“It’s not always perfect, but it’s healing to have a community that doesn’t just hold you down but one that you can also create and imagine a future with, even after loss. Especially after loss.” – Brandi Collins-Dexter, Black Skinhead
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the devastating news that our dear friend, longtime collaborator, and former MediaJustice staff member, Brandi Collins-Dexter, has passed away.
Brandi joined MediaJustice in 2011, working with us for three transformative years in communications and digital organizing. But her connection to our organization ran much deeper than her title. She always called MediaJustice her political home, and we always saw Brandi as one of the most critical leaders in our sector. After leaving to build the groundbreaking Media, Democracy, and Economic Justice Team at Color of Change, Brandi remained family. She mentored our staff, guided fellows in our MediaJustice Network Fellowship program, and produced research to support MJ’s disinformation work. Just months ago, Brandi discussed with our executive director, Steven Renderos, joining the MediaJustice Board. That conversation will forever remain unfinished.
At Color of Change, Brandi led some of the most important corporate accountability fights of our time. She forced Facebook to undergo its first civil rights audit, orchestrated the removal of R. Kelly from RCA, got Fox’s O’Reilly Factor off the air, and pressured over 100 financial companies to stop funding hate groups. Her work helped establish the playbook for how tech companies can and must be held accountable for their impact on Black communities.
In 2022, she published “Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future,” a brilliant examination of Black political identity that challenged how we think about community, democracy, and belonging. This book was more than academic analysis, it was Brandi at her core: sharp, funny, uncompromising, and deeply human.
“Friendship was the greatest gift Brandi ever gave me. She accepted me for who I was, a nerd who loved pop culture. We could code switch between deep conversations about antitrust law to talking about Miami Booty Bass. In fact, we did just that during an episode of Bring Receipts, our podcast. She spoke truth to power and did it in style. Our movement has lost a tremendous mind, but it’s on all of us to keep her memory alive.” said Steven Renderos, Executive Director
“Brandi’s care and commitment to Black communities, to grassroots movements and to human rights was unimpeachable. Her leadership in media justice and digital rights was undoubtedly a gift to our movements. Beyond the gift of her leadership, Brandi was funny as hell, rigorous, and willing to risk for the possibility of both joy and victory, and that was also a gift. The Media Justice sector is forever changed by Brandi’s insight, but also by her heart. I am so grateful for the ways she pushed me, and us, to grow. At a time of rising threat and crises, may we all embody Brandi’s focus, her fierceness, her faith.” said Malkia Devich Cyril, Founding Director of MediaJustice
“Brandi was truly a guiding light in our movement and an inspiration to so many of us. She was a brilliant strategist and visionary leader. Her work alone raised the bar for what I thought could be possible. Her uncompromising love and commitment to Black people was especially empowering and so affirming to me. Any opportunity to work closely with Brandi was an enormous gift but it was her friendship and mentorship that had the biggest impact on me. She encouraged me to take up space, to be my authentic self, and to dream big by taking risks. I will always be grateful for the ways that she transformed me and the MediaJustice space. And I will miss her so very much.” said Myaisha Hayes, Senior Movement Building Director
Brandi understood that the fight for media and tech justice was about power. Who gets to tell our stories? Who controls the tools that shape our democracy? Who decides which communities get surveilled and which get protected? She fought these battles with brilliant strategy, biting wit, and an unshakeable commitment to Black liberation.
The movement has lost a fierce advocate, a brilliant strategist, and a generous mentor. We have lost a friend whose laughter could fill a room and whose analysis could cut through any corporate spin. But Brandi’s work lives on in every campaign that centers community voices, every policy that prioritizes people over profit, and every young organizer who refuses to accept that tech power is inevitable.
To honor Brandi’s memory and continue her work, we encourage you to read “Black Skinhead” and support the ongoing fights for accountability and justice that she helped build.
Rest in power, Brandi. The fight continues.
