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TORONTO May 2020 was a stressful time for Vancouver thrift-store owner Portia Sam as she prepared to reopen from the first wave of pandemic related retail shutdowns. Thinking about the health risks of COVID-19 left her so anxious she sometimes found herself shaking.

Then, George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. Sam's 20-year-old daughter was involved with the Black Lives Matter movement and Vancouver businesses talked of boarding up their windows after seeing the protests in the U.S. Sam had been ramping up Miscellany Finds social media activity during the lockdown period, but amid a surge of interest, now struggled to find the right words for her customers.

"I was enraged. For two months, I couldn't talk to people. I just did my work," says Sam of Floyd's killing and the protests.

Sam recalls receiving some touching offers of support from donors and customers, but she was already spread thin from the pandemic, the store, and the social enterprise job retraining program she runs there.

"My feelings were much too complicated," she says. "I couldn't dissect them bit by bit."

Like Sam, many Black entrepreneurs The Canadian Press spoke with said the past year has been a particularly emotional one.

In interviews, Black business owners said they wanted to take advantage of a new customer base pledging to #BuyBlack, but as well as long work days and a spike in potential clients, they were also confronted with feelings that did not fit neatly into a hashtag: anger that outrage over police brutality hadnt come sooner; reminders of local casualties of police brutality; discomfort with being tokenized or pitied; annoyance that the many immigrant communities of Black people were being painted with the same brush; and skepticism over whether the large corporations that had signed anti-racism pledges would follow through.

At the same time, many also described being grateful for a surge of tangible support from their communities in terms of social media followers and more importantly, customers.

On June 10, the Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism launched the BlackNorth initiative to boost Black representation in corporate leadership. Between June 4 and July 6, Uber Eats orders from Black-owned restaurants in Toronto rose 183 per cent, the company said. Between May 31 and June 6, Google searches for "Black-owned business" surged to all-time highs in Canada.

While search interest has remained higher than it was before, it has died down considerably since last summer. Meanwhile, the pandemic and its catastrophic effect on businesses has raged on. A recent note from TD Economics said that the pandemic has widened inequality, noting that visible minorities have an unemployment rate of 9.9 per cent in Canada, compared with 7.2 per cent for non-visible minorities.

Nevell Provo, founder and CEO of Nova Scotia-based Smooth Meal Prep and R&B Kitchen, says it is promising that the intention to promote Black-owned businesses is strong, but the key is finding long-lasting ways to put that goodwill into action.

"Maybe on the first day or the first week, you're getting some different calls. I was in a lot of different social media posts of, 'What are the Black businesses in Nova Scotia?' We're getting tagged left, right and centre," says Provo.

"They might come get a meal one day or search on the site, but they might not be our customer. It's a false hope, a head fake, for Black business owners.

Provo says these types of customers are less likely to become regulars since they arent choosing a product that fits a specific need, and it isnt easy to predict whether the spike in interest will last. One week where the orders are up, you start ordering inventory, he says.

Then these people go back to their regular lives."

Directories like ShopBlackOwned.ca have since expanded, and Provo says that as his own business becomes more visible, it has inspired other Black people to reach out and become entrepreneurs. But Provo says he knows that many will still face systemic issues, like predatory lending practices that make it hard to build good credit, or lenders that seem to doubt even the most conventional businesses owned by Black people.

Michael Pinnock, treasurer of the Black Business and Professional Association, says the wider Canadian community rallied last year to support the association, and it received a "tremendous" wave of financial support. While Pinnock is hoping the support lasts, his organization has a plan to stretch the funds for the long-term.

"It's a continuing process. Barbershops and salons and small businesses are still being affected ... A lot of our folks are working right now in smaller restaurants," says Pinnock. "It's probably going to get worse, because a lot of folks got hit big time with the first wave of the pandemic ... we're just finding ways to persevere."

The BBPA created an investment program where recipients of grants are encouraged to donate the sum back to the association once the business is profitable.

"CanadaHelps where we get a lot of our donations from the ordinary, average person that has been steadily and actually increased during the pandemic. Between July and October, corporate Canada did step up and did a lot for us," says Pinnock.

"One of the key, foundational things for us for many, many years is self-reliance and sustainability. What that means is when you get a government grant, most of the time thats one-off contribution. When you use it to deliver services, it's not an investment. At the end of the grant, you are back to where you started. What we have done is taken all these donations and contributions, made them into investments in the community."

Nana Osei, chief executive and co-founder of Bohten Eyeglasses, says their company has seen first-hand how difficult it can be to navigate the fundraising environment as a Black-owned business. Osei says Black-owned businesses would be better positioned if there was more mentorship on financing issues, as well as more transparent information widely available about the fundraising process.

