 Hey Brooklyn, how you doing? So happy to see you all thank you so much for being here tonight welcome to Target for Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum with sponsorship by Adidas Thank you for choosing to spend your Saturday evening with us We are so grateful as we celebrate women's history month and black women in general all the time, right? As you may know we're also celebrating our special exhibition David Bowie is And I hope that you will take the time to visit over the next few months and those of you who are not members I encourage you to become members of the Brooklyn Museum and this incredible institution because we have tons of amazing programming all year long and Membership will get you advance notice about exhibitions and also programs such as this so we hope that you will become a member My name is Alicia Le Van Boon and I am in addition to being associate curator of public programs here at the Brooklyn Museum I am a mother a wife Sister a granddaughter an auntie mentor sister friend and a proud black woman. So thank you Thank you Tonight we have partnered with our friends at Simon and Schuster and we're so grateful to be kicking off this relationship with them to Celebrate the launch of Beverly Bond's new book black girls rock owning our magic Rocking our truth and we can all get down with that, right? always always and This book is a celebration of black women's voices and stories This book thoughtfully pairs essays and affirmations with from Beverly herself And she interviewed over I think 60 or 70 people all throughout the country and was able to transcribe all of those interviews into first-person Narratives so thank you to her for being able to do all that work and do that And the folks that are featured in the book are the likes of Michelle Obama Angela Davis Missy Copeland and Mary J Just a name a few so please please please support her and pick up the book We're gonna have it for sale down in our museum shop. It's $30 super affordable And she'll be signing books directly after this Talk tonight. So in the spirit and format of this new book We have brought together Beverly and two maybe three Powerhouse change makers once a surprise special guest. So please wait out for that And directly following the conversation like I said, we're gonna be down in the museum shop And she will be signing books. So please please please continue to support her and Simon and Schuster So without further ado, I'm happy to introduce you to Beverly bond Beverly is a women's empowerment leader entrepreneur mentor philanthropists celebrity DJ cultural curator and social innovator amongst many other things in 2006 Beverly Created and curated black girls rock and as well as the black girls rock awards, which we all have so come to love and support over the years and She is a business woman and community leader and has earned prestigious awards and accolades from ebony as of the power 100 as well as the most influential blacks in America and to Gracie Awards and the NAACP image awards and beyond So there's like so many ways that we have celebrated her. We're gonna continue to do In addition to Beverly we have Michaela Angela Davis who's an old friend of the Brooklyn Museum Michaela is an image activist writer creative director cultural commentator and creator of mad free We have had her on the stage many times here before and love to support Michaela. She's amazing She writes and speaks widely about gender race fashion culture beauty and identity and has Spoken widely on ABC MSNBC BBC and CNN and she's been honored as well through the end of the ACP and the city of New York for her work Shaping and misrepresenting properly the narratives of women of color within mainstream media, which is extremely important So please come on And I just want to mention to the cheese working on a new project called the hair tails which is going to be basically like the Vagina monologues, but for black hair. That's how it's good I just wanted to plug that as well And lastly, but not please we have Dawn Davis who's here and in place of unique I'm sorry that unique was not able to make it Sadly unique Jones Gibson was caught up in the snow last night. She was not able to make her trip So Don Davis has stepped in as moderator for this evening She's VP and publisher of 37 ink an imprint within a trip public publishing group, which is a part of Simon and Schuster She has over 20 years of experience in the business and she's published several New York Times best sellers such as Kevin Hearts I can't make this up as well as Issa Rae's misadventures awkward of an awkward black girl, which I know we love so Without further ado, I don't want to take up any more of our time But I want to turn it over to these beautiful brilliant black women and let's dig into the conversation together y'all Thank you so much for coming in That's Beverly's payback because I made her work so hard on this book, but you're gonna love it It is so affirming and uplifting and I'm thrilled to be here The book is titled Black Girls Rock and there's a lot of black girl magic in the book. I want to just read a couple of passages Danny Guinear said Guerrero says Black girls we will make a way and we will continue to do as our foremothers did before us And it will be against all the odds But it will be and to me that is magical and throughout the book. They're different Expressions of what is black girl magic? I'm interested to know for both of you. What is how do you define black girls magic? I? Think that our magic is just our Authenticity and our truth I think that we have been hiding it and I think that we have been suppressing it And I think that now we're starting to see ourselves Allowing it to happen in the world and it's all the things that that we are doing to affirm ourselves It is all the the the spirituality The connectedness the sisterhood that we have the appreciation of who we are the appreciation of our ancestors our history Our our connection with the universe. I think all of that is part of our magic I think that you know, that's our magic right that's black girl magic And I think that what has happened is society has has put a stop sign And told us that we were not worthy as everyone else And that's been going on for so long that we didn't recognize it for a long time And I think we're starting to see it now emerge in ways that we haven't seen before so it's a beautiful You know, it's a beautiful thing that we're sharing together. We're owning our glow as late them says Micaela, how do you how do you define black girl magic? this You like look around look around at all the beautiful like black diverse exquisite faces curls curves lips colors but And you know and and and the magic is big enough to hold all of this but But really This is my comrade Like I'm not I'm not just a contributor in this book Beverly Bond is my day one running dog in heels and and And I say this because You know, she's got on a sparkly dress her hair is banging most of the time you all see her It's in television and there's lights and camera and action and we live across the street from each other and When black girls rock first started Bev was in the trenches every single Saturday with a bunch of girls We would have them, you know staying in our loft sleeping on our floor doing whatever building them up so this is This is a manifestation of of a magic seen by her before others called it that and So I just want to like level set What this moment is and what what is happening in between these two covers right a book There's something really Magnificent about the object of a book right it makes it so it is held in time It is held in the Library of Congress It it it defines that we were here and this happened and all these women together are bound by something There is something that puts Michelle Obama and Beverly and Lovey and me and Tameka together and all of us and that is that that Explicable like that mojo like if you if you can explain black girl magic you probably don't have it Do you know I'm saying because this isn't something that happens in academic scholarly, you know This isn't a black academics, you know, like we're gonna like deconstruct black girl mad I think it's something different for everyone, right? I think I think it means different things. I'll read another passage misty Copeland Have any of you had the pleasure of seeing that woman dance it is magic, right? She says I press forward to achieve excellent not just for myself But for all the brown girls who preceded me and for all of those who will inevitably follow I rock because I'm creating a new definition of what it means to be a ballerina I think it is different for every single body you not only do the glamorous award show But you talked about these girls that you have sleeping in your lock you mentor young girls Tell us how you do that and how you even came up with the concept of black girls rock I think it started as a t-shirt. Yes. Absolutely. Um, yeah I had an idea for a t-shirt and I thought it was gonna be cool It was gonna make me a lot of money black girls rock right, but my first idea was to name all of the women on this t-shirt who rocked all the black women who rocked and Throughout time and as I was writing down the names I kept running out of paper and it was almost as if I was in a trance, right? So I'm writing and I'm writing and I'm writing and I'm talking Harriet Tubman to join a troupe Shirley Chisholm Mary and right element Beyonce You know, it just was going on and on, you know, Sisley Tyson Ruby D. I just was just writing and writing and writing and writing and thinking of all these women who have contributed to society and Looking at those names and I immediately realized that this was a bigger thing than just my t-shirt idea Although I still did my t-shirts But it was it was a bigger thing. I was like wow this is I'm looking at these women and I'm thinking how come our young girls don't know who these