Black Disability Freedom Dreams

Screenshot of Zoom call with 7 individuals - the 5 Fannie Lou Hamer Program participants along with AAPD's Keri Gray and Maria Town. All of them are smiling at their computers.

“This program has become my anchor of hope that Black Disabled people can have a community that uplifts one another through the challenges we face in voting and our everyday lives.  It helped me find my voice and helped me build skills to create a new path. One that enabled me to embrace my Blackness and my disability simultaneously. Our cohort dreamed of sharing this space with the world.

January 4, 2021

2020 has been one of the most challenging years for many of us. Black people, especially Black people with a Disability have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and police brutality.  However, disproportionate impact is nothing new to our Black, Disabled community. Despite the injustices we face regularly broadcasted on the news, despite the statistics and careful analysis of academics proving how systematic racism and inequity exists, and despite Black people and people with disabilities running for office and occasionally winning, our bodies and our well-being are still not seen as a priority when writing or executing law and policy. Additionally, our perspectives and needs are often overlooked when making decisions that impact education and employment practices.

Personally, I experienced numerous challenges learning how to navigate academic, professional, grassroots and political spaces. Oftentimes, the safe spaces of embracing Blackness and Disability are broken up into separate silos, which can make it difficult to articulate how both intersect when advocating for my needs. However, this year, I had the honor of organizing through AAPD’s first cohort of the Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program. The Fannie Lou Hamer Program was created for Black Disabled advocates in memory of Black, Disabled voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. Our cohort advocated for voter registration and civic engagement across Black communities leading up to the 2020 national and local elections, one of the most impactful election years of our lifetime.

This was a cohort where my ideas and organizing efforts were embraced and taken to new levels where they had been previously dismissed with other groups. I also learned about so many new nuances and perspectives that I now push myself to be accountable for. This program has become my anchor of hope that Black Disabled people can have a community that uplifts one another through the challenges we face in voting and our everyday lives.  It helped me find my voice and helped me build skills to create a new path. One that enabled me to embrace my Blackness and my disability simultaneously. Our cohort dreamed of sharing this space with the world.

Thus, we launched a campaign called Black Disability Freedom Dreams. We recognized how hard this year has been on the Black community and the Black Disabled community in particular. The converging crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Black state violence has uncovered long standing inequities that render Black communities socially, economically and medically vulnerable. In this context, inspired by Fannie Lou Hamer’s assertion that “Nobody’s Free, Until EveryBody’s Free,” we were compelled to broaden our drive for voter registration to a broader contemplation of #BlackDisabilityFreedomDreams. The Black, Disabled community encompasses a broad range of people with varied life experiences, needs and relationships to disability, so we hosted this event as an open exchange of ideas about how people who are Black and Disabled imagine and work towards liberation. The discussion was guided by the following questions:

  1. Why is voting and integrated civic engagement important to Black people with disabilities?
  2. How can we tackle and overcome ableism in our communities? How can people with Disabilities inform the greater population of ableism and how it exists to be more inclusive?
  3.  How can people with disabilities overcome impostor syndrome and stereotypes that threaten their day-to-day lives? How can we inform others of Disability stereotypes and how to be more inclusive in more professional and academic environments?
  4. What does Black Disability Freedom mean to you?
  5. Why is voting/civic engagement important?

AAPD and our entire cohort hopes that these highlights and guiding questions will continue the conversation and inspire others to create a space where we can be our full selves, unapologetically, as we dream and fight for our freedom.  We encourage people to use the hashtags #BlackDisabilityFreedom and #BlackDisabilityDreams continue this conversation to remind the world that we exist, we are here, and our lives and liberation is worth fighting for. We also hope that those who want to engage in allyship will gain insight on how to stand in solidarity with us. We do not have to feel alone on an island with the challenges we face. Our work is far from over, and we have many elections like the Georgia Senate runoff coming. This is a call to listen, learn, and however you can, take action.

Link for the Black Disability Freedom Dreams event on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAWLAq7UvE&feature=youtu.be

Link for the transcript of the Black Disability Freedom Dreams event:
https://www.aapd.com/black-disability-freedom-dreams-transcript/

By: Jalyn Radziminski, organizer in AAPD’s Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program.

