"Black joy is not set decoration for your campaigns… it’s a strategy."

In this minipod, Nsé takes the mic to break down why Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” wasn’t just a song—it was strategy. She unpacks the 15‑year fight to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday, how lawmakers stalled it by calling King “too radical,” and how Stevie turned culture into political leverage.

Nsé also connects that history to the ongoing fight for HR40—the effort to study reparations for slavery and its legacies. Culture moves first. Congress follows when refusing the truth becomes unreasonable.

Check out these Sources & Further Reading

• HR40 context & reparations history: https://medium.com/walawlibrary/black-history-month-working-toward-reparations-for-slavery-and-generational-trauma-51c2a38fd254
• A growing movement for reparations: https://www.aamchealthjustice.org/news/research/reparations
• Universities acknowledging slavery & reparations: https://hechingerreport.org/universities-are-finally-acknowledging-their-complicity-in-slavery-but-they-must-offer-reparations-too/

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