Actor and activist Kendrick Sampson knows what happens when well-intentioned celebs speak without doing the homework: their efforts backfire.
“A lot of celebrities read an article, think they’re an expert, go out and tweet something, and then it actually ends up making organizers in the community have to do even more work,” Sampson says.
So Sampson devised a grassroots liberation initiative, BLD PWR, intended to help organizers and people with public platforms work in tandem more effectively. On the latest episode of The Run-Through, the socially-distant IGTV talk show hosted by GQ‘s fashion squad, Sampson explains what he’s trying to build with BLD PWR, challenges the media’s waning interest in covering the protests, speaks honestly about finding joy during difficult times, and contextualizes the behind-the-scenes efforts that organizers engage in at all hours of the day.
“The protests are the PR, so to speak,” he says. “Most organizers don’t start with protests…a lot of people who join in on those protests believe that that’s the work. It’s not. The work happens every single day when nobody’s looking.”
Check out the full episode below.