In order to cultivate civic-justice in one’s community, it is essential to take initiative in order to give voices to the unheard. Activist and author Blair Imani does just that as she managed to cultivate a large platform in order to shed light on her experiences being a queer, Black, Muslim woman.
Imani initially made her voice heard back in 2016 when she protested police brutality after the death of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man who was shot by police unjustly (1). She was an outspoken critic of actions taken by the officers and emphasized at the protest that, “we must come together as a community in purposeful and meaningful ways”(2) During the protest, Imani was arrested by Baton Rouge SWAT officers and had to face verbal abuse along with having her hijab forcibly removed (3).
Through this disturbing encounter with the officers, Imani took the initiative to use this experience as a means of promoting civic action; she helped raise awareness for the cause through releasing her first-hand experience dealing with the officers, most notably in an interview with The Intercept. Not even a week after being arrested, Imani worked to foster a sense of community through hosting a vigil for the violence at the protest (4)
Her work toward civic action never faltered over the years. Imani penned her debut novel Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History in 2018; the book spotlights many important people of color, queer people, disabled people, trans people, and more that are taking initiative to make a difference. In 2020 she also published Making Our Way Home, a retrospective discussing the impact of the Great Migration on Black communities, along with voting rights, domestic terrorism, and discrimination.
She also founded a non-profit organization, titled “Equality for HER”, that works to generate awareness about issues surrounding those identifying as women or nonbinary. The organization provides free educational resources about nuanced subjects including interpersonal violence, gender diversity, and representation in media. Imani is presently the Civic Action & Campaign Lead at DoSomething.org, the largest tech company exclusively for young people and social change (5)
In addition to this, she also works alongside Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV), a human rights and social justice nonprofit, as an ambassador (6). MPV is one of the oldest progressive Muslim organizations to support the LBGTQ+ community and Imani is able to use her platform to give a voice to marginalized people (7).
This post was written by Husbaan Sheikh.
- http://blairimani.com/about
- Ibid.
- https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/baton_rouge_officer_shooting/article_e40669a4-4d3b-11e6-9bd9-378cde7cc0f8.html
- Ibid.
- https://www.teenvogue.com/story/blair-imani-queer-muslim-woman
- Ibid.
- Ibid.