By SHANNON O. WELLS

After more than two decades on the front lines of racial justice activism, the now middle-aged Feminista Jones has come to realize her role is not to win every social battle she’s taken on, but rather carry the torch effectively so subsequent generations may continue fighting while reaping the rewards of forward progress.

“I have been really focused on this idea that I’m coming from a line of people who started this work, and I have to continue,” she said, noting she’d just revisited “Revolutionary Suicide,” a book by the late Black political activist Huey Newton.

“One of the things he says is that as an activist, you have to do this work with the understanding that you’re not going to see the fruits of your labor in your lifetime, but that you have to be willing to have almost a metaphorical death: That you fight until that death because the next generation is going to continue it on,” she said.

Jones, aka Michelle Taylor, whose resume includes educator, feminist writer, public speaker, activist and social worker, will deliver closing remarks for Pitt’s Diversity Forum 2024. She is the author of “Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World From the Tweets to the Streets” (Beacon).

This year’s entirely virtual event on Jan. 23 and 24 features an array of speakers from Pitt as well as several other universities and organizations, along with interactive workshops and a keynote address from William Barber, professor in the practice of public theology and public policy and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, as well as a board member and chair of the legislative political action committee for the NAACP.

Voice of experience

This theme of this year’s forum, “Amplifying Our Voices Through Active Listening and Constructive Dialogue,” is meant to build on Pitt’s 2023-24 “Year of Discourse and Dialogue” by demonstrating how active listening and constructive dialogue work on a university campus during a time of extreme media and political polarization.

Some of the forum’s topics include Bridging the Gap in Accessibility and Accommodations, Reimagining Ally-ship Through Storytelling, Avoiding the “Savior Complex” in Helping Professions, Greater Workplace Inclusivity, Perspectives on Single Motherhood, Social Determinants of Health and Disability for Older Adults, Being Queer and POC, and Creating Safe Spaces in Academic Places.

Jones — a University of Pennsylvania alumna — said she looks forward to taking part in a conference geared toward engaging people in coalition building and “really trying to advance this idea of amplifying diverse voices.”

“I’m really glad to be a part of that because I think that I represent so many — I hate to say it — marginalized identities: I am African American. I am a woman. I am a queer person. I am disabled. I’ve got a lot of these things going on that inform my daily life,” she said.

“So any opportunity I have to be a part of a forum (to) engage people to celebrate and to amplify diverse voices and to hold on — in the face of all these attacks on (diversity, equity and inclusion), things like that — to the very simple idea that diversity makes us better, that’s always a good thing.”

Noting that she takes part in many diversity-themed forums and conferences, Jones always finds a way to enjoy herself, despite the seriousness of the topics. “It’s always fun,” she said. “I haven’t gotten bored with it yet.”

Bridging the gaps

Now a quarter century into her activist role, Jones grew up in a time when school shootings and watershed tragedies like the 2020 killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (by, respectively, Minneapolis and Louisville, Ky., police officers) weren’t commonplace. The 45-year-old worries about how to truly engage today’s youths.

“I am not sure that as many students are connecting to the idea … that this is perpetual stuff, right?” she said. “We have these major events that happen, like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and things like that. And those are rallying points. People are like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is horrible.’ But then after a while, it’s … ‘OK, that happened. But now what?’ … They have never known a world where there wasn’t mass shootings in the United States.”

She noted the ubiquity of digital technology, including social media, and how it’s pulled many younger folks “away from the study of things.”

“I noticed that students are more receptive to videos than they are to assigned readings and things like that. And so I’m trying to negotiate, ‘How do we make that happen?’ How do I let them know that this is still an ongoing thing: That 100 years ago, we were still talking about issues of racial discrimination, sexist discrimination. That this is not a new thing? … So, trying to bridge those gaps is a little bit difficult. And I think that there is a lot of apathy.”

Acknowledging that students everywhere lost crucial learning and connecting experiences as a result of the COVID pandemic, Jones nonetheless is determined to provide a positive role model based on her experiences and passion for positive change.

“I, as an older person need to be like, ‘All right, I’ll work with you on this.’ I’ve tried to pass this torch, you know, and be supportive, but we can’t just point fingers at them and be like, ‘Oh, they’re lazy. They don’t want to do anything,’” she said. “But what are we doing to help them out? That’s how I think about that.”

Click here to register for the Diversity Forum 2024 and see the event schedule.

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

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