Making Herstory: Activist Blair Imani on the Importance of Diversity
“People see pictures and tweets and they tend to have a very flat idea of who you are. I don’t always wear a hijab; I am very silly and love Pokémon! The biggest misconception is that people who are of oppressed identities are always sad or going through it. The reality is that we have fun, too. We aren’t constantly thinking about it. We are, however, constantly being affected by it.” Being a young, queer, black, Muslim woman, Blair Imani is no stranger to stereotypes and forms of oppression. Imani has found ways to speak out against the injustices she has seen in her various communities and continues to be a voice for the importance of diversity and education. Through her organization, Equality for Her, which she founded as a student in 2014 and closed this year, she created an educational platform for women and non-binary people. She also released a book in 2018 called Modern Herstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History, featuring a diverse group of women and non-binary people telling their stories.
Imani grew up in Pasadena, California. “We were the only black family for a very long time in my school,” she recalls. It was in school where Imani first began to recognize the ways in which she was different from most of her peers. It first came about in a way that was not easy for her to hide: her hair. “I had really curly hair, the type of curls that I have are what would be considered as ‘good curls’ in the black community. But in my white community, people would always tell me my hair was frizzy.” As her classmates made fun of her for it, Imani soon found it difficult to truly love her hair. “I remember talking to my mom, asking her to straighten my hair when I was trying to fit in,” Imani recalls. “I was assimilating.” Despite this, Imani was able to learn a lot from her community. “A big part of my life was trying to include parts of my identity while also learning from other folks... I grew up knowing that diversity is really important.” This belief, which Imani holds to every part of her life, has been key in the work that she has done.
In 2017, Imani decided to go on Tucker Carlson Tonight, a popular show on Fox News. Carlson is known for his conservative commentary and right winged views. Imani was supposed to speak about the importance of safe spaces for Muslims. While on air, Imani brought up the importance for people in minority groups, such as LGBTQ and people of color, to have spaces where they can feel safe. Carlson fired back saying that she was not there to “speak on their behalf.” Imani replied, “I am a black, queer woman in addition to being a Muslim,” and without realizing came out on national broadcast television. “I didn’t even realize that I came out until I received a message from Sarah Kate Ellis from GLAAD,” Imani remembers. “My partner had gone with me to the show, and we were in the car on the way back home and that is when I was going through Twitter and really realized that I had done it. It was all very new and exciting.”
Imani had gone on Tucker Carlson Tonight as a way to reach a different audience; she knew that most of Carlson’s viewers would have never seen anyone like her. “I had spent the past year working at Planned Parenthood across the South, speaking about issues like reproductive health, pretty controversial stuff. So I was pretty cocky by the time I got out of there; I felt like I could handle the arguments,” Imani says. Soon after the show aired, Imani faced a lot of hate and sometimes even death threats for her appearance on the show. “I started to get emails from people who were sending me hate,” she tells us. “I had received stuff before, but this was at a volume that I hadn’t even anticipated. It was scary; I received a credible death threat from the dark web (which means the IP address can’t be tracked). I had to move to a different apartment.” Despite the fact that the experience was incredibly difficult to deal with, Imani is still glad that she went on Tucker Carlson Tonight. “There is a whole part of America that watches that show and doesn’t get to see diverse voices,” Imani continues. “For example, there is a person that I met in Omaha, Nebraska who was so glad that I was on the show. They finally saw a queer person on television. I think more good than harm came out of that situation. I have been able to inspire people and reach out to them. I don’t think as many people would know my story had I not gone on that show. The whole point of me going on that show was to be able to get my voice out to people who had not heard one like mine before, and that was accomplished. I always try to use my platform to speak truth to power.”
“I always try to use my platform to speak truth to power.”
