Let's talk about the importance of storytelling sovereignty and why it is crucial for our communities, especially for the BIPOC community and our diverse intersections. It's time for us to have complete control over our own narratives and determine how our stories are told. We need to build futures using our imaginations, but there is an urgency to acknowledge that our imaginaries have been suppressed, distorted, and turned into commodities for many generations.

To create the just futures we envision, we also need to slow down and unlearn the harmful ideas and defaults that have led us to this troubled state. One solution that stands out is the amplification of our stories, ideas, concepts, designs, and various perspectives as seen through our own eyes and minds. This not only allows us to create something new, but it also helps us remember and honor our past. For too long, our imaginations have been colonized to conform to a single way of seeing and thinking, but our storytelling challenges these limited and binary perspectives.

I hope that this contribution adds to the ongoing conversation about storytelling sovereignty. Moreover, I hope it serves as a resource for BIPOC individuals to use when faced with nonpayment, inadequate compensation, censorship, or lack of support in sharing our stories unabashedly. While this may not cover every aspect, it refuses to let harmful practices go unnamed any longer.

Remember, as much as we need to name things to shape the future, we also need to name them to dismantle them.