Through AAPD’s REV UP Campaign, we are proud to announce our new initiative, the Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program. This program is designed for young (ages 18 – 30) Black disabled advocates who are committed to boosting voter registration and civic engagement across Black communities leading up to the 2020 elections. Participants will receive a $1,500 stipend and have the opportunity to create a national nonpartisan campaign that promotes voter registration and participation.

Fannie Lou Hamer’s Legacy

“They kicked me off the plantation, they set me free. It’s the best thing that could happen. Now I can work for my people.” – Fannie Lou Hamer

September 11, 2020

What does it mean to be free? Freedom means to be out of any form of bondage. So, what does it mean to be in bondage? The life of Fannie Lou Hamer expresses a clear example of what it means to be in bondage. Everyone in bondage wants to be free, but only a few relentlessly fight till the end for their freedom. It is easy to give up when the battle gets tough.  But there are some heroes – like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jnr – that fight relentlessly for their own freedom as well as the freedom of their people, even when this means that they have to suffer persecution. Fannie Lou Hamer falls in this pack too. Much of the freedom we enjoy today came with a price, a price that Fannie Lou Hamer paid, by resisting oppression and injustice, and refusing to be silenced even in the face of death, to ensure that her people were free and empowered. But we must not let her efforts go in vain; we still have much work to do. We still are not totally free yet. We still suffer racism and injustices and oppression. Black people, especially those with disabilities, are still severely marginalized. However, 2020 is the year! This is the golden opportunity to make a turnaround and make our voices heard. Fannie Lou Hamer advocated with her own life to ensure that black people could vote. Now is the time to uphold her legacy by turning up for this election and exercising our civil rights!

No true change happens if we choose not to take an action. For ages, black people have been on the receiving end of all sorts of discrimination. We have fought for freedom and justice and equality, a struggle that cost many of our ancestors their lives. At a time when we could not vote, people like Fannie Lou Hamer rose to challenge the status quo. This did not immediately go down well; they had to suffer severe repercussions. Fannie was fired from her job and chased from the plantation that had been home to her for nearly two decades — just for registering to vote. She lived her life with dreams to raise a family of her own, but the oppressors forced a disability on her – an unconsented sterilization – with the unethical, diabolical aim of controlling the black population. Today, black people with disabilities experience arguably the worst form of discrimination. Ableism is very rampant, probably on the rise. However, this is about to change, only if we allow it – by voting.

Before and during the time of Fannie Lou Hamer, voter suppression, specifically targeted at black people, was real. Unfortunately, despite all the efforts and sacrifices of our heroes from the past, voter suppression is still among us. Black people are still systematically denied the ability to vote, as proven by a study. Black people with disabilities are probably the most affected here. With profound inaccessibility and systemic ableism still plaguing our nation, it is no surprise that voters with disabilities are blocked from the ballot box. But real change will not occur if we do not make persistent, conscious efforts to see it happen. This may involve some sacrifices, but this is the only way we can pave the way for a better life for the next generation of black people, just as Fannie Lou Hammer did for us.

Although Fannie Lou Hamer could not biologically birth her own children due to the forced sterilization she was made to undergo, everyone who supports justice and equality for people of color automatically becomes her child. And, this year, five of her children – students from various universities across the United States – are working with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), through the Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program, to encourage voter registration among black people as well as blacks with disabilities. A recent study has shown that voter turnout surged among people with disabilities in 2018. We want to make sure that this continues, especially with the 2020 elections right around the corner. Having no choice of candidate should not be an excuse not to vote. We cannot continue to sit on the fence and expect real change to fall from heaven. More black voters are needed. More black voters with disabilities are needed. More black people are needed in our political offices. We cannot enjoy true freedom until we make these happen. There is no better time than now!

By: Tolu Adedoja, organizer in AAPD’s Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program.

Through AAPD’s REV UP Campaign, we are proud to announce our new initiative, the Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program. This program is designed for young (ages 18 – 30) Black disabled advocates who are committed to boosting voter registration and civic engagement across Black communities leading up to the 2020 elections. Participants will receive a $1,500 stipend and have the opportunity to create a national nonpartisan campaign that promotes voter registration and participation.

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