Sisonke Msimang is a Aspen New Voices Senior Fellow focused on helping international organizations such as UNAIDS forge HIV/AIDS policies that responded to the specific needs of African women and girls swept up in the global pandemic. She eventually rose to become executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, supporting initiatives on human rights, good governance and democracy building across the region. Msimang is now director of advocacy and accountability at Sonke Gender Justice and writes a column in South Africa’s “Daily Maverick” online newspaper.
In Bloomberg Opinion, Msimang discusses the global momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement and how Western countries outside of the United States are having to confront their own racist systems. Black activists globally are pointing out their own systems were also founded on the basis of either slavery or colonization. Msimang argues, “What they need from their leaders is action to dismantle systems that hamper black lives. “