Osei says that Bohten, for one, has seen the business momentum stay strong and gained repeat customers after the #BuyBlack movement last year. While the pandemic brought new challenges, Bohten says his past struggles as a Black business owner have prepared him to keep fighting for his business.

"Over the years, we've been very resilient just understanding what it really takes to grow a business when the odds are really stacked against you, says Osei.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2021.

Anita Balakrishnan, The Canadian Press

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Black business owners persist through highs and lows of Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 - Airdrie Today

The family of Candace Breen, a Black woman living in Barrington, Rhode Island received a letter from her next door neighbor filled with pro-Trump conspiracy nonsense, racism and hateful rhetoric, demanding that Breen remove the Black Lives Matter signs from her lawn. (You can see the letter Breen received at the end of this piece.) Three weeks later, the community responded with a show of support for Breen, a public demonstration outside the Barrington Town Hall in the freezing cold on Saturday morning, where Breen herself delivered a forceful and emotion rebuke to hate, and where neighbors and representatives from Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, including the executive Director Gary Dantzler, came together to oppose hate and racism.

Breens words were courageous, public and truthful, the exact opposite of the cowardly, unsigned and conspiracy laden messages she received from her neighbor. Below are her words, and the video.

As you know my name is Candace Breen and Im a resident here in beautiful Barrington. I would like to thank you all for coming out here today to support this cause and to send a message that hate has no home here in our town. I would also like to thank everyone who has had a hand in creating and organizing this encouraging event and everyone who has emailed, sent letters or posted support online. Id like to say that my family and I are both humbled and extremely grateful and I can not overstate what your support has meant to us during this difficult time. Some of you here today may know me. Some know me by name. Some nobody in my face. Some from town meeting at Primrose Hill school. And some of you may know me from volunteering at school libraries.

Some of you only know me by my license plate when you see me driving through town. And if you dont know what it is, its Queen. No matter how you may know me, you will know that I am just a regular person. A wife, a mother to two beautiful children, a person perhaps you may be thinking is just like you. And I know that I may face consequences for speaking up, but I will not be quiet when confronted with hate. I will not be quiet when confronted with insults. I will not be quiet when confronted with irrational beliefs, such as how my Black Lives Matter flag on my lawn needs to be taken down because it offends someone. The fact that my life matters is not offensive. The belief that my life matters is not offensive, unless you believe my life doesnt matter.

My life matters. My childrens lives matter. And the old saying is true that none of us are free until all of us are free. Free from hate. Free from lies. Free from the insults. Free to be regular people living in a town, raising their kids, being good neighbors, just like you. Let us confront the hate. Let it be known that every person, no matter who they are, no matter what they look like, no matter what religion they practice, no matter what gender they present, what language they speak or whom they choose to love, has the right to exist. They have the right to exist, to feel welcome, to feel safe in their community, to live in peace and to feel safe in their own homes. Because guess what? Their lives matter. All of them.

Funding for our reporting relies on the generosity of readers like you. Our independence allows us to write stories that hold RI state and local government officials accountable. All of our stories are free and available to everyone. But your support is essential to keeping Steve and Will on the beat, covering the costs of reporting many stories in a single day. If you are able to, please support Uprise RI. Every contribution, big or small is so valuable to us. You provide the motivation and financial support to keep doing what we do. Thank you.

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All lives do matter, of course, but it is not all lives who are threatened by hate. Threatened by lies. Threatened by attempts at intimidation and told to be quiet and take down their signs. Let it be known that no individual has the right to shout vularities or racial slurs outside the home of a family or a person, especially when they know that family or person is already experiencing harassment. Let us tell people who spread that hate that their actions are unwelcome in the community. As the saying goes, if you see something, say something. And say it loud, for what hides in the darkness must be brought to light. The struggle is real. I can tell you that it does not feel good to be on the other end of that hate, but it must be called out for what it is. Racism. Racism. Racism, plain and simple.

For far too long blind eyes have been turned in the communities all across the country in regards to the injustice of our society. Blinded out by fear and blinded out of ignorance. Blinded by fear, ginned by the hateful forces of racism and ignorance. That one persons rights must come at the expense of anothers. But that is just a false equivalency. We are here today to reject such hateful and backward thinking. We say that Black peoples pain harassment and inequities are real and they must be addressed. Not later, not tomorrow, not somewhere else, but here and now today. Right here in Barrington, Rhode Island. I have spent my life, just like every other Black person in America, dealing with this stuff in and frankly, Im sick of it. I want to be safe. I want to be free from harassment. And if a Black person cant feel safe in their home here in Barrington, tell me, where do I have to go?

