Agency to Dismantle.

Allies are to be agents for change.

When it comes to liberation it has been my understanding for sometime that my liberation is not tethered to white folxs feelings, their work or money. After working for three years on building community in Fredericksburg through my gallery and safe space Art Mart and experiencing white violence in many different forms I moved to Richmond exhausted and apprehensive to work with non Black and Brown people.

My decolonization takes priority over fragile feelings framed in colonized notions and I put intention into my interactions, because those need to be truthful to myself based on my values.

I expect the same from the people I work with.

I met Lana through grassroots organizing last summer, we worked together through different Sanctuary campaigns in the DMV. I love her radical womanist perspective when it comes to Faith and Christianity. Like most relationships with white folks that have lasted the test of time, we’ve had our moments of confrontation and call outs and her willingness to constantly communicate, listen, work and be honest about how ingrained white supremacy is in everyone’s lives — but especially for white and white passing people is what keeps me not just working with her, but being her friend and now business partner as co-founders of Saint Solaris.