women are or what they have put in the world like they don't our contributions are diminished or are pushed in the margins and it was It was as if it was as if they were talking to me, right? Because I'm like this needs to we need to be celebrated We need to be we need to elevate ourselves We need to elevate our stories and I recognize in that moment that this was bigger than Me and it was something that needed to be shared because I knew that this affirmation did not happen in my lifetime Before that and it didn't happen for my grandmother and it wasn't happening for our little girls and at the time in 2006 when I started Black Girls Rock For those of you who remember what that what it was like for us then That wasn't that long ago, right? But it was you know, we were either dismissed. We were just not seen We were an afterthought. We were back seated. We were objectified. We were dehumanized We were made fun of we were the joke it was never This multi-layered Interesting diverse story for black girls. It was always a thing It was you know, we're extremely stereotyped and it was always, you know, whenever we showed up, especially in media and entertainment where much my career was in It was always the same story and I kept thinking like how is this? You know, I can navigate this as a grown woman, you know And a grown woman who's been in the modeling industry and seeing you know, but just seeing you know these kinds of things seeing you know agents or Casting people tell you they've got their black girl, you know Seeing no pictures of us in magazines being told that wouldn't we will never make covers having, you know, the one or two, you know Persons that that represent all of us, you know For for our images and just just seeing that and not anything else. I just knew that you know That this wasn't enough, you know, I mean that this wasn't enough. And so I was just like this This is not our story. This was not the story that I know of you This is not the story. I know of my mother This is not the story that I know of our all the women that were in my life And I think that we talked about this earlier. I think we're really Kind of sparked a sisterhood thing in me is when I started DJing And when I started DJing I was really introverted and super people that know me know that I never spoke on the microphone at all Period like I would like if they wanted to tell somebody's car And they asked me to tell the people to move their car. It wasn't gonna happen, right? That's how I was like I'm not getting on a microphone. I was just gonna DJ and that that was my thing, right? But what I noticed is that the way I played the way I took my craft seriously on the way I represented women in the space there were all of these women all these black women that were so supportive of me that Didn't know me but loved the fact that I represented women well And so I think that sparked something in me to to realize that we have this connection But people aren't talking about that people won't talk about they today talk about us They separate us and they act like we don't connect to each other And I knew that that wasn't my truth and I knew that wasn't our truth And so I just felt like black girls rock was an answer, you know, and then I just immediately Started just putting the spotlight on this thing I was doing so whenever people would want to interview me about my fabulous life as a model DJ I would be like well, I'm doing this other thing, you know And are you interested in that and so I just started just switching that spotlight on black girls rockin You know immediately, you know, I got so much attention. I called me Caleb's like look I'm doing this thing I need your help and she was on board from day one There were so many women that were you know I didn't build this alone because there were so many women that came on board by the time We did this the award show in 2007 The first award show was in 2006 and we honored emcee light in Jazzy Joyce because the DJ has to have an award And by 2007 we were already at Lincoln Center and it was a I remember it was a collective group of us I remember we called Susan Taylor who happens to be in the book and I wanted her to be Honored right? We can get Susan Taylor Susan Taylor called me Katelyn. She was like, what do you guys need? You want me to like pass out flyers? I was like, oh my god, so I dropped the phone with Michaela. I saw the email. I dropped the phone. I ran over to Michaela I said is she serious? I said she doesn't understand that we I called her and I said, you know Thank you for offering to hand out the flyers and be our street team But you know, we want to honor you, you know, and it was just and it was that simple and then you know As we built it, you know that year I remember Kerry Washington calling like why am I not a part of this? You know, this was 2007 is before TV, you know Regina and Gabrielle Union were our hosts that you know We had we had just so much support because everyone recognized this message was so important to us And then from there it grew and then by 2010 we were already a thing and you know networks were at our door I think it's interesting that we're at a space now where black women in the entertainment business can support each other There's a how many of you guys remember Daughters of the Dust that beautiful movie So after that we were blown away and we thought there'd be more from Julie Dash who is the film's creator It was so beautiful and critically acclaimed and yet there was this almost this silence She was trying but she talked about how difficult Hollywood was and I'll just read a little bit She says I've encountered people who after they've heard my pitch will propose something back to me other than my story They want me to be the engine that drives their story about black lives black women or black families stories that have nothing to do with my reality and She talked about how sometimes even the lone black person in the pitch meeting Couldn't really advocate for her whether they were scared to or didn't have the power to But it seems like we're at this moment in Hollywood where you have you know Ava de Verne saying I'm gonna do Queen sugar and I'm gonna bring other black women directors on we have Issa Rae who's creating shows and Adopting books from other black writers. It seems like we're in this point where the sisterhood is working Can you talk to that a little bit other of you do you witness that is am I dreaming or is no And I think that we we're just in a space where we're being given permission to do it You know, I don't think that like I said my experience from just being a DJ and these hapless women didn't know me But the support was there the sisterhood was there So I think that now we're in a space where we see we're seeing examples of it We're seeing examples of it when you watch black girls rock And I remember the reaction when it went to TV I remember we already knew it because we saw it happen But when it went to TV that way that reaction was like It turned a switch on with some people that we can actually do this together We can celebrate ourselves we can celebrate each other and I think that you know that feeling has always been there for us It's just that there have been limitations for us to exist in and there have been societal messages and also People putting stop signs and saying that there can't be any more of you, you know I think you said we've been given permission But also we have supported these artists at the box office. We've supported these offer authors artists whether they're Buying Beverly's book tonight is support going to the movies this weekend Tuning into Issa Rae tuning into blacks. That is also kind of a means of support Absolutely, and that's what I mean But if you bring our you have to bring our narratives to the forefront in order for people to even see it to even know That we exist and so I think that that's what's happening now And I love what Ava and Issa and Molina and Zynga and Shonda. Who happened to all be in this book? And Julie, I just love what they're doing in deny. I mean, it's just incredible You know incredible thing is we couldn't even If we included everyone the book would have been 500 pages and $80, so we couldn't do that, right? There were just so many creators Yeah volumes issues like to well, yeah, cuz I see some people in the audience that I've gotten volume to already I Want to talk can I speak to that? Um, we have black women have a legacy of doing the work this country was built on our labor so we have We have traditionally Historically spiritually Carried this country. This is the difference right like now We get to squat up right and show each other that we're squatting up because you know You go on Instagram and you see Ava going Michelle and Daniel cello is my musical director Here's her picture, you know, so we're using our platforms and elevating each other So this isn't this ain't new to us. We've always known That together that we're stronger What is new is that we have a pathway into Media and that was really you know when I when I first heard Beverly say black girls rock. It was like a Mantra it was like how when I was little and you were here James Brown, you know Say that I'm not brown and we would say and you would just something your composition would change right like you were or like when you You know the ads from Black is beautiful and I feel like we hadn't heard or felt an organizing system around us Since black is beautiful black girls rock did that for this generation But the point is we keep doing that and like now this idea of bringing You know having a seat at the table or making a new table or sitting on top of the table like that You know, that's we've been building to that right and though I think it's amazing You know, I'm not clapping for what should have been a long time ago Do you know in a to a certain extent like we have carried the burden for so long And now like just