Black Ownership Is The Future Beyond DEI. These Are The Black Leaders Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

In a speech at the American Black Film Festival Honors recently, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor so eloquently and passionately declared, “I don’t want a seat or a table. I want the structure. I want the land that the structure is on.” Ellis-Taylor’s message came right on time. Donald Trump has only been in office for a little over a month and he has already slashed public funding and intimidated private leaders into submission with his racist and sexist vision for America. Activists have responded by rightfully pushing political and corporate leaders to honor their commitments to racial justice as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it has come at an exhausting price. There comes a point where people grow weary of sitting beneath someone else’s table begging for the bare minimum. To Ellis-Taylor’s point, instead of making demands of others who have only shown us empty promises, how can we take control and steer our own spaces and opportunities?