There is no place to go. There is no place to go. So we have to speak up now. If there is no desire to speak up now, then when? If I cant be safe here, then where? Let us not let feat keep us down and prevent us from addressing the issues that Black Americans continue to face. Let us set an example for our children and future generations and show them that they are just as good as the next person and that they deserve the same respect, security, equality, safety, and peace. Let us unite together as neighbors and friends and stare down the ugliness of racim so that those who once felt empowered in their hateful views and actions can no longer hurt members of the community who happen to look like me. And finally, let us go in peace, with love in our hearts, because that, in essence, is what will conquor the hate and the prejudices that have for far too long been an active part of this community. I love being here in Barrington, Rhode Island.. I love being here with you to say together that love conquers hate and that hates kind of no home here in our town. So again, thank you for being here today. I know that together we can stand for a brighter tomorrow for ourselves and our children and our childrens children. Bleesings, love and peace to you all.

All video and photos this page from reporter Adam Miner.

The event began with poetry from a Barrington resident:

Pastor Carl Jefferson:

Mel Bynum was the organizer of the event, and served as emcee.

Gary Dantzler, executive Director of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island:

Jennifer Dantzler:

Iasha Hall:

Mel Bynum:

Paige Rahn was another one of the organizers and she read a poem.

Mel Bynum:

Gary Dantzler:

About the Author

The hardest working news organization in Rhode Island! Uprise RI was founded in 2017 by Steve Ahlquist, and focuses on civil liberties, social justice, and human rights.

Adam is a current Board member for Townies for Responsible Government.

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Barrington and Black Lives Matter rally to support Candace Breen Uprise RI - Uprise RI

Genee Tinsley helped organize rallies and marches in Palm Beach County, Florida, last summer to protest police brutality, demand racial justice and call for redirecting some police funding to social services.

Now shes organizing an online forum to teach people about a Florida bill that would increase penalties for unlawful activity during a protest. The bill could give law enforcement broad discretion to declare a gathering a riot and charge participants with a felony crime.

The bill also would make it harder for cities to cut police funding and prevent protesters from suing for damages if theyre injured by a counter-protester.

For me, its like theyre silencing protesters, Tinsley said, specifically Black and brown people.Tinsley said the protests her organization, Freedom Fighters for Justice, organized this summer were peaceful.

The Black Lives Matter protests that blossomed in small towns and big cities across the nation last year awakened many Americans to systemic racism and biased policing. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans responded to themostly peacefulprotests, a few of which involved clashes among protesters, counter-protesters and police, by calling for law and order.

Now Republican legislators in Florida and 21 other states are considering tough new penalties for protesters who break laws. As in Florida, some of the bills also would prevent localities from cutting police budgets and give some legal protection to people who injure protesters.

Supporters say the new penalties would help prevent acts of violenceby protesters of all political persuasionsand protect law enforcement officers. Civil rights groups and Democrats, however, say the bills would chill First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful assembly and could be used by police to disproportionately arrest and charge people of color.

Many of the statehouse proposals target specific acts of protest that were popular among Black Lives Matter participants and that echo activism during the civil rights movement, when protesters marched through streets or sat down at Whites-only lunch counters, taking up physical space in acts of civil disobedience.

Some protest activities, such as blocking traffic or marking buildings with graffiti, exist in a legal gray area, said Tabatha Abu El-Haj, a law professor at Drexel University who studies First Amendment law.

Its technically unlawful to block traffic, and at the same time thats an essential tactic in the right of peaceful assembly, in my view, she said.

Other protest tactics, such as tearing down monuments, are clearly illegal, she said, and limits on such behavior are likely constitutional.

Since the insurrection of Jan. 6, proponents say they also would hold right-wing extremists accountable for the same actions.

We have to strengthen our laws when it comes to mob violence, to make sure individuals are unequivocally dissuaded from committing violence when theyre in large groups, said Florida Rep. Juan Alfonso Fernandez-Barquin, a Republican and sponsor of the House version of the bill, during a subcommittee hearing last week. Fernandez-Barquins office did not respond to requests for comment.

Civil rights experts, however, say the penalties could be applied unevenly. We know from existing data on arrests and convictions, [that] folks in the Black community, in particular, are over-incarcerated and overcharged, said Carrie Boyd, policy counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, the lobbying arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Alabama-based group that advocates for racial justice in the South.

This bill, in our minds, is deliberately broad to cast a wide net and, frankly, to round up folks, she said of the Florida bill.

