A biography for Opal Tometihasn’t been written yet.
“I'm really looking for an agenda that looks at safety for our communities beyond policing.”
“Black Lives Matter has been viral, and people are taking it, appropriating it, and using it however they see fit.”
“Our communities are reeling from poverty, from unemployment, from discrimination of all sorts and different interactions that they're having with the law enforcement, and education system, and so on.”
“If people take the fight for justice seriously in their own country and with partners and immigrants in their community and folks in the international community, I believe that we will see human rights for all people affirmed.”
“Implicit bias - our subconscious associations of race - permeates everything that we do. And we must pursue systemic accountability to fix it.”
“Despite claims that there are good and bad cops, we know that the system is failing everyone - including the police.”
“African-Americans and black immigrants share a resilience and a determination for a better life.”
“We know that there are people in our nation, black people, who are systematically being disenfranchised in a number of spheres in our lives.”
“I am the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, which is the country's only national immigrant rights organization for black immigrants and African Americans. Being the daughter of Nigerian immigrants really drove me to do this type of work.”
“We can't continue to sit on our hands and sit idly by as people are being brutalized, disenfranchised, and left out of the system.”
“I just look back at my time in college and think about how much my community activism and my work in neighborhoods really informed my actual academic career and beyond... It can provide a way better learning than the traditional classroom setting.”
“Antiblack racism is not only happening in the United States. It's actually happening all across the globe.”
“I was in awe of previous black liberation struggle leaders - Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells. I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself. Black Lives Matter has been that.”
“I have three godkids that are just so gorgeous; I love them dearly, and they keep me going.”
“The valuation of profit over people impedes human rights across much of the world.”
“I believe that our communities can benefit if they know about and participate in the U.N.'s various human rights forums.”
“There was a time when my uncle was in an immigration detention center, and members of our community would take turns visiting him each weekend. That instilled in me the value of taking care of each other even if the systems aren't working in your favor.”
“The reality is that anti-black racism is a global phenomenon, and it looks different in each context, but if you look at the outcomes, if you listen and look at the experiences, you will see that it's clear, and it's happening across the globe.”
“There are always groups on campus that are doing amazing things. I know when I was in college, I was a student at the University of Arizona, working on my bachelor's in history, and I got involved with a number of different groups that were connected to different social justice issues that I cared about.”
“Let's demonstrate, illustrate, the ways in which our communities are being undermined time and time again, and make sure that the broader public and those in power choose to stand with us.”