Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham on Building a Lasting Movement
In the last month, protests have erupted across the country calling for justice for Black lives, a wholesale restructuring of policing, and a greater racial reckoning across all facets of American society.
“All of these things are interconnected,” Brittany Packnett Cunningham told At Liberty this week. “If we’re gonna talk about police violence, we’re gonna talk about health care … we’re coming for the whole thing.”
Packnett Cunningham is an activist, educator, and writer who has been on the front lines of many of these conversations, most prominently since the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Change is in the air — but we’ve been here before. Eric Garner was killed by police in New York City in July 2014, followed weeks later by Michael Brown in Ferguson, igniting outrage and protest. Activists then hoped for change, too, as they have for many generations.
We’ve seen countless movements surge in popularity, cause a stir, and then seemingly peter out weeks or months later. This time, however, feels different. But how do we actually ensure that it is different?
“I feel ready, and I think a lot of other people are finally ready in a moment that they have been being pulled to for a number of years,” said Packnett Cunningham. Listen as we discuss how to sustain movements, and compel real change.