Police in full riot gear have confronted Black Lives Matter protesters and used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds, a show of force that hasnt been equally applied to right-wing protests.

Provisions in the bills that would prevent cities and counties from defunding the police reveal legislators real motivation, said Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Unions project on speech, privacy and technology.

To the extent that the claim is this is about methods, those kinds of provisions make it clear that its actually about a message of protest, she said.

In recent years, lawmakers in at least 15 states have responded to protests against police brutality and oil and gas pipelines by increasing penalties for unlawful protest activity, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit law, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and tracks such bills.

Tennessee lawmakers last summer increased penalties for a range of offenses such as vandalism and assaulting first responders, and made it a felony to camp out on the grounds of the state Capitolwhich Black Lives Matter protesters did for 62 days last year.

If activists tried another sit-in at the Capitol, theyd risk up to six years in prison and losing their right to vote, as some convicted felons in Tennessee cant vote, said Justin Jones, a Vanderbilt Divinity School student who helped organize The Peoples Plaza last summer.

Jones said the new penalties make people think twice about protesting. That law had the effect of intimidating a lot of people from coming out, he said. It just made a lot of people a little bit more fearful to participate.

Supporters of the tougher penalties point not only to protests in their own states but also to unrest in cities such as Portland, Oregon and Seattle, which Trumps Justice Department labeled anarchist jurisdictions last year. Trump blamed antifascist, or antifa, agitators for violence at protests, although theresnot much evidence theyparticipated.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said in September while introducingan early version of the Florida billthat although his states protests had been mostly peaceful, lawmakers needed to take action to avoid violence seen elsewhere.

What you have to have is clear and predictable penalties, he said at a news conference, flanked by uniformed sheriffs and police chiefs. I look at what goes on in Portland, and theyll have people, they arrest themthese are all scraggly-looking, antifa typesthey arrest them, they get their mugshot taken, and they get released, and its like a carousel.

Republican legislative leaders filed a bill similar to DeSantis proposal the same day a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol. DeSantis and legislative leaders said in statements then that they wanted to prevent similar violence in their states.

The 60-page bill would create new second-degree felony aggravated rioting and aggravated inciting or encouraging a riot offenses. It also would create new misdemeanor crimes of mob intimidation and cyber-intimidation, defined as publishing peoples personal information online to threaten them.

The bill would increase penalties for crimes such as assault and theft during a riotdefined broadly to mean three or more people behaving in a way likely to harm people or damage propertyand up the penalties for vandalizing or destroying monuments and memorials. And it would require people arrested for riot-related offenses to be held in jail until their first court hearing, rather than allowing them to post bail.

The law also would allow residents to appeal cuts to local police budgets to the governor and the cabinet, and it would allow people to avoid civil lawsuits if they harm those involved in a riot.

In Washington state, Republican state Sen. Jeff Holy, a retired police officer, has proposed legislation modeled on DeSantis proposal in response to the protests in Seattle and Tacoma.

Seattle, which has tried so very hard to have a hands-off policy, and try to solve problems, has found out that sometimes the people involved in these are not issue-driven, Holy said. They are looking for an excuse for violence.

Holys bill also would increase penalties for violence during a protest, such as a minimum six-month prison sentence for assaulting a police officer. It would cut state criminal justice funding for large cities and counties that dont maintain at least one police officer per 1,000 residents and would ban localities from withdrawing police from certain areas, as Seattle police withdrew from the Capitol Hill neighborhood last summer.

What about all the residents that live there, that are basically held hostage? Holy said of the area, which protesters declared an autonomous zone. Democratic Mayor Jenny Durkan eventually ordered protesters to leave the zone after a 16- and 19-year-old were shot there and died.

Holys bill has six Republican co-sponsors and one Democratic co-sponsor, but he doubts itll get a hearing. Washingtons Democratic-controlled legislature is more focused on passingpolice accountability legislation, such as a bill requiring officers to intervene to stop peers from using excessive force.

Sakara Remmu, lead strategist and chair emeritus for Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, sees Holys bill as retaliation for those police accountability bills. Bills like [Holys] are an absolute distraction from the core issues, and theyre a retaliation point for all the Black and brown voices that are now weighing in in Olympia, she said.

Holys bill also would prevent protesters who block a highway from suing for damages if they were hit by passersby or a police officer trying to flee by car, a provision Remmu called reprehensible.

A protester on a Seattle highway was killed by a driver last year, and Black Lives Matter protests nationwidehave faced vehicular attacks. In 2017, a man attending a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, drove into a crowd of counter-protesters and killed one; he was later sentenced to life in prison for federal hate crimes.

