United Justice Coalition, Team Roc set to debut Social Justice Convention

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The United Justice Coalition, in partnership with Team Roc, the philanthropic branch of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, is having its inaugural Social Justice Convention on Saturday, July 23 in New York City.

The purpose of the convention is to examine the nuanced Black American experience.

Team Roc Managing Director Dania Diaz talked about the overall vision and goal for the event in a recent interview with theGrio’s Natasha S. Alford. The idea for the Social Justice Convention started in 2019 when a “meeting of the minds” led to the formal foundation of the United Justice Coalition. The event is meant to bring leaders, experts and advocates together to talk about issues that impact the Black community, such as police violence, political policies, voter registration and more.

“We learned very early on in all of [Team Roc’s] work that the power of the collective is so much greater,” Diaz said. “We just gather to talk about issues and really start to think about what is the best way to put our resources together, to change policy [and] to amplify issues that really concern us.”

Saturday’s convention (at CENTER415) is meant to be a collaboration that spans generations, pulling together more than 40 social justice organizations from across the nation and featuring panel sessions with participants that include Yo Gotti, Dr. Bernice A. King, Letitia James and the families of those who were killed at the hands of the police. Diaz said the event is open to everyone who wants to take action, regardless of background.

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“If you can’t make it physically, continue to follow our socials because we will continue to build upon this,” she said. “This is not going to be the first and last. This will become a destination event in the future. The issues are too important … and we want people to connect to the greater purpose of all this.”

Check out Diaz’s full interview above.

Kayla Grant is a multimedia journalist with bylines in Shondaland, Oz Magazine, Prism, Rolling Out and more. She writes about culture, books and entertainment news. Follow her on Twitter @TheKaylaGrant.

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