"Never let them connect to the continent of Africa. Never let them know their history and their language. Teach the teachers how not to keep history. Never let the African American child learn of his or her history because if they do, they will relate to their ethnicity and they will not become American."

 

According to Dr. Adelaide Sanford in her Afro-Centric Education as a Human Right Speech, this is the mindset and marching orders of our federal education. 

 

The force of erasure is relentless, the process of keeping our history elusive is not accidental but a key component of oppression in the infrastructure of racial injustice. Beyond the Built Environment, LLC, is working to dismantle the cages / shackles that confine us and create a conduit to the greatness of our ancestors and our peers. 

 

Two years ago, we were formed to engage the community through architecture to advocate equitable, reflectively diverse environments. At this moment and beyond, we are leveraging the work we’ve done so far to advocate for policy changes and make institutions accountable for ensuring the elevation of diverse designers and their contributions to the world. Here are the 3 action items BBE is stewarding to dismantle injustice. 

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1 SAY IT WITH - MEdia MOU 

Representation matters and media publications have neglected our stories, our contributions, and in some cases erased our existence. With this call for action, we are looking to have media outlets including, digital print, and broadcast to sign a Memorandum of Understanding committing to:

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• Reporting the percentage of diverse designers, they feature in the publication annually, continued tracking to increase the result by 5% annually until 15% is achieved, and publish the results for accountability. 

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• Pledge to create more content that specifically lists these diverse designers as great. 

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• Include researching and development of historical content based on diverse designer’s contributions to the built environment 

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• Pledge to create content about the black experiences to help educate on how architecture is used as a tool to facilitate oppression.  

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How you can help:

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• Take the pledge: https://www.beyondthebuilt.com/say-it-with-media

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• Help identify which media publications should sign MOU and provide contact information if available. 

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• Contact media outlets and encourage them to sign. 

 

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2 SAY IT LOUD – NOW

Global Call for Submissions 

 

BBE has elevated and proclaimed the greatness of 250 diverse designers through our 15 SAY IT LOUD Exhibitions to date. The goal initially was to reach 500 in 5 years. The urgency for this content is now and as we discuss the books that must be removed from the curriculum, we are looking to make a meaningful addition. We will publish a Great Diverse Designers Textbook. This call for action is setting a goal of increasing the content of the library to both serve as a directory for business opportunities for the featured designers and material for the publication of our textbook. 

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• By September 1, 2020, we will double the profiles to reach the goal of 500. 

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• Currently, 34% of the US is represented in the library, we want to reach a full 100%. In addition to representing the United States, we are aiming to represent a global community of designers. therefore in these new 250 submissions, we are seeking 5 Caribbean islands presented and 10 submissions from each continent.  

 

How you can help:

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• We are looking for women and diverse designers to submit to the SAY IT LOUD - NOW​https://www.beyondthebuilt.com/say-it-now

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• Aid in spreading the word for this call for content, globally, and encourage your network to submit. 

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• Identify textbook publications that should publish our book and provide contact information if available 

 

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3 Data to Define Policy 

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In order to understand how we can make policy changes to combat discrimination and economic equity within the world of architecture, we will be hosting a virtual focus group in the Fall with 500 diverse designers. We are partnering with Remesh https://remesh.ai/ the platform that will allow us to run this large, online focus group, in order to amplify the voices of diverse designers as well as capture valuable data and insights on individual experiences and sentiments. Remesh will enable us to engage with our community, as well as see the common themes and ideas we care about. Armed with this information, we can identify key issues and draft policies to change the negative, discriminatory experiences of diverse designers in our community.

 

Participants will join the live session via a link (details to follow). All you need is an internet browser, no app, or downloads necessary.

 

How you can help:

• Participate in the conversation. It's totally free and anonymous.

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• Aid in spreading the word, the more voices the better.

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• The focus is to understand the experiences of diverse designers, policies, and characters that play a role in enforcing discrimination and withholding economical equity. 

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• Please visit this page for more information: 

https://www.beyondthebuilt.com/data-to-define-policy

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The excuse of, “We can’t find them” is no longer valid.

We are elevating ourselves!

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If you want to support BBE and our mission, please donate here:

https://www.beyondthebuilt.com/support

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Early on in my career I Was Asked to Stand, today I Stand for Justice and I am asking for you all to stand with us. 

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Thank You 

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Pascale Sablan, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP

Founder, Beyond the Built Environment