This bill makes it easier for somebody to harm, basically anybody, Remmu said of Holys bill. Its clearly targeted at Black lives, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Holys bill doesnt change the criminal penalties drivers could face. Holy said his bill would only protect people trying to escape a dangerous situation. If in fact theyre fearful for their own safety, then they can attempt to drive away, he said. This is not free license to run over people.

In Florida, Democratic lawmakers argue that the bill isnt necessary and are vowing to fight it, though their chances of stopping its movement through the Republican-controlled legislature are slim.

Not to be glib, but this is yet another example of a solution in search of a problem, said Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer Jr. But here, the purported solution has a potentially devastating, chilling effect on the right of free speech and the constitutionally protected right of peaceable assembly.

Farmer pointed to the proposed mob intimidation misdemeanor, which he said could make it a crime for people to have a passionate argument in the street. He also said he worried the bill would encourage hardline police tactics against peaceful protesters, such as firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

The bills proponents disagree. The bill does not discourage peaceful assembly or freedom of speech, wrote DeSantis spokesperson Meredith Beatrice in an email toStateline. Governor DeSantis looks forward to working with House Speaker Sprowls and Senate President Simpson to swiftly pass House Bill 1 during the upcoming legislative session to protect the rule of law in our state.

Rep. Fernandez-Barquin said during the subcommittee hearing last week that his only goal was to prevent violence. Do I think that this will be used disproportionately on communities of color? Its not my intention, and I certainly hope not, he said.

Once committee members had finished questioning Fernandez-Barquin, almost 70 Floridiansmostly young, many of them people of colorcame forward to voice their opposition. Some struggled to catch their breath as they raced to speak within the one-minute time limit. Others spoke angrily and loudly through their face masks until their microphones were cut off.

The bill passed out of committee along party lines, with 11 Republicans voting in favor and six Democrats voting against.

Black Lives Matter activists in Florida and nationwide say new legislation wont stop them from organizing.

The new laws prove that racial justice protests are having an impact, said Jones, the student activist in Tennessee. The protests are shifting the conversation. Theyre shifting priorities. Theyre shifting consciousness, he said. When you have this type of repression, it shows that youre being effective.

Tinsley of Palm Beach County said she refuses to be silenced. If the Florida law passes, protest organizers will just have to be more strategic and more alert to counter-protesters looking to stir up trouble, she said.

The people are tired, we want change, she said. And its up to politicians and lawmakers to listen to us.

Sophie Quinton, Stateline

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Republicans in Florida and Elsewhere Respond to Black Lives Matter with Anti-Protest Bills - FlaglerLive.com

As Hampton rises to power in Chicago and continues to disrupt the racial status quo, he becomes even more of a target for the FBI. In the summer of 1969, Sheens Hoover delivers another lecture to a packed auditorium, instructing his agents to get Hamptons Black ass off the street. Later, Hoover tells Plemonss Mitchell that your GI [ghetto informant, referring to ONeal,] is our best chance at neutralizing Hampton. Under increasing pressure from Mitchell, who threatens to expose him to the Panthers, ONeal eventually provides the FBI with the floorplan of Hamptons apartmentcrucial intelligence that made possible the chairmans brutal assassination.

The Black Lives Matter movement rose to national prominence during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after the August 2014 killing of the Black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer. Similar to its response to the BPP, the FBI almost immediately began monitoring activists associated with the BLM movement and used Black informants to gather information on their activities. On August 3, 2017, the FBIs counterterrorism division released a report declaring that Black Identity Extremists were a new threat to national security. Even thoughas numerous lawmakers, civil-rights advocates, law-enforcement executives, and scholars have pointed outBlack identity extremism doesnt exist, the FBI used the BIE concept to instruct agents on how to police young Black activists. (The agency has since discontinued use of the term.)

Less than a week after the 2017 report was released, a new violent social movement emerged. Beginning on August 11, militia groups and neo-Nazis marched through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia. One white supremacist at the rally rammed his car into a group of counterprotesters, injuring 19 people and killing a 32-year-old white woman named Heather Heyer. At a press conference in the aftermath of Heyers killing, former President Donald Trump declared that there were very fine people, on both sides. White-nationalist, militia, and extremist movements have grown substantially in the United States over the past two decades, but have not experienced the same relentless pursuit by the FBI as groups designated Black and radical.

