies, practices, and beliefs to oppress and disempower black communities. "

" As we look ahead to our very diverse future, BAJI plans to continue to be at the forefront, uniting black communities to attain racial, social, and economic justice for all. "

" There are always groups on campus that are doing amazing things. I know when I was in college, I was a student at the University of Arizona, working on my bachelor's in history, and I got involved with a number of different groups that were connected to different social justice issues that I cared about. "

" I have three godkids that are just so gorgeous; I love them dearly, and they keep me going. "

Opal Tometi

Love

Keep

" We know that there are people in our nation, black people, who are systematically being disenfranchised in a number of spheres in our lives. "

" African-Americans and black immigrants share a resilience and a determination for a better life. "

" Being in the immigrant rights space, I've heard a lot of transactional talk with questions like, 'When will black people show up for immigrants?' "

" Despite claims that there are good and bad cops, we know that the system is failing everyone - including the police. "

" If people take the fight for justice seriously in their own country and with partners and immigrants in their community and folks in the international community, I believe that we will see human rights for all people affirmed. "

" Our communities are reeling from poverty, from unemployment, from discrimination of all sorts and different interactions that they're having with the law enforcement, and education system, and so on. "

" My parents being from Nigeria deeply informs all my social justice and human rights work. "

" My mom, my aunts, and all the Nigerian women in my life have been so fierce and strong. I have only grown up around powerful women, so I have a strong sense of self and our power. "