Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Black Youth Project 100, changing world one meeting at a time
Writing For Justice: A recurring column
by Caroline Siede
2015-02-11

This article shared 14374 times since Wed Feb 11, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Oprah Winfrey made headlines recently when she suggested the current "Black Lives Matter" movement is lacking in leadership. While she supports those protesting police brutality, she also worries they lack clear demands. To those who share Ms. Winfrey's concerns, I'd like to introduce you to Black Youth Project 100, a Chicago-based national activist organization that is changing the world one meeting at a time.

Rather than center on the charismatic male leadership associated with the civil-rights movement, BYP 100 is forging its own kind of activism. Formed in 2013 in the aftermath of George Zimmerman's acquittal for the death of Trayvon Martin, BYP 100 is an organization of Black 18-35 year olds committed to community-based leadership. They approach activism through a "radically inclusive" queer and feminist lens. In other words, they lift up voices of Black women and Black LGBT youth while making issues specific to those communities a priority. BYP 100's work includes everything from voting drives to educational workshops to policy agendas to protests. Attend an event organized by BYP 100 and you'll likely hear chants of "Trans lives matter!" and the names of female civil-rights activists like Ella Baker and Diane Nash proudly celebrated.

Along with two co-chairs and a coordinating council, National Director Charlene Carruthers oversees BYP 100 chapters in Washington, D.C., New York City, Oakland, New Orleans, and Chicago. Each chapter has its own structure of co-chairs, leadership committees, and members who attend meetings every two weeks. Remarkably, Carruthers in the only full-time staff member of the expansive national organization. Everyone else either works for a small stipend or as a volunteer, sometimes devoting 20 or more unpaid hours each week. Janaé Bonsu and Larry Dean, full-time students and the respective co-chair and secretary of the Chicago chapter, know that reality all too well.

Yet despite being underfunded, BYP 100 is committed to fighting for justice in all kinds of ways. In the wake of Darren Wilson's non-indictment for the murder of Mike Brown, Bonsu, Dean, and the rest of Chicago's BYP 100 chapter organized a 28-hour sit-in outside of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office. Everything about the event was strategic; even the time period represented the statistic that a Black person is killed every 28 hours by police or vigilante justice. The more than 200 attendees raised their voices in chants, held teach-ins about police brutality, and participated in symbolic die-ins. Protestors eventually decided to leave peacefully rather than be arrested when the building closed. Like everything BYP 100 does, the decision was reached democratically.

Since its founding, BYP 100 has combined art and activism in events all over the city. This holiday season the group organized "Black Holidaze," a seven-day Kwanzaa celebration that included open mic nights, flashmobs, writing workshops, and protests to demand reparations for the survivors of police torture under the reign of Jon Burge. BYP 100 also recently participated in "Reclaim MLK Day," a massive march co-led by more than 25 activists groups who hoped to reclaim Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy while showing solidarity with incarcerated youth in Chicago.

But in addition to protesting, BYP 100 is also doing "less flashy" long-term work like public policy advocacy. Bonsu recently co-authored The Agenda To Keep Us Safe, which lays out clear steps for ending the criminalization of Black youth, including demilitarizing the police, establishing more community review boards, requiring officers to wear body cameras, and decriminalizing marijuana, which is disproportionately responsible for the arrests of Black youth. The Agenda, which is available online, effortlessly challenges the idea that the "Black Lives Matter" movement is lacking in concrete goals.

One of BYP 100's proudest achievements is creating inclusive Black communities for its members. Even when members disagree or argue, they do so like a family, always returning to a place of love at the end. Dean, a West Coast transplant, credits BYP 100 with introducing him to a powerful community of unapologetically Black youth here in Chicago. According to Carruthers, her favorite part of her job is "breaking bread" with young activists from around the country.

BYP 100 is always looking for support from the larger Chicago community, particularly from the white LGBT community who so often struggle with similar issues of marginalization. In addition to attending events and showing solidarity online, that support comes from doing the "less tangible" work of fighting racism in ones own community.

To learn more or to make a donation of money, space, or services, visit the group's website www.byp100.org . You can also follow them on Twitter @BYP_100 .