because we get to twirl a little bit I think we still we're still fighting for our positions in in media in the movement You know, it's still certain people in certain offices Absolutely, and I think you can't take it for granted because like you said there was a black is beautiful movement You know in a past generation and you know it went away. So we have to be careful of to Cherish what we're bringing to forth and also not take it for granted that someone's going to be Okay with it. This is happening our presence is in the forefront because we are doing that we are making that happen You know, that's not on someone else. I have two favorite path Why have several favorite passages in the book? But one of them speaks exactly to your point This is from Maxine waters who says I had the wonderful experience of living and working with and getting to know some Extraordinary people and many of them were African-American women leaders in their community Their names will never be known because they weren't famous But they did incredible work to transform the lives of people in their neighborhoods They're not going to get an NAACP award. Right. They've been doing the work. They've been transformative my other favorite passage one of them you talk about hair and I really You talk about black hair and all of its beauty and all of its texture its crown its ability to hold water To to really literally be a crown. I love it. Do you want to talk to that? No, I do all the time because Our hair is a metaphor for how we move through the world, right its shape shifts is resilient It can hold ideas. It can create new shapes. It can connect us. It's the one thing whether you're from Dakar or Detroit It's the it's the thread, right? And you know, as I said to I remember when Beverly and I were first having conversations I'm like our hair is the only hair on the planet that grows up and out right Like it literally makes see my halo. Can't you see it? Right? And this is this is iconography in That is Centuries old for what is divine our hair does that on its own Right and it has this ability. It's like it's it's black cotton It's wool if that's why I can be woven and shaped and changed and you know, it freaks people out like No, y'all have y'all been to work one day And you can see, you know Becky look at you like Because yesterday you're you know, it's like How we are like that's how we are like we have to be one way in the boardroom But then we're gonna be another way at church and then we're gonna be another way with our girls Then we're gonna be another way at the gym like that's our magic is our complexity and part of this this Society has squeezed us and oppressed us and had its boot on our neck and they didn't know that we were turning in the diamonds While they were pressing us down so that's So our hair is the metaphor for our complexity and and it really is And our intersectionality it can all be traced back to And think about every movie where there's a black girl every play every moment like even in in You know Like when she took off her wig that was a moment Or like when Viola Davis and you know when she took off her hair like for all the black girls We were that code we knew this oh snap like There's no other group of people that have that much history hysteria pathology mythology Magic divinity and just trippy stuff is in our hair. I told you That passage is math magical honestly Beverly talk to me a little bit about the organization of the book you have the shot callers you have young women in the book You have women in tech. How did you organize the book? What was your principle of organization? Well as McKayla? You know pointed out to me She says Bev You create a black girl's rock and you do these awards the same way you DJ you bring in a whole bunch of Different genres and generations you mix it together and you take people on a journey And so I think I did the same thing with the book I DJed it if that makes sense And there's an audio version available speaking of that right Yes, there is an audio version of the book. I should have talked and you got various people to read it Yes, we have few people McKayla actually Did hers? I think Terry Williams isn't is in the audience and she also did her own there about 20 women who? Did their own audio so it's pretty awesome. It's incredibly inspiring you talked this morning, Bev And I read an event this morning and you talked about April Holmes Journey would you talk a little bit about that here at some moving? Yeah, I I was talking about just the The different inspiration that this book offers right and so in April April Holmes is the fastest paraplegic in the world and so April is a very inspiring very inspiring woman and she talked about her Magic in finding her strength through black women through her mother through watching what her mother Had gone through and so when April she starts her her Chat her sex chapter off with there were five words that changed my life did you get her leg and Those five words were the word she heard After losing her leg. She was running for an Amtrak train She was the last person on the train and they decided to Take off before without making any announcement and somehow she slipped and she slipped under and She was caught under this train and as she's sitting there and she's thinking about her life because she her life is passing her by and She's thinking about music and she's thinking about the things that the things that kept her alive were the things that she could Remember in her mother's strength and her sister's strength and in the music And she talked about just that metaphor Or actually the physical train being on her They were they kept trying to lift it and get it off of it It was winter and it was cold and slippery and so the train just falling back down every time they try to lift it It will fall back down and so she said somehow she in her groggy state They had a drugged up that she she woke up enough to say listen if this train rolled over me why don't y'all start the engines up and Just back this train up off me and then she started talking about backing this train She was talking about people in life having you know Not physical trains on them, but mental trains on them, right and she talks about how we can just Tell them to back this train up off you so you can get to where you got to go You know I mean and it's just it was so incredible just a whole story in the way She spoke about it, but it was so fascinating and Her strength is unbelievable her journey is unbelievable But I love how she connected it to all of the things that black women go through and what she was able to see You know what she was able to see in her mother's strength what she was able to see in poverty What how how she was already able to overcome and so many different things and she talks about survival in this way and how You know our story is a bit different because we have had to go through some things And even if we didn't go through it ourselves we come from a history where people have gone through it for us and so you know it just was so inspiring so I think that I think people are going to get a Lot of this book and I think you know that another story my cousin And I talked I don't know Terry's in here, but I know I heard she was here But my cousin was going through a serious depression And he's a grown man, and he was just like my my cousin his sister was like you know He's just a press and he's you know He's he's really just you know he doesn't some days. He has good days And so I said you know I want to read you something from my book Right that Terry Williams wrote and I read it to him and he just started crying and he said thank you So Terry if you're in here, I'm gonna I need you to sign the book for my cousin because I told him I would bring it back, but he just started crying. I was like wow This is so powerful all of these stories in this book from Mikaela to Toshi I think is in here too All of these women's stories have so much power in them, and it talks about not just our collective magic It talks about our strength. It talks about our triumphs. It talks about our survival our beauty our struggles Our blindness our darkness. It's just so incredible, and I'm just I'm very proud of it You know I'm very very proud of it, and I'm very honored that you all allowed me to Include you in this thing that I wanted this this album really That I put together because I just think it's going to be impactful You know for so many people in so many ways I think one of the things that I really tried to convey in the book because you know a lot of people say How did you start this how did you start a movement like how did you do this and you know You see this time period that we're in where people are talking about you know starting movements every day But I don't believe that you can just start a movement I think that you can answer a call and I think that there has to be work to make this happen I think that you have to have a passion a vision and what did Nancy tell me? She says you have a passion mission and vision and then you bloom into the position Right, and I think that that's what happened with all of this with black girls rock and all of this magic that we're seeing now You know I think that you know this book is going to like you said it's going to live on It's it's it's going to live on forever, and I think it will inspire girls for generations to come I think I'm just really honored That you all chose to be a part of this and I'm honored especially for Dawn because she pushed me like I don't think anybody's ever pushed me before Payback Thank you for that Beb and hopefully I will be able to read some of Terry's passage as well It's very powerful, but before we turn to that. I want to talk about one of your I think original inspiration for the book was your own mother I know so many of us Wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for our mothers many of whom do