Welcome all! My name is Pam and I'm a white person who is hosting this GoFundMe for a  dear friend, a Black Feminist Anti-racist Social Worker, who is choosing to remain anonymous due to the real threat of violence towards Black women and femmes. This post is written in their own words. 

Help Black Feminist Anti-racist Social Worker pay off her $160k student loans to become Debt Free - C’mon Educational Reparations!

Hey y’all, I'm just going to get straight to the point-I’m $160k in student loan debt and need this debt paid off so I can live my Best Black Life. Like most folks, I drank the kool-aid of the “Amerikkkan Dream” and believed that “Education was the key to success and ticket out of poverty”. However, while I have gained certain privileges from my Bachelor and Master degrees, it has not equated to financial freedom or stability. As I’ve been paying off these student loans, the never ending amount of interest is being compounded monthly, making it harder and harder for a sista to pay down this principal balance. And, even with paying on time, there’s a good chance I won't qualify  for public service loan forgiveness. I’m a mama and I’m trying to raise my beautiful Black baby, but institutional racism and capitalism are working against us. I’m tired of being looted by the Amerikkkan educational system! Student loan debt disproportionately impacts Black people  with almost 87% of Black students being forced to take on student loan debt compared to 60% of Whites. Universities issuing loans to students who have no means to pay off the debt and no promise of employment that affords us the opportunity to pay it off is criminal! 

I hold firm that ain’t no way Black people should have to pay for Education in Amerikkka, especially to predominantly White Collegiate Institutions that have profited off the enslavement and labor of my Black ancestors.Black people built this country ! As an Anti-racist Social Worker who works in New York City Public Schools and has been organizing around Anti-racist education for over 10 years, there is a strong need for Black people to have access to anti-racist, anti-oppressive and equitable schools. Black people are owed a FREE Education and so much more. There is no way to fully repay Black folks for the pillaging, kidnapping, forced labor, rape, lynching/murders and other countless acts of dehumanization that our Black ancestors endured. If we are keepin’ it 100, this is still happening to Black folks today. Go ahead and Google “health disparity”, “police brutality”, “mass incarceration”, “ the wealth gap”, “environmental racism”, “black transgender people”, “achievement gap”, “Black maternal and infant mortality rate” and see where else it leads you.

As a Black Feminist, I firmly believe that the Amerikkkan government and White folks need to pay Reparations to Black people--women, queer, trans, elderly, poor, disabled folks- all Black people. Give us the money; pay it directly to us! We can benefit from having it in our hand more than any institution (i.e Non-Profit Industrial Complex) can in redistributing it to us. Period.

With that said, If you are a White person and you want to #takeresponsibility  and believe that #BlackLivesMatter, start redistributing your wealth and power by giving money to me and other Black people. Help me pay down these student loans by August 2020! Pay Black folks, urge universities to provide free tuition to Black students, and demand the Amerikkkan government to pay Reparations! Ask your family and friends to match your contribution. Pass it around to your network and community. Non Black people of color are also encouraged to donate. 

Put your money where your mouth and politics are! 

All power to the people and BLACK LIVES MATTER Foreva!