Read: The inaction of Capitol police was by design

Like the false equivalencies that FBI agents in Judas draw between the Black Panthers and the KKK, the government responses to Black activists in contrast to white supremacists today are lopsided and misguided. When Black groups agitate for better living conditions and an end to systemic racism and police brutality, they are quickly labeled a threat to national security. Whether violent or nonviolent, many Black movements are criminalized, and law enforcement tends to become consumed with eliminating groups challenging white supremacy. The white supremacists, however, have managed to avoid the same level of surveillance, infiltration, and deadly outcomes. The states refusal to take serious action against the very real threat of white extremism helped culminate in the storming of the Capitol on January 6.

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The Unsettling Message of 'Judas and the Black Messiah' - The Atlantic

BLM influencersProvided

Celebrities and scholars, best-selling authors and everyday people are using their social media presence to lead the conversation on racial justice. Here are just a few of them spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms.

TikTok culture changer

With more than 562,000 followers and nearly 40 million likes, Erynn Chambers has become one of the most popular creators raising awareness of the Black experience and anti-Black racism on TikTok.Provided

In June, Erynn Chamberswatched a TikTok video from drag queen Online Kyne, talking about how statistics are manipulated to make it appear that Black Americans are more violent.

So the 28-year-old elementary school music teacher from North Carolina opened up TikTok and addedher own commentary, in song form.

Black neighborhoods are overpoliced, so of course they have higher rates of crime. And white perpetrators are undercharged, so of course they have lower rates of crime, she sang. And all those stupid stats that you keep using are operating offa small sample size. So shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up.

The video, labeled About yalls favorite statistics, blew up overnight. It was reposted again and again and has 2 million views.

It wasnt her only hit. Why is Rosa Parks the only black activist we learn about? also brought her attention as she examined how Parks came to be the face of the 1955-56 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.

With more than 600,000 followers and 48million likes, Chambers has become one of the most important creators raising awareness of the Black experience and racism on TikTok, which has been criticized for promoting white voices over Black voices.

Chambers says shed been on TikTok for five years but spent more time watching videos than making them until the pandemic. The death of George Floyd got her to do more research into racial equity.

I never really set out for it to be this big thing, Chambers told USA TODAY. I certainly didnt expect to have a half million followers at any point in time.

Anti-racism teacher

Anti-racism activist Rachel CargleRachel Cargle

In 2017 at the Womens March in Washington, Rachel Cargle posed holdingprotest signs with friend and activist Dana Suchow in front of the U.S. Capitol. Cargles read: If You Dont Fight for All Women You Fight for No Women.

The photo went viral and so did Cargle.

An anti-racism activist and author of the upcoming book on feminism through the lens of race, I Dont Want Your Love and Light with The Dial, Cargle works outside academia as a public academic." Shetours the nation to give sold-outlectures. "The Start," for example, is a three-hour workshop on how to be an anti-racist.

"I teach from a platform from a frame of knowledge plus empathy plus action," Cargle told Cleveland 19'sSia Nyorkor."You have to have each of these things to be actively anti-racist."

Cargle also educates her followers, many of them white, on structural racism from a virtual public classroom on Instagram. Coursework includes understanding the intersecting inequalities of race, gender, class and other identities. In heronline learning collective, The Great Unlearn, supported through Patreon, students learn about race and history from historians and academicsof color.

"It's not enough to say, 'Oh, I know it's happening and I hope it gets better,'"Cargle told InStyle. "It's saying, 'I see you and I feel you and I understand, and I'm going to hold myself accountable.' That is what will move someone into action to say, 'I can no longer be complacent. I can no longer be silent. It's not enough to be not racist. I have to be actively anti-racist.'"

In her hometown of Akron, Ohio, Cargle is making a difference in the physical world witha pop-up,Elizabeths Bookshop & Writing Centre, to amplify literature"that has been written away from the pen of the white, cis, hetero man and gives us a new way to understand the world. And she's founderof the Loveland Foundation which offers free therapy to Black women and girls.

A voice ofsocial justice

John Legend plays the piano during a drive-in get out the vote rally in Philadelphia on Nov. 2.MICHAEL PEREZ, AP

Following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of law enforcement, singer-songwriter and longtime social activist John Legend lent his soulful voice to the anti-racist struggle, offering a Twitter primer on the defund the police movement and campaigning for Florida voting rights with Camila Cabello.

And Legends Oscar-winning civil rights anthem Glory from the 2014 film Selma became part of the 2020 soundtrack when he performed it with Common in August at the virtual Democratic National Convention. For the inauguration of President Joe Biden, he gave his rendition of the Nina Simone classic"Feeling Good"in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

These killings made clear to the general public what Black folks already knew: Racism is real, it is ugly, and it is woven into the systems that govern our everyday lives, Legend said at the virtual FN Achievement Awards the Shoe Oscars in December.

With his organization #FreeAmerica, Legend is working to reform the criminal justice system and end mass incarceration.