the work and don't get recognized And I know that she was your rock and you write so beautifully about her one of the things Fascinating you say the most valuable lesson she taught me early on was that all human life traced back to black women We were the first we are the prototype we carry the Eve gene Therefore we hold a divine place in the universe talk to me a little bit about that because that's very powerful Yes, absolutely. I mean that's what my mama told me and when I you know when I wrote about my mom and I wrote about my experience I really wanted to Start with the why like why did this and where it came from and how I found my own magic, right? And I thought about it and it was like my mom my mom taught me this and it's like you know I I wrote about how she used what she had around her to empower me and that was just culture music, you know knowledge you know history and Every time someone hears me read it or reads it. They're like, oh my god your mom is so fascinating. She's amazing I can't wait to meet this woman and I'm like, you know, that's a regular black mama Not to say that I mean I love my mom but what I was trying to convey in this chapter was that We get this passed down that making something out of nothing is what my mother was able to do She was able to rely on that village to help raise me when she didn't have much She she created it. You know what I mean that music thing She didn't know what's gonna stick like this for me like she had no idea But she was just giving me these little lessons while she was really getting me to clean up You know the house and she's giving me all this and she's telling me all this stuff and you know It it stuck with me. It was it was a thing for me. And so I think that Making something out of nothing is something that black women have been able to do for ever, you know And and that's what I wanted to talk about But I think that in that particular lesson, you know I remember I remember it so well because she was just so adamant about making sure that I understood That our blackness because maya my mom or two completely different complexions, right? So she wanted to make sure that I understood the the beauty in our diversity And so I learned that very early, you know I learned that very early and it stuck with me and it stuck with me that we haven't you know And we can claim it we can claim all of our flavors, you know, and everybody else can't rock like that, you know Owning our magic and rocking our truth it sounds Empowering and it is empowering but that doesn't mean that We don't get down that we don't fall and so how how what would you tell someone who is struggling? How do they dig in and find their black girl magic? What advice do either of you have for that? You know, I want to I want to say something to this idea that Making something out of nothing and that being our heritage, but that I'm done with that like we need our something now Right like so imagine if we could make something out of nothing like if we can make chitlins out of trash Imagine if someone gave us a budget and that's what you're seeing When with these with you know, whether it's Mara or Ava or it's like give give us now It's time to we we've proved what we can do with nothing with oppression with sexism patriarchy all the art You know all of it. We still we don't even we don't just survive We thrive and we bring others with us and that's with oppression. So imagine if people just got out the way, you know, like so So that I feel like that's kind of the moment that we're in now is like We're not settling for nothing anymore, right? Like no, we want some stuff like we want a deal but but this idea of when someone if if it's really depression get help You know go to I mean, I'm a big fan of a therapist like, you know A lot of people is like Jesus take the wheel and so sometimes Jesus will say get thee to a therapist So and it works really well together like Jesus in the couch work really well together So I'm I feel like particularly as black women we deserve To get the treatment so much of us have lived through so much trauma with no treatment And we pass it on From you know from Jim Crow to like so this generation perhaps gets to be the first one not to walk around with that Absolutely Terry writes the fact that black women survived the brutality of slavery was and is a testament to the strength and endurance of the human Spirit but the time is long overdue for us to refute this mischaracterization of the black superwoman and I think that's Absolutely And I and I and just to clarify when I say that my mother was making something out of nothing What I mean is that she found the treasures that were all around us and those of things that are so valuable and In the things that we create and she used those things to empower me So I wanted I just wanted to clarify that because it's not to say that we should not Get what we deserve But there are so much treasure also that we have created that we can tap into Easily that's how we keep doing it. That's how we keep showing up You know because we tap into it whether we're rich or whether we're poor we tap into this thing You know what I mean? It's like Beyonce Beyonce ain't starving But Beyonce keeps showing up. She keeps showing up and taking it to new levels You know and that's that magic. That's that making something creating something new. It's innovation Do you know what I mean? It's connected to something very old in the world And I think that that is the beauty of our magic. I want to acknowledge that we are not all the same There's not one black woman not one kind of black woman At the same time you have so many amazing women 70 women I believe in this book from Michelle Obama Beyonce the Williams sisters I could go on and on Was there Angela Davis Maxine Waters politicians tech Finance everything everything beauty was there one kind of common thread That ran through one thing that you heard over and over again. That is common To this experience. Yeah, I mean, I think that everyone was really tapped into Their experience as black women in the skin in this body. I think it it affected every single persons Livelihood, you know and and and they appreciated it It wasn't something that was a burden. It was something that was like oh, I'm this, you know I mean, I got this special thing and And and I and and they were tuned into it and I think that that you know went throughout the the entire the entire book Michaela, do you want to talk a little bit about the evolution of the notion of what is black and beautiful it seems like It has broadened Is that my imagination or would you say as someone who has worked in the industry? Both from a personal level in our own communities and also from a kind of mainstream media consumption perspective has it changed? Yeah, I think it's it's the same as what I was saying before that The fact that we now can put more images out into the world without gatekeepers That has really changed things working in magazines In my past that there were so few magazines that had women or editors like us that let certain images out But now since we have you know Instagram we can see is we can curate our lives, but you know Just personally, you know, I'm a black blonde girl, and I'm so light-skinned did that my My brother used to say that I was opalescent and What I realized is that people there's such a narrow Most people that aren't black have such a narrow Vocabulary for blackness like they can't they just see the colors Like I have the color of hair that mostly white people have right blonde, but it's nappy like y'all see these You know or that you know, I remember the first time I got my nose pierced this woman goes Oh, you have such a e-bow nose, and I started to cry because nobody Located my features before this is before ancestry comm like I was you know, I was I was looking up What is e-bow, you know, um, and so this idea of being so light and and feeling so black made me really expand Or want to expand the narratives and also really understanding that I like I know that my proximity to whiteness has gotten me into Spaces, right? I know that because I look like this I walked into Condinas with a certain kind of you know ease or that I could show up at CNN with a certain kind of ease Because I don't scare you right because you see a color that record that you recognize when you see a hair something that you recognize And where it's cool, it's like But I'm bringing all these black girls with me like it's like the Verizon commercial, you know like so Because I can't I mean I didn't choose I didn't choose how I was going to express Blackness God chose how I was going to be a black girl in this world, right? And so The way and you know, and I'm standing up, you know, there's Kathleen Cleaver. There's there's Malcolm There's Angela's there's other light-skinned it, you know revolutionaries that that also knew that they didn't scare People so when they got in they got in and so we all are playing our positions in this black space So I I do think that it's expanded particularly me back to Wakanda Um forever, you know What was amazing about that was that all the women were black from a distance like there was no need for some ambiguous, you know, like Oh, she could be from Brazil or like You know or a love interest that was and they all had natural hair or bald hair Um heads and the thing is is what I think a lot of like advertisers or executives don't Understand is that if I see someone like Lupita, I Identify with her like I see that y'all are trying to get a black girl It doesn't necessarily work the other way around if you get this, you know light skin loose hair curl girl That Lupita girl may not Identify right so I think that they don't that this eat this some comfort with a sort of a kind of black girl But you could kind of maybe say she's kind of from somewhere else, right? That but what Wakanda did it was just like black black black black girls, right