Press. The Washington Post“When you go out to see the plantations, like the Whitney plantation, I was able to see things talking about genealogy and try to understand my own experience and the erasure of my culture.” [Melanin MeetUps’ The Better Together Project] Essence“…Black people have been forced to watch this film of how America came to be repeatedly and can see the bad editing, bad acting, and small roles of themselves and are no longer blinded by the visuals and aesthetics. As a result, they choose to leave the theater to create something better that includes them in greater detail, but the people who routinely sit and watch the film over and over don’t like them standing up to block them as they leave, and are frustrated (and most likely fearful) that they’re over it – and we are.” NPR“…On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Kirk Brown, founder of Melanin MeetUps, a national think-platform where young African-American professionals come together to advance and heal the community through data-driven solutions.” Black Enterprise“…I felt for our community’s advancement in the 21st century, it was imperative to begin to better understand who we are, creating a space for conversation and connection to move forward powered by data.” CBS“…an organization called Melanin Meetups, which is behind launching The Better Together Project on Juneteenth. The project is a different approach to helping Black Americans succeed.” Travel + Leisure"There's no culture war here. There's no trying to take something away from you…It really is just a group of people coming together to heal and advance and move themselves forward [memorializing plantations]." Travel Noire“When you go out to see the plantations, like the Whitney plantation, I was able to see things talking about genealogy and try to understand my own experience and the erasure of my culture.” [Melanin MeetUps’ The Better Together Project] Boston Globe“These were labor homes…Why is there this glamorization of these homes? It’s depressing and it’s disrespectful and it prevents us as a country from truly healing [memorializing plantations].”
