Beneath the glimmering lights and the hum of soulful celebration at this yr’s ESSENCE Competition of Tradition, Rashad Robinson, former president of Shade of Change and longtime civil rights strategist, shared a severe and sobering sentiment: in between our rebellious pleasure, we should keep in mind that the stakes for Black America have by no means been larger.
“ESSENCE Fest is such an vital cultural second,” Robinson instructed BOSSIP in an interview on-site in New Orleans. “It’s a second the place we’re coming collectively to rejoice, however we’re additionally going through so many challenges.”
As 1000’s flooded the Superdome to take pleasure in music, artwork, and neighborhood, Robinson shared that Black pleasure is a declaration of resilience, regardless of wrestle.
“Black pleasure just isn’t the absence of ache, but it surely’s the presence of aspiration,” he stated. “It’s not simply what we’re combating in opposition to, however what we’re combating for.”
Robinson’s look got here simply weeks after the controversial passage of the so-called Massive Lovely Invoice, a sweeping piece of laws that critics argue rolls again hard-fought good points for marginalized communities, notably Black People. Whereas supporters have branded the invoice as a “win” for nationwide safety and rural America, Robinson sees it as a dire warning.
“There’s a saying: when America will get the chilly, Black folks get the flu,” he stated. “This invoice is supposed, it’s focused, to destroy so lots of the good points and wins that we’ve fought for. We’re heading into an authoritarian interval that may seem like no different most of us have ever skilled.”
Robinson, who led Shade of Change by means of landmark campaigns on prison justice, company accountability, and tech regulation, isn’t any stranger to sounding alarms. However his presence at ESSENCE Fest this yr felt extra pressing, extra private.
He pointed to the erosion of protections achieved by means of civil rights laws, many now threatened by laws just like the Massive Lovely Invoice, and confused the significance of neighborhood cohesion within the face of encroaching political threats.
“We’re going to wish one another. We’re going to must be aligned, and we’re going to wish to construct in new methods,” Robinson stated. “Within the midst of the ache, within the midst of the problem, hopefully we will construct one thing new.”
Regardless of the political local weather, Robinson insisted that optimism stays central to the motion. He finds Black pleasure, he stated, not solely in celebration however in technique, sustenance, and solidarity.
“I discover pleasure in coming along with folks and profitable campaigns,” he shared. “I additionally discover pleasure in cooking, in good meals, in laughter with my folks. However a lot of that’s underneath risk proper now.”
That risk, nonetheless, doesn’t eclipse the work or the desire to maintain pushing ahead.
“My good friend Nikole Hannah-Jones stated on a panel right here, ‘We have now to be good ancestors.’ So a part of that is doing the work in order that the folks coming behind us inherit one thing higher.”
For Robinson, ESSENCE Fest is greater than a weekend of pleasure. It’s a motion, a megaphone, and a mission that he’s hopeful could have a constructive final result.
“There’s not a lot to really feel hopeful about proper now,” he admitted. “However I’m an optimist. I imagine we will win. And in doing so, we simply may construct one thing higher than what we had earlier than.”