In Memorium: Rebel Black
Our colleague, Rebel Sidney Black chose to depart this life in June of 2023. We are keeping this page active to honor the contributions that Rebel made to disability justice and our community.
We’d also like to thank the Northwest Health Foundation for their memorial tribute Remembering Rebel.
The following is a message from Carlos Kareem Windham honoring their relationship with Rebel, followed by Rebel’s bio - who he was in his own words - and links to his websites and work for disability justice.
“I was always amazed at Rebel’s self-determination in living by his own design. As a justice and disability teacher and practitioner, Rebel was unapologetic and he was kind. He forced the world to face the disabled community as we come, and to create the accommodations necessary for our full participation.
Rebel expressed fluidity in his gender, in his racial presentation and self-acceptance, and in navigating a world designed against the interests of a Queer, multi-ethnic, Black, Creole, fat, disabled, artist and facilitator.
My relationship with Rebel was a special one. Rebel convinced me of his clarity of direction and ownership when he named me his mentor. I’ve had mentors who served as possibility-models throughout my life, and I have to say that in my relationship with Rebel, I learned easily as much as I may possibly have taught. As with so many of us, Rebel was complicated and did not live without personal-controversy in his life… as do we all. And even in this, Rebel lived out loud and openly. Through all of it, Rebel aspired to live fully visibly and in integrity. And it’s from that personal integrity and call to self-love that I learned the most.
Rebel died as he lived, on his own terms, and in his own time. I live differently, more boldly and more self-determined, in my own disability and fluidity, and thank my mentee, my friend, and my teacher Rebel Fayola Rose for that. I miss you.
Carlos Kareem Windham
Founder, El Porvenir Services
Senior Strategic Consultant, Subduction Consulting
Rebel Black Bio
Rebel Black (he/him) is a multiracial, zami, fat, Disabled, gender expansive, survivor femme educator, space-holder, and access artist. Growing up in Cincinnati Ohio, Rebel saw first-hand how his communities were impacted by racism. The police murder of Timothy Thomas in 2001, and the rebellion in his (& Rebel’s) neighborhood that followed, were wake-up calls. Since that April, Rebel has focused on studying, practicing, and reflecting on liberation work: be it around race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or other experiences.
Rebel studied community health, trauma, and social justice at City College of San Francisco and UMass Amherst, graduating with a degree in Nonprofit Administration. As a facilitator, Rebel reflects back the open presence of the community and uses those reflections to keep his work grounded in the needs of those most targeted by oppressions. He is committed to undoing all forms of oppression and replacing them with true justice and caring respect.
Rebel enjoys working with Black-, Indigenous-, multiracial-, and other people of color-led organizations to bring a Disability Justice lens to racial equity work, and to bring a racial equity lens to white-led anti-ableism work. He believes that it is through meaningful Disability Justice that true racial equity will be found. Rebel has consulted with a wide array of groups, from foundations to houseless encampments and youth-led volunteer groups.
Rebel is also an international Disabled social practice/multimedia artist who is passionate about healing intergenerational trauma through his work.
“Access Art helped reframe my vision of what access could be, wow! Thank you for this paradigm shift. I felt like it wasn’t stated enough, but this really focuses on JOY!”