Tillet Sisters Continue to Fight for Racial Justice

The Chicago Tribune recently highlighted sisters Salamishah Tillet and Scheherazade Tillet (MA 2005) and their organization A Long Walk Home, which works to combat violence and racism against Black women. As the brutal deaths of Breonna Taylor and Oluwatoyin Salau continue to garner national attention, the Tillet sisters know that these losses underscore the disproportionate repression of Black girls and women across the country. "There’s no moment where [Black girls and women] will be centered, and so that kind of invisibility creates a different level of grief,” said Salamishah. “Our work is very much about making sure that Black girls and Black young women are at the center of their own lives, but also at the center of our social justice movements. We believe their freedom will necessitate the freedom of everyone else." In corroboration of that freedom, for the last five years, A Long Walk Home has been working on #SayHerName: The Rekia Boyd Memorial Project. This project seeks to create a permanent memorial in Chicago's Douglas Park, where 22-year-old Rekia Boyd was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer.