“We always recognize and see how Black death is a part of our society, and it’s something that we’re desensitized to,” said Marshall, a third-year student at New York University. “It seemed like everyone was all of a sudden, caring.” 

She’s referencing the summer of 2020 and global outrage following the killings of many Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. This period prompted an awakening, where some individuals unpacked racism for the first time. Despite society’s new cultural competency, not much changed for Black people. 

“It was this feeling of being super visible, but no one’s really having care for me or recognizing how this moment was for so many black people,” Marshall said.  

This torrent of emotions evolved into “Philosophy,” a poem about the value of Black life, that earned 27.6k views when performed on Marshall’s Instagram page, and a feature from NowThis News. The poem came with no intention of acclaim, instead, it was a means of survival— a release.

“What the poem was, was just me being upset,” Marshall said. “It took a life of its own, which is crazy.”

Such is the case of many movements that gain traction on social media; nearly instantaneously they explode into an entity. In the past five years, youth activism has done the same. 

“It’s really important for young people to understand that they have rights, and how to exercise them in various situations,” said Kenny Nguyen, youth programs manager for the ACLU of New York’s Education Policy Center. “They do have a voice, and what they’re experiencing does matter.” 

The saturated online market for activists can be intimidating, but as a community broadens, so does the consideration of what an activist can be and achieve. 

 “Being an activist really is dependent on who you know, your network, your community,” Nguyen said. “It’s just about doing what you can and gaining the skills from that. Realizing that every single action or thing that you do when it comes to activism, you’re gaining a skill.”

Marshall sees beyond political action as the sole component of activism, now she’s focused on cultivating community and what she calls “the imagination.” She explores this in a path of study that she devised “poetry, prose and community organizing.” Whether she’s mobilizing the fellows of the Homegirl Project or planning her newest outfit, her activism is inspired by a desire to be utterly herself. 

“I love to be loud,” Marshall said. “My presence is to be disrupting the things that be, or taking up space, being loud and bright, and kind of just demanding attention in that way.”

Ava Marshall’s rebellion is as vivid as her candy-colored, red braids. Her liberation resides in the hobbies she pursues; in the feeling of music tantalizing the body, as she dances on video for her Instagram story. It lives in vinyasa yoga flows and deep, intentional breaths. No matter what space she occupies, Marshall encourages others to come as they are when it comes to activism. She is vying for a different kind of radical revolution, one of jubilation. One where self-care can be the most liberatory. That’s her philosophy.

The post Liberation through imagination appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

“Art and activism go hand-in-hand. Artists can physically see the emotion that people are experiencing, the trauma, the disregard, the bloodshed. It’s a mark of what is occurring. It’s another way to write history and to keep records,” said Smith. 

During the month of June there have been more searches for black-owned businesses throughout the country. According to Google Trends data, searches for “how to support black owned businesses” saw a 133% increase from June 1 to June 7. 

“Because of the recent events with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor there’s been a resurgence of people really wanting to support black businesses, and that has positively affected my business,” she said. “But because something so traumatic positively affected my business, I feel like it’s my responsibility as a black business owner to make sure I’m giving back to the people who are giving to me.” 

Smith surpassed many obstacles when she decided she would make her passion, ceramics, into a business. She encountered many of the same challenges most people face when breaking into the art and small business worlds, i.e. applying for loans, building a customer base, marketing, etc. But she noticed an additional barrier when trying to enter art spaces to display her hand-built ceramic jewelry: the lack of diversity.

Smith’s Sio Ceramics hand-made earrings.

 “I was submitting work into shows and wasn’t getting accepted,” she said. “What criteria am I not fitting into that’s not making my work visible? And you know, I thought of all the institutional barriers that are within the art world; it’s very white and very male centric.” 

Instead of trying to find an art show or event she could fit in, Smith decided to create her own event to display her pieces. She reached out to A.J. Dunlap, the founder of Andie & AJ, an online platform that highlights diverse beauty to create an artistry group. From that partnership emerged Th3 Funktion, and the pair organized their first exhibition and fashion show in November of last year. 

“The purpose of making the show was combining two different art forms together, but also creating an inclusive space where people felt represented,” she said. “And a lot of the models that we had in the show were representative of different races and different gender identities.” 

Smith said visibility is key for black-owned businesses because they struggle the most with getting access to capital. According to a report by the Minority Business Development Agency, loan denial rates for minority businesses are three times higher than denial rates for non-minority businesses. 

“I think representation is super duper important,” Smith said. “Having opportunities where you see black businesses coming together make them more accessible. If you don’t see them, how do you really know they even exist?” 

She plans to donate to other local groups helping minorities in D.C. and continue to create black-owned business resources in Sio Ceramics’ Instagram page. According to her, there are many other ways to support these businesses besides donating or purchasing their products. 

“Imagine if everyone’s sharing one black business with a friend that they liked, that is just as important,” Smith said. “It’s about doing what’s within your power to make an impact, and a lot of the important things are the day-to-day interactions. Talk to your friends about black businesses you want to support.”

