Black Americans and Black folks across the globe continue to proclaim variousunfreedoms we experience specifically due to our Blackness. As we struggle against and survive through the unfair structures, ways of being, and conditions that are killing us, we have been creating new survival strategies for living. One of our primary arguments is that state entities and the anti-Black carcerality embedded in them (e.g., policing, prisons, hospitals, welfare systems, military, the foster care system educational institutions etc.) are the primary arbitrators weaponizing violence, injustice, and unfreedom in our lives. Since the Black Lives Matter uprising in 2013 due to the murder of Trayvon Martin, leading up to the largest global uprising in 2020 due to the murder of George Floyd, and the ongoing activism around anti-Black police violence, we who are organizers and activists have found ourselves seeking out alternative ways to be principled in our struggles for abolition, transformative justice, and Black liberation. A part of being in principled struggle is building a praxis (when theory meets practice) of how to conduct oneself in community with others, and with the state in a way that is aligned with stated values and beliefs. Much of the organizing work geared towards eradicating anti-Black violence pulls from the theoretical and practiced interventions of the Black radical tradition, Black feminist thought, and abolitionism(s) to inform their praxis. This dissertation will seek out a Black radical queer feminist praxis by conducting an auto- ethnography using critical art-based Black feminist-womanist storytelling to measure data collected from my lived experiences as an organizer and activist to uplift the liberation strategies of an era.

Predominantly White arts colleges in the United States, like many other institutions around the country, need equitable leadership frameworks that center Black and Brown students. This project is a response to that demand. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a BIPOC equity coalition in an Arts college at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). The choice to utilize an autoethnographic research design was based on the researcher’s lifelong work in social justice and equity. Additionally, the choice to utilize Black-centered storytelling was due to the researcher’s identity as a Black male who has a company devoted to social justice activism. The research questions for this dissertation are: 1) How does one develop a diverse equity coalition that is BIPOC-centered within a Predominantly White arts college? and 2) What leadership roles must be in place in order to develop a diverse equity coalition that is BIPOC-centered, within a Predominantly White arts college? The data sources for this dissertation are meeting notes, Facebook call for action, letter of demand, and reflective journal process. The data from this year-long experience was analyzed to describe the steps needed to develop a BIPOC equity coalition. The steps included a call to action on social media, listening sessions, formation of the coalition, development of guiding principles, and action steps taken throughout the academic year. Additionally, data revealed that roles such as having a seat at the table with administrators, and having the power of a job and a title within the arts school influenced the success of the coalition’s actions throughout the academic year. The first three chapters of the dissertation present the theoretical frameworks supporting the equity coalition. Chapter 4 and 5 presents findings and answers to research question 1 and 2.