Why storytelling matters for social justice organizations
By hueglobal | Posted on November 21, 2023
Storytelling is a bedrock of communication throughout society. For the future of our social justice organizations – the exchange of our stories are important and essential steps in our work. The practice of sharing stories in the social justice space amplifies marginalized voices, builds connections, creates cultural memory, highlights intersectionalities and shapes public perceptions on the realities of harms inflicted by systemic discrimination in the United States and throughout the African diaspora.
Let’s look back to the global impact in 2020 from the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The ripple effect around the world of the Black Lives Matter movement’s narrative power was seen far and wide, sparking the largest protests in the United States (and internationally) since the Civil Rights Movement.
Storytelling is also a pivotal point of strategy within movement building. Story-based strategy as a participatory approach links our social justice movements and organizations with an analysis of the power of narrative and places our communities’ stories at the center of social change and policy.
When looking at the necessary outcomes from sound storytelling and strategies in our movements, they are connected in a reclamation identity, values and the futures we envision culturally and collectively.
