Tag: Black Futures Scholars

Cultural Displacement and Its Relationship with Agrarian Reform: the MST and “Paraíso Negro”

Erica Richardson

By Isabella Bonilla

The relationship between land and culture is one that has been studied and reviewed but time and time again merits critical attention. With our area of study being the Afro-Latinx experience and its history, it is necessary to understand that the Western foundations that exploit, abuse, and displace Black and Indigenous people are still present today and demand collective action to combat. The issue that will be discussed in this analysis is that of the fundamental right of land ownership, and how access to this has positive effects on Black/Indigenous/Latinx communities. In order to analyze this connection I will examine the MST organization and its practices, as well as the personal essay “Paraíso Negro” by Kahlil Haywood.

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Black Garden, Black Resilience

Erica Richardson

By Tasmine Lester

On my very first afternoon staying with her, my Tía gave me a grand tour of her garden. She showed me every single plant from the full-grown trees and mature plants that have been there bearing fruit or flowers for at least a decade, to the new baby plants that were so small I was impressed she could even identify them. Even though the garden wasn’t the largest, every single inch of soil was used meticulously and nurtured.

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Philodendron: La Planta Del Amor

Erica Richardson

By Sandy Paulino

¿Cuán importantes son las raíces culturales? ¿y aún más, que califica como raíz cultural y social?

This is a concept I am seemingly called upon to ponder continuously. It feels something like a beckoning – a beckoning by the creator of the Universe for me to grapple with the significance of our intangible “roots”. Roots that ground us (no pun intended). That turns our environment into fuel. That marks the beginning of our journey and measures the lengths we’ve grown by the end of each odyssey.

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Fireside Chat: Black Futures, Race, Inequality, & Public Policy

Erica Richardson

This video involves a discussion or “fireside chat” between two Black Futures Scholars, Jacquelyn Ortiz and Maya McFarlane. In this presentation, they discuss their research, lessons they learned in Prof. Beeman’s Race, Inequality, and Public Policy course, their career goals, and how their work relates to Black Futures. Key quotes from the talk:

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Who is the MST? How They Manifest Black Futures

Erica Richardson

By Yuddy Fermin

On October 13, 2022, Cristina Sturmer, an activist, and researcher with Brazil’s Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Landless Rural Workers Movement participated in Baruch College’s Black Studies Colloquium symposium “Black Futures: Black Ecologies.” The following post is a reflection of what I learned from her talk, from my research on the MST, and how I connected it to our class Afro-Latinidades taught by Dr. Rojo Robles.

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Mass Incarceration & the Attack on Black Communities

Erica Richardson

By Maya McFarlane

Maya McFarlane investigates enslavement, forced labor, and Black Futures in this final paper for Race, Inequality, and Public Policy. This paper examines the similarities and connections between the U.S. slavery system and the incarceration system and the role public racial discourse, policy, and politics play in challenging or justifying inequities. This paper draws on the works of Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” Barbara Ransby’s “Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century,” the Schomburg Center, and The Prison Policy Initiative to trace the history of inequity, potential modern-day solutions, and imagine more equitable futures.

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Learning from the MST

Erica Richardson

By Riki Lorenzo Valdez

Movemento Dos Trabalhadores Rurias sem Terra - Brasil

Brazil is one of the most racially diverse nations in Latin America and perhaps the world. Yet, there are a lot of racial inequalities and other forms of injustice in the country. As a result, groups such as Brazil’s Landless Workers Movements (MST) have started to fight those inequalities. Cristina Stumers, an activist and researcher, discussed in the “Black Futures, Black Ecologies” symposium what the movement is about, intergenerational struggles, ecological projects they have developed, and their Black Feminist social justice vision. I also learned how their ideas and actions could inspire and empower Afro-Latinxs in the US.

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