As a teenager growing up in Ohio, I watched my mother deal with depression and drug abuse after my maternal grandmother a person who filled our whole family with lovepassed away, Legend told PEOPLE in 2016. My mothers addiction didnt just tear her life apart. It tore me and the rest of our family apart, too.

By amplifying the voices of those affected by the criminal justice system and those working to change it, #FreeAmerica is working to build thriving, just, and equitable communities, Legend says.

Artists have a rich tradition of activism. We have a unique opportunity to reach people where they are, beyond political divisions, borders, and silos, Legend said in a video recently after being recognized by the United Nations human rights agency for his social justice advocacy work. Its been my privilege to use my voice and my platform to advance the cause of equity and justice.

Actress, singer, trans lives activist

Peppermint emerged in 2020 as one of the most important voices in the Black Trans Lives Matter movement.

Tapping her following on social media, she brought greater awareness to violence against Black trans women and the broader Black trans community and to the relentless toll of racism, homophobia, misogyny and transphobia.

I think were on the precipice of some really great change, Peppermint told Entertainment Tonight. Were able to speak about race and misogyny and sexuality in a mainstream way that weve not been able to do in years past without being shunned or canceled.

Peppermint attending the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards in Newark, New Jersey.JEFF KRAVITZ, FILMMAGIC

The first trans woman to originate a leading role on Broadway in Head Over Heels, Peppermint rose to fame on RuPauls Drag Race, followed by performances on Pose, God Friended Me and Deputy.

She recently joined the national board of directors of advocacy group GLAAD and was nominated as outstanding music artist for"A Girl Like Me: Letters to My Lovers" inthe GLAAD Media Awards, which honors LGBTQ representation in media.

Im so thankful that the Black Lives Matter movement began after the murder of Trayvon Martin and continued with George Floyd, but what were not seeing is the same sort of energy when it comes to the women who have been killed: Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland and many others, Peppermint told the Guardian.

Author, activist, internet yeller

Writer Ijeoma Oluo attends the 2018 The Root 100 gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers on November 8, 2018, in New York City.JIM SPELLMAN, GETTY IMAGES

Ijeoma Oluo, who for years has been writing and speaking on race, saw interest in her work soar after Floyds death.Her 2018 book, So You Want to Talk about Race, catapulted her onto must-read lists.

The latest from this Seattle-based author, activist and self-described Internet yeller is a sign ofthe nations growing racial consciousness. "Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America" is about white male supremacy, which Oluocalls one of the most evil and insidious social constructs in Western history, from the violent takeover of indigenous lands and the genocide of native people to generations of trauma and loss from anti-Black racism.

The book title refers to the plea by writer Sarah Hagi in 2015: "Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man.

This book illustrates clearly how this country must sustain the exploitation and oppression of Black people in order to protect white male power and white male mediocrity, Oluo told NBC News.

I want everyone who reads this book to see that we aren't just talking about a few bad dudes, we are talking about deliberately constructed identities and systems of power, she said. I want everyone to see what this costs us and to investigate how we each support these harmful norms and systems.

Writer, editor, cultural critic

Roxane Gay speaks onstage during the Hammer Museum's 17th Annual Gala In The Garden on October 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.PRESLEY ANN, GETTY IMAGES FOR HAMMER MUSEUM

Im a writer, editor, cultural critic, and sometimes podcaster, Roxane Gaytells USA TODAY.

And then some. Her trenchant insights on feminism, gender, race, sexuality and sexual violence have won her a large and loyal social media audience.

This year she launched a Substack newsletter, The Audacity, as well as The Audacious Book Club. Among the book clubs first picks from underrepresented American writers: Black Futures, edited by Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew; Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters; and The Removed by Brandon Hobson.

What makes her so popular is not just her searing memoir Hunger, or her best-selling nonfiction collection of essays, Bad Feminist, or her podcast, Hear to Slay. Or even that she was the first Black woman to write for Marvel Comicswith the Black Panther spinoff comic series World of Wakanda.

Shes an irresistible social media personality who also thinks and writes about fun things, as she puts it. Lighter fare includes her pop-culture likes and dislikes and adorable photos of her puppy in tiny clothing.

Then theres her inimitably good-natured shredding of critics. When one person tweeted at her Who cares what you think? she replied sweetly, You seem to care, dear heart.

Racial and economic justice activist

In June 2015, Bree Newsome Bass climbed a flagpole to remove the Confederate battle flag at a Confederate monument in front of the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C.BRUCE SMITH, AP

In June 2015, long before today's protests toppled monuments to Confederates, Bree Newsome Bassscaled a30-foot pole on the grounds of theSouth Carolina State House and removed the Confederate flag.

