CHANGING BLACK LIVES Two exceptional students receive inaugural Lesra Martin Student Changemaker Awards
Kassia Neckles
(HBA ’22 Innis, Cinema Studies) “I am delighted that one of the inaugural recipients of the newly established Lesra Martin Student Changemaker Award is Kassia Neckles, a student who responded to the urgent call for action in the midst of the converging crises of a global pandemic and renewed attention to anti-Black violence. “In addition to the absolute pleasure of teaching Kassia and watching her quietly encourage the class to pursue more complex questions, I had the opportunity to work with Kassia during the time we both served on Innis’s Black Student Experience working group. Throughout that process we again benefitted from Kassia’s quiet leadership, and her skill as a published writer specializing in the representational concerns facing Black communities. “In her activism and her journalistic and creative writing, Kassia exhibits a commitment to imagining the expansive possibilities of Black visual culture. The patience and generosity she demonstrates in her research and writing reveal something more sustainable and impactful than quick or easy answers to the challenges we face: the power of thinking and acting in solidarity.” —Lauren Cramer, assistant professor, Cinema Studies Institute