In an effort to continue this self-proclaimed mission, Imani wrote a book. Modern Herstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History is a collection of stories that feature a variety of women and non-binary individuals. Imani wanted to write a book that was truly diverse and featured the voices of people from all sorts of different backgrounds. Her goal was to tell Herstory. “Herstory is not the opposite of patriarchal history, but it is an inclusive type of history that tells the stories of not just the winners or the most privileged, but truly everyone,” Imani says. “I was really excited to be someone who could bring that forward in a very beautiful and intentional way. It means telling the stories that are absent from history books. It gives a fuller picture of humanity.” The process of writing the book was very intentional and included a lot of trial and error. “I wrote this book the way I wrote my papers at school; I would go about my day and take notes on things that I thought could be good. I would try to piece it together and use how I regularly talk to explain things. I feel like when you read a book sometimes you know that is not how the author really talks, and I wanted my book to feel more conversational.”
The idea to write the book was spontaneous. “I was inspired to write a book because I was at an all women’s conference where at the end of the day we were supposed to say something that we were going to put out in the next year,” Imani remembers. “So I said I was going to write a book, almost like tongue in cheek, but it really took off from there.” The real work began when Imani had to figure out how she was going to actually create the book. “We had done a month-long campaign at Equality for Her for Women’s History Month and really used that as the groundworks for the book. We then had to figure out who made sense to include,” Imani shares. “It was a process of trial and error and making sure that we had people who were making their communities heard, but also not at the expense of other communities. In the end, it was supposed to be 50 people, and we expanded it by 20! I wanted to make sure that as many people as possible were represented.” Imani wanted to make sure that when she said her book was diverse, she knew it was 100% true. “It’s one thing to say your book is ‘diverse,’ but if you are not looking at the sum of the people who are being featured, things like how many people went to college or didn’t, how many people had disabilities, I listed all these things out. And I reached out to them to see what demographics they represented.” The book had 17 rejections before it finally found a publisher, but for Imani, all the work was worth it as the book is now inspiring audiences around the world.
Imani’s identity, and the way that all her different communities intersect, have made her a natural representative for each of them. “I wrote a piece in VICE about how even though I am a black, queer, Muslim woman, I didn’t grow up being affected by Islamophobic rhetoric because I was not yet Muslim. Even though I am black, I am light skinned, so I don’t deal with colorism the same way; I benefit from colorism. No matter how much I detest it, that is the reality of the world. And being queer, I am in a relationship where if you looked at us in the street you would assume we were a straight couple. We do get harassed because people see a woman in a hijab and a man and assume that she is being oppressed by him. It is complex, but I get to have so many amazing connections with people because I am a part of so many different communities.” Imani reflects on ways in which white people can support people of color, “It is one thing to be wallowing in your privilege and being proactive with it. When I was at Planned Parenthood, one of the first times I had to travel by myself was going to Montgomery, where some wave of Islamophobic hate had just happened. One of my coworkers, who was senior to me, was like, ‘Hey, I am going to Montgomery with Blair,’ which was huge for me. She could see that I was a little uncomfortable and afraid, and she took it upon herself to lean in and come with me. She really showed me that there are people who are there for me.” She has also seen how this can be important in dangerous situations. “When I was arrested in Baton Rouge in 2016, I was at this rally and there was a group of white women who said, ‘White people to the front.’ They were really protecting black and brown bodies by physically throwing themselves in front,” Imani says. “We assumed they wouldn’t be treated as badly, but they ended up being called ‘race traitors.’ It was a mess, but it was so powerful because these people took it upon themselves to say, ‘You are not going to be brutalized alone. We are going to make it better.’ I think that is what allyship is about: putting up some privilege for those who are oppressed to use.”
“Your views are real, and the world should hear them. whether that be raising your hand at school or asking a question that you think is stupid, you are already ahead of the game for even having the courage to ask.”
Imani sees a bright future, and it lies in young people. “Young people really know what they are doing. I think it’s so funny because the first piece of written language is in Cuneiform, and on that tablet there was a teenager who was upset at their parents for not understanding them. This is not new, the idea that you have to grow up to have some sort of impact or make your voice heard. So many of us feel unheard. Throughout history, young people have known what they want to say but have not been heard by older generations. My advice is, stay humble and trust your gut. Don’t wait for an adult to validate your feelings before expressing them. Your views are real, and the world should hear them. Whether that be raising your hand at school or asking a question that you think is stupid, you are already ahead of the game for even having the courage to ask.”
STORY ANA SANDOVAL
PHOTOS ALLEGRA MESSINA