Ancestors Watching

This song/chant, shared by Jonathan Lykes, was taught to BYP100 members at the Atlanta National Coordinating Council Convening in December of 2015, where CFreedom, the inaugural co-chair of the New Orleans chapter, gave BYP100 the chant/song. Say Her Name was a trans- and femme-led national Movement for Black Lives campaign response to the Sandra Bland police murder that took place on July 13, 2015. This became an outcry chant to lift up the names and voices of Black femmes impacted by systemic violence. “Black girl magic” was a term popularized by Cashawn Thompson in 2013. She created the term to represent the joy, beauty, power, and resilience of Black people living on the margins. This chant declares the importance of Black magic, led by Black women, to be conjured up by movement organizers, tapping into a radical imagination, and created through faith, love, and joy.