Blair Imani

In a world that all too often flashes the same faces on the screen, BLAIR IMANI is there to challenge what those faces have taught us about ourselves. Identifying at the intersection of Black, Queer, and Muslim, Imani is a force to be reckoned with. Her actions help us to redefine our past and reclaim ourselves in the here and the now. A leader amongst contemporary activists, writers, and historians, her voice has crossed over throughout different movements and moments, time and time again, giving aid to the support and recognition of the oppressed and the silenced across the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.

“We are constantly called upon by a society that doesn’t make space for us,” Imani pointed out. The demand for action and level of acceptance is unequal. Understanding the world we live in, taking note of its strengths, its weaknesses and its expectations, can inspire us to do more to create a place that is better for all. For Imani as a historian, this understanding is rooted in the past. She figures digging through archives is to scavenging through the five dollar bin at the thrift store. Uncovering those moments previously lost to us and neglected by history is much like coming across a delicate, spotless silk scarf, buried by stained polyblend knits and appliquéd sweaters at the bottom of that dusty forsaken bin. Discoveries like this change Imani’s approach to each story — what has already been written, the source of inequality, of no shared equity, and what we’re writing today is altered forever. More than this, Imani is defining a sense of place and purpose. Those that seek to take the agency away from others, those against progress, cannot touch the past and the power it holds. “People have always been oppressed over history and they’ve overcome,” she stated. “It always makes me feel encouraged. Good will prevail. [What we can do] is look at what happened and learn from it.” These lessons learned stem from her exploration into lives and histories, from going deeper into the bin, and draw in teachings from her present faith practice, enabling her to discover new ways to live a life not just for herself, but also a life for others.

Throughout time, our beings and ideas have been interwoven and knotted together. From these knots, a whole is formed, enabling us to establish a sense of self and identity from one another and allow ourselves to take on our truest form (or at the very least, attempt to do so). “Education is the starting point,” Imani said. “People tend to form identities of themselves, then learn about others, or they see experiences reflected back to them and identify with that. [This gives us the opportunity] to reinvent, then strengthen, the wheel to encourage individuals to live full and enriched lives.” Our identities, hundreds of years in the making, have been built up, knocked down, poured out, and filled up, all to lead us to this moment, now. With her first book published in 2018, Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History, Imani approaches our underappreciated “living history” — the stories of extraordinary women and nonbinary people of whom are taking action and making changes that impact our lives today.

The book acts as a “chronicle of people.” A careful curation of influential individuals of our time, Modern HERstory highlights different perspectives through stories of action and passion about people we already know — actress Amandla Stenberg, singers and songwriters Tegan & Sara (of whom also happen to have written the foreword to the book), Janet Mock, young fighter for Flint, Michigan, Mari Copeny, and Missy Elliott, just to name a few. In 208 pages, the work connects these incredible individuals and their stories to facilitate action and inspire dialogue within communities that strives for change — for progress. “I remember this girl had [told me she] got the book and was using it to explain gender to her parents,” Imani shared. “[If I can create] a resource to make others lives easier, to be used in a tangible way, that’s something to hope for. They can use it in ways I could never imagine.” This work, along with a soon-to-be-published (expected in 2020) book about the Great Migration, highlights Imani’s thoughtful and determined consideration of capturing the most authentic, genuine side of every story. Her acknowledgement of both past and present force us to focus in on the time we have to make a difference, encouraging us to seize our moment whenever we can.

Fighting for herself and for others that may identify parts of themselves within her own story, Imani has tirelessly dedicated herself to a number of renowned LGBTQ+ organizations, such as the Tegan and Sara Foundation and GLAAD, amongst many others. Her work as a supporter and advocate drives an active role within and with-out of her community and, like the rest of us, she is still learning. Imani is witness to what makes an individual activate — take action — from the eyes of the historically marginalized to empowered students to skewed privileged perspectives many take on, claiming spaces they don’t have rights to.

Even with the accessibility social media provides for us, giving us direct connections to supportive organizations

and resources, personal narratives are simultaneously lost amongst daily noise and manage overtake any space they can, leaving no room for other ideas or considerations. The skewed, privileged perspectives seem to consistently overpower the perspectives of the oppressed, of those trying to speak out. “Social media can drag [us] down to nothing and it can be a really negative space … All that immediacy makes all the good things that happen in the world get lost and they’re often not captured in the same way [as the negative things],” Imani stated. This power means that any bit of information can be taken out of context, out of sight, out of mind. It can be stretched and pulled until there’s nothing left but a pile of pulp and an angry mass of people. What needs to be addressed is our ability to take the information put out into the world and consider it for ourselves, the implications it has on others, and determine where we stand in the mix. Imani stands tall, there for those that may not have the ability to speak out on those implications — for those that aren’t safe to speak out on those implications.

Recognizing her influential role, her path has led her to become a Founder of Equality for HER, an organization founded on health, education, and resources, to work as Civic Action & Campaigning Lead for DoSomething. org, hold an active role within LOVELOUD and It Gets Better Project, organizations dedicated and created to support LGBTQ+ youth, as well as previously mentioned Tegan & Sara Foundation and GLAAD. Additionally, Imani has dedicated time to Planned Parenthood, the Women’s Information Network (WIN), Muslims for Progressive Values, and has appeared in fashion designer Christian Siriano’s “People Are People” call-to-action campaign in 2018, partnered with NYC Pride and artist Mamadi Doumbouya to create limited edition shirts to celebrate 2019 Pride, held annually in the month of June, and appeared alongside a handful of noteworthy activists in the #StandForTomorrow campaign by TOMS shoes.

66Imani has forged her way in, undeterred by having to defend herself, and her being, at any occasion. In 2017, her selfassuredness and confidence led to her accidently outing herself as a queer woman on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show. “You don’t really pick your moments,” Imani shared. “Especially when your sense of self is so deeply held. I don’t think that coming out in a big way is necessary. I’m really glad I did because I’ve had so many great experiences like, [people would come up to me and say] ‘Wow, I’d never thought I’d see representation like this!’ and it was really powerful in a way I hadn’t imagined. If you do everything in a super strategic way, we miss all these moments of beautiful growth and change.” She continued to say: “There shouldn’t be so much pressure in the LGBTQ+ community to come out … We place so much emphasis on the people that are out that it almost erases the struggle of coming out … it’s a continual process … it’s a lot emotional labor that we’re called upon to do in the LGBTQ+ community and sometimes there’s not enough regard or account for that.”

To put it bluntly: we have the power and the opportunity to uplift those around us to create safer, more accepting environments. Starting with the self is the first and strongest place to start. “The best person you can come out to is yourself and the only person you should be outing is yourself,” Imani stated. “With that in mind, you don’t have to share all parts of yourself with everybody. Not that you should be ashamed of who you are — you should be proud as fuck of who you are! [The reality is] it’s hard to be out and queer, not to be queer, but to live in a society that’s homophobic and transphobic.”

This is the world we live in. This is the moment we have now. Despite the pressures of those that seek to silence us, we have individuals like Blair Imani, fighting with, and for, the world through the recognition of the past, the celebration of those in action today, and the passionate pursuit of a better tomorrow.