Time - USA (2021-03-01)

Bart

Staszewski

30 • Challenging

prejudice

As LGBT rights are increasingly
attacked by Poland’s right-wing
leadership, Bart Staszewski
is emerging as a symbol of
resistance. Since co-organizing
the fi rst-ever “Equality March” in
2018 in his hometown of Lublin in
east Poland, Staszewski, 30, has
been raising awareness about
the growing number of small
towns that passed non binding
resolutions banning “LGBT
ideology.” His strategy: traveling
to those towns and taking photos
of LGBT people standing in them,
near signs he made that read
“LGBT-free zone” (a colloquial
term for the towns). Staszewski
says he hopes the photographs
will show Polish politicians—and
the world—that “we are not
an abstract being, an ideology,
but real fl esh-and-blood people
who must live in these places.”
The goal, he says, is to “change
reality.” After Staszewski shared
the photos online, they were
reposted by several members of
the European Parliament, helping
draw international attention. In
January, Nowa Deba—a town that
he visited— withdrew its anti-
LGBT resolutions. Staszewski
hopes it is the fi rst of many.
—Madeline Roache

Ijeoma Oluo

40 • CAPTURING

THE MOMENT

BY IBRAM X. KENDI

I still remember an event we

did together in 2019. It was

the second time I saw Ijeoma

Oluo enthrall a crowd with an

unmatched clarity and conviction,

and her mix of seriousness and

laugh-out-loud humor, all the

while showing a deep and abiding

concern for racial justice. She

evoked what humanity needs to

secure and defend humanity’s

needs.

No wonder Oluo has emerged

as one of the most admired

writers and “Internet yellers”

around. During the wave of

demonstrations against police

violence and racism in 2020, her

runaway best seller, So You Want

to Talk About Race, educated

countless people (I read it for

a second time in July). After a

mob—incited by white men and

led by white men—attacked

the U.S. Capitol, her new book,

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy

of White Male America, became

ever more vital. Oluo’s meeting

the time—this movement against

white supremacy and systems

of oppression. But the question

she keeps asking us in her work:

Are we?

Kendi is a National Book Award–

winning author

JONATHAN

STITH

45 • School reformer

As calls to defund police depart-

ments and confront racial injus-

tice grew louder last year, many

student activists argued that

schools, where police offi cers

have had a growing presence,

would be a good place to start.

Jonathan Stith—the national di-

rector of the Alliance for Educa-

tional Justice, a coalition of 26 or-

ganizations including the Puente

Human Rights Movement and

the Black Organizing Project—

helps students and organizers

across the U.S. push for change.

“We just want a fundamentally

diff erent relationship between

our schools and our young folks,”

he says, citing statistics show-

ing that Black students are far

more likely than white students

to be suspended, expelled and

arrested in school. Last year, he

adds, there was unprecedented

progress: at least 30 U.S. school

districts moved to cut ties with

police in 2020, including Minne-

apolis, Denver and Oakland, Calif.

Stith says he is currently work-

ing with activists in more than 15

others. —Katie Reilly

100 next

102 TIME March 1/March 8, 2021