Hello, I’m Austin

I used to tease my parents about my career, declaring that my path was marked for me the moment they decided my name. How could a midwest, Black girl named Austin do anything but be committed to the work of justice for Black women and all communities marginalized by systemic discrimination?

That commitment has been fortified over years of speaking, educating and writing about race in America. A colleague once warned me that if I gained a reputation for always talking about race, that would be the only way people saw me. He was right, but I have no regrets. In some ways, with that warning ringing in my ears, I knew there was nothing else in this world more important to me than uplifting the humanity of those most marginalized by systems and structures not made for us.

Rooted by the social location of my aunties- working class, Black women, born in the midwest but raised by southern folks, descendants of the enslaved, who still live in the neighborhood where they were raised, it is my deep desire to remind America that all Black women have much to contribute- not just to service or entertainment- but to policy, to strategy, to vision, to humanity. It is my longing to see our full humanity honored and celebrated, and while I am not convinced we’ll achieve this noble endeavor in my lifetime, it is an honor to work toward that hope.

Once of my guiding principles as a writer comes from Ntozake Shange who said, “I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive.” I am writing for the women, for the girls who are still arriving at themselves. Thus far I have written three books and contributed to two anthologies. It is my greatest hope that I will be able to write as long I live, and that when I am gone, my books will still be here to tell the young that we are excited about their arrival.

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