UW-Madison alumna Brandi Grayson has gained widespread recognition as a co-founder and spokesperson for the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, but her activism in Madison started long before the Coalition’s formation last fall.
As a student at UW-Madison in the 1990s, Grayson served on Associated Students of Madison and campaigned to increase minority representation in student government.
“That's when I really began in activism, gaining an idea of what it looked like and what it meant to be active and to organize and mobilize,” Grayson said. “And then after leaving college my life shifted more towards taking care of my kids and fostering children.”
Grayson attributes her recent return to activism to “the death rate of our black people across the country tied directly to state violence, what state violence looks like and the understanding of how people become disenfranchised and marginalized.”
The release of Race to Equity’s report on racial disparity in Dane County then solidified her drive to become involved and prompted her to reach out to other people she knew doing social justice work, which led to the birth of YGB.
“Sometimes in this work you feel alone, you feel like you're the only one thinking what you're thinking, you're the only one feeling the hurt of witnessing people die physically, mentally, emotionally,” Grayson said. “But doing this work has put me in the presence of some amazing, like-minded people so I've been inspired and empowered by this work to continue on.”
According to fellow co-founder Matthew Braunginn, YGB is a “direct action black liberation movement, meaning [their] main actions are disruptive to heighten awareness of issues and heighten conversations.”
This commitment to direct action, including protests, marches and sit-ins, has, however, received its share of criticism from community members and even other activists.
“To the critics, I say thank you, because it's important that everybody has the space for their voices to be heard,” Grayson said. “We don't know all the correct answers, but what we do know is that we have power in people and we have collective power when we stand together.”
