As we uplift the indispensable leadership of Black women, who have long been the backbone of our movements, we must also take a hard look at the role of Black men. Too often, narratives of resistance either sideline Black men as threats or place them on pedestals without accountability. But the truth is, Black men have a responsibility to show up as active co-creators of a liberated future. Our liberation is not just tied to how loudly we speak but how deeply we listen.

As a young Black child, searching for a sense of self in a world that often tried to define me before I could define myself, I wondered: Would I become boxed in by what others expected of me, or would I rise to challenge those expectations and reshape them? I was on a journey to not just find who I was, but to decide what

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