Patrisse Cullors – BLM co-founder & Social justice warrior

On Feb 9, 2018, I was among thousands of librarians attending the 2018 American Library Association Midwinter conference in Denver, Colorado. Patrtisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter network, presented the opening keynote for the conference.

Cullors is a performance artist, organizer, and freedom fighter. As a child, she believed her mother was the world’s coolest person. Although her family spent time living in Section 8 housing, her father always emphasized that she, and her life, mattered.

As a result, she considers herself a “see a problem, try to fix that problem” individual. She primarily utilizes her energy for leadership development, political strategy and relationship building. She has founded or worked with numerous community based social justice organizations.

Last, but absolutely not least, she is the new mother of a black son.

All that, and she is only thirty-five.

Cullors has been involved in social justice work more than half her life. She came out as queer at sixteen. At that time she formed close connections with other young, queer, woman dealing with the challenges of poverty and being Black or Brown in the US. She also witnessed her brother’s experiences with the police. He was diagnosed with bipolar schizoaffective disorder, had multiple violent encounters with the legal system, and was repeatedly brutalized while imprisoned.

She earned a degree in religion and philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2012. That same year she curated her first performance art piece, STAINED: An Intimate Portrayal of State Violence. The performance addressed the violence of incarceration, and lead to the formation of the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence and the non-profit Dignity and Power Now. Those organizations were instrumental in the formation of the first civilian oversight commission over the LA Sheriff’s Department.

In the summer of 2013, Cullors’ friend and fellow community organizer Alicia Garza made a Facebook post about her outrage and pain following George Zimmerman’s acquittal. Cullors used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to endorse her friend’s words.

Her efforts galvanized the moment and made the hashtag go viral. Together, Cullors, Garza, and their tech-savvy friend Opal Tometi, founded the global movement that now includes numerous chapters in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. #BlackLivesMatter has been a call to action against the intersection of police abuse and racial injustice, a loving affirmation that black lives do indeed matter, and the basis for a broader discussion in both white communities and in communities of color.

Cullors was just getting started. Barely a year later, she led a think tank investigating state and vigilante violence at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. In 2015, she was named an NAACP History Maker and the LA Times named her a Civil Rights Leader for the 21st Century. Google.Org handed Cullors a Racial Justice grant that allowed her to work with grassroots organizations across California that assist communities seeking effective ways to respond to police violence. Her efforts always start on the local level, identifying the needs of her community and trying to solve them. That, she says, is how you grow a national movement and eventually transform systems.

None of this is surprising for a woman who calls The Giver one of her favorite childhood books, and who treasures the memory of meeting science fiction author Octavia Butler before her death. She recommends science fiction and fantasy for young people. Although women, and boys, of color are still lacking in those genres, their energy promotes the growth of imagination and possibilities.

When speaking about children of color, Ms. Cullors reminds people that they know more about the world than many adults realize. She urged adults to make space for kids to have the hard conversations, to help them change their world in a democratic way. She also believes positive affirmations should be a big part of every young person’s life and would tell every child,

“You are brilliant. You are courageous. And you are loved.”

She stays energetic, optimistic, and focused by thinking of her work as a long-haul fight. She believes in the importance of self-care and keeps her life “Funky, Fresh, and Fun” by associating with friends who encourage her, eating healthy, having non-political conversations, and taking breaks when necessary.

Cullors remains open to the ideas of others, but she will not put time and energy into things or people that would only drag her down. That’s why some of her friends work to delete many troll comments from her social media accounts before she sees them. That leaves Cullors free to focus on people who are interested and excited by what she has to say, not those who can’t or won’t be convinced.

For her efforts in behalf of others, Patrisse Cullors has been called “unpatriotic,” “criminal,” and “terrorist.” This leads to the title of her new book, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. She acknowledges that the changes she fights for may not come in her own lifetime, but she firmly believes they WILL happen. She keeps remembering that others have had to fight much harder…and won.

Meanwhile, she emphasizes the importance of reading to and with children. That’s why she reads the book A is for Activist to her son.