In the aftermath of the powerful racial justice protests that swept the nation in the summer of 2020, the Raikes Foundation launched the Black Leadership & Power Fund to support leaders of color working to build power and advance anti-racist policy change. Black Voters Matter, led by indefatigable Executive Director LaTosha Brown, was at the top of our list. The Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute aims to increase power and agency in communities through voting. The organization played an instrumental role registering voters in Georgia in the run up to the 2020 election.

LaTosha sat down with Raikes Foundation Executive Director Dennis Quirin for a conversation about the state of the racial justice movement, the importance of a multiracial democracy, and what’s changed since 2020. Their conversation, lightly edited, is below.

Dennis Quirin: I’m excited to have a conversation with you because you are such a fascinating thinker and doer in this moment. And I’m curious about what you think about our country’s racial reckoning over the past year. More and more people seem to have accepted that structural racism is a real, animating force in our country. In your mind, were last year’s protests an evolution for us or just a high-water mark?

LaTosha Brown: The Trump presidency opened up Pandora’s box for white nationalists and white supremacists to rear their ugly heads. It’s not like it wasn’t here, he just gave it permission, he put it on steroids, and so he created an opening where people could actually see just how embedded structural racism is in America. I think part of what has happened is, for more people, there’s no question that structural racism and white supremacy is a big barrier that has to be addressed.

Read the full article about advancing anti-racist policy change at Medium.