“We Have Nothing to Lose but Our Chains”: Activist Sustainability for Black Women and Gender Non-binary Racial Justice Activists in the Black Lives Matter Movement
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Harris, Kalia D
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Abstract
This study focused on the obstacles that Black women and gender non-binary racial justice activists (ages 18-32) face to their full participation in Black Lives Matter activism and the ways that they sustain themselves. Using a phenomenological approach, interviews were conducted with five Black women and gender non-binary racial justice activists in the Black Lives Matter movement to examine how they got involved in BLM activism, what obstacles they face to their full participation in activism, and what self-care strategies they use to sustain themselves within their activism. The findings of this study support Black feminist scholarship and expand upon understandings of activist burnout by confirming that Black queer activists experience racial battle fatigue. This study challenges current literature on racial battle fatigue and activist burnout, suggesting that the simultaneous and interlocking systems of racism, sexism, homophobia, and heterosexism must be included in any analysis of burnout.
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Activist sustainability, Activist burnout, Black feminist theory, Queer theory, Social movement theory, Social justice