The tattoos on both forearms spell out “Black Brilliance” and if the ink doesn’t tell you what she’s about from the start, her name certainly will.
“It means ‘woman made of steel,’” Asantewaa Boykin explains of the moniker she was given by an elder.
Ms. Boykin is the co-founder of the Anti-Police Terror Project (APTP), an organization “committed to the eradication of police terror in all of its forms.” At 38 years old, she balances militancy with motherhood and being a wife. She’s been in nursing for 15 years, largely working in acute inpatient psychiatry, and is a founding member of the Capitol City Black Nurses Association.
The Year of COVID, Elections and Police Brutality Also Saw LGBTQ Activism
Protesters hold signs and chant slogans at a march against racism and police brutality organized by leaders of black LGBTQ rights groups and attended by a large LGBTQ+ community and supporters, in West Hollywood, California, on June 14, 2020.
Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images
By
For the past five years,
Truthout has looked back at the queer and trans news you might’ve missed because corporate news outlets decided not to cover it. This year, almost all of us were tangled up with the biggest news stories queer and trans people felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; the feuds between the rich and powerful in Washington; the anti-racist uprisings; and the global warming-fueled hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires.
December 8, 2020
We say their names. We never forget. Racial justice uprisings gained momentum during the Summer of 2020, fueled by the unrepentant police killings of unarmed Black and Brown Americans. Men, women and children were killed while walking. Driving. Sitting in cars. Selling cigarettes. Relaxing in the backyard. Holding a toy gun. Experiencing a mental health crisis. The policing system has been racist and unjust at its core. Calls to abolish, to defund, the police are ever louder, and more compelling.
So how do we get there? What does this look like in practice? How should cities redistribute their budget millions to keep communities healthy and safe? To advance the conversation, Next City welcomes Asantewaa Boykin and Cat Brooks, co-founders of the Anti Police-Terror Project. Brooks and Boykin have started a program, MH First, which sends trained volunteers to respond to people having psychiatric emergencies or problems with substance use, circumventing the police enti