Activism in 2020

Youth Organizing X

Matt, Rayshauna Gray, and Maya Green discuss the realities of activism and organizing in 2020, from the importance of our own stories to deciding how to get involved and the importance of self-care. They focus on the power of starting with your own story of lived experience. Maya speaks from personal experience around how her story drives her work and was a unique asset that she brought to the table as a young organizer, even if she wasn't familiar with the specific terminology for the systems she was organizing to change in her hometown of Charleston, SC. Rayshauna shares with us how her story drives how she chooses to organize in a time when there are so many ways to get involved and so many issues to tackle. Rayshauna and Maya share how they relate their work and personal stories to the stories of the ancestors, organizers, and activists who've come before them. Matt, Rayshauna, and Maya close out by discussing how relating individual stories to larger histories is fundamentally different for white organizers in this moment who want to support movements like Black Lives Matter, and how this individual understanding and reckoning is necessary to contributing effectively to movements led by black and indigenous people of color.

Maya Green is a freshman at Stanford University and an Organizing Coordinator with the student-led nonprofit Student Voice. In high school, in addition to attending an arts school for creative writing, she was a member of the interfaith organizing network Charleston Area Justice Ministry, where she engaged with public officials on issues of affordable housing, public transportation, and racial bias in policing.

Rayshauna Gray is invigorated by her work with Harvard University, the Cambridge Historical Society, Boston Book Festival, and National Organization for Women’s Legislative Task Force. Gray's #TheHeartWork framework and workshop series helps people interrogate how imposter syndrome impacts their lives and communities. Gray is from the south side of Chicago.