VISION
Our vision for Black liberation centers on a community of interdependency in which we have authorship of our narratives, lifelong creative freedom, and transformative healing and protection.
COMMUNITY OF
INTERDEPENDENCY
Amplifying the voices and experiences of the most marginalized Black people, including but not limited to those who are trans and queer, women and femmes, gender non-conforming, currently and formerly incarcerated, immigrants, disabled, working class, poor, and houseless. Connecting and empowering various communities of color and allies to reconcile harm, heal, and rely on each other to move toward our vision of Black liberation.
AUTHORSHIP OF OUR
OWN NARRATIVES
Empowering all Black generations through creation, education, and activism to be the authors of our narratives and to maintain our space once we have it. Centering the affirmation, validation, and celebration of holistic Black experience.
LIFELONG
CREATIVE FREEDOM
Disrupting the status quo and removing the boundaries of art, design, poetry, and music by uplifting Black creatives who use their talents to center the experiences, narratives, and the voices of Black people. Integrating lifelong creativity toward actualizing freedom and liberation.
TRANSFORMATIVE HEALING
AND PROTECTION
Connecting and cultivating opportunities for all Black generations and radical accomplices to create community through meaningful and productive conflict. Shifting culture for Black people to experience safety and protection through abolition advocacy and a process of development and healing from racialized trauma.
— Who We Are —
Our Story
Black Liberation Will Not Come From Our Nonprofit Status
In the Twin Ports region of Minnesota, there are many Black artists, organizers, and organizations building better futures for Black people.
Black Liberation Lab is just one piece of the puzzle.
We are not the solution. We are only one part of the solution.
We are a platform to gather resources, knowledge, energy, and power that Black folks can utilize to build our collective movements.
Who We Are
Black Liberation Lab came together when a group of Black folk noticed that white supremacy, patriarchy, and the oppressions of capitalism had penetrated even our most eminent anti-racist organizations.
We are Designers, Historians, Ethicists, Philosophers, Sociologists; Artists, Musicians, Poets, Storytellers; Disruptors, Experimenters, First Responders, Healers, Visionaries. We brought together decades worth of experience as social and political activists, community organizers, and educators; queer, cis, men, women, mixed, and interracial folk. Our experiences, our inclinations and our differing methods coalesced around a common aspiration: to see past the frameworks that white supremacy constructed for how to lead, how to live, how to work, how to be in community to a true liberation for ALL Black people.
The Black Mutual Aid Fund
Financial Solidarity and Community Interdependency
In response to the overwhelming need for financial solidarity and community interdependency in Duluth, Minnesota, we have created a mutual aid fund so we can count on each other for support. This mutual aid fund is a redistribution of wealth and focused on providing reparations to the Black community in Duluth, MN. The fund is based on direct giving without strings attached or forcing recipients to jump through hoops. All financial requests are evaluated and given out at monthly leadership collective meetings, so your request for funds may take up to 45 days to be dispersed. In full transparency, all fund requests and remaining funds are published on the fund request page.
Fund Requests
Fund Contributions
Contact Us
thelab (at) blackliberationlab.org