Cherizar Crippen
Template:TOCnestleft Cherizar Crippen is a student at GTCC, Greensboro North Carolina.
She credits the Black Lives Matter movement for helping her identify her life’s purpose: social justice. GTCC is equipping her with the knowledge needed to develop her passion for social justice, Crippen says. She will spend the next six months completing an internship with the Highlander Research and Education Center, while she completes GTCC courses online. Highlander aims to serve as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the southern U.S. And when she graduates, this political science major wants to be a full-time organizer.
A native of Neptune, New Jersey, Crippen came to Greensboro looking for a better quality of life. Her home state was expensive, and there weren’t many employment opportunities, she says. She helped a friend apply to GTCC, then wondered why she didn’t enroll as well.
GTCC was a good fit for an older student, says Crippen, 34. Her goals had been to work her way up in a corporation so that she could earn a good salary. But when she lost her job after eight years, she decided to take a year off for self-reflection.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she says.
Her goals shifted when she joined the Black Lives Matter movement last year.
“It prompted me to want to understand our political system,” she says. “You kind of have to know thy enemy in order to change what’s happening, understand how government works and how laws get passed.”
She now serves as the Communications Chairperson and liaison to the southern network for the Greensboro chapter.
Through GTCC, she also met fellow classmate Lindsay Pendleton, who encouraged her to join the Model United Nations Club. The club examines world issues with diverse groups of students at conferences. This past year, Crippen received the 27th Annual UNCC Model U.N. Conference Outstanding Delegation Award and was recognized for her achievement at GTCC’s Student Excellence Awards Ceremony.
Crippen’s work as a tutor in GTCC’s Center for Academic Engagement also paired her with ESL and Muslim students, which further taught her to communicate and identify with people from many backgrounds. Both experiences have boosted her confidence, enabling her to approach government officials and address large groups.
In the classroom, Crippen says she learned about government structures and political landscapes. She also learned about campaign strategies and how protests are carried out in other countries. She says her world history teacher, Sheri Kahn, welcomed challenging conversation in the classroom.
“She acknowledged global racism and its role in capitalism,” Crippen says.
Crippen, herself, hopes to influence young people by teaching them what she wishes she had learned sooner. She is creating a curricula aimed at teaching social justice activism and community organizing to young people.
“If we started at a much younger age to teach children, they wouldn’t have the biases that they have or wouldn’t grow up feeling downtrodden and powerless,” she says.
Instead, they could “raise a generation that will feel connected to their community and to know their power.”[1]
Marxist mural
Cherizar Crippen pictured at The People’s Perk in Greensboro in front of a mural created by The Greensboro Mural Project. The mural depicts Major Griffin-Garvey, Mickey Bradford, Jessie Barber, and Bree Newsome, “all incredible black women fighting for our rights!” Crippen says.
"Introduction to Black feminism"
"Intro to Black Feminism" hosted by Sendolo Diaminah Cazembe Jackson, and Adrienne Maree Brown.
Tuesday, August 15 at 8:30 PM
Created for Black August Practice Group.
Sendolo Diaminah August 15, 2017;
- Black people! Tonight my beloved sister Adrienne Maree Brown is leading a web discussion about Black Feminism as part of a series of Black August political education sessions hosted by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and BOLD.[2]
Those expressing interest on Facebook included Cherizar Crippen.
Black Lives Matter Greensboro
In 2018 Cherizar Crippen and Harmony Lee were leaders of Black Lives Matter Greensboro.
Black Ideological Struggle Webinar
Black Ideological Struggle: Radical, Liberal, Conservative Public · Hosted by Sendolo Diaminah and Cazembe Jackson
Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 8:30 PM
Created for Black August Practice Group
- Join Sendolo Diaminah for a conversation about why Black radicals can and must learn how to effectively engage liberal and conservative ideologies among our people.
- September 2, 2017. Hey family! Here is the final recording from the Black August webinars! Sendolo Diaminah took lots of patience and creativity breaking down Black Ideological Struggle for us.[3]
Those saying they would attend, on Facebook included Cherizar Crippen.
Brazillian delegation
During the month of November 2018, Juntos, a Brazilian youth led political organization will be celebrating Dia da Consciência Negra — Day of Black Consciousness by hosting conferences and actions across the country. As part of a growing relationship between the Black Lives Matter Network, M4BL organizers, and Juntos, Afro-Brazilian youth organizers have invited organizers from our movement to come connect, build, and strategize. This is a critical opportunity to expand our ability to build a powerful global Black liberation movement in our lifetime!
Cazembe Jackson November 9, 2017
We added some to the crew! We taking off! We will update when we land! #Black2Brazil — with Cherizar Crippen, Amika Tree Tendaji and Kandace Montgomery.
Momentum trainers
Momentum trainers, as of April 2, 2018 included Cherizar Crippen;[4]
Comrades
Adrienne Maree Brown October 21 2018:
With Rhiana Anthony, Ziquelle Smalls, Femi Mimi Brown Shittu, Paige Watkins, Jahmese Kathleen Myres, Courtney Sebring, Chelsea Cleveland, Melle Scott, Terri Lorraine Acker, Markasa Tucker, Brianna Gibson, Joie Lou Shakur, Fresco Steez DeLaflyy, Malachi Robinson, Cazembe Jackson and Cherizar Crippen.