I recently visited Los Angeles and although I’m an east coast girl through and through, I couldn’t help but enjoy the sunshine and some of the amazing work being done on the left coast. I absolutely love visiting the west coast because it always feels like spending time with long lost cousins. Different accents, modes of being, and just an all around different vibe, which is good for me to experience a few times each year. This past visit was filled with brilliant Black women in my orbit and I am still riding high from the experience.
First, I spent time with Dr. Lorrie Frasure, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA. In addition to being a professor of political science and African American Studies, an accomplished author, and director of a growing center, she is helping to spearhead the project “LA Wildfires: Impacts on Altadena’s Black Community.” Frasure and her colleagues are working to make sure the Black families and communities are not forgotten in the rebuilding efforts. Their research details the economic losses for the Black residents in Altadena. However, much of the work also centers the efforts to maintain the sense of Black community for those who have called Altadena home for generations.
Related: Happy Women’s History Month
I then spent time with my co-author and colleague Dr. Chaya Crowder to celebrate her new book “Intersectional Solidarity: Black Women and the Politics of Group Consciousness” (Oxford University Press, 2025). Her timely and important work develops a theory of intersectional solidarity that explains why people come to support issues that affect Black women. She also examines public opinion surrounding policy issues that affect Black women which do not appear on large-scale national surveys. As folks continue to recite the mantras of “Trust Black Women” and “Black Women Lead,” Crowder’s work raises questions about who Black women can organize and build coalitions with over time.
One of the highlights of discussing Dr. Crowder’s new book was doing so at the Black woman-owned Reparations Club Bookstore. Rep. Club is the type of space that has books by Black authors ranging from sci-fi and cookbooks to the latest works by Black public intellectuals and children’s authors. With comfortable couches and amazing music, this is also a place to build community. From book clubs to event space, Rep. Club founder Jazzi has been intentional about creating a welcoming space. It is imperative we support the institutions we want to see not just survive but thrive and luckily for us, the Reparations Bookstore ships all over the U.S.
So, I may not be a west coaster, but as Biggie said, “Great place to visit!”
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of book “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream” and is co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.
