We are unapologetically Black. We seek to affirm Black lives in every aspect of our werk. We boldly love ourselves and our people. We make no apologies for that. No elaborate reasoning or explanation needed.

We are all extensions of one another’s beauty and medicine to one another’s pain. We are more powerful when we stand together as one. Only through understanding that we can still be a rose while allowing someone else to be our soil, water, and sun. Inversely, we have the ability and obligations to give life to one another by serving as those very same things that caused us to bloom.

We write our own narratives. We are not stifled by the false stories authored about us as Black people. We define ourselves, for ourselves. We will not be pressured into obligations of perfection to protect the image of our people, nor will we be Playdoh, our bodies, minds, and emotions, molded into caricatures that don’t show our genius. We produce. We create.

We have a strong selfie game. We are self-reflective. We look at our practice and evaluate how we can improve. We are #yesfilter, pulling from different places, people, and experiences that can add to us being the selfie we hope for. We are also #nofilter. We real and raw. We deal with the stuff that’s not pretty.

We build a space that affirms Black youth. Free from racism, classism, and adultism.