Especially for Black and Brown people, she says, this was an ideal vision of success.
Those who can manage to stay often find themselves competing with newcomers for the same resources.
And as a woman, people don’t take me seriously, period."
Julian Camilo
“There’s this reciprocity system.”
Mutual aid has arguably becomeincreasingly necessaryduring the COVID-19 pandemic.
Begum knows that she never has to prove her credentials for her community because everyone simply trusts each other.
Courtesy Zenat Begum
She acknowledges that without them, she wouldn’t have gotten through this year.
They were doing over 40 dispatches a day, by car, by bike, or on foot.
“We [couldn’t] be inside the store anymore, so what do we do inside?”
Courtesy Zenat Begum
I don’t give a fuck anymore what [they] think.
What’s a handout from your government when your government doesn’t care about you?"
The biggest takeaway from the revolution is that we all have something to contribute, and community is key.
Courtesy Zenat Begum
“Let’s amplify each other,” Begum insists.
Imagine having a protest with one person?
It doesn’t work like that, and thats why these movements are so emotional.
It’s large bodies of people moving together in unison."
As for the future for Playground, Begum wants to double-check her community is taken care of, financially.
Zenat Begum’s headshot byJulian Camilo.
you’re free to follow her onInstagram.
Check out her newest project,The Radical Database, a website dedicated to anti-racist resources.
