We Can Create Something Better: A Conversation with Aida Mariam Davis
In this conversation with NPQ’s Rebekah Barber, Aida Mariam Davis discusses her book Kindred Creation; decolonization; self-reclamation; and critiques of meritocracy, systemic inequality, and performative reforms.
Rebekah Barber: Throughout your book, you incorporate lessons from your experience as a community organizer. How did these experiences inspire your decision to write Kindred Creation?
Aida Mariam Davis: I dedicate this book to my time as an organizer and all the places I spent time organizing. I had just been journaling, keeping these stories and experiences, and making sure that I don’t forget them. If you notice, the first part of the book is called “Remember.”
My writing has been very attached to the idea of remembering and bringing together these stories and ideas. In the proposal, I said I wrote this book for Aida. For me. For a Black immigrant woman who at the time was pregnant and disabled. I wanted something that spoke to me. Over the course of the book, it evolved to speaking to anyone who has suffered the indignity of assimilation and being asked to conform.
