Meet Anti-Racism Activist Future Cain (part 2)

Hello friends,

Here’s part two of my interview with Future Cain. In part one, Future talked about the tipping point for her anti-racism activism. You can catch up with that here.

Future, who do you think should be involved in this anti-racism fight?

The reality is, while I speak about living in America, coming from the aspect of a Black woman, there are so many intersectionalities. So yes, I do speak a lot for anti-racism for Black people. But I also know, and have been very vocal on this, that this isn't a fight just for Black people. This is a fight for everyone. And because I have many intersectionalities, because I have many friends and loved ones that have many intersectionalities, I'm saying this impacts everybody. This racism and white supremacy that has been upheld for centuries is making everybody sick.

In terms of anti-racism content, which are your top three social media posts?

• This poem, Freeish, about Juneteenth 

• Why Social Emotional Learning is a needed piece of humanity, equity, belonging, justice.

• And my first pandemic post

In relation to racism, what is your vision for the future?

I want to see it end in my lifetime. I do. And I know I am planting seeds to sprout and grow into beautiful flowers and beautiful trees and beautiful forests that I may never see in my lifetime. But I will fight till my last breath so that my children, my unborn grandchildren, their children can breathe.

So they could live in a world where they don't have to second think who they are, that they can show up in their authenticity every day. And people embrace it, love them for it. They don't have to second guess where to go, where to live, what school to send their children, to what job they want to pick. They don't have to risk something or everything all at the same time, just to be themselves, to be seen, to truly be seen, heard, valued, loved, and feel that they belong in all spaces with all faces. So in a nutshell, that is what I foresee for the future.

One of your catchphrases is “sit with yourself”. How does that relate to your vision?

I know that vision comes with people sitting with themselves. And that's why I will keep shouting it from the rooftops because you can't have a conversation about equity, how to apply equity, how to create change and systems that everyone can breathe in if you haven't sat with yourself and you have no idea how you're even showing up and the things that you're actually upholding or sitting silent to.

So it takes sitting with yourself and your own self-awareness regardless of how painful that is - sitting with and sitting through and acknowledging it and doing better than you were yesterday. It takes sitting with your discomfort for humanity. So my vision is sitting with yourself and being a leader, to help educate yourself, to help educate your children, to help educate the grandchildren, because they are our future.

It also takes risk and courage because this isn't for the people who will sit with our fear and not do something, because I'm scared every day I speak up, but I have way more to lose by sitting here silently. I have so much more to gain by speaking up and creating paths.

Any final words, Future?

To wrap this up, I am an ambassador for humanity in regards to equity and justice and peace and wellness, because there are a lot of people who are sick and they don't even see that they're sick from the systems that have been upheld and it is impacting them physically, spiritually, emotionally in all aspects of their life.

I didn't create this [racism]. I didn't create it. And the woman who birthed me tried to help dismantle it. And here I am, 44 years later doing the same thing. We're tired. And regardless of how much I feel like I can't go on, I can't stop because there's too much at stake.

I am hoping through this work and through speaking up and educating that we can be more well than we are in many different facets of being. And that wellness will spread love and joy and impact all of humanity in a positive way.

You can catch up with Future Cain on LinkedIn and on her website. 

Read more anti-racism writer interviews.

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2021. All Rights Reserved.

I am an anti-racism writer, a professional B2B writer and blogger, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast. If you value my perspective, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.