We recognized that our battles for equity and justice are especially heavy when situated in a place with a deeply rooted and painful history of white supremacy. We uplift the legacy and memory of black people in the Inland Empire and their allies who led courageous fights for justice and equity and paved the way for new generations of leaders to emerge. We know the fight to undue structural racism began with our ancestors and elders and must be sustained through intentional power building among black led and black empowering movements and organizations in the Inland Empire and abroad.  

Our collective work is guided by the seven principles of Nguzo Saba: 

• Unity (Umoja) – To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race
• Self-Determination (Kujichagulia) – To define, name, create and speak for oneself
• Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima ) -To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s/sister’s problems our own and to solve them together,  
• Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa) – To build and maintain our own institutions and businesses and to profit from them together
• Purpose (Nia) – To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community for the restoration of our people
• Creativity (Kuumba) – To always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Faith (Imani) – To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.