rights can be traced back to middle and high school , where she first advocated for access to information on reproductive health and contraceptives . However , she didn ’ t arrive at UC San Diego with dreams of being a full-time activist .
“ I thought I would be an architect or something ,” Garza recalls . But a human sexuality class shifted her path . Things changed when her professor , whom she describes as a funny guy from Santa Cruz , screened a documentary about Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger .
“ She was a complicated woman ,” Garza says , regarding Sanger being a force in reproductive rights , yet a supporter of racial eugenics . “ On the one hand , she was driven to get what she needed . On the other hand , she used racism to do it . That didn ’ t seem right to me . It sparked me to look into more .”
Garza would ultimately go on to be a different kind of architect — one for change . A sociology and anthropology double major at Marshall College , she became interested in student politics after her roommate , Dylan de Kervor ’ 02 joined a slate of other activists and swept the A . S . election in 2001 . de Kervor won the Vice President – External seat . “ The external office felt like a home for people of color to be involved ,” says de Kervor , who is now an attorney with the U . S . Department of Justice , Civil Rights Division . “ The external office was involved in engaging with the community and UC students across the state .”
Garza got involved with A . S . and traveled often to other UC campuses , where she worked closely with the UCSA , or University of California Student Association . She also began making her mark on her home campus . “ She immediately stood out as someone who was connecting our struggles ,” says fellow activist Alex Tom ’ 99 of his first time meeting Garza . Now the executive director of the Center for Empowered Politics in Oakland , Tom , along with Garza and other students , was among the first to advocate for campus janitors to have better wages . Garza was also on the team that orgawhat it means to RISE ; ALICIA GARZA ’ 02
Three simple words started a global movement . Three simple words , born from tragedy , frustration , and pain over the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman .
JURORS FOUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD watch volunteer acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Trayvon Martin , an unarmed teenager returning home from the store with a bag of Skittles and iced tea . As a wave of hopelessness surged over social media , with posts of anguish and disappointment with the justice system , Alicia Garza ’ 02 wrote her own Facebook post , a call to action that ended with a wholehearted expression of love : Black people . I love you . I love us . We matter . Our lives matter . Those three final words resonated with Garza ’ s friend and fellow activist , Patrisse Cullors , who amended the sentiment and added a hashtag : # BlackLivesMatter . Another friend and activist , Opal Tometi , supported the message , and from there it went viral , appearing on social feeds across the nation , including my own . It was beautifully simple and unapologetic — a declaration of love and acknowledgment of our existence . It resonated with those exhausted from institutional racism . It reminded those who feel erased that our lives , the lives of our children and families , are to be valued just like other lives . As the message continued to strike a chord and the movement gained further momentum , its three founders were thrust into the spotlight and I realized that I knew Garza , that we were linked . Not just by those words that captured what so many were feeling , but by who we were , and where we came from .
BEFORE I BECAME A JOURNALIST and Garza an internationally known activist , we were UC San Diego students , both finding our passions in the late ’ 90s . Looking back , I realize Garza ( then Alicia Schwartz ) and I crossed paths many times . I worked at the Office of Academic Support & Instructional Services ( OASIS ) with students of color and was active in organizations related to diversity and feminism . She was involved in campus politics , likewise advocating for diversity . We had common friends , and the shared desire to take the knowledge we gained from our education back to underserved communities . We both graduated in 2002 , but ironically , I knew her only in passing . I recall seeing her at my second home , the Cross-Cultural Center . I was probably on my way to a function for the then-African American Student Union while she was there for a student activist meeting , perhaps . We likely acknowledged each other with a nod and a smile , what Black students do on campuses where there are so few of us .
It was different meeting up with Garza outside her downtown Oakland office . Being both Black women from the Bay Area who attended UC San Diego , we have an unspoken familiarity and ease comfortably into conversation . We meet outside the National Domestic Workers Alliance , where she is director of strategy and partnership , an important position that helps many marginalized people , yet one often overshadowed by her role as co-founder of Black Lives Matter . Garza ’ s passion for defending people ’ s
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