Attending a general interest conference or workshop (3pts)

 

On Tuesday, February 18, 2026, I had the opportunity to virtually attend the first teach-in of Kinfolk Tech’s “The People’s Archive” series titled “Haiti Freed Us All”. Kinfolk Tech is a non-profit that uses technology and art to educate the public on the histories and experiences of marginalized communities. They collaborated with Haiti Cultural Exchange, another nonprofit founded by a group of 9 Haitian women, to create a permanent presence for Haitian arts and culture in New York City. The panel was composed of scholars and artists who have engaged with the legacy of the Haitian Revolution and its broader ramifications for the African diaspora. I have always had a deep respect for the Haitian people and their legacies of radical resistance, and I am deeply saddened by the violence that the Haitian people continue to experience at the hands of Western imperialism and xenophobia. I was interested in hearing how the panelists were positioning Haiti as a model for Black liberation movements and what that might look like for us in the current moment. 

As a Black feminist thinker, I was especially interested in hearing about the role that women have played throughout Haiti’s history, and I appreciated hearing from Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson and the overview she gave of how women were often the population with the most at stake and the greatest impetus to resist. Dr. Johnson touched on the spiritual aspect of the Haitian Revolution, driven by the practice of Haitian Vodou and by the role women play as the spiritual center of their communities. I appreciate her exploration because the roles women have played in freedom struggles are often undermined or erased by more masculine, militant narratives. Hearing her speak definitely convinced me to pick up and read Dr. Johnson’s own book, Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World, in which she explores these topics in greater depth. 

At the end of the webinar, I was able to ask the panelists about their thoughts on what it looks like to demonstrate radical solidarity with the Haitian people in this moment of exacerbated xenophobic violence, and what diasporic solidarity can look like for collective Black liberation. What I left with was beginning where we are and building substantive, authentic relationships with the communities we want to engage with/serve.