This nonviolent act of protest followed the massacreat Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, North Carolina. Eight Black parishioners and their pastor were killed by a white supremacist who posed with the Confederate flag.

When police ordered her down, she replied: "You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God."

In the following weeks, South Carolina removed the flag from the statehouse grounds andsome Southern states began taking down other symbols of racial oppression and terror.

Today Newsome Bass is a major figure in the struggle for racial and economic justice as an activist who organizes for housing rights. And her Twitter account is a one-woman racial injustice megaphone.

Everybody who didn't know is seeing America as it truly is right now. Can't provide resources for the pandemic but has all the resources at the ready to murder civilians in the street and teargas anyone who objects, she tweeted in May.

Anti-police brutality activist, writer, educator

Brittany Packnett Cunningham speaks onstage as Audible presents: "In Love and Struggle" at Audible's Minetta Lane Theater on February 29, 2020 in New York City.CRAIG BARRITT, GETTY IMAGES FOR AUDIBLE

In March 2015, President Barack Obama told Brittany Packnett Cunningham in a handwritten note that her voice would make a difference for years to come.

The elementary school teacher became a Ferguson Uprising activist and a member of Obamas policing task force after a white police officer killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, outside her hometown of St. Louis, in 2014.

Packnett Cunningham went on to co-found the anti-police-brutality platform Campaign Zero and the feminist media platform The Meteor and co-hosted the Pod Save The People podcast.

Whats your biggest flex of 2020? she recently asked her followers.

She had many of her own. Shes a cable news contributor, host of a new podcast, Undistracted, and a 2020 Fellow at Harvards Institute of Politics. Shes also writing a book and was on the cover of Vogue.

We want to build a group of people who are relentlessly undistracted who are focused on matters of intersectional justice, who are focused on leveraging all of their power toward that end, and who are committed to doing the work necessary, even when its difficult, Packnett Cunninghamtold W Magazine about her podcast.

Scholar, racist systems dismantler

Ibram X. Kendi visits Build to discuss the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You at Build Studio on March 10, 2020 in New York City.MICHAEL LOCCISANO, GETTY IMAGES

Less than a week after the 2016 election, Ibram X.Kendi,a 34-year-old assistant professor at the University of Florida, became the youngest author to win the National Book Award in nonfiction for Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.

Fast forward and today hes talked antiracism with Oprah Winfrey on her Apple TV+ show The Oprah Conversation and is considered one of the foremost anti-racism scholars.

The author of three New York Times bestsellers including 2019s How to be an Antiracist is not just writing about racism. As a Boston University humanities professor and founding director of that universitys Center for Antiracist Research, hes developing programs to dismantle it.

Coming out in February is Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, which he co-edited with historian Keisha Blain.

The heartbeat of racism itself has always been denial, and the sound of that heartbeat has always been Im not racist, Kendi, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor, said in a recent TED interview. What I am trying to do with my work is to really get Americans to eliminate the concept of not racist from their vocabulary and realize, were either being racist or antiracist.

Best-selling author andProject Runway judge

Elaine Welteroth speaking at the Ms. Foundation 30th Annual Gloria Awards in 2018.MONICA SCHIPPER

George Floyd died 15 days after Elaine Welteroths wedding. She married musician Jonathan Singletary on their Brooklyn stoop, then threw a virtual block party.

It felt like one week we were dancing in the streets with our neighbors, many of whom are Black families that have been on our block for decades, and the next we were in the streets protesting, the bestselling author, Project Runway producer and judge andhost of "The Talk" on CBSsaid in People magazine.

When the first protest broke out in Brooklyn I remember saying immediately, I have to be out there. There wasn't even a question, said Welteroth, author of More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are No Matter What They Say. I needed to channel my outrage and my anger and my sadness with a community of people who were in mourning and ready to fight.

A former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, the youngest ever appointed at a Cond Nast publication in 2017, Welterothused her fashion industry influence to create "The 15 Percent Pledge." It calls on major retailers to devote a minimum of 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses and to increase representation in their workforces.

"Right now, we are at an inflection point in this country, shewrote on Instagram. What you say and do in this moment will be remembered as a reflection of the value you place on human life. Let the energy and focus of your fight be directed at a system that has enabled terrorism against Black people on our soil for generations. Times Up. This is a war for human life. Which side are you on?"

Published11:37 am UTC Feb. 2, 2021Updated7:23 pm UTC Feb. 2, 2021

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BLM influencers: 10 Black Lives Matter activists on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter you should follow - USA TODAY