Back in May, I talked to Jackie Taylor, the founder and CEO of Black Ensemble Theater. The organization’s mission is to eradicate racism through theatre arts, which is activated through their performances as well as educational outreach programs meant to foster community.

The ever-present impact of systemic racism against the Black community has been proven to be disturbingly apparent through recent displays of violence, including the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and has incited another wave of reckoning that’s echoed throughout the country and the world. I think Jackie has captured the sentiment of the present moment wonderfully through the quote found on Black Ensemble’s website: “The human spirit and need for justice, fairness, and equality will never die, no matter how long you continue to keep your knee embedded in its neck. You cannot kill the human spirit. The human spirit will rebel. It will fight. It will rise up and it will, eventually, win.”