Black activists to hold ‘Reimagine Liberty’ event in Santa Ana

Local Black activists will discuss next steps in the Black Lives Matter movement on Sunday at a “Reimagine Liberty” social justice forum in Santa Ana.

The event will feature “an intentional and honest discussion about the intersections of blackness that have not found protection under the global outcry that Black life matters.”

The event was organized by Ferin Kidd, who runs local activist group Black OC, and Blvck Womxn Worldwide, an international nonprofit established for the advancement of “Blvck womxn.” The modified spelling is used as an inclusive term.

“We want to address what all forms of blackness look like so we can revisit this concept of what Black lives we are talking about when we say Black Lives Matter,” said Kira Lee, cofounder and chief executive of Blvck Womxn Worldwide. “It’s a unification of the [Black, Indigenous People of Color] community.”

The event will be held at 3 p.m. in Sasscer Park, which many activists refer to as “Black Panther Park.”

Attendees must wear masks and practice social distancing.

The event will feature a panel discussion from several local activists, including Sarah Sulewski from OC Protests, Alicia Crooks of the Young Black Professionals of Orange County, Dot McDonald of the Fire Love Podcast and Karlton Phresh of Function Presents.

The panelists will discuss various forms of identity and how they fit into the Black Lives Matter movement.

“There are a couple of intersections of blackness that have not found protection in that thought,” Lee said.

Speakers will also address the killing of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by Louisville police carrying out a “no-knock” search warrant at her Kentucky home, and the “normalizing” of violence against Black women.

Blvck Womxn Workdwide will be holding this same event in Detroit and Washington D.C. in the next several weeks. It was held in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Lee said her organization chose Orange County as a venue for the event because there has been a lot of discussion on social media about a history of racial injustice in the county.

“As people are becoming more educated on what the symptoms look like, they recognize it has been in their backyard the entire time,” Lee said of police violence.

Lee said the county is stratified between two realities — the affluent and the rest. Yet, affluent communities in the county are being forced to reckon with this movement for the first time as activism becomes more widespread, she said.

“You all have a very vibrant activist community,” Lee said of Orange County. “You have an extremely intelligent, vocal, passionate millennial base in Orange County. You have a very savvy social media presence in Orange County.”

For more information on the event, visit bit.ly/3iXrp2D.

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