We join our friends and comrades in mourning the passing of Brandi Collins-Dexter, a visionary scholar who embedded her values and principles in her studies of race, history, and social justice, providing accessible and digestible calls to action that spanned public policy, technology and media studies.
While we never got the privilege to work closely with Brandi, we shared collective space at the Disinfo Defense League, where she served as a recurring guest speaker, facilitator and collaborator. Through her leadership and guidance, we learned how to research disinformation and media manipulation, watched her dig into billionaire CEOs during Media Justice’s #BigTechOnBlast campaign, dissected and discussed her case studies about policing and copaganda narratives, studied her work on the role of racialized disinformation during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election cycle, and laughed at the back-and-forth banter she brought to Bring Receipts, a podcast she co-hosted with long-time friend Steven Renderos. In many ways, Brandi inspired and encouraged us to continue bringing rigor to our disinformation work and to prioritize uncovering anti-Black racism where it shows up across the narrative landscape.
She was a brilliant thinker, researcher, student and mentor. She was funny, smart and courageous. We join the chorus across the social justice movement sector in paying homage to her. Brandi will receive the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry’s Parker Award posthumously. The Shorenstein Center, one of Brandi’s home bases, has committed to renaming its annual community award in her honor. Her critiques and analyses were as sharp as steel.
“Brandi was interested in change, not in the aspirational kind but in the concrete. The kind of change that sees giant corporations crumble, and where people get to make their own way.
I decided to share something now as I continue to make sense of what grief is teaching me. With Brandi, it’s taught me a lot about the importance of celebrating our ancestors in the present. Like a true ancestor, she laid a path that others who are Black and nerdy enough to care about media and technology’s role in our lives, can see themselves as part of. It’s not hyperbole to say that many people inside of the media justice movement are here because of Brandi.”
- Steven Renderos, Executive Director at Media Justice
“Brandi was a warrior and now she is a warrior spirit. I wish there had been more time. I wish so many things. But instead of wishing, I will work. To be more accountable, trustworthy and loving. May Brandi’s sarcasm, love, brilliance and heart fill the ecosphere. May it birthmark the day. May she bring us closer to each other, to victory, to love.”
- Malkia Devich Cyril, Founding Director of MediaJustice and ReFrame board member
Team ReFrame sends love and warmth to Brandi’s family, friends, and colleagues. We welcome all to dig into the treasure trove of work she imparted to us, understanding that her legacy will live on as she transitions into our ancestor.
Order your copy of Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future, her book that combines pop culture analysis, digital ethnography and investigative journalism to understand the trajectory of Black political, economic and social power in the United States.
Listen to Black Skinhead: A Conversation between Brandi Collins-Dexter and Justin Hendrix for Tech Policy Press
Read the beautiful memorials written by Brandi’s colleagues and friends at Media Justice and Free Press
Watch or listen to Deepfakes, parody, and disinformation with Brandi Collins-Dexter, Jane Lytvynenko and Karen Hao
Watch or listen to Meme Wars: Disinformation, Media Manipulation, and Political Futures, a VAST: Visiting Artist & Scholar Talk between Brandi and Dr. Joan Donovan at the University of Colorado Boulder
Watch or listen to Brandi’s Impact of Anti-Black Radicalization & Disinformation discussion at Aspen Digital
With love and solidarity from all of us,
ReFrame Board & Staff
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