like and they were fierce And you wanted to be them and no one no one took their clothes off like the only Objectification where the fellas like I was just like a Michael B. Jordan take a shirt off You know And that's a breakthrough like whatever you whenever if there's a superhero and there's a woman She's got on like a bikini and shit, right like oh, I'm sorry. There's children. Um, but but these women had like Uh at braids and and and and make and building things So I think that that film and other the works that black if you let black women have some space Again, we will bring others with us, right? Absolutely. Absolutely for the organizers. Are we doing Q&A? Are we doing Q&A you guys have questions? Okay, so why don't I ask a question of Beverly? What's the legacy you're creating and what's the charge to the next generation of women black women in particular? I think that The legacy I'm creating I think I'm just adding to This sisterhood and I think that's the same charge for the next generation. I think service and sisterhood. I See a mic over there Where where are my Brooklyn Museum people at? Said no rapper We're my Brooklyn Museum people at Is that my life? Is that life? So if you have questions, why don't you line up at either side of the mic? I Want you to talk while they're lining up Talk talk to me about how you came up with the the table of contents. How did you decide who was gonna be in the book? Was there a criteria and I've asked you this before I'm gonna keep asking till I find out did anyone say no Now dawn That is not a question to be asked in public. I'm kidding What was the criteria was it that they have a legacy was it that? They do pay it forward Was it that they've done something extra left a kind of extraordinary body everyone in the book has done something extraordinary Some of them, you know some of them. You don't know they are incredible women They offer something that inspires us and I think that that was the criteria So why don't we start here and then we'll go over there and if yes, keep it one question if we will I use you spoke about the foot on the back of our necks producing diamonds the pressure and the pressure that created our result that that that fueled our resiliency and also You spoke Beverly about how We have treasures that are Existing in already in our in the way we are able to create and still show up all the time What I'm What I'm struggling with is knowing that Value I know that value and it's just How do I? Respond to the foot that's that's trying to Hold me down Great question. I mean, I think that one, you know, just know that you rock But too I think without knowing what that pressure is it's hard for me to Give you the answer. I will say though that pushing through Anything when you come out on that other side, you're amazed I mean and we're challenged by so many things in life, right? And so I think that pushing through those challenges Sometimes it's the real real hard part and we go through it and I mean it just as women we go through it monthly You know, I mean last month. I'm like, oh my god. I'm the worst was wrong with me You know, I was just like having this moment. I'm like, oh, this is what this is You know, but but I'm and I'm not trivializing what you would take what's happening with you What I'm saying though is that you know, there have been Lots of challenges that I have faced In my life growing up, you know, and you when you read the book you'll see I moved a lot like a lot lot I moved it with different relatives. I went to different schools like every year every other year I was the kid that was bullied. I was the kid that was picked on I didn't have stability I it made me an extreme introvert So it could have broken me, you know, I mean it could have broken me But what I learned About myself from the process was that I was an independent thinker, you know, I learned that I could actually Rely on myself so I became self-sufficient, you know And and so these these these challenges of not having not, you know I remember for example, like, you know encountering people who had so much more I don't even know what this is. I don't even know what y'all talking about, you know And and and just feeling ostracized or feeling left out or feeling just not Not appreciated feeling like the invisible black girl feeling like that for a long time in my life and breaking through and Analyzing my life and analyzing those things and coming through the other side of that challenge I think it's just like you start to see that every challenge is a lesson You know what I mean? There's a lesson in it But by no means am I saying that you should suffer through something that is, you know That is harming you or breaking you down So I just I just don't want to comment too much without knowing what it actually is that's that feels like that But I will say that Getting to the other side of that challenge is is is something that is incredible. I hope that helps Another common theme that came through this book is also knowing your history I think has been incredibly helpful for so many because if you know who you are and what you're made of and what your people are made Of you can stand in the gap And another thing I that I personally do and lovey. I just found a passage lovey says black women are my patrons and Surrounding myself with villages of black women has been my biggest form of self-care when I'm down It's a girl's night out Thank you Hi, my name is Danica and I'm from the Bronx and I'm 28 and I just want to say first and foremost Thank you Beverly for this book because Like you said, we have never really seen anyone to look like us. We've never had the positive images It's always been Negativity has always been if you're not naked or sex cells and things of that sort And I'm someone that's really trying to come up in this industry and from the first day seeing your award show I Made it my mission to be a part of your movement and want to be a part of your movement And my ultimate goal is to hopefully one day work with you and to have a chance to actually host this show So my question to you today is What can I do to work for you with you for free? Just to listen listen, I gotta seize the opportunity and God said knock in the door asking You shall receive I will do it for free. What do you need me to do? I would be that addition to the team that you need We're gonna talk to you right after this. Thank you. I'm gonna talk to you I'm gonna send I'm gonna send Maya over here to talk to you and get your information. We're gonna do this And I want to say this I Appreciate you I appreciate you making that offer right because that is how this started this start I always tell people, you know, I relate everything back to music, right? So when I heard about how George Clinton you guys know George Clinton is right? Okay, so I heard about how George Clinton started Parliament Funkadelic, right? They said that he would go on tour and as he would go through these cities People would want to join the band because they wanted to be down with the funk, right? And so all of a sudden you've got the Bootsie Collins and you got Bernie Warrell and you got all of these people You got all these incredible musicians who have jumped on this bandwagon and he's created the supergroup that got his parlayed into Different supergroups right and so all of these people came out of this one This one movement and this one sound and I think that that is very much how black girls rock started I called Michaela. I called Joan Morgan. I called, you know, it wasn't you know It was an in industry where people weren't willing to speak up about some of the messages and images because a lot of people Worked in entertainment. No one wanted to challenge as we're seeing right now. What's happening in Hollywood, right? It's been happening in the music industry, you know, I mean And it was very difficult for us to speak up about it and talk about it and challenge it because there was always someone pushing back And when I found that I felt I had an answer I went to other women and asked them to join me the women who really wanted to support this were the writers who were Writing about me. So I just was like, okay, the writers really want to talk about this and that's how this thing started So it was people who and then from there like I said, there were people who were like, I need to be a part of it I need to be a part of it. I mean and and honestly it grew so much that by the time we went to television This thing was already a huge movement. You know what I mean? And so what you're saying what you're offering is how we started this and it's how George Clinton started his thing And it's how anything that people are building something that is passionate and that has meaning And it is of service to other people. It's how it starts. So I appreciate you making this offer and I thank you My name is Jeanine and I just want to say thank you to Miss Bevely and Miss Mikaela for this opportunity My question to you ladies is I'm first generation everything I came here with my mother undocumented from Jamaica The first person to graduate high school college. I own a business And as you guys are talking about earlier and penetrating spaces that weren't there before weren't you weren't you're ignorant to before I find that struggle so I went to culinary school and I started a catering company and But my problem is is that I do not have You know the people to speak to like Google gives you but so much and I've worked There's a restaurant called for say it's like top three in America. I was the only female only black person in that entire Facility so it wasn't a conversation space for me So I just wanted to know how do you move in spaces? That's fine But you know it's your path because for me everyone says oh my god. I hate cooking and washing dishes Call me to wash your dishes because that is my stress relief But it's just so frustrating to you know learning