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Active Voice
Brea Baker on Helping Build Her Generation’s Civil Rights Movement
The 26-year-old activist is reimagining new social and political norms
At the time of Trayvon Martin’s murder in 2012, Brea Baker was only 17. The now 26-year-old racial and gender justice activist recalls the tragedy being a defining moment in how social media served as a catalyst for activism in the United States. Black Lives Matter proliferated on Twitter and the overall digital space, playing a key role in Baker’s coming-of-age. Though she initially pursued a degree in physics while attending Yale, Baker’s growing involvement in activism pushed her to switch her major to political science. As Martin’s murder trial progressed throughout her freshman year, Baker became a lot more conscious, began reading Black studies literature, and started taking policymaking and political journalism courses that would inspire and influence her activism in the future.
Nearly a decade later, Baker has organized within groups like Inspire Justice, Justice League NYC, Justice for Black Girls, COMMUNITYx, and more, to dismantle systemically harmful systems and reimagine a new normal. She’s also a well-known writer, with work focusing on race, gender, and political issues, and frequently published in ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, and Parade. To refer to Baker as a community activist is an understatement, as she’s found ways to create concrete change in all her lines of work. We spoke with Baker to learn more about the wisdom and practices that have aided activism work and also gain her perspective on the current racial awakening.
Brianna Holt: What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given regarding activist work?
Brea Baker: That the job of a real organizer is to organize themselves out of a job. I think that’s so important because in the social justice space, a lot of times you’ll hear people talking about [insert word]-industrial complex. You can tap that onto a lot of different things, whether that’s prison-industrial complex, military-industrial complex, school-to-prison industrial complex, but basically it’s the idea that we will turn anything into an industry in this country and everything becomes an opportunity to profit and build a brand.
