Building A Pro-Black World

Defining Pro‐Black

Cyndi Suarez

There is a shift afoot in the field, from critiquing white supremacist culture and calling out anti‐Blackness to designing for pro‐Blackness. So, we followed up with some of the writers who lent their expertise to this edition and also interviewed Shanelle Matthews, the communications director for the Movement for Black Lives in order to go more deeply into defining what we mean by pro‐Blackness. We asked them the following questions:

• What does pro‐Black mean?
• What are the characteristics of a pro‐Black organization?
• What would a pro‐Black sector sound, look, taste, and feel like?

The conversations that ensued can be found in full in Spring 2022 issue of NPQ. What follows are some of the main takeaways from those interviews.

What Does Pro‐Black Mean?

The key characteristic of pro‐Blackness is that it deals with power. In fact, pro‐Black means not only directly dealing with power but also building power for Black people. As such, it is perceived as a bold or daring statement that often triggers discomfort in white people.

Dax‐Devlon Ross, writer and equity and impact strategist, shares his reaction to being invited to be part of a conversation on being pro‐Black:

It made me think of Black Power and discomfort. It also made me feel a certain level of challenge. I thought, Oh, they want to go there with this! And it literally sent a sensory experience through my body. And I thought, Okay, let's go; let's actually explore this and try to forget ...