Lani Guinier – Educator, Legal Scholar, Civil Rights Theorist

Love Letter to Lani (Guinier)
Dear Lani,
You believed in me way back
Back when I didn’t see
Myself the way you did
Sure I knew I wasn’t stupid
But I didn’t see what you did
I mean who did?
Mama and next of kin
But to you I was the new kid
The future was far from lucid
You helped me find my way
How was you the same age
When we met back in the day
as I am today?
No clue how you
Would show and prove
Lame zero sum games
Played just for us to lose
Didn’t know the half
Hadn’t done the math
You gave me the game
From your magical laugh
To critical race gender class
Between Hauser Hall and
Temple Bar, nobody was
more beloved on the yard
Than Lani
Namesake of royalty
Champion of democracy
Radical as we need to be
Taking on the old boys
Fearlessly so peerlessly
Born with an extra eye open
Informing us of what you see
Imagining possibilities
Beyond the fall of tyranny
Laws that won’t set us free
You even gave Theater to me
I represent Brooklyn
You raised hell in Queens
Showed me so many things
Ain’t always what they seem
Helped build a movement
in penitentiaries worldwide
To provide a path to guide
Untold stories of humanity
The one and only LG
Leader and G.O.A.T.
LG – Lover of Growth
LG – Lion of a Generation
Warrior of Hope
Defender of the Vote
Protector of us cuffed in
America’s unjust chokehold
The stories you told
Of canaries in old mines
Helped our minds unfold
To sing your song on and on
Until Mother Earth yawns
Her last dawn and the sun
You made shine brighter
On us all burns cold
Rest in Peace and Power!
-bryonn
#LaniGuinier
#BlackHistoryMatters
#BlackLivesMatter
Written by Bryonn Bain @bryonn_bain
Recent Posts

Black Lives Matter Grassroots Stands with Twin Cities
We are grateful for the courage, vision, sacrifice, and power of Black Lives Matter Grassroots Twin Cities lead Chauntyll Allen, courageous comrade Nekima Levy Armstrong, and other principled organizers for their righteous resistance to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) federal invasion and fascist repression in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Rather than submitting to an unparalleled evil that murders mothers in their own vehicles, explodes chemical weapons upon infants, kidnaps and imprisons preschoolers, brutalizes children, separates families, and terrorizes communities, grassroots organizers in the Twin Cities are putting their own bodies, freedom and livelihood on the line to secure community.

The Murders of #KeithPorter and #ReneeGood by ICE Demonstrate the Depths of US Fascism and Why We Must Fight Harder to Be Free
On New Year’s Eve, as the world thirsted for celebration, Black father, son, neighbor, and community member, #KeithPorter stepped outside his front door to celebrate. Like many around the nation, he fired his gun in the air to celebrate the coming of 2026. An ICE agent who lived in the same complex moved as if Keith was no more than a target in a game. He went inside his own unit, put on his tactical gear, grabbed his ICE-issued firearm, stepped back outside, and shot this Black man dead in front of his own home.

Black Lives Matter Grassroots Statement on the U.S. Invasion of Venezuela
Black Lives Matter Grassroots vehemently condemns the United States’ military strikes on Venezuela, the unlawful kidnapping of President Nicholás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and the threats against Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and the Venezuelan people. These actions have brought death and injury to civilians, desecrated the land and seas, and violated the nation’s sovereignty. Not only are these actions illegal according to international law and the United States Constitution, we know these to be war crimes and crimes against humanity.