Over the past two weeks there have been countless protests around the country against police brutality. One such protest was planned for Monday night in Wilmington.
That planned protest, however, turned into a healing space. Event Organizer Da’Shaun Harrison said the idea was to have the protest, but with the numbers that came out the event became an intimate setting for folks to come together and heal.
The group of college-aged students were able to network and discuss issues of racism.
“I think that with us being, you know, 19, 20, 25 years old, we have so much momentum and so much power that we bring together that the movement couldn’t go on without the Millenials,” Harrison said.
Harrison added that young people bring a new sense of hope and presence to the movement.
The group created a GroupMe, which is like a group text message, to plan and organize events in the future.
Interview with Sarah Johnson | for: WWAY
Da'Shaun Harrison
Da’Shaun Harrison is a Black trans theorist, storyteller, and community organizer in Atlanta, GA. Harrison has risen to national acclaim with the release of their debut title, Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness—published in August 2021. Belly of the Beast won the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction, and since then, Harrison has been the recipient of ProjectHEAL’s “Inspire Award” along with several other media and literary honors. Harrison lectures on Blackness, fatness, gender, and their intersections. Harrison currently serves as Editor-at-Large at Scalawag Magazine and is the co-host of the podcast “Unsolicited: Fatties Talk Back.” Between the years 2019 and 2021, Harrison served as Associate Editor — and later as Managing Editor — of Wear Your Voice Magazine.