The Resistance Roundtables

Chicago is full of individuals that are moving the culture forward and making an impact. The question is, are YOU one of them? Apply today! ✨📝

🔗: raydiantsplendor.org/Raydiant-Awards

It’s a national holiday! Happy Birthday momma! I love you for your truth telling, discerning, loving, raw honesty. Thank you for stewarding this family the way you do! Sometimes we may not understand at first but as I grow older EVERYTHING you say makes so much sense to me. You have always been right lol. It’s crazy how we can be so stubborn and miss the fact that you have lived life so much longer than us, and you’re still here and thriving. Thanks for been the sense maker of our family! Thank you for your Godly wisdom. I honor your pour and your prayers and your tears and your labor. You are a queen mom! I adore you! Thank you for your fiery nature. Your zeal is one of a kind and I’m honored to share a piece of that in me. I love you to the moon and beyond!

Everybody help me wish my mom Helen Campbell a blessed and happy 71st birthday!! 🎂 🥳 🎉💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

Last week, I spent some valuable time connecting and learning with BOMA Chicago and served as a workshop facilitator around DEI and conceptualizing authentic allyship. It was such a joy to share with the association’s Diversity Committee ways to incorporate this concept into organization and in our work beyond common and normative iterations. Importantly, we grappled with what it means to get in “good trouble” and think of allyship as a tenet of social Justice. Such thoughtful and reflective dialogue occurred! It was such an honor to engage with this group. A huge thank you to Jaclynne (not pictured), Bridgette and Liliana for connecting me to this amazing group in this way. I look forward to continued success and work together as we grow and sharpen our Social Justice lenses!

As we prepare to enter 2022, we are excited to announce that our Roubdtable Discussions are returning for a second season. Each month, we will be offering monthly web series on topics related to education, justice, DEI, and access! We’ve missed you all - can’t wait to reconnect!

Stay tuned for our next communication on this! We will be reaching out for potential panelists soon!

You heard it.

When we think of the concept, “resistance”, we often conflate this notion to violence. This is particularly salient for Black men. The reality is, however, that Black men embody so much more than the negatively charged tropes that remain pervasive in society. So much so, that we employ and elevate resistance through various forms: creativity, joy, love… and a multitude of other things… with the purpose of taking back (resisting) and recentering the ways in which minoritized bodies exist through it all. We are not your stereotype. We are our own dreams and wonders and gifts and talents. We resist the bottleneck perceptions of those who alienate us. We educate to resist. We resist to thrive.

Major s/o to .trainz for the continuous support! Rumble, Black man, Rumble!

We here at just want to send a very special and happy birthday to one of the creative minds of our and our lead Graphic Designer at The Resistance Roundtables, LLC. Happy Birthday, Sean! Not only are you MY family, but you are critical to the creativity of our organization. You have let our design efforts with grace, dedication and class. Your eye and vision are impeccable! Thank you for being an amazing team member! Enjoy your day!

I have seen the decision for Coach Gruden’s dismissal from the and I think there are some valuable learning lessons in this entire issue.

Looking at this issue from an intersectional lens, Gruden made Anti-Black Racist remarks, Homophobic remarks, Misogynistic remarks and Ableist remarks over a near decade of communication WITHIN the NFL. He used racist caricature description, made sexist remarks saying he denounced the hiring of women referees, utilized homophobic language toward Roger Goodell and also insulted q***r identifying football players. Coach Gruden spoke against those who kneeled during national anthems, and also insulted the POTUS using ableist language concerning his speech impediment.

So much to unpack, but I’ll try for the sack of convo -

If the viewed these issues through this lens, they would be able to spell out much of the dangers surrounding this rhetoric. The questions that linger for me - who is Gruden connected to? Who else has he spewed this type of harm to? Who else (with his power & privilege) has he to lean on when he wants to rant with an oppressive tongue? Gruden was fired, but what about those he communicated with?

If those were viewed through a lens like Intersectionality, the would ask these questions (and deeper ones) to uncover the systemic issues laced within an organization that has reaped the benefits of these players and the NFLPA collectively. The question is - what will the do? The Raiders fired Gruden, but what stance will the nfl at large take? 🤔🤔🤔 How are you grappling with these issues? ARE YOU grappling with these issues? ESPN is it really “over”?

I’ll end with this. Gruden is not the only person complicit in these issues. also has some cleaning up to do as well! Steven A. Smith just vouched for this man just this morning. The media is a double-edged in this way. We have to be better than “let’s get the latest story” or let’s be the “first” to address this!

And we will until we all have a seat at the table. We will until we all know justice. We will until we all are liberated.

To the indigenous communities far and wide. We honor you. Today and always.

*** TRIGGER WARNING!! ANTI-BLACK RACIST LANGUAGE ***

I’m sharing this post to raise awareness of the email blast that was sent out to students at (Amherst).

We have a responsibility to uphold in the face of Racism and/or other forms or oppression that impact BIPOC communities. I’m spreading awareness with hopes that this influences the decision-making of university leaders and motivates a timely response and action-oriented approach towards justice for the students on this campus.