about business and documentation LLCs versus escort and how do you market and you know get get out in those spaces? I mean yes, I'm here and talk to you and then we can have general conversation, but it's just detail how did you penetrate and I mean we're in the business, but black girls rock you've created such a Magnitude where it's now a slang between us in culture. It's just like how do you go from? That mental I need this and we need this to manifest thing it into this physical tangible I Mean I think you're talking about a couple things you're talking about growing pains Which we all still go through and sometimes you just don't see it because it looks so pretty on TV, right? But you know growing pains are still there all that stuff that you're talking about We got to do the same thing right and even with black girls rock I think the the boost that we got was that we finally went to TV and when we went to TV All of a sudden I had a new issue The new issue was that we did local mentor programs now all of a sudden people like oh y'all do mentor programs too How can I get my child in and I'm from California? How can I get my child in and I'm from Alabama? How can I get my child and I'm from Hawaii and I'm like oh my god like what I got to do something? I do something and so that's when I decided that I have to scale up And I had to figure out how to do that and all of that stuff is a process, you know, but Part of it is I believed in it. I believed in my magic. I believed in in our girls I believed in our our match our collective magic and I believe that it was important for me to provide tools for our girls To help them grow into the their best self and all the stuff that I didn't know like all of that paperwork and stuff I started having classes for them, you know in the house like, you know what these girls need You know, we got a class in our lead call wait till I get my money, right? Everything goes back to music, but it's our financial literacy class and I and I wanted to do that because I was like It's important for them to know because these are the things we don't get to know these are the things that no one's teaching or so telling So they have a lot of Entrepreneurial classes these women all come and talk to our girls. Lovey comes and talks to our girls We have a girls rock tech where they're talking technology and I put these things in because these are the things that I struggle with Right and I wanted to make sure that they're they're growing into their best self. So you're dealing with the Part that's the hard part, you know And it's it didn't happen overnight like what people think it happened overnight because they know black girls rock from 2010 They don't know 22 22,006 to 9 You know, I mean they don't know it then and they don't even know the behind-the-scenes from 2010 on You know what I mean? So there's a lot of growing pains and it's it's a part of the process and the thing is you got to Fall in love with that process all of that challenge You got fall in love with that because the result is just the icing, you know I mean, it's the icing, but it's the what you're doing and what you're creating that's making the difference I would also say I you know, there there are a couple of Really really do black women who are organized it who are venture capitalists that are investing on other black women just get on Google and start searching because We know that black women are the largest group of entrepreneurs like the the numbers bear that out But we also know that black women are the last ones to get venture capital and Infrastructure and so we know that too. So those two, you know competing truths are Are happening, but there are more and more adult black women addressing that so start to look for Your business partner because if you're missing that find a black woman that knows how to do that and there there are more There are more than there's not a lot, but there are more now than ever I would also say Beverly and I did an event this morning with the chef and I would be happy to try to put you in touch Yeah to see To see if he has years of experience and to see if he would want to share his knowledge and I would also add Looking back on my younger self and something I might tell my younger self is sometimes We're afraid to even ask, you know ask Thomas Thomas Keller from per se You know ask him. He's he might be scary and intimidating But sometimes I think Lupita calls it the imposter syndrome like we're we're afraid to even not acknowledge that We have a right to be in the room and so that holds us back from even asking and I find that often people are so eager to help They are so eager to pass on the torch They are So eager to share what they know that sometimes you just have to have the confidence to ask And I'd like to say lastly that I kind of want you to be my friend because I like people that cook She does yes And I like people who like to wash dishes I Another question on the side of the room Hi, my name is Latavia Brown and I'm from Queens and I'm 33 years old and I'm a young entrepreneur One thing I find is the struggle for me is finding the right mentor And I know as a 33 year old woman being an entrepreneur Sometimes we become prideful and finding mentors because we feel like we're too old But what is the best advice you'll give to a 33 year old trying to search for a mentor? Oh Oh, okay. I mean, I still have a mentor and I'm 53 But It's all correct If it folds but it doesn't crack So yes, I'm working on the fold But I think that it's really important For me, are you a mentor to somebody and it's funny people come to me and ask me for mentorship The question was are you a mentor? Yes? Yes, okay, so that's because I think both things particularly when you're grown Both things are important that you're you are a mentor and that you have a mentor That's really you know kind of reaching back and up is is important I feel my entire career so people like Beth Ann and Susan I will sit at their feet right and and then do the work with younger people, but You can tell I had a friend well I also think like you know one of the things that we do with our girls Right if you don't have a mentor because sometimes you're you're trying to find people and they may be busy And they might want to be your mentor, but they might not be able to so what we do with our girls is we Ask them to create their mastermind alliance like who are the people that you would look to their habits and their work and Who would you want to sit in his boardroom with to discuss your life? And you kind of create this mayor imaginary council of people Who you are looking but you're looking at their work So whether it's Richard Branson from you know Virgin or whether it's Naomi Campbell because you like her walk or whether it's Beth Ann Hardison because she's a Gangsta, you know, it's it's you know, you you find You you can look to people that you don't know to until you find that one that you do know And then sometimes you're bouncing off of people like I bounce off my team all the time And I and you know, it's funny because sometimes They have to remind me to to grow into my greater self, you know, it's like sometimes they'll be like, you know I there have been times when I've just been so Just Introverted and they're like Beverly like stop like you have to come out of this, you know, you have to you They have to remind me of what I'm working with because I don't see it sometimes, right? So sometimes you can get mentorship even in your circle in your circle of friends until you find, you know The obviously the person that you know, you can actually ask to be a mentor Thank you. Beverly does that for me all the time. She does it for me. She's like girl, you know, it You know when you're public and you have to be out and you look like you're on and you got it together Whenever and there are times when you know, Beverly has Consistently, you know, it's challenging when your passion and your paycheck are connected, right? Because my passion and my paycheck are connected and so my tendency is like I'm gonna do it for the people or I'm gonna do it for cheap or I'm gonna do it for free Oh fuck it. I'll put some money in it. You know what I mean? And so you keep that for yourself So sometimes your mentor is your is your comrade is your peer But I do think it's important to have someone that has like we believe in our ancestors and the wisdom of our elders, right? And that I think is something that in America we could probably do better at and Black women I think can be the blueprint of that but again like Beverly has pulled me out of You know stuff a lot Thank you. We have a question over here. My name is Gia. I'm 18 years old and This year I decided to take a gap year before going off to college because I wanted to really take the time to think about all Resources that I've had at my disposal. I mean, I've grown up in a house like I've gone to some of the top schools in New York City I worked at the Whitney. I've worked in various different museums across New York City and When I started to apply for colleges, I realized that I Didn't have the options that I actually thought I had, you know Because I got rejected from a lot of the schools that I had aspirations of attending and it made me realize that I Realized how passionate I was about like becoming educated and learning about this world that I'm living in and it sort of felt like that moment and hidden figures when Catherine Johnson had the door shut on her when when she helped, you know, have somebody orbit, you know earth and I Have been I've decided to dedicate the rest of my gap year to sort of giving a lot of my resources back And I've been looking for mentors to do that and one of my mentors is actually in the audience right now But I'm as I'm getting ready to sort of pull these resources together and start to organize I would really love to have you all as mentors as well. And I was wondering if