This article shared 14374 times since Wed Feb 11, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

VIEWS Mike Johnson: The smiling face of Christian tyranny 2024-02-14
- Mike Johnson wants to rewrite the constitution to make the United States a Christian nation. James Michael Johnson, Republican from Louisiana's Fourth District, is the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was ...


Gay News

VIEWS Parents, not legislators, should be making decisions about medical options for children 2024-02-06
By Jeffery M. Leving - No matter the medical issue, when it comes to kids, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said something last December that every lawmaker in the country should realize when it comes to medical decisions for children. "Were House ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Sundance items, Green Day, 'Wednesday,' Queerties, 'The Wiz' 2024-01-26
- At the Sundance Film Festival, Jodie Foster told Variety that the $1.4-billion success of Barbie helps confirm that Hollywood no longer views women directors as too much of a risk. She said, "With a big success ...


Gay News

VIEWS Is the Pope Catholic? Francis faces opposition in steps toward LGBTQ+ inclusivity 2024-01-02
- The recent change in Vatican policy allowing priests to bless same-gender couples has provoked an unprecedented backlash against Pope Francis and his openness to LGBTQ+ people—a backlash that some fear might devolve into a schism in ...


Gay News

Bring Chicago Home: Guess who's saying no again 2023-12-04
Commentary by Bob Palmer and Mark Swartz - Chicago is ushering in an era of change with a new progressive mayor with a vision to invest in communities long ignored and a significant increase in like-minded city council members. We are excited to see ...


Gay News

Pope Francis's community of transwomen 2023-11-28
- It's a rare opportunity to meet the pope. It's even rarer if you're a transgender Catholic. However, on Nov. 19, in Torvaianica, Italy, a community of transwomen, many of them sex workers, were welcomed and seated ...


Gay News

Banning the Banning of Books: Illinois and California lead the way 2023-10-26
- In June, at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation banning book bans in Illinois public libraries. This legislation, initiated by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, passed the Illinois House and ...


Gay News

OPINION Renewing state's Invest in Kids program is investing in anti-LGBTQ+ hate 2023-10-23
- In February 2020, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield warned transgender students in the Diocese's educational system that they "may be expelled from the school" if they live their lives authentically. Lansing Christian School ...


Gay News

Gilbert Baker Foundation reacts to death of shop owner who flew the rainbow flag 2023-08-29
--From a press release - In response to the murder of Laura Ann Carleton over flying the Rainbow flag in her shop in California, the Gilbert Baker Foundation released the statement below. Facebook refused to post the statement as it did not "...meet their standards." ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT U.S. higher education under siege; freedom of inquiry and speech at risk 2023-07-03
- The Covid pandemic threw a harsh spotlight on higher education in America, exposing forces eating away at the foundations of college and university learning, calling into question the traditional purposes of such education in our post-modern, ...


Gay News

Guest essay by Florida mom Nicole Pejovich: What's Happening to Florida's Public Schools? 2023-06-19
Related video below - A queer Florida parent answers questions about recent laws, how Floridians are coping, and how you can help Books pulled from school library shelves by the dozens. All evidence of inclusivity stripped from classrooms. The politically ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT For divorced parents, transgender children's health can present tricky dilemmas 2023-06-12
- Over the last few months, issues impacting individuals who identify as transgender and non-binary are getting a lot of attention in the media and among some politicians. Sadly, because it's become a political issue; a lot ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT War in the 21st Century: mercenaries, private military companies, private armies 2023-05-20
- In 2022, $407 billion of the Pentagon budget—representing half of that year's funding —were obligated to private contractors, of which a significant number were Private Military Companies (PMCs) involved in ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT Telling the world about my mental health disorders 2023-05-04
- Over the years, coming out as a lesbian hasn't been that hard for me—because I was always too busy hiding something else. Confessing queerness can be a breeze compared to revealing mental illness. But I decline ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT German bishops endorse blessings of same-sex couples: Ancient rituals retturn 2023-03-31
- This March, at a national meeting of leaders of the German Catholic Church (referred to as a synod), a document titled Blessing Ceremonies for Couples who Love Each Other" received overwhelming support: 176 votes in favor, ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.