The post D.C. black owned business thriving as consumers look to “buy black” appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Created both by amateurs and professionals, a vast collection of artworks rapidly spread on social media with hashtags such as #blacklivesmatter, #georgefloyd, #icantbreathe, #saytheirnames and #BLM.

Abby Zeciroski, 44, a Chicago based artist, combines traditional print images, digital scans and painting to present her views on segregation. 

Zeciroski has also been an activist in Chicago for LGBT rights, police brutality, the drug war, animal rights for more than 20 years.

“In my city, there are invisible walls,” Zeciroski said. “I want people to go beyond slogans. I want people to realize that all my art is interconnected.”

Emily, 20, painted a portrait of George Floyd’s face with his last words “I can’t breathe” and got almost four thousand likes on Instagram. She said that social media platforms enable young artists like her to deliver their messages to the world faster than ever.

“The fact that I posted a painting of George Floyd and someone knew him saw it and thanked me for it, It blew my mind,” Emily said. “I’m so happy that I am part of this movement now.”

The post Artists share virtual support for Black Lives Matter protests appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

 One video turned into two, two into three, marking the beginning of “Diary of A Happy Doc.” 

The name for the diary comes from the positive energy that she brings to work everyday, which many of her patients and colleagues quickly notice. 

In 2013, while working at the homecare facility that she co-founded with a colleague, she met a woman who had a profound effect on her, and the way she approaches working and interacting with her patients.

 “When patients talk to me, I hear them. I was working with this lady and she was about 93 years old. She was recently diagnosed with metastatic cancer,” Nwoke said.  “I don’t know why I did my white coat the way I did, but I put a smiley face right on top of my name. I was sitting in the physician’s office and one of the nurses came knocking on the door and said,  ‘Hey, miss- so and so wants to talk to you. She couldn’t say your name, but she said, ‘you know that doctor with the big smile?’” 

It was only a brief interaction, but Nwoke managed to put one last smile on the dying woman’s face.  From then on, she was inspired to adopt a special title, Chief Happiness Officer.

“She told me that the smile she saw blessed her once I opened the door that morning”, Nwoke said.It didn’t really matter what I had to tell her, but she was ready to meet Jesus. She said, ‘Babygirl, you just keep smiling and making people happy.’” “From that point on, I said that was my job.”

Georgia saw its first two COVID-19 cases on March 2and Nwoke and her team began preparing for the cases to inevitably come.  A few weeks later,  Nwoke worked a seven night shift.  She started out with four COVID-19 patients and by the end of the week, she had 32. One patient died. This tragedy laid the groundwork for Nwoke’s diary.

“I’m thinking about my first death and I was posting. I started realizing that talking about what I’m going through is actually therapy for me,”  Nwoke said. “I’m not a journalist or into journal writing. I’m more into music and the arts. I’m a creative who loves photography. It was not just therapy for me, but it was so important for my people and my community.”

Little did she know, she was about to encounter another life-changing COVID-19 case that would further inspire her diary, her own positive case, which she contracted during that seven night shift. Coincidentally the week before contracting the disease, she had been discussing holistic medicine with fellow doctors and friends, and sprung into action.

“I had all the classic symptoms that my patients had and I started looking at how to prepare myself and my immune system for what was to come. I didn’t die because my body’s defense mechanism became better than what it was prior to working that shift.”

She quarantined for two weeks, careful to not get her husband and young son sick. From her bed, she continued her “therapy” and developed #TestimonyTuesdays, and  created more colorful and engaging graphic art on Instagram.  

As she helps fight the pandemic in Georgia, creating art has been a source of therapy for Dr. Mary Nwoke.
Photo by Mary Nwoke

She also cut off all COVID-19 related news, which she credits in aiding her recovery.

“I had to sit in quarantine for 14 days and I realized that as all of this is happening on CNN and NBC, and social media…there was a lot of bad news,”she said. “Not only that, but it was important for me to cut that off and to start looking for good news. I knew as a physician that we had discharges and people did get better. We had a lot of deaths, but let me start glorifying the good and showcasing the testimonies.” 

In her videos, she can be found sitting at her desk snacking on pretzels or whatever crunchy snack is nearby, as she talks up close and personal to the camera. She talks facts and statistics, gives advice on how to protect yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, while of course,  sprinkling in much needed humor. On occasion, her videos come with Snapchat characters dancing in the corner, fun text, and filters- all in the name of providing a smile.

  She hopes that the information she is giving as a trusted source will help her family and friends grasp the seriousness of the virus and stay home- despite what elected officials are saying.

“I said to myself that if I want to meet my family, community, and my friends alive and well on the other side of this pandemic, I better start speaking,” she said.“I don’t know who is going to catch on, but I need to start delivering the facts. I need to be on top of studies, be on conference calls, and have up to date information. This is not just for me, it’s beyond me.”

It’s been two full weeks since Georgia has reopened and as of this week, there are 34,002 confirmed cases, and 1,444 deaths. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a  model similar to the one used by the White House, the death toll in Georgia could be high as 5,000 by August.

These numbers are alarming but Nwoke is fully prepared to do whatever is necessary to save the lives of Georgians,video diaries and all. 

“I will always be a physician and patient advocate,” Nwoke said. “I love what I do.”

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