that's a possibility And speaking of amazing mentors our special guest is here Tamika Mallory We are so honored to have you here. You're also in the book. You're everywhere You know, this one was one of the organizers of the historic March on Washington, right? The women's March. We know that one of and so If we can just ask you a couple of questions You brought the black woman's perspective to that March talk to us about how you talked about how it activated your own Activism in a way that that your parents had been activists, but this was a spark for you Can you tell us how your journey kind of started and where you are on your journey now? Well, not the women's March that didn't spark me. I sparked the women's March But but in terms of my journey, I mean, I guess for most people or first of all, hey y'all Y'all, why are you so sexy ain't nobody tell me to dress sexy to come here today. This is what we do So, you know, my story is it was pretty much personal Impact like my parents took me to the movement when I was a little girl I thought they were cursing me like making me go to rallies why everybody else was skating and having a whatever young people Do they were like no, we're gonna be over like marching on Eastern Parkway about whatever an issue was and I was like Yep, I'm cursed. This is pretty much the end of my life and then You know, so they finally figured out a way to make sure that I was connected to other young people within the movement because I was so Miserable about being around old folks all the time talking about policy and all of this stuff And so they finally found a way to get a younger group of people to come together But even then I was going because they said I had to be there So it was like church on Sunday for those people who go to church or at least remember from when you were a child And you had to go to church, but when my son's father was murdered It became my own movement. He was shot twice He was beaten for half of a day and he was shot twice and left in a ditch for two weeks before his body was discovered So by the time he was found He was completely decomposed and we were unable to give him the proper funeral And so and that happened almost 17 years ago It was at that point that, you know, obviously having a baby being Whatever 17 18 18 years old It was already embarrassing because you know how the little lady from the block be like, mm-hmm Told she was too fast, you know And I already was I was already dealing with that dealing with the embarrassment of having a baby young But then on top of that the next layer is that your baby daddy is a thug and he went and got himself killed Because that's just how we talk and you know, we just need to keep it real. That's what people say And so that's what was being said about me and I was embarrassed But even though I was living like in a fog I noticed that there was this trend happening in my ear people kept calling me saying Oh, yeah, you know so-and-so's baby daddy was killed too and and and women were like, yeah, you know Same thing here, man. I don't know what we're gonna do and after a while I started being like something was not right here You know, there's just too much of this happening And I'm in some type of club and I need to do more investigation on what this club is all about And the stories were the same parents in jail You know poverty was an issue lack of education. You could hear his story In their stories and so at that point I realized that it was not me that needed to be embarrassed It was that America had some answering to do so why this was being allowed to happen to black young men And that's kind of how it caught fire for me I realized right then like oh, I got it like this is what I'm supposed to be doing And so I just really I became engaged with Looking at the movement from in all of its forms that police brutality was a part of the conversation that you cannot separate Police brutality from gun violence that happens in our community And you will not be able to just say that gun violence is just a bunch of ignorant thugs There's something else deeper than that happening and as we pull back those layers It's a lifelong journey, you know, and I think that that is what I'm on Is a lifelong journey that I'm on with Michaela who is my mentor and Femme tour rather And my crying buddy right here because I call beveling and cry all the time and tish and and michelle and others that I see here We on a lifelong journey and that's pretty much, you know, how I got here and where I am today One of the interesting things in the book Beverly. There is a chapter of some of the kind of I guess the second generation of black feminists Rebecca walkers in the book John morgan's in the book and I'm interested In the perspective that you brought to the women's march What were those conversations like bringing a black woman's perspective to some of the conversations that were happening before the march? Oh man, I want me to tell business Tell business here today Um It's funny some of those conversations are happening right now I've been yelling all the way here on the phone because that's a lifelong journey as well working with white women So So the women's march as we know Quickly was called by a white woman by the name of Teresa shook Who i'm really grateful for because she sat down at her computer and was like donald trump became president I can't deal with this We need to march and she sent out an invitation on facebook to 40 of her friends And that when she woke up the next day, there were over 10,000 people who were like, yeah, let's get this going And so one little person who didn't who just wanted to go do something ended up sparking a movement um And you know the problem was of course that she named it the million women's march And you know the problem with white women, which i'm constantly telling them is that they don't do enough to like She probably went on i don't know this to be true But she could have gone online was kind of looking for things and then this came up and it sounded no research like deep reflection on what it is that um What it means for me to name something that i wasn't involved in had nothing to do it didn't help to build And in fact my existence sometimes is in direct opposition to what the million women's march Really meant 20 years ago um You know didn't didn't think about that named it and then they got in the crossfires with black twitter, which you don't want to be That is the one place in life Uh-uh, you don't want to be in black and they were getting torn up So by the time i met with the women from women's march Um, it was a bunch of white women and by the way bob blam Who was my partners four of us that were national co-chairs and bob is one of them We beat bob up so bad poor bob and she walked into the meeting with her baby about to come out of her stomach Like she was wobbling and i was like y'all can't be serious. This lady is in charge Like she's about to have a baby. Um the first conversation i had with bob After the initial day when we met was in the hospital. I went to meet her and she tells the story all the time She was in having contractions and I was going there to tell her that black women would not be silent in the hospital While she was having her baby In the delivery room her husband was like i'ma step out for a minute and let y'all talk about this Yeah, because I was like yo i'm not feeling this like and and linda and carmen were like at the door with their bags They had all their stuff. They were like we out. We're not dealing with this We just not gonna be bothered with these people And I was saying wait a minute y'all There's something real big about to happen here. I can feel it in my bones And I don't think that we should get up from this table and not ensure that the messaging Coming out of this particular convening represents us in our issues can't let this happen We need to be able to we can't let white women's agenda be our agenda And there were so many black women on the facebook page saying that they were going already I'm like ah now we got to do this for them because they don't even know who's leading them right now and so I went to meet with her and she said what do you want me to do and I said these four people have to go And it was one person in particular who's being extremely problematic because her attitude was wait a minute you work for me You know, I just want you to put the stage up and shut up and we were like no that's not gonna happen bob said They out and she shut those accounts down and put those people out and said women of color have to be A part of this and there's no better group of women of color than a muslim Palestinian muslim rather a mexican american and a black woman It's no better group and so that was the beginning it would we had to be we had to challenge them on their stuff But that hasn't stopped and I just want people and I appreciate mackayla so much and oh my god Bev and mackayla were there because there was so many black women telling me I'm not with it. It was a righteous concern. I didn't argue if you said you didn't want to be there I'm like cool, but when I call you and I'm organizing in all black spaces I'm expecting you to show up don't give me excuses then because that's our other problem, but that's another panel another day But I said, you know, you you find it's a righteous concern. I'll leave you alone But when I was walking through the crowd and on that stage and that day when I had been through hell Because I want y'all to understand For us to engage in the women's march space. It was hell It was it was 24 hours sometimes of hell of tears of just so much pain That was coming up just trying to deal with people who were like police brutality Like what does that have to do with with women's issues? And having to educate them and take them through the process and it was very painful And as I was walking through the crowd that day Sabrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother and Jordan Davis's mother Lucy Macbeth and Eric Garner's mother Gwen Carr and Mikaela and Bev and Valetia Butterfield and Angela Yee and Simone Sanders and the list goes on Dominique Sharpton And Michelle they were there And I and it it it filled up my soul because even if they did they were conflicted They were not going to allow me to be out there by myself You know We owe you So much gratitude. We were talking earlier about how black women have been getting the work done in their communities But before social media really weren't getting the recognition There've been you you are on the shoulders of so many other community organizers But thank god we are now able to kind of show the world who's actually getting the work done It's it's lonely sometimes. It's hard work, but we thank you for your work We were taking Mentors, we gotcha And we thank you for being Just I want to say thank you to to me to make up just for not just for being in the book But for the work that you've done and a lot of you don't know that she's been doing this for a long time Way before you knew her name and she doesn't just do it When she's fighting she fights against violence against us period She fights for our lives period and it doesn't matter and she will march for All of us she will fight for justice for all of us in whatever circumstance And it's one of the things that I love and admire about you so much is that you really care about who we are And I appreciate you and i'm glad that you are shining the way you should be I'm so glad you're in my book. Thank you very much you know, but also Um, I want to say particularly to the people young people That um want to be involved and want to work Tamika does the work And I think what were you 18 19 when I when I When I first met you and we were on a panel together and I was like, who is this girl? And I'm like, that's one of mine, you know um But but I say that to say because also once you become public or Um or people can see you then everybody's like ready to help you But there's some people Tamika's one Beverly's mom when they call you you say yes because they have They took the steps and not the elevator and that they are in the trenches and when I tell you the work that um Tamika is doing not just the work, but the backlash and the and the um It's not just the treacherous crazy white girl tears like that's one thing But there are people that get on twitter and threaten her and threaten and linda sarsaw our system like This is hard work. This is hard spiritual work And it's lonely and and there the hate that has been unleashed by someone saying that Black people's lives are worth fighting for is incredible you and and it's hard to explain it's It's hard to understand What these These little powerful women Get when we watch I marched with them from we marched from the nra This is the first march I've done that I did since the um women's march So understand that this this little woman's been going against gun violence and gun reform for a long time Our last march we went from the nra to the doj is 18 miles and these Big crazy looking babies with guns Were they're trying to intimidate us and like they were on the news lying about her and I I saw someone doing a news report Lying about tamika in real time on the news These are big men with egg k 47s right, so This is what this this is what revolutionary work is, you know, and so Though like you're really cute and you've got on red bottoms and behind those red bottoms is Those those are blood, you know, like this ain't Like literal blood like cardy's cute But so so I just want to also acknowledge I got my cuteness from mackayla Because that was my no seriously I was challenged when I was going to become an activist with like how can I just be me? I wanted to be the daisy duke wearing activists and I was trying to figure out how do I do that and still be respected And mackayla was like who you're gonna let tell you how you're supposed to show up in spaces like do you so? We have time for one more question. We have time for one more question My name is amine. I'm born in Nigeria, but I was raised here studied here. I'm an engineer The topics the question I'm going to ask you So you're either going to see me as an antagonist or a call to challenge What um, she's been talking about is exactly what I want to ask So the the statement all girls matter Do you see that as antagonists or do you call it? Do you see it as a call to action in the process of diversity because there are people here That are supporters starch supporters of your cause So am I Who fit into that category that you mentioned other or white women? And they're supporters people that have been a part of the civil rights movement. We didn't do it alone There were women with all colors all races So I just want to know when someone says all girls girls matter metaphorically because there are people who are not Black here Do you see them as antagonists or a call to look within and say It's not about changing the movement But just think about the audience who also sit here and supportive And if you call out a race And you say it in a way that could be Ostracizing What do you say to them? Are they antagonists or are you looking within? I would just say that the only time you were going to speak on it the only time that um, it is Uh antagonistic Is when it's said in response to me saying that I'm out So If you want to say all girls matter you can say that all day and night and I actually agree with you But if when I say black girls matter you need to remind me that all girls matter Then that's a problem Yeah, and I and I agree exactly with what tamika said. I think that you know Certainly there's been a lot of pushback with black girls rock. Um And it was always you know why White girls rock or all girls rock, you know and and We had to say this we had to we had to bring this up because we were not being acknowledged. We were not being um, recognized or or Appreciated or or rewarded for our contributions to society So we had to do this for ourselves and I think that when any group of people Celebrates themselves in this way. There isn't so much pushback as it is with black people Right when black people celebrate themselves in this way. It's all of a sudden, you know, it's this this crazy You know, everyone's upset about it and and so you got to pay attention to that too because we all have very diverse Groups of friends all of us, you know, we have a lot of people in the audience who are friends who are not black And they understand and respect what we are what we're saying Um with our own movements because they understand that it was a necessity This is uh, it wasn't it wasn't you know, I always say that like we're not cloaking ourselves in vanity here You know, I mean it was a necessity and so that's why we say it and so be aware too You should be aware when you hear that because you know, maybe you're in an environment where people are telling you well, you know You know, we to support your cause and all girls matter, but like why are they really telling you that? Yeah, I mean That and also in terms of this room this that says black girls rock Right, so like it's there and beautiful and that's what it said on the website so like If you in this room, okay, because we keep saying black black black black black It just says black girls rock There's something's wrong. That's not antagonistic. That's a little nuts, right? But But part of it is part of it is really asking people Why do you need to say that right and in a world where Eurocentric beauty was the standard for everybody And you just look at the size of the continent And that one little island has made everybody organized around that Beauty that that is the person worth saving that is the woman whose tears we need to pay attention to That's the body that we're supposed to protect and often, you know in in Interfacing with white feminists. It's almost it's often They're there to protect whiteness right and so And i'm not saying this that some white feminists don't know this too that often when it's about protection And equality it's often about whiteness protection and equality. So if we for a moment for hour and a half center black girls And that that you know, so just Because when we step out of here This this whole world has been organized around white heterosexual male christian christian success So if if if for one moment we start to center black women It it feels it feels foreign to even black people So you know what it means because you haven't been centered, but this this is that time You know, it's look this is more of us You know what it means so at a certain point it won't make sense We're we've been out of balance for so long as a world particularly Women are 50 percent of the population So for a culture that cuts out 50 percent of its power and its wisdom and its magic they're going to be off and then so so again just This notion that also that you have to make white people feel comfortable Like even a black girl from nigeria comes up. Should we consider the white girls, you know, so Even that in itself Is a testimony to your like humanity So, you know what was interesting to you to me about bob Bob land is probably one of the most fortunate white women. I know Because her humanity Has had to expand in a way that most people of whiteness have never had to do that they've never been challenged by What it means to be muslim or what it means to be palestinian or mexican or black and so she Is so fortunate to be with you. It's work. It is work. Thank you. You guys have been an amazing audience. I Thank you to mika mallory for joining us today Thank you. Beverly bond for writing Such an exquisite book books are for sale also Please promote this book on your own social media black girls rock the book Let's get this on the best seller list guys and thank you. Makayla angela davis. You've been amazing. Thank you so much