For the past year, the United States has experienced two pandemics. COVID-19 required us to shelter in place while the virus made its way throughout the country, and racism has afflicted the country since its inception. Spending months indoors forced us to face racism and police brutality, following the death of George Floyd during the summer of 2020, as well as the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
Conversations began as people looked to educate themselves, protests erupted throughout the country with millions demanding change in policing and effective legislation to address racism. A year later, the United States is still reckoning with its racism issues, police brutality, and the rise in hate crimes towards the AAPI community.
Through social responsible communications consulting, The Narrative Project, Connecticut’s first anti-racist, social justice public relations agency, partners with mission-driven organizations to tell the stories of their diverse communities and achieve their goals. CTLN Opinion+ had a conversation with Mercy A. Quaye, Founder, and President, focusing on ensuring their partner’s communication strategies, having a lens into anti-racism. Later we discussed the importance of “consistently interrogating” the message on race and identity personally and professionally.
After the death of an unarmed Black man in 2015, The Narrative Project was formed initially as a conversation platform to tackle issues of race and identity. Now they partner with emerging and established non-profit organizations throughout the state who seek to do good.
“When we think about communications, public relations, and media, the root of it is about storytelling,” Quaye said. “What we try to do is bring justice to storytelling and create empathy through stories, then we are one step closer to creating justice on a mission or issue.”
With the constant targeting of minority communities throughout the country, a firm like the Narrative Project is bringing humanity to groups of people like immigrants, AAPI, and the Black community. Their stories are often used to create prejudices and fuel wayward, racist policies.
This conversation with Mercy Quaye reminds us to look inward and address our own personal prejudices constantly and critically.
For more information on The Narrative Project’s work and its partners look to the links below.
Resources mentioned in the video:
Partner organizations of The Narrative Project mentioned:
