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Friend,
When you ask people about Angela Curry, founder and executive director of United Women of Color (UWOC) in Madison County, Alabama, certain words come to mind: strategic, detailed and committed.
“She taught us the significance of why every little step, every little thing – even the small details that you thought were insignificant – she made us realize why they matter. She’s always connecting the dots,” said Aneesah Saafiyah-Lige.
She met Curry in 2019 at a community meeting held by the NAACP chapters of Madison and Limestone counties in response to the police killing of Dana Fletcher, a 39-year-old Black man in Madison, Alabama. Saafiyah-Lige had traveled there from Decatur, less than 20 miles west, to support the community’s quest for justice.
Curry spoke at the meeting. Impassioned by the community’s collective pain and need for accountability, she trained her focus on something actionable.
“The pain in this room is real. … There needs to be a place where this pain can be expressed. Because it doesn’t do any of us any good to keep having to suppress it,” Curry said. “The Legislature has not designated an objective timeframe for when bodycam footage has to be released. So that’s something that all of us here can advocate to our legislators.”
Saafiyah-Lige and Curry took to each other right away. After learning more about her background as an organizer, Curry encouraged Saafiyah-Lige and a tight-knit group of friends to lead a community organization of their own.
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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