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Black Lives Matter Co-Creator Launches the Black Futures Lab
and the Black Census Project to Build and Mobilize Black
Political Power
Spearheaded by a team of leading Black sociologists and
activists,
Black Futures Lab will survey 200,000 Black people across 20
States in the largest survey of Black people in recent
history
Alicia Garza, co-creator of Black Lives Matter,
launched last week the Black
Futures Lab (BFL), a
new mobilization effort that will engage black people,
legislators, and community-based organizations to build
political power and push for policies that help strengthen
black communities. Launched in partnership with Demos, Color
of Change, Center for Third World Organizing, Socioanalitica
Research, and the Tides Foundation, the Black Futures Lab
will develop strategies that help black people imagine the
political, social and economic alternatives needed at the
local, state, and federal level, while also building the
political power needed to implement those alternatives.
“If we’ve learned anything from this past election, it’s
that black folks drive the progressive political power in
this country, but rarely benefit from the fruits of our
labor. Today, we are launching the Black Futures Lab as a
way to mobilize around our needs, hopes and dreams,”
said Alicia Garza, founder of The Black Futures Lab. “For
too long, people have spoken for us and perpetuated false
representations of the issues that drive our votes.”
As its first initiative, Black Futures Lab also launched
the Black
Census project, a
national data collection effort to hear directly from
200,000 Black people in 20 states about the issues directly
affecting them in their communities. Designed by a group of
distinguished sociologists and social science researchers,
the Black Census will capture a more precise and holistic
picture of the issues affecting Black communities.
Unlike the U.S. Census, which polls only for population
count, the Black Census will be conducted online as well as
through a coordinated on-the-ground, door-knocking effort.
The survey will collect information about key issues
impacting black communities, including: generational
oppression, mass incarceration, police violence, and
inequities in healthcare and economic access. This
information will then help organizers better understand how
to build and mobilize Black power within their communities
and nationally.
“For a country built on the exclusion of Black votes, the
Black Census Project is a vital step towards asserting the
power of our community's voices in an era where our
president is leading a white nationalist movement against
us,” said Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of
Change.” Never before has there been such a concerted
effort to survey the concerns of Black voters and shore up
Black political power.”
Forms for the Black Census Project are available online
starting today, which coincides with the 92nd anniversary
of Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s launch of "Negro History Week”.
Black Future Lab’s organizers will begin conducting
in-person surveys starting in March. The survey will be
available online and in person through August, when the data
will be compiled, analyzed and revealed by the end of 2018.
The 20 states the survey will be targeting include: Alabama,
California, Delaware, Washington, DC, Florida, Georgia,
Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and
Virginia.
To access the Black Census survey, go here: www.blackcensus.org
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