Back in 2019, I spoke at a conference at Illinois State University in Normal. Illinois is my home state, but Normal is not really a place Chicagoans flock to unless it is related to the university. The town is only two hours away from Chicago, but it bears no resemblance to Chicago. It is a ... Read more The post Change starts with connection: Unplug a little and find hope appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

Look, I understand the “ride or die” concept. There are people who have my back or whose back I watch over who qualify as ride-or-die—either the way they feel toward me, me toward them, or both. But like so many sentiments and philosophies, when it’s taken to a certain point, it loses positive meaning and ... Read more The post Are we gonna “ride or die” all the way to regional war or worse? appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

A few nights ago, I found myself up late, scrolling through social media. My usual bewitching hour of insomnia, inspired by the change of life. Given that I now sleep in two shifts, I have stopped fighting it. I almost always go back to sleep within an hour, and I have adjusted my daily schedule ... Read more The post Riddhi Patel: How movement work falls short or forgets our mutual humanity appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

Calling All White People, Part 65 TODAY’S EPISODE: Diversity efforts deserve more commitment and less indifference   I’m not saying that people are simply heaving a collective yawn at the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts—if they notice their dwindling presence and imminent death at all—but I’m… …yeah, I’m saying it. That’s exactly ... Read more The post Calling All White People, Part 65: Are we just going to yawn at the passing of DEI? appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

There is a certain naiveté about racism in New England—a belief that it just isn’t a big issue here. It’s a fallacy that continues to thrive and survive despite evidence to the contrary. The truth is that racism is as firmly entrenched in New England as it is in any other part of the country. ... Read more The post A racist representative reveals a racist reality appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

As wildly out of touch with reality, rights, logic, compassion and more as Florida lawmaking can be, it might shock you that when Florida passed a law to ban minors from social media last week, it wasn’t the first state to do so. Still, if it survives legal challenges, it will be one of the ... Read more The post Florida gets positively “antisocial” about media and minors appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

I have a confession, and I am not particularly proud of it, but here goes: The way that people have pivoted away from anti-racism work over the last year has me in a constant state of low-grade rage. Yes, part of it is because it has made my day job extraordinarily harder than it already ... Read more The post The real-life implications of moving beyond anti-racism work appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

A few days ago, I was on a call with a nationally known movement activist and fellow Black woman who has been in the trenches of the anti-racism movement for as long as me, if not longer. We talked for a while about how, as we find ourselves growing older in this work, our views ... Read more The post Activist fatigue and the future of the movement appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

“Unfortunately, she exists in a long tradition of Black activist women who die impoverished, who die sick and alone and scared, because we love an activist until they need something.” – Mikki Kendall There is a long tradition of Black women fighting for social justice issues, raising awareness, and essentially spending their lives working to ... Read more The post Hidden Black women and their greatness, often unrecognized until death—if even then appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more

TODAY’S EPISODE: That white (hot) spotlight I’m sure that longtime readers of BGIM here have noticed that I don’t post nearly as much as I used to. Hell, BGIM herself lately mentions “bringing me out of retirement” when she makes note of a new post by me. (And right now she’s visiting family, so I’m ... Read more The post Calling All White People, Part 64: Let’s not center ourselves so much, OK? appeared first on Shay Stewart-Bouley ..read more