Published in Nonprofit Quarterly

By Aleyamma Mathew and Nicolette Naylor

The silos of racial justice, gender justice, and safety collided in the activism around Breonna’s death and that of so many other black women, and yet philanthropy is ill-equipped to activate resources across these interconnected issues. While some foundations have pledged to give more, philanthropy must go further to dismantle the issue silos that have kept us from actively championing the Black women, girls, and transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people who are not only leading the latest resounding call for racial justice, but who are the lifeblood of so many movements for social change around the world.

Black women and girls have for decades—for centuries, really––been at the forefront of visionary efforts to end white supremacy and anti-Blackness on a global, revolutionary scale. They, along with Indigenous and other women of color, have been the ones pushing for gender equality, freedom, and justice. They have relentlessly shone a light on the fact that racism and anti-Blackness, patriarchy, and misogyny are intertwined systems of power that rely on each other to persist.