Brooke is a formerly incarcerated Black woman who spent much time in systematic systems. As a juvenile, these same systems continued into her young adult life, hurting her rather than helping her break cycles of trauma, abandonment, abuse, and street economics.
“While incarcerated, I started to see the generational and historical conditions these systems shifted into to recreate slavery in modern ways.”
As abuse and trauma continued to cycle within prisons, she constantly watched families be torn apart. Finally, Brooke decided it was time to be part of the solution, not the problem. So she started facilitating groups within the prison and imagined something greater for herself.
Today, as an organizer for Community Coalition, Brooke centers and brings the community members to the forefront to educate and use their voices to fight systems of oppression by uplifting the voices of formerly incarcerated men and women and helping provide alternatives to incarceration.
Fun Fact: Brooke’s favorite quote is: “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”– Maya Angelou