Here at Squarespace, we are steadfast in our belief in the power of individuals to make great things—and in the power of individuals to make great change. Advancement Project is a multicultural organization for racial justice for the BIPOC community founded by NAACP leaders over 20 years ago.
Squarespace donated $100,000 to Advancement Project as part of our 2020 promise to support organizations working toward social justice reform, with a focus on education, people impacted by incarceration, and ending the school to prison pipeline. Over the next two years, we are aiming to donate $250,000 of the social justice budget pledged in 2020.
We spoke with Advancement Project’s Executive Director, Judith Browne Dianis, about how the organization supports local movements and builds power in communities of color.
SQUARESPACE: As Executive Director of the Advancement Project, what inspired you to get involved in this organization?
Judith Browne Dianis: I was raised in Hollis, Queens by two Harlem natives—one, an educator and community activist; the other, a veteran of the nation’s segregated Army. Growing up as a young Black woman, my parents didn’t just instill a sense of right and wrong, but of justice. This important lesson—along with protesting racism as a student at the University of Pennsylvania and surviving job discrimination—prompted me to pursue a career in movement lawyering. I graduated from Columbia University School of Law, received a Skadden Fellowship, and went on to become the Managing Attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
I joined the Advancement Project at its inception in 1999, working with grassroots organizations to wage successful campaigns using litigation, advocacy, and communications. My work, and thus the work of the Advancement Project, has been dedicated to building power in communities of color so that we are free—where we can thrive, be safe, and exercise power.
SQSP: As part of your work, Advancement Project supports grassroots organizations fighting for racial and social justice within their communities. What kind of impact have you seen in the work you’ve done fighting for change on a local level?
JBD: Advancement Project chooses project activities, whether national or local, that have the potential to build power at the grassroots level and to reframe and accelerate the quest for racial justice. Litigation is simply one tool in a broader fight in support of our organizing partners. We do not shy away from difficult issues and typically are first responders to civil rights crises, as well as on the cutting edge of racial justice issues.
The intended outgrowth of all of our work is to build power for local organizers and connect them to similar movements nationwide. For example, in the week leading up to Mother’s Day, we worked with our partners in Michigan to elevate their 2021 Black Mamas Bailout Campaign project. The campaign highlighted the stories of seven mothers who have been incarcerated. We were able to use our social media platforms to drive engagement back to the campaign to raise money that was used to pay the bail, fines, and fees of Black mamas, Black women, gender-nonconforming people, and fem(me)s and bring them home to their families.
Part of our success depends on building relationships with young people and stakeholders, especially on the local level. In that vein, we work with organizations in Washington, D.C. and Maryland who were activated by George Floyd’s murder and the uprisings of summer 2020. These young people reached out for help in both learning how to organize in their communities and how to build their police-free schools campaigns. To aid in their political education and training, we held a series of “Organizing 101” teach-ins, which helped the organizations gain a foundation in base building, leadership development, strategy development, and campaign building.
All of our work centers on building power in local communities, and that can be seen through people exercising their fundamental right to vote. As we have seen countless bills in almost all 50 states introduced since the 2020 election to create more barriers to the ballot box, we knew we had to double down and take even more action. We brought suits in both Georgia and Florida as two of the first and most contentious states to pass legislation. Focusing specifically on the fact that many of these bills target the engines of democracy in communities of color—the Black church and Latinx civic engagement organizations—we brought together large coalitions to challenge them. In a landmark ruling, the judge ruled in our favor in three of our four claims. As a result, Florida cannot place limitations on where, when, and how drop boxes can be used and conduct around polling places designed to provide relief for voters waiting in long lines cannot be criminalized. Most significantly, the judge has ordered 10 years of pre-clearance through his court for any changes to voting laws.
SQSP: In the age of social media, it's easier to connect now, more than ever. How has tech been able to support grassroots organizations’ efforts?
JBD: Social media is an important tool in seeking racial justice. The Advancement Project uses it as a part of a broader narrative strategy to shift what people believe, how they behave, and how they understand issues like policing and incarceration, voting, and education. Most of our society’s deeply held beliefs are repeated everywhere, all the time, including on social media. That’s why they are so entrenched. This is why it’s important for us to make strategic interventions using social media as part of our tactics.
We use social media to uplift the voices and stories of grassroots organizations on the frontlines of a movement. We also educate people on issues, breaking down how systems and laws target and/or impact communities of color. We use it as a way to strengthen our national and local demands by creating a space for organizations, activists, and everyday people to demand justice.
SQSP: In addition to community-based work, your organization also works on a national level, enacting policy change, supporting campaigns, and connecting strategic partners in order to scale the movement. What are a few of the key changes you’ve seen in the past couple of years that have had a broader impact on the BIPOC community of this country?
JBD: While we have long known that backlashes occur when communities of color gain power, we were still shocked at both the amount and intensity that we experienced across all of our work in the past few years.
After a Presidential election that saw historic turn-out, particularly in communities of color, state legislatures in 48 states introduced 389 “voter integrity” bills in the 2021 session. While many might see this reaction as an isolated event, we know that it is simply the latest in a series of attacks at the heart of our multiracial democracy: access to the ballot. Despite these impediments, we have continued to follow our theory of change, which calls for a combination of litigation, campaign building, and communications support.
In the summer of 2020, the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor created tremendous momentum for police reform, including defunding the police. In our conversations with partners on the ground, we have come to understand that while focusing public attention on high-profile cases is important, it is more vital for more lawyers with experience to work with movement organizations.
To meet this demand, we released a video series entitled “How Cops Get Off” in early June of this year along with our microsite, policefreecommunities.org where people can watch the videos and learn more about our work around policing. Narrated by AP’s board member, actor and activist Jesse Williams, each four-minute video in the series breaks down a major structure in our culture and laws that keep cops in power and unaccountable: the dominant narrative in TV shows, movies, and news; the protectors within our criminal legal system, like prosecutors and police associations; and the laws that shield cops from accountability, like qualified immunity.
We created this series because the dignity of Black life cannot hinge on a verdict when policing practices and the criminal justice system protects cops and not us. The series is centered around a six-week-long culture change campaign that will not only drive people to watch and share the videos, but also to engage in conversations about our current system and drive action to local grassroots partners who are pushing for new models of safety.
SQSP: Being able to align impassioned lawyers, organizers, and communication experts is no easy feat. How do you feel about the progress on Advancement Project’s implementation of its “Theory of Change,” and what are your hopes for the future?
JBD: Our mission is to create a world where Black, Latinx, AAPI, and Indigenous people are free and safe. In the last 20 years, we helped weave movements and create the context for breakthroughs on race. Serving as a convener to build momentum beyond place, we continue to hold the space to learn from one another and build power together through legal action, policy, strategic campaigns, and communications support, including shaping the narrative, exposing the problem, and highlighting solutions.
Yet our work is far from done. The wonderful thing about our future is that it is unfinished. That is the only certain thing about it. And what I see from our local partners on the frontlines fighting for justice everyday gives me hope that we will have a future where we all thrive.
SQSP: How can individuals who are interested in Advancement Project’s mission get involved?
JBD: They can join our movement by signing up at our website here or by donating to support our work here. To keep updated on our work, individuals can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.