We Stayed

Staying was not always ease or joy. Sometimes it was refusal. Sometimes devotion. Sometimes the only way to remain visible to ourselves. This page holds what it meant to stay online anyway, even when the space was not built for us, even when leaving might have been easier.

You deserve to take up space.

Khia D. Ancalade

“Being an opinionated, confident, and well studied Black woman online is very hard. The opposition is endless… For me, showing up online, speaking my truth and THE truth, is an act of resistance, but also an act of service… I show up as who I am, and I think that’s important.”

Carmen jones

“There have been several times where I may have been dealing with things personally that jeopardized my creativity… But GOD. Every time I’ve wanted to stop, GOD sends me reinforcements… If I didn’t stay visible, I wouldn’t be walking in my purpose.”

Mo Clark

“There are two things that really have kept me showing up and staying visible in the digital space… The connection I’ve made with other Black women who are appreciative of me making myself visible, or vulnerable, or just authentic… Having these boundaries has allowed me to be as free as I want.”

Sabine Quetant

“Whenever anyone asks why I must make things political, I must remind them that the very existence of my Black smiling face next to an opinion… is considered political… If my stance is that powerful then it must be important. So as long as I’m here, I might as well say it.”

Leslie Gray Streeter

“They weren’t built for me—so I had to stay. I refused to disappear. Staying was a way of saying: I exist. I matter. I get to take up space here too… These spaces weren’t made with people like me in mind. But that’s not a reason to leave. That’s the reason to stay and create… I stayed because my voice deserved a place to land. I knew that if I keep showing up, I’ll build something no one can erase.”

Ashley Gaddy Robbins, Ph.D.

“I’ve been on the internet since I was a child. I’ve seen people disparage Black women for simply existing… I often feel like I’m screaming into the void where a couple of thankfully loyal people hear me… I just hate that because I’m Black, it’s taking me 5 times as long with 10 times the effort.”

Chiugo Akujuobi | Mx.Chiugo

“I am involved in race equality work and deliver sessions online and face to face. During the riots last year, I was due to facilitate a pre-planned online session. I was emotional, exhausted and fed up but I showed up… It almost removed the elephant in the room and helped not only me but other’s feel validated in our emotions before continuing with the training.”

Yasmin

“Staying visible online, even when it wasn’t easy, meant choosing not to disappear… Visibility became a way to honour myself and others like me, to carve space in digital landscapes not designed for our softness, rage, magic or truth… I stayed because somewhere in the scroll, there were soft moments… Messages that said, “Me too,” or “I see you.”

Zindziswa V

I refused to disappear

Ashley Gaddy Robbins, Ph.D.