BYP100 was born out of struggle. We’ve been in principled struggle against the state and within our own organization since our founding. In 7 years of building this political home, we’ve struggled towards transformation and possibility. Right now, we find ourselves in another moment of both external and internal conflict. We’re committed to transformation and being accountable to our mission and our people.

BYP100 is going through an internal struggle around power and decision making on the local and national level, patriarchal violence within our organization, and political disagreements in a polarizing and complex climate. This year, with a pandemic and economic collapse, heightened police violence, a federal election, and an attempted presidential coup, has been so challenging for all Black people, including Black youth organizers. We are more isolated from each other than ever, and every day more of our folks are losing loved ones, experiencing job loss and housing insecurity. We’ve also scaled up our organizing, turning out thousands in the streets or and more online to fight against state violence. This year has been hard on all of us and we’ve made mistakes along the way. We apologize for the experiences of any members feeling unheard or experiencing harm in this political home. We’re sitting in and learning from the contradictions of the non-profit structure we exist in, imagining and fighting for a world where all Black people are free and holding ourselves accountable to our aspirations.

BYP100 was agitated into existence in 2013 when 100 Black organizers listened to George Zimmerman receive a not-guilty verdict in the killing of Trayvon Martin, leading us to experience a collective moment of trauma and clarity. We turned rage turned into righteous action and built a political home for young Black, 18–35-year-olds to move campaigns that confront the state and move us closer to the liberation of all Black people, through a Black Queer Feminist lens.

We are growing in a historical moment when there is a real opportunity to win changes on crucial issues including police brutality, mass incarceration, economic justice, LGBTQ and gender justice, affordable housing and quality public education. This is another opportunity to transform and move closer to the world we know we need. We are listening, sharpening, and staying curious about the many necessary paths to liberation for all Black people.

Here’s what we’re committed to for the next couple of months:

• Celebrating what we accomplished + harvesting the lessons from 2020. Look out for our next newsletter in January!
• Holding consistent conversations regarding our structure and decision-making processes
• Creating more committed healing spaces held by healing practitioners
• Building a representative body of people BYP100 leaders from the membership, board, and staff to develop a more participatory process around the organization’s budget and personnel processes.

We need your support. Tell us how you feel: What does the world where all Black people are free mean to you? What do we need to get there? What is your favorite BYP100 memory? What do you want to see from BYP100 next year?

As a staff team, we will be moving into restoration towards the end of the year and be on a collective hiatus from Saturday, December 19th to Monday, January 11th. As a result, we will all have away messages on our emails and be out of reach through this time. If you have general questions or needs related to BYP100, please send them to info@byp100.org for a response in the new year.

We are looking into 2021 as an exciting year bringing possibility and transformation. We will return in the new year with announcements around our local and national campaigns. Be sure to look out for the She Safe We Safe Story Collection release and next steps to support the campaign in disrupting patriarchal violence!

We’re manifesting space for rest and care, nurturing and love, reflection and Black joy — for each of you — as you begin to dim down your own 2020 (you made it!) and prepare for what the new year will bring.

Until all Black people are free,

BYP100

My dedication led me to build the Durham chapter of BYP100, and contributing to the growth of my political home. BYP100 is where I constantly see small slithers of liberation. From our Black Joy Experience to our campaigns to Decriminalize Sex Work.

As National Co-Director of BYP100, I am excited to bring the freedom dreams from my childhood to life. I will pull on the care and strategy of Ella Baker, and the fight and audacity of Marsha P. Johnson. I am a commitment to water my ancestors with the courage of future generations. My hope is that BYP100 continues to grow in right alignment with our potential. That we continue to design our freedom. And that YOU continue to support our care, strategy, fight, audacity, courage, and the freedom dreams we’ve always had.

When I joined BYP100’s Chicago Chapter in January of 2014, I didn’t know the first thing about developing a campaign, planning a direct action, or even facilitating an effective meeting. I was really wet behind the ears, y’all! But I did have my lived experience. From my first protest at the South Carolina statehouse to demand the takedown of the confederate flag at 9 years old, to struggling through familial incarceration, to surviving domestic violence — I’ve had a long-burning fire to build a different kind of world. I just wasn’t always clear on how to do that. So when I found BYP100, a budding organization of young Black people dedicated to our collective liberation, I was more than ready.

In Black love,
D’atra Jackson
National Co-Director of BYP100

The past five years has been such a rich journey, and every step has prepared me for this moment in our organizational history. True to our core values and in the tradition of Ella Baker, people like Charlene Carruthers and many others invested in my leadership. Today, I’m deeply honored and privileged to enter the role of National Co-Director for an organization that has been such an impactful force in my life and the movement for Black liberation.

As National Co-Director, I am a commitment to growing and sustaining a leader-full political home for young Black people through love, rigor, discipline, and trust; I am a commitment to making our Freedom Forecast a reality; I am a commitment to manifesting my ancestors’ wildest freedom dreams. I hope that I can rely on your continued support.

We look forward to building with you in 2019,
Janaé Bonsu
BYP100 National Co-Director

BYP100 is outraged by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to terminate Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitian TPS recipients.

Last night DHS announced its plan to terminate TPS for Haitians. This decision will impact almost 60,000 Haitian immigrants and is another example of the ongoing attack on Black communities by the U.S. federal administration. The decision is due to go into effect on July 22, 2019, which would give Haitian nationals who have resided in the U.S. almost a decade (since 2010) only 18 months to figure out their transition. TPS was originally granted to Haitian migrants after a catastrophic, 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of people — which gave way to a devastated economy, as well as a cholera epidemic. The cholera outbreak alone, has already killing over 9,000 Haitians.

This series of events caused the displacement of 3 million Haitian people. Since then, a category 5 hurricane caused further devastation to the country, wiping out crops and livestock and sparking a shortage of food and potable water; adding to the list of reasons to grant Haitians intending to remain in the U.S. permanent protective status.

In addition to Haiti, DHS also terminated TPS for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone earlier this year, 3 other Black majority countries.

TPS is a temporary status given to immigrants in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.

Along with the current humanitarian crises Haiti is currently facing, the U.S. is also refusing to acknowledge the impacts of U.S. imperialism and its contributions to global anti-Blackness, which have in fact, initiated some of these conditions, and worsened others.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) released a statement last night, which included a listing of several bills seeking to provide relief for TPS recipients. Rallying from both BAJI and UndocuBlack, calls on Congress to step in immediately and enact legislation that provides a humane and holistic solution for Haitians and other TPS holders.

BYP100 is in the fight for liberation for all Black people. Not only are Black immigrants (both documented and undocumented) and first generation kin a part of our membership, helping to drive our work, but we acknowledge that liberation cannot be achieved without the collective liberation of all Black people everywhere. Sending thousands of Haitians back to a country that is still reeling from devastation and that cannot support their livelihood, is a blatant declaration by the U.S. government that they do not care about the lives of Black people as they are operating in exact opposition to reports on the current country conditions for Haiti. For example, Haiti is still recovering from Hurricanes Irma and Maria this summer, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and the earthquake in 2010 which has left over 300,000 Haitians displaced without adequate shelter, in addition to the new outbreak of diphtheria which has sickened over 800,000 people.

BYP100 stands in solidarity with all Black immigrants and we demand that Congress step in to provide permanent residency for Haitians and other TPS holders.

BYP100 stands in solidarity with the countless Black and Brown community members that this decision will highly affect.

BYP100’s commitment to Black people means all Black people. That includes Black immigrants, who are often left out of the immigration narrative because of anti-Blackness. Although only a small percentage of Black immigrants from countries like Honduras, Jamaica and Dominican Republic, were granted DACA status, there is an overall estimated 5 million Black immigrants and is one of the fastest growing populations in the U.S. With the decision to rescind DACA and TPS expiring for Black countries like Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Somalia, the overlapping attack on Black and Brown immigrants is strikingly apparent.

The decision to rescind DACA is undoubtedly a racist attack on the livelihood of Black and Brown communities. BYP100 is committed to Black and Brown solidarity and stands firm in our dedication to uplifting the livelihood of undocumented Black immigrants; thousands of whom will be impacted by the cancellation of DACA, as well as the upcoming decisions of whether or not to extend Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for thousands of immigrants from Black majority countries.

There are no good or bad immigrants. People deserve access to a livelihood with dignity and power regardless of how they navigate this country or how they got here. Congress has the power to pass an immigration bill that will protect DACA recipients and hopefully also grant protections for other immigrants who were not protected through DACA. It is time to apply pressure on Congress to operate on the behalf of Black and Brown communities.

The federal administration’s decision to rescind DACA is once again sending a blatant message to Black and Brown communities that Trump is steadfast in his mission to destroy our communities by pushing us out, murdering us, and continuing to pass anti-immigrant, anti-Black, poverty-inducing laws. This is not only an attack on immigrant communities. This is an attack on all of us and none of us are safe if we don’t fight back.

Last Monday, August 14th, the BYP100 Durham Chapter mobilized in solidarity with comrades, organizers, community members, and abolitionists, to resist against the current organizing of white supremacy in this country. We believe that the 93 years of confederate and white supremacist altar worship in Durham must come to a dramatic end. When the representatives and elected officials of Durham chose not respect the request of their constituency, the people of Durham answered the call and took the confederate statue down ourselves. When the Durham County Sheriff’s Department, unjustly targeted those “involved” with the dramatic end of the white supremacist statue, the people of Durham surrendered themselves to the sheriff together. Hundreds of Durham residents stood in active solidarity against the state and any white supremacist groups that threatened Durham with a potential protest to keep the white supremacist statue. White supremacist monuments do not belong in this city. They do not belong in this state. They do not belong in this country. We cannot tolerate the New Confederacy.

BYP100 Durham believes that the people have a moral imperative to break unjust laws. The removal of the confederate statue, from our home, reflects a mandate from our community to dismantle that which does not represent us. While some have criticized the removal of the confederate soldier as unnecessary or uncivil, we are clear that the uncivil and often unnecessary are those in power, as they have allowed the statue to stand, as they also allow the extrajudicial killing of Black and Brown folks. The request that we politely wait for politicians to gather the courage, ethic, tact, discipline, rigor, moral compass, and values needed to act, is and has always been a demand that denies those marginalized of our humanity and self-determination. These same people would also ask that we put anti-Black violence aside, that we put the long history of ethnic genocide, slavery, colonization, and erasure of history, aside. The people of Durham could no longer allow this white supremacist monument to tower over us, monday was the end of that reality. We used the current political moment as a catalyst to destroy one of the historical representations of this country’s violent foundation. We as a community demand that enough is enough, and we can wait no longer. As our ancestral mentor Ella Baker said “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.”

This is a moment when the people of Durham and the people of this country must choose a side — there is no neutral. White Supremacy and Black Freedom cannot coexist. Right now, Sheriff Andrews and the deputies of the Durham police department are doing the bidding of white nationalist groups like the KKK. To uphold and protect white supremacy is to be a white supremacist. We are committed to dismantling all efforts and operations of white supremacy and anti-Blackness in Durham North Carolina and ultimately throughout this country. If the elected officials of Durham choose to mis-represent us and our needs, we will replace those in office as a means of accountability. We will not stop until all confederate statues are removed. Until all laws upholding white supremacy are abolished. Until politicians who refuse to represent the people are unseated. We are committed to Black liberation, and we need those in alliance with our values and vision to actively resist in the fight against white supremacy.

You, in this moment have to decide whether you will actively join us on the right side of history. Knowing that future generations and those that come after will one day remember this time and will ask us what we fought for to build their future reality. We are on the side of freedom, and we are asking you to join us.

We know Friday, January 20th was a rough one, but we just want to remind you that we love you and we got your back. We can’t downplay the current political moment and will not promise that you won’t feel the impact of this administration. But what we can promise is that we will be beside you, hand in hand in the name of Black resilience, fighting for Black liberation and defending Black joy every step of the way.

We know that the future looks and feels deeply uncertain, but it is exactly in moments like this that we call forth the resilience and vision of freedom of our ancestors. In the darkness, Black love has always been the light that has led us to liberation.

Whatever you are feeling — fear, anxiety, anger — it is all real and valid. But all is not lost. And while the road ahead will be long and difficult, we are everything we need to build a future that is radically inclusive, just and liberatory for all Black people.

Beneath the language of “equality” and “freedom” and beneath the illusion of democracy, we must remember that this nation was founded on genocide and slavery. Trump is obsessed with building a bigger “law and order” system — the same system that has destroyed our communities, locked millions of us up and fails to keep us safe. Trump also uses divide and conquer tactics to pit Black people against Latinx immigrants, despite the fact that Black immigrants are among the most targeted. But as Audre Lorde reminds us:

“By seeing who the we is, we learn to use our energies with greater precision against our enemies rather than against ourselves.”

We must, and can, keep each other safe.

With Trump as president, the opportunities for resistance are more plentiful than ever. Under a neo-fascist administration, we can expect to see hypernationalism, criminalizing dissent, mobilizing hate against particular groups of people (like racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, communists, etc.), supremacy of the military, rampant sexism, controlled media, and suppressed labor power. We saw our comrades are on the front lines in the Capitol yesterday pushing back against the incoming neo-fascist administration because we know that in these times, we can’t afford to retreat. We have to double down, supporting and protecting each other along the way.

Join or support us or another organization already engaged in resistance work within the Movement for Black Lives

In this moment, Black people, it is just as important that you treat yourself and each other with the grace, gentleness, love, and compassion that this country has always denied us. This means doing things and being with the people who make you happy. Cultivating Black joy will be instrumental to developing the resilience needed to fight another day. Nurture your physical and spiritual self — however that looks. Go to the grocery store, grab your water, incense, some live food, turmeric, garlic, local honey, some lavender, some sage, and some palo santos. Get some whatever you may need in case you decide not to leave the house or your body just needs to be still.

We hope that in the coming days, you are able to find joy, see yourself reflected in other beautiful black faces, be with your people, and get the opportunity to check in with your body.

Here are some resources that may support you in that:

The Black Joy Project

How Orgasm is a Powerful Weapon to Defeat Trumpism

4 Ways to Stay Grounded After the Election

National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network

We are divinely ordered and prepared to hammer through whatever comes at us. Our ancestors move through us and within us to let us know that we are not alone and that we are not losing. Take comfort in your family and community — both blood and chosen. Hold tight to each other, ’cause we are all we got.

Loving each other, holding each other, caring for each other in a world that seeks to destroy us — These are the most powerful acts of resistance we can practice.

We love and we see you. We believe that we will win.