Muhammad Ali and Angela Davis sharing a good-spirited embrace.
“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause ... In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.”
WHO WE ARE
Jesse D. Jones is the Founder and Creative Director of BLKxLIGHT. Jones hails from Mobile, AL, by way of New Orleans, LA. Upon completing his undergraduate studies in 2013 from Miles College in Birmingham, AL, he decided to move back home to New Orleans with intentions of mentoring underserved youth while working full-time in the hospitality field.
After working as a front desk clerk in the French Quarter for almost a year and being relieved of his duties in a field he was growing uninterested in, he decided to apply for a position in the school system in New Orleans working directly with the youth that needed to see more strong Black male figures in a classroom.
He's still working as an educator but feels more could be done to reach "his" people inside and outside of a classroom, which prompted the birth of BLKxLIGHT. He thought it would be a good idea to start a clothing brand that focuses only on illuminating the endless yet overlooked brilliance of ALL things Black and ALL