John Queen is the first to admit that even with the aftermath of the George Floyd murder and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, he’s not entirely sure we’ve come to a tipping point in ending racism in America any time soon. His reluctance to become too optimistic is part of his life experience, first in Washington, D.C. and now in Chestertown, as an activist, but that has not stopped him from finding ways to fight this critical battle.

As a co-founder of Bayside Hoyas, when he first moved to Chestertown ten years ago, John knows the power of local empowerment for young people. And now, he’s rolling out the BlackUnion in Kent County to have even more impact, with the stated goal of having the community work together to ensure that all Blacks are valued and thrive economically and culturally by creating policies, programs, and projects that lean toward bringing that vision to reality.

BlackUnion is designed to take a in-depth look into five major issues that plague the Black Community; police genocide, miseducation, gentrification, access to wealth and mass incarceration.

The Spy talked to John over Zoom yesterday about BlackNation and its first event taking place on Juneteenth this Friday in Wilmar Park entitled “We Stand – Day of Agreement.”

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. To find more information about BlackUnion of Kent County, please write to John here.