Today's @GCIRtweets’ event, Black Immigrant Leadership: Sustaining and Building Movements for Justice, features our own @JayesGreenJ, The Haitian Bridge Alliance’s @GuerlineMJozef and @AfricansUS’ Amaha Kassa. Sharing important quotes here https://twitter.com/NCRP/status/1381590428412219395

Anita Khashu sets the stage: “Because they sit at the intersection of multiple inequities, these leaders are called in to guide in multiple movements that interact with Black immigrant organizing.” How do we do right by these communities and understand these layers?

Panelist Amaha Kassa is founder + ED at African Communities Together: https://africans.us/about 

@GuerlineMJozef is co-founder + ED at The Haitian Bridge Alliance: https://haitianbridge.org 

. @JayesGreenJ is co-founder of @UndocuBlack + now our VP: http://caseygrants.org 

"If you are ignoring the stories of Black immigrants, hopefully someone is calling you out on it. Hopefully you are not having conversations about our communities without our perspectives, our voices and our people." @JayesGreenJ

Some suggestions for funders off the top from @JayesGreenJ:
Invest in + champion our leadership
Long-term general operating support
Don't "wait and see." The time is now.
Black immigrant issues touch all issues. Don't let categories get in the way.
Get creative

"Philanthropy can do more in how it spends its dollars....I do think this 'wait + see' is honestly stereotyping of Black-led organizations. There's some tokenism that happens as well, the 'we fund one already so...' attitude. We need an ecosystem to thrive in " Amaha Kassa

Example of the 'wait + see' culture. "For Haitian Bridge Alliance, we started in 2015, and we did not get funding until last year. Newer, non-Black organizations were able to get millions in funding, and we had to fund out of pocket...We have to be taken care of." @GuerlineMJozef

"The moral case for investments hinges on how we are disproportionately targeted under systems of xenophobia, anti-Blackness, police brutality...The whole Black diaspora needs to play a leading role in the racial justice movement." Amaha Kassa. Funders, be bold to reflect this