10-24-2021 Women to Watch - Flipbook - Page 47
Legacy Forte
22, co-founder and executive director of
BMORE BLXCK
Legacy Forte was a student at Baltimore City
College when Michael Brown was shot and killed
in Ferguson, Missouri, a moment that sparked a
fire within Forte.
Students organized a schoolwide walkout
and sit-in in the college’s auditorium to pressure
the administration to talk about racism and violence against Black people.
“Every time I speak about it, it gives me chills,”
Forte said. “I was able to see the impact and the
ability of being able to speak up for yourself and
just say, ‘We aren’t going to stand for this, period.’
After that, I hit the ground running.”
Forte went on to work in community organizing at Baltimore City College and became
involved in LGBTQ+ activism before they cofounded and became the executive director of
BMORE BLXCK, a youth-led organization focused
on Black, queer rights and activism.
While BMORE BLXCK is active in talking
about social justice issues and hosting community events, she also described the organization
as “the big queer sibling you didn’t have but
needed.”
“We want to be the change we wanted to see
growing up in the community,” Forte said.
Mentoring and providing a space for young
people to learn and explore queer identities is
a critical part of BMORE BLXCK. Forte said they
want to remind young people that they don’t
have to have it all figured out.
“Everything is a social construct,” Forte said.
“It’s OK if you don’t know. It’s OK if one day you
wake up feeling like a girl and the next day you
wake up feeling like a boy or you wake up feeling
like neither, you just wake up feeling like yourself. We are supposed to continuously evolve as
people anyway. Your identity is unique to you.”
PHOTO BY KIM HAIRSTON