How Bay Area activists keep the flames of their passion for change burning bright

BART Board President Lateefah Simon makes tomato sauce with her daughter, Lelah. Sheltering in place has given Simon more time with her daughter.

Simon, 43, also hails from a family of female activists: Her aunt was a Black Panther and instrumental in shaping its Free Breakfast for Children Program. Her grandmother Betty Simon ran S.F.’s erstwhile Community Streetwork Center in the Mission to help people in need, from teen mothers to domestic-violence survivors.

Simon fondly recalls her grandmother’s elegant presentation: perfectly coiffed hair, filed nails, pretty dresses. Primping was Betty Simon’s version of self-care, which syncs up with an observation made in Slate about Black women in the mid-20th century: “It wasn’t until the rise of the women’s movement and the Civil Rights movement that self-care became a political act. Women and people of color viewed controlling their (health and well-being) as a corrective to the failures of a white, patriarchal medical system to properly tend to their needs.”

That plan of action continues today, with modern self-awareness and assertiveness. Glamour magazine recently tapped young Black female activists for self-care tips that included “Step back and let people learn on their own” and “Please find a therapist.”

An activist’s voice is perhaps her strongest instrument, and Lateefah Simon’s first discovery of this power was in seventh grade, when she was arrested at an Iraq War protest in front of the old Federal Building in San Francisco and interviewed on TV about the experience.

“My mom found out I was not at school when she saw my big glasses and buck teeth on TV,” says Simon, laughing. “But protesting felt so wonderful and so American.” Read More.