How the Black Joy Project is helping activists deal | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton Black Lives Matter has pushed the national conversation on race—but the trauma and pain behind the fight against systemic racism can weigh heavily on black organizers and the communities they serve. This was the case for Kleaver Cruz, a 27-year-old writer and community organizer at Black Lives Matter: NYC. A few days after Thanksgiving, he […]
The hopeful art of Black Futures Month | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton February isn’t just a celebration for Black History Month anymore. This year Black Lives Matter took proceedings a step further and participants imagined the future of African-Americans with a master class in art and writing. Tanya Lucia Bernard, 32, arts and culture director at Black Lives Matter (BLM), and Darnell L. Moore, 40, organizer at BLM, spent the […]
The women of Black Lives Matter outline their path forward | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton Black Lives Matter changed the national conversation on race. An organizational and international network, it has ballooned into 31 chapters in three countries. Now comes the hard part. It all started back in July 2013, when three Black women and community organizers—Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi—founded #BlackLivesMatter and the online campaign’s social platforms following the […]
Black Futures Month imagines what’s next for Black lives | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton Today marks the first day of Black History Month—but that is not the only celebration of Black people in February. BLM will be using the hashtag #BlackFutureMonth in their social media campaign as a form of outreach. However, the official project is called Black Futures Month, with “futures” being plural, as there is not […]
Black Lives Matter activists fight for MLK’s legacy with racial justice demands | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton Today, black activists aren’t just celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They are attempting to reclaim the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. From Jan. 15 to 18, Black Lives Matter, Movement for Black Lives, Black Youth Project 100, and other black social justice organizations have been spearheading a second annual national call of action […]
For Tamir Rice’s family, the fight for justice is far from over | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton The family of Tamir Rice is not giving up. Last month, a grand jury issued no indictment in the death of Rice, a 12-year-old who was shot by a Cleveland, Ohio, police officer in November 2014. Rice was playing in a neighborhood park with a toy handgun that mimicked the look of a real firearm when […]
The big-data struggle to accurately report deaths in police custody | The Daily Dot
By Deron Dalton This has been the year of policing the police. In 2015, activists and journalists documented and shared moments of police violence, while new efforts emerged to report comprehensible data on civilians who were killed by the police in the U.S., to provide solutions to related failures of government agencies. The movement to […]
How I became woke producing the Black Lives Matter Impact Project | BLK Social Journalist on Medium
By Deron Dalton A year ago I was writing clickbait and becoming more frustrated each day by the lack of meaning in some of my work. Little did I know a year later that my thesis and practicum project would have just as much of an impact on me as it has on Black Lives […]
Black Lives Matter activists and Black journalists talk how to report on race | BLK Social Journalist on Medium
By Deron Dalton Many mainstream newsroom spaces often overlook or poorly cover Black experiences, racial issues and activism. Yet, there are new efforts that are emerging to fight for the urgency of improving the coverage of Black communities. This is how I described “Black Narratives Matter: How to Source Build as Black Journalists w/ BLM […]
Inside the meaning of the BLK Social Journalist hashtag | BLK Social Journalist on Medium
By Deron Dalton #BLKSocialJ is a hashtag I created that means a lot to me. I wanted to share it’s meaning with my followers because some of you have seen me using it and don’t have any idea what it really means. Well, I created some impact engaging with Black Lives Matter activists while using #BLKSocialJ. […]