Posts by Visions Office

  Dear VISIONS community, I’ve sat down to try to write this statement too many times to count now. And everytime … I can’t. Not because I’m at a loss for words about the ongoing and devastating toll that unchecked gun violence continues to take on our nation and our communities–I have many words for…

Supreme Court Decision on Roe v. Wade Like many of you, last week, I saw news alerts of the closest possibility of the Supreme Court decision to repeal Roe v. Wade that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.  As individuals who acknowledge inequities and power dynamics that obstruct the advancement of all birthing people, we…

Nichelle Nichols is the Best Thing to Have Ever Happened to NASA by Beca Oliveira When Star Trek premiered on NBC in 1966, Lt. Nyota Uhura, played by then-Broadway actor Nichelle Nichols, was something never before seen on American television: A Black woman with Real Authority over white men. As Chief Communications Officer, Uhura was…

How Shirley Chisholm Kicked Down the Door by Hayven Williams On November 30, 1924 Shirley St Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York to Caribbean parents Charles and Ruby St Hill. Shirley is the oldest of four children. A good chunk of her childhood was spent in her mothers home country of Barbados with her…

Florence Price and the Truth About Black Excellence by Tori Parham Each Black History Month, as we look to celebrate the accomplishments of our ancestors, it’s important not to fall into the trap of simply celebrating examples of “Black Excellence.”  Black Excellence is ordinary. What is extraordinary are the circumstances which keep Black people from…

This Black History Month, the VISIONS community is sharing the stories of Black historical figures who have impacted and inspired us personally. James Baldwin and the Delusion by Jamila Batts Capitman “One’s dignity depends on one’s estimate of one’s self. It really does not depend on someone else’s estimate. It depends first of all on…

This Black History Month, the VISIONS community is sharing the stories of Black historical figures who have impacted and inspired us personally. Rock ‘n’ Roll Was Invented by a Queer Black Woman by Beca Oliveira She was Elvis before Elvis, she was Aretha before Aretha, she was Jimi before Jimi. She was the queer Black woman…

This Black History Month, the VISIONS community is sharing the stories of Black historical figures who have impacted and inspired us personally.   What Black History Means to Me by Nikki Glass, VP Administration at VISIONS, Inc. My family history includes a lot of “the first Black Person to…” heroes, a tradition that I am…