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Photos via Black Joy Project/Instagram | Remix by Jason Reed


HOW THE BLACK JOY PROJECT IS HELPING ACTIVISTS DEAL


MEET KLEAVER CRUZ, THE 27-YEAR-OLD WRITER BEHIND #THEBLACKJOYPROJECT ON
INSTAGRAM.

 

Deron Dalton

IRL

Posted on Apr 9, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 11:22 pm CDT

Black Lives Matter has pushed the national conversation on race—but the trauma
and pain behind the fight against systemic racism can weigh heavily on black
organizers and the communities they serve.

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This was the case for Kleaver Cruz, a 27-year-old writer and community organizer
at Black Lives Matter: NYC. A few days after Thanksgiving, he woke up deeply
saddened, physically unable to move.

“I began to realize being black in this country, being part of certain actions,
just being in this conversation of what the state of being black in this country
and in the world—what it means to me personally—it was just really weighing on
me,” Cruz told the Daily Dot

Cruz found the remedy to his sadness after taking a photo of his mother smiling
and enjoying a piece of art. He loved the picture so much that he posted it on
Facebook—with more joyous photos of black people smiling to follow. 



Soon after, he formalized a social media campaign called #TheBlackJoyProject on
Instagram.









“It’s the ability to smile [and] even have a moment of enjoying yourself in an
environment and in a society that is designed for us to be killed, to be
imprisoned, to just not enjoy our lives or to survive,” Cruz said.

“To even enjoy it for that matter to then have moments to enjoy your life is a
resistance,” he added.

Yet Cruz hasn’t been impervious to guilt that often comes with happiness. He
wants to enjoy his life while also affirming the lives of black people as an
organizer—believing there’s room for both. It’s a balance that takes a personal
toll.

“That is a form of ‘the work’—whatever that means—is taking care of yourself so
you can be good and great for other people,” he said. “So often we’re being
asked to give and give and give, but we are giving and we are hurting. … We are
not addressing our own pain.”



As a member of BLM: NYC, Cruz said people in the chapter take moments to support
one another by checking in with questions like, “How are you actually feeling?”

As of now, Cruz is the one giving. There are no collaborators on the Black Joy
Project. Although Cruz likes to solely engage with people directly, he is not
opposed to the idea of future collaboration. Either way, he encourages people to
immerse themselves in sharing photos of black joy.

“I’m always curious, how do people find me?” Cruz said, acknowledging that he
rarely asks people to follow the project. “So I’m pretty sure it’s through
searching for black joy, the hashtag.”



The writer thought about creating a black joy blog, but he’s glad the project is
a visual representation of what it looks like to be happy and black—noting that
smiles are contagious, “even if it’s just for a second.”

“From the people who have reached out to me—it’s been what I wanted it to be
[and that’s] to be that moment of pause to think about what makes you happy,”
Cruz said. 

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*First Published: Apr 9, 2016, 1:20 pm CDT

DERON DALTON

Deron Dalton is a social journalist whose work for the Daily Dot focused on
police violence, activism, and the Black Lives Matter movement.



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