Preparing to Leave

 

 

Mistinguette Smith

I am someone who turns 60 this year. I am someone who started doing work helping organizations do their work around racial equity 30 years ago. And I am preparing to leave this space, and I am trying to discern what I need to ensure that I leave behind and not just take with me.

I’m only interested really in Black people being free, because, you know, so much other freedom happens when that happens, and I really want to have that conversation with us for us. And the other thing that I’m really invested in doing with the last 10 years of my career is helping us understand the difference between a movement and a job. I have lived through and know so much of that. I started my professional life at the same time the nonprofit sector started. And I want to spend my next 10 years unraveling those things.