Posts by Clarissa Brooks
Attention Student Activists: Here’s How To Avoid Being A Gentrifier
In poor neighborhoods all across the country, universities have actively displaced of poor folks of color in the name of gentrification.
Read MoreWhen It’s A Popularity Contest: Here’s How To Redistribute Social Capital In Activist Spaces
The ideas around social capital and popularity often run alongside privilege and desirability politics. Previously, I wasn’t aware of these terms. But after a few, let’s say, “discussions” with other organizers, I’m was made aware of the ways social capital can create hierarchies in organizing spaces. These conversations led to a few things: Some folks…
Read MoreWhen The Institution Strikes Back: How Student Activists Can Survive Administration Retaliation
For me, one of the scariest parts of student organizing was realizing the school or institution I had put trust into was actually working against me. The first time I realized my beloved institution, Spelman College, was simply a cog in the system was after my participation in a sexual violence protest after the “Raped…
Read MoreA Quintessential Guide To Self-Care For Student Activists
Two weeks after my birthday, I remember sending out text messages to close friends about my whereabouts as I was getting ready to protest Hillary Clinton. It was Oct. 30th, 2015 and I — along with eight other AUC Shut It Down student organizers — planned to interrupt Hillary Clinton as she spoke to Black…
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