Self Determination: Let My People Go!

The Resistance

"The revolution will not be televised."

We have been programmed.

From birth, many of us have been conditioned by American culture to believe that the government exists primarily to protect us. Black people around the world, particularly since the 1980s, were trained to trust this idea, even as the actions of the American government and its leaders repeatedly suggested otherwise.

Through humanitarian aid, government welfare, and civic ritual, we saluted a flag and respected U.S. officials in the hope that a social contract of trust and care would be upheld. This was not pure delusion on the part of “the people.” After the civil rights era of the early 1960s, major promises were made to right the wrongs of slavery and Jim Crow and to build a better tomorrow. Civil rights leaders reassured the nation immediately after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and for decades afterward that the United States would lead the world toward democratic, systemic equality.

Today, however, we find ourselves at the end of an era. Many of the giants who fought tirelessly to secure our civil freedoms are no longer with us. They promised to protect the most vulnerable and to ensure that hard won laws would serve as the backbone of a brighter future. Now a new moment is on the horizon, one without a singular, living civil rights leader who can speak for the oppressed and soothe the fears of those in need of justice and protection.

As a strategic thinker, this reality leaves me with no choice but to reimagine what tomorrow looks like for communities living as minorities at odds with powerful elites. Recent acts of state violence and government overreach, circulating rapidly through viral video and global media, have forced an age old question back into public consciousness: What does self defense and self determination look like when people face an aggressive, unaccountable state?

Across cities and neighborhoods, people have responded first by organizing. Protests emerged immediately. Communities mobilized to protect one another. Images spread of neighbors standing together, asserting their right to safety, dignity, and voice. In some places, people looked to history and revived models of community patrols and mutual aid inspired by the Black Panther Party.

These responses to crisis are not reckless reactions; they are necessary and pivotal acts of reassurance for everyday people. Community organizing has always been a tool for survival. We should always be organizing to resist threats to our safety and to thrive through self determination.

We live in a time of layered threats: economic exploitation, state neglect, over policing, cultural erasure, and political disempowerment. These conditions demand more than outrage; they require structure, discipline, and vision.

Why Urban Reformers Exists

That is why I started Urban Reformers. After the killing of George Floyd in 2020, I knew it was no longer enough to limit my advocacy to the walls of churches or nonprofit institutions. Our moment required a city wide effort, one capable of offering refuge to young activists and everyday community volunteers.

Urban Reformers grew to more than 200 members and engaged in meaningful work across Chicago neighborhoods. We organized, educated, served, and stood with communities seeking dignity and justice.

Now the work must expand.

Urban Reformers is launching a global online community designed to connect people into neighborhood based small groups. The goal is simple and ambitious: organize locally, learn collectively, and build power for a better tomorrow, wherever you live.

Learning from the Black Panther Party

To begin this new season of empowerment, we must study a past model that deeply inspired the original vision of Urban Reformers: the Black Panther Party.

The Panthers offer a powerful framework for modern community organizing rooted in self determination, justice, and protection. Their example does not call us to replicate their moment, but to learn from their discipline, clarity, and commitment to the people.

Lesson One: Self Discipline: The Panthers understood that liberation begins with the individual. Members committed themselves to study, political education, and disciplined living. They read theory, analyzed systems of power, and developed the internal strength necessary for collective struggle. Self determination requires self discipline.

Lesson Two: Collective Identity: The Panthers believed deeply in community. They saw their fate as bound together with the fate of their neighbors. This philosophy led to tangible expressions of care: free breakfast programs for children, free health clinics, and political education classes. To declare that Black communities can govern themselves, feed their children, educate their youth, and protect their elders is to affirm inherent human dignity. Liberation is not granted, it is organized.

Our Pillars of Resistance

The new day of Urban Reformers will organize people for liberation through five pillars:

• Spiritual Formation

• Civic Power

• Economic Justice

• Cultural Truth Telling

• Community Care

Our vision is to grow into a global network of 100,000 members focused on major urban centers, organized through neighborhood small groups committed to self determination and proximate justice.

Join the Movement

Self determination is unfinished work. It requires imagination, courage, discipline, and love for the people.

If you are looking for community, people to organize, learn, and build with there is no better time than now. Enter your email in the sign up box and join the movement.

Let my people go.

Join now!

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Urban Reformers Manifesto

Let My People Go

We believe self determination is a right, not a request, and that true freedom is rooted in gospel liberation.

Urban Reformers exists because communities across the world are living under systems that extract, neglect, police, and erase them, while offering little protection or care in return. We reject the lie that liberation will arrive through benevolence from powerful institutions alone. History teaches us that freedom is organized.

We are living in a moment of rupture. The promises made after the civil rights era have not been fulfilled. The social contract has been broken. Communities are told to trust systems that repeatedly fail to protect the most vulnerable. In this gap between promise and reality, people are once again asking ancient questions: Who will defend us? Who will organize us? Who will help us imagine a future worth living into?

Urban Reformers is our response.

What We Believe

We believe communities must have the power to define their own future through gospel liberation.

We believe dignity is built through proximity, not policy alone.

We believe spiritual formation and political consciousness belong together.

We believe liberation requires discipline, education, and collective responsibility.

We believe care for children, elders, workers, and neighbors is a sacred obligation.

We believe culture matters and truth telling is an act of resistance.

Our Commitment

We organize for self determination through five pillars:

Spiritual FormationGrounding our work in gospel liberation, purpose, moral clarity, and inner discipline.

Civic PowerDeveloping leaders who understand systems, organize people, and hold institutions accountable.

Economic JusticeChallenging exploitation and building pathways toward shared prosperity.

Cultural Truth TellingRecovering erased histories, naming present realities, and shaping narratives rooted in truth.

Community CareMeeting real needs through mutual aid, protection, and collective responsibility.

How We Organize

Urban Reformers is a global network rooted in local neighborhoods.

We gather people into small groups who meet regularly to learn, organize, and act for the good of their communities. These groups are spaces of formation, strategy, and solidarity. We do not wait for permission to care for our people.

We study past movements, learn from their successes and failures, and adapt their lessons for the challenges of today. We believe the future belongs to communities that are disciplined enough to learn and courageous enough to act.

Our Vision

We are building toward a global movement of 100,000 members across major urban centers. Not spectators. Organizers. Neighbors committed to proximate justice, collective care, and shared liberation through gospel liberation.

This is not a brand. It is a commitment.

This is not a moment. It is a movement.

An Invitation

If you are searching for community, purpose, and a place to organize for a better tomorrow, you belong here.

Join Urban Reformers.

Self determination is unfinished work. It requires imagination, courage, discipline, and love for the people.

Let my people go.