Power is the ability to change rules, not just gain visibility
Rashad Robinson · Live From The HIBT Summit: Rashad Robinson · Aug 26, 2021 · at 4:29
Color of Change president Rashad Robinson explains how the racial justice organization defines real impact and avoids confusing cultural visibility with systemic change.
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“Presence is visibility, awareness, retweets, shoutouts from the stage. Presence is not bad, but when we mistake presence for power, we sometimes think we've done things that we haven't actually done. We mistake a black president for thinking that we are post-racial. We may mistake a America's love for black celebrities and black culture for thinking that America loves black people as much as America loves black culture, and America can love, celebrate, and even monetize black culture and hate black people at the same time, and so that standard of not mistaking presence for power is really about recognizing that power is the ability to change the rules, and that is really where we start out in terms of impact”
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