By & For: Our Communities – Page 2

Hum@n L!teracy | International Literacy Day

Hum@n L!teracy by Caela Collins She learned to read people long before she earned a credible amount of literacy skills to properly read a book. The curvature of everyone’s lips as they ricochet off one another turns out phrases like turned chapter pages. Disconnected FaceTime calls from failed WiFi systems leave you gasping at the…

Muslim Writer, Najma Hashi, Combats Negative Stereotypes in Media

Najma Hashi (she/her) is a member of By & For, writer, advocate for more diverse representation of BIPOC folks in media. Her creative work centers on BIPOC representation in media and unveils her own experience as a Black, Muslim woman forging a career in media. She’s led projects, such as Representation Matters, a blog that uplifts the…

What the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference Was Really Like With Mallika Dutt

In 1995, the Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing resulted in a global agenda for change from a feminist standpoint. Breakthrough’s founder and leader in the feminist movement, Mallika Dutt, meets with Ponny White, a child care policy analyst and reproductive justice activist from Minnesota, to discuss takeaways from this historic event. In this…

Commemorating Pride with Nia

During our #QueerYourPride campaign, Breakthrough uplifted the joy, determination and activism of the LGBTQIA+ communities with a Digital Quilt. By & For contributor Nia Asemota produced this beautiful artwork highlighting the essence of Pride Month. Nia sought to depict “the power of loving without limits” and she has done so successfully with 3 visible examples…

Allies Promise by Caela Collins

I may not say all the right things. I won’t always be the first to know or understand. I will never feel the true weight of your burdens or carry your individualistic fears. But I will not abide by any pride that human nature has allowed to reside within me. I won’t use loving words…

Daddreaming by Caela Collins

I saw him standing there and wondered what he was thinking. I often wonder what runs through people’s minds when they stare into that blank abyss in the distance that lays before them. He could’ve been thinking something deep & meaningful like him thankfully combining through his blessings. His mind might’ve been wandering the concrete…

Today is Juneteenth by Caela Collins

Juneteenth Poem by Caela Collins, By & For, Breakthrough

Juneteenth: A poem by By & For contributor, Caela Collins.

The Depression Came (Comic) by Anna Nguyen

The American Psychiatric Association notes that BIPOC adults generally have a harder time locating and receiving mental health services, having found that 48% of whites received mental health services, compared with 31% of Blacks and Hispanics, and 22% of Asians in 2015. This is something comic artists, Anna Nguyen is well aware of and explores…

M.O.T.H.E.R. by Caela Collins

by Caela Collins (in dedication to my mother Valerie) Childhood Mother, mother there is no Other Together we share the same color Hair Even though there’s a lot of Rules So what I think you’re cool!I Love You! Adulthood Most of all, I want to say thank-you. No matter how Overly elaborate the words of…

Galactic Gaia: Earth Month Illustration by Kai Ibarra

This Earth Month 2021, we take inspiration from Kai Ibarra and their piece depicting goddess of the earth, Gaia. Selecting a muse was straightforward for Kai, “love goddesses and their stories of divinity, so Gaia, mother of Earth was who I thought of instantly.” Kai utilizes Gaia to highlight that ancestral knowledge may provide a…