Above: ACTIVISM IN ATHENS: Athens activist Imani Scott-Blackwell stands on the University of Georgia campus on Nov. 24, 2020. Scott-Blackwell has participated in activism within the Athens community since she attended UGA. “The revolution and change really does start at home and in our own lives,” Scott-Blackwell said. “So it can be as easy as making those subtle changes in the way that we engage in our own community before even getting involved in any organization or trying to start anything, or anything else like that.” Photo by Audrey Enghauser
Q&A: athens activitist Imani Scott-blackwell Local activist Imani Scott-Blackwell shares her experience and goals regarding activism in the Athens community with Lead Copy Editor Audrey Enghauser. BY AUDREY ENGHAUSER Lead Copy Editor
How did you start getting involved in activism in Athens? I started getting involved actually because -- well, (it’s) a long story, honestly. But the short version would be I got kicked out of high school when I was a senior, and fortunately, still got into (the University of Georgia), but was having a really rough time adjusting for a number of reasons, like dealing with depression and anxiety. But also, (I) hadn't been in school for over a year and was then trying
to adjust to college, which was a lot. That's around the same time that the documentary 13th had come out, and some other social issue documentaries. I was binge-watching those in my depression and anxiety-induced insomnia states. I was mainly living off of documentaries, basically, instead of actually going to my classes. One day, I stumbled upon an (Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement) meeting
where they were talking about the school-to-prison pipeline and that was when it really resonated for me with my own experience being kicked out of school. That was pretty much the beginning, I've been doing work in Athens ever since.
How has becoming involved in activism changed you? In a lot of ways, honestly, it definitely brought me out of a very dark period of my life. And helped me to really clarify the things that I was personally responsible for, and then also being able to separate the things that have systemic causes. Realizing this
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-- oh wow, not all of this is on me -- as they would have allowed me to believe, as if it was just as simple as being kicked out of school for breaking a rule, but not rather than all of the ways that school discipline factors into our society’s obsession with
punishment and incarceration. So being able to finally see those pathways really laid out clearly and the way that really without both luck and privilege that I was able to avoid actually ending up in prison.
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