By Betsy Carreño
Known as an activist and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Ayo Tometi came to Dominican as a speaker on Feb. 6.
Coming to Dominican, Tometi talked about the work she has done so far, and what she wants to focus on in the future.
“I like to focus on the work that is about repairing the damage, [and] repairing the harm,” Tometi says. “There has been a lot of harm and there are many ways to repair the damage.”
The damage Tometi refers to is the racial inequality that persists.
Tometi explains, “Racial inequity sadly is embedded into the fabric of the United States society. The work of undoing systemic racism and generations of oppression is not an easy task. It’s a task that is going to be with us for quite some time.”
Tometi encourages everyone to join in the work of breaking down internalized racism.
In her words, “There’s just no lack of work to be done. It’s not just one sector: it’s not just the criminal justice system, it’s not just the healthcare system, it’s not just the education system. All of these systems that interact with us as people all have a role to play. They all have racist outcomes because they’re informed by racist logic and racist ideologies that has been imbedded into the fabric of our society.”
While the Black Lives Movement has lost attention throughout the years, Tometi offers a new perspective to think about.
“Just because you’re not seeing it on the news every single day does not mean these injustices aren’t occurring in our real lives,” Tometi states.
Tometi helps offer a new call to action for everyone and demonstrates that work can be done at every level of society.
Tometi closes by stating, “I believe in agency, and I believe that we do have our personal power where we can say ‘Hey let me dig in on this issue.’”
