BYP100 has created the Agenda to Build Black Futures and it is a must-read.

They have outlined problems, solutions, and their proposed agenda for the preservation Black lives on their website.

The problems that BYP100 are fighting include the state of Black Youth in the U.S. economy where “it is hard to measure the extent of harm done to Black bodies, minds and souls as a result of systemic and longstanding economic violence, but we have to look at some of the numbers”, the unemployment rates among millennials, corporations that are making a profit on the prison system by creating products and services for them, the devaluation of Black women, the marginalization or trans- and queer Black people, and barriers that halt the Black community to garner wealth and assets.

Their solutions are robust and manageable as they look for the community to advocate for the same issues. They are asking for reparations by passing the H.R. 40 which will advocate give voting rights to incarcerated felons, and create the Independent Compensation Commission which will pay compensation for damage suffered as a result of the ‘United States’ harmful policies and practices towards Black people.’

In order to eliminate corporations from making a profit, BYP100 wants to get rid of all fines for minor and petty crimes and misdemeanors, reduce police budgets, and eradicate fines in the penal system and administrative fees for probationers and parolees.

All of the causes are important, however, their fight to stabilize and revitalize Black communities is one for notable consideration. BYP100 want to offer intentional support for first-time homebuyers by demanding the “government to ensure that mechanisms be put in place for areas experiencing rapid development and growth to enable low-income and wealth-poor Black individuals to obtain and maintain homeownership, such as tax abatements for low-income homeowners and programs that provide down-payment assistance to first time homebuyers.”

Make sure to look into the Agenda of Build Black Futures, as it is crucial to help move our community further.

Author

  • Travis Henry is a senior at Rutgers University studying Communication, with a concentration in Strategic Public Relations and Public Communication, and French. Currently, he is looking at the relationship between consumer brands and African-American youth and how the Black-white racial segregation has manifested online. When he is not doing research at school or writing at work, he finds himself “curating the human experience” via his magazine DWNTWN and editing his school’s magazine Voice. He sees himself in the future finding a career that hybrids music, activism, media, and writing.