In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, renowned political commentator Angela Rye and national activist Tamika Mallory discerned that the dispirited and disillusioned Black community needed to be reinvigorated to fight for lasting change.
State of the People POWER Tour coming to a city near you
The State of the People POWER Tour became the answer. The powerful currents of conservatism are rushing forward full throttle to obliterate DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) in all facets of society, restrict voting privileges, and eradicate Black history in public schools.
“Black folks organize and mobilize so well in crisis. And I don’t know about you all, but I’m tired of going from crisis to crisis, from problem to problem,” Rye told the crowd at the dReam Center Church in suburban Atlanta. “We shouldn’t have to yell and scream and use a hashtag called Black Lives Matter. We shouldn’t have to fight for Black business participation, it just should be. We shouldn’t have to fight for access to the ballot box. We did that in the 1800s, and we did it again in 1965. It should just be. And yet, here we are in 2025, fighting for our lives.”
Rye drove her point home by adding, “In the last three months, I feel like we have gone back in time 60 years.”
The State of the People Tour stops in 12 cities
Rye, Mallory, and others created the “State of the People,” a 12-city tour to beseech the Black community to return to the sociopolitical arena and construct solutions to these and other pressing issues collaboratively. Other stops on the “State of the People POWER Tour,” now underway, include Alabama, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.
The idea was born following the enormous success of the “State of the People,” a 24-hour livestream that aired the same day as Donald Trump’s State of the Union address and attracted more than a million viewers.
The State of the People POWER Tour effort is designed to collaborate with local community leaders and together help shape a local and national Black agenda ahead of Juneteenth 2025.
“Atlanta, widely known as the ‘Black Mecca,’ is the perfect starting point for this journey,” organizers wrote in a press release. “Its historic legacy of civil rights leadership and cultural excellence embodies the spirit of this movement — one grounded in vision, strategy, and collective power.”
The State of the People Tour is not to oppose the president
Rye, an attorney and frequent guest political commentator on CNN and other outlets, is one of the social justice advocates behind the tour and “State of the People” livestream. She makes it clear that the tour is not about responding to a person or president; it is about inspiring Black people to enact lasting changes in their respective communities.
The State of the People tour is a two-day event
In each city, Rye said there will be two days of programming: community rallies, town halls, and service-oriented events like food and clothing drives. “State of the People” organizers noticed that many Blacks, emotionally exhausted and spiritually depleted from the relentless fight to keep inalienable privileges, have taken a reprieve from activism due to political fatigue.
Cliff Albright, executive director of Black Voters Matter Fund, implored the assemblage of change-seekers and freedom fighters for change, not to give up.
“We deserve rest,” he said. “But all the while, we are strategizing. We are planning. We are training. That’s what this is all about.”
