When studying and celebrating Black history, often there is a tendency to focus on learning about individual people. However, in most cases, when history is made, the critical work is done by groups, not one person. When we ignore the contributions of coalitions and organizations, we are unable to appreciate the need for collective action to address the issues we face in the ongoing struggle for freedom and equality.

Why is asking facilitative questions important? The right questions allow us to harness what people know and understand and multiply it. After all, facilitation, at its core, converts the wisdom of individuals into the wisdom of the room.

Movement work is hard, but never done in isolation. While we work with others to move forward strategies and tactics, we also develop our political identities through conversations, debates, and, yes, relationships with those people.

Don’t have people just “tag” the next person.

An end-of-year message from Mia