Q: What motivates you to ght for change as a part of the Black Lives Matter Movement? A: I recognize capitalism as an inher- ently unjust system that relies on exploitation, particularly in the United States. I think the ght against capital- ism and white supremacy are linked; to topple one you have to topple the other. People who have been so unfairly, brutally exploited are black and have an incredibly disproportion- ate rate of incarceration compared to white people. It’s that desire for prot that also has a tendency to target a particular group of people. Q: What do you think is the Greater Madison area’s role in the movement? A: I think Madison prides itself on being a very liberal city. Unfortunately, a lot of people are blind to see the actual injustices that are going on in our very own city. A lot of the lower income areas have been pushed farther and farther from downtown due to systematic eects like redlining. So because others are removed from these issues, they don’t see some of the problems occurring in these communi- ties. I think there needs to be more active education centered around those issues.
Q: What do you think can be done to ensure the community stays engaged in the movement? A: I think a lot of times if something bad happens, people get motivated to get out in the streets. But that energy can start to fade. Recently we’ve been trying to keep that energy up. and it has been, especially since Jacob Blake was shot in Kenosha. I know some people went down from Madison to Kenosha for protests after Jacob Blake was killed. But for us here, I think our next move is going to be making pamphlets that we can distribute to educate people on things like grand jury hearings for those who may be imprisoned during the protests. Q: Police brutally and other injustices have been happening to Black people for years; why do you think the Black Lives Matter movement has gained so much traction now? A: I think it’s a sort of a perfect storm scenario now. Everything is happening on the backdrop of economic struggles, and issues like these have dispropor- tionately aected people of color. en on top of that, there have been police killings. But now there are cell phone recordings, so they’ve been documented more than ever in ways that weren’t available 20, even 10 years ago. It’s not just about brutality, it’s about systemic racism in general. All of these events really just have people fed up. Q: What do you think needs to happen next to aect real change going forward? A: I think, ultimately, the way to achieve true justice and liberation is through overthrowing capitalism and installing a socialist worker state. At the root, white supremacy capitalism is incompatible with the liberation for people of color. I’m hoping we can start changes that allow us to leverage and organize ourselves better, because it’s hard to be an organized and mobilized force when you know people are struggling to pay rent and are facing hunger and eviction at higher rates because of color. I’m hoping we can raise concessions that will allow leaders to put the needs of people before the structures of this country. 608 MAGAZINE
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