Kayla Reed, a St. Louis native, was deeply impacted by the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a decade ago. The incident sparked widespread protests and civil unrest, leading Reed to become an organizer in the movement for racial justice.
Over the years, the aftermath of the Ferguson uprising has seen significant changes in the fight against systemic racism. Reed now serves as the executive director of Action St. Louis, a Black-led political activist group she co-founded in 2014. She emphasizes that the goal is not just legislative change but the fundamental dismantling of a system rooted in anti-Blackness and white supremacy.
