Well Wishes and Gratitude to Our Beloved Co-Founder As she TransitionS From her Role As Organizing Director
“We Love You, We, We, Love You Page May!”
It is with great love & a whole lot of tears that we announce that our co-founder, Page May, will leave her role as Organizing Director on March 31st. We cannot fully express the impact she has had on us all and this container as a whole, but we are going to try.
Assata’s Daughters began close to 6 years ago, when Page shared with a group of community members her thoughts around creating a radical space for young Black girls with Assata Shakur being the namesake and north star of the organization.
What could have ended as a conversation of what “should happened” turned into a magical process of older young Black people coming together to launch a political home for young Black girls to develop political awareness, contextualize their experiences, and actualize their power.
Many have grown, shaped, & expanded this home that welcomes young Black people & offers the community, political education, organizing training, & revolutionary support they need to grow as organizers. But Page May has consistently held this container & pushed us all to grow.
Page May taught us that conflict can be generative, and that while at times it may seem that we are going in circles, if we work with intention, discipline, rigor, & love, we can actually spiral closer towards resolution and revolution.
Page May taught us that no one is born a revolutionary, and that we must educate, illuminate, and make consistent room for learning and unlearning, even as we organize for people power and against oppressive forces.
Page May taught us that connecting to lived experience can be the best gateway to political growth, that people bring much of what they need into the room, & that our role is to help make the connection from the past to the present and to make room for imagining a freer future.
Page May taught us that young people are important to movements not just because they are the future but because they experience the now & are willing to take risks because they recognize the immediacy of the fight and believe we can win.
Page May taught us that we organize best by building meaningful relationships through trust, consistency, & proximity, & that we have to take the time to build with those we can reach out & touch; not just those already in agreement.
Page May taught us that how we fight matters as much as what we are fighting for, & that it is indeed our duty to win - so we have to fight as if we can & will- everyday.
& now Page May is teaching us that it is okay to move forward when the work you set out to do is done or in good hands, & that this does not mean you are no longer dedicated to the fight for liberation, because there is so much work to do to free us all.
Page May not only planted the first seed that blossomed into this beautiful space, but put a stake in the ground that represented our values, and kept us tethered to that stake as we explored what we could be.
AD believes in the power of collectivity: we all bring knowledge, experience, & imagination into a space, & that collection increases the power of us all, & allows for magic to happen that we could not have accomplished alone; and thus the result is a creation of us all.
AD is forever grateful for how long Page May stayed and contributed her magic to this home. The energy she fostered can never be replicated. But the foundation that we will continue to build on is as solid as it is because of her contributions.
We want to give her her well-deserved flowers now, so please join us in chanting “WE LOVE YOU, WE, WE LOVE YOU PAGE MAY”
Words from Community
“Page May taught me to be fearless when speaking truth. She taught me to believe it when people tell you who they are and that there is nothing more important then listening and learning from young people with an open heart and mind. I am so grateful for all of her work in Chicago especially her a while at Assata’s Daughters. I’m sure that whatever she does next will be fulfilling, important, intentional, and have an incredible impact. I hope that she is happy and she lets all of us know how we can support her.” — Jennifer Johnson
“I’ve never met you; I live in Montana. I’m a writer, an activist, a former organizer, now in my 70s. But for years, I’ve heard comrades and colleagues talk about you and your work, and I have followed radical Chicago organizing. You and your work, filled with bold imagination and spirit, have inspired and invigorated me. Thank you. My deepest gratitude and wild good wishes go with you. I can’t wait to see what’s next” — Kay Whitlock
Dear Page,
Thank you Page Page taught me how to believe in myself and helped me understand my experiences in this world. She, like all great mentors, shared opportunities because she cared about my interests, and wanted to bring us joy. She ultimately helped me realize my dream and purpose.
Page taught me
When you have a political home it's easier to get plugged into local & radical campaigns/initiatives. Abolitionist orgs are about building relationships, building power, building resources, and organizing for a world without prisons/police. Thus, a lot of coalitions are built up with radical community orgs that can call a group of their people to action and planning. What are you passionate about? A lot of social justice issues are interconnected, so it's not just your identity.
Solo organizing is much harder, unrealistic, & has less of an impact. With a poli home you'll join radical community driven work already happening, can directly contribute to goals, & it's easier to collab. Inserting yourself into a community you haven't built with ain't it.
Page taught me to be able to replace yourself. Who am I training behind and supporting to take this seat of a particular movement role in front of me. She taught me to challenge individualist celebrity culture that mainstream activism tries to sell to help suppress more radical work or encourage to working with system entirely. Don’t settle for being a local celebrity, say no or “There’s another person I have in mind”, because people will think they have greater access to you. Always ask yourself who am I helping with this attention, how is this going back to the community I want to mobilize with and fight for.
Page, along with other AD mentors and youth, taught me that activism does not equal organizing. Activism can only go so far and does not strategize to reduce the harm of something they are merely bringing awareness about. In addition to activism, there must be organizing - mobilizing your constituents, build a strategy to challenge and reduce the power harming your people, supporting your people's needs, and taking action.
Page taught me how to be aware of how our Black bodies are being used in direct actions when we collab with different networks, groups, campaigns. Our we being used to just go viral and
is their strategy depending on Black visibility? By they, POC or white people.
Page taught me to embrace my nerdiness and art. I remember she let me borrow books such as Land Work and Power and Black Marxism, dense content that people encourage me to read.
Page taught me more methods of sustainability. She taught us how to harvest kitchen sage. I remember using
Loofa gord,
Letting them dry out for a while,
take out seeds, And You can make a sustainable loofa + grow your own as a plant. I'm like why can't we have roof top gardens on grocery stores.
Though, I still do not understand, it's your choice, your life, and your future.
As you said The ways you siw up give yourself time actually give you strength,
Nothing grows all the time it because there are periods of rest. I appreciate the time, light, hope, resources, and energy you have given us.
— Asha Edwards
Almost 6 years ago now, a group of community members from all over the city and across the country gathered for a weekend workshop on Arts as Resistance. It was there that Page first shared her thoughts to a few of us around creating a 'radical Black girl scouts' with Assata Shakur being the namesake and north star of the organization. What could have just been a passing thought with empty promises from others to follow up, actually turned into a full-fledged organization by the end of that year with our first full cohort of young people or Akerele in the fall, the first iteration of a holistic curriculum based in the Black radical tradition, and a collective of older young people or Azubike working tirelessly to build the plane as we took off.
The magic and tenacity that is Assata's Daughters would not be possible without the many contributions from a multitude of community members. And still, it was Page that planted the first seed and who has remained tethered to the organization to water it and to help it grow in whatever direction it needed to so that it could continue to nourish the community. — Cairá Lee Conner- Ware
flowers for Page May
I imagine that all the flowers we give Page right now as she lives and breathes among us will transform into an
echo ))))))))
Into seeds lain in the soil that burst open
again and
again and
again
and
Her voice will carry like dust on a summer solstice breeze
Then settle among the Namib sands
Settle on the kitchen sage,
harvested
Settle on the city towers left to
burn
Settle on the shoulders of our beloved
community,
getting free with every breath she extends
It is never goodbye,
this journey
not when that person surrounds you
more light than physical, and more physical than light
Remembering that we sit in the meadows of her
love as we struggle in spirals
Gorgeous circles of learning, of leaning, of getting to the place
The place
with those flowers left in echo
The place
where we listen
The place
where our chains are left to oxidize beneath Black futures
We love you, we we love you. We love you, we we love you….on and on until forever
—Jamiece Adams
