Meet racial justice activists from 12 cities — some smaller than most —who are dedicated to leveraging this moment of reckoning to create more just communities.
How do protesters choose their leaders? In Shelby, North Carolina, it happened with a simple question at the end of a Black Lives Matters march. After an evening of “no justice, no peace” chants, the people looked at 27-year-old Alexsis Vinson and asked, “When’s the next one?”
Vinson hasn’t stopped organizing since that spring night, nor have hundreds of new activists in cities large and small across America. They are students and car salespeople, moms and musicians, all angered by the killing of George Floyd and emboldened to speak long-unspoken truths about the injustices in their own communities.
USA TODAY Network reporters and photographers spent time this summer listening to protest leaders in 12 small- to mid-sized cities. For each leader, spring and summer have become an unexpected journey of discovery – about their cities’ painful histories of racial oppression, about present-day inequality and about their own potential to inspire and lead.
Their stories reveal how ordinary people can become empowered to do extraordinary things. And next year, the USA TODAY Network will revisit all 12 young activists to see how they’ve fared, what they’ve learned and how sustained the fight for racial justice might turn out to be in varied American communities.“I have crazy stupid dumb faith,” she says."Things can get better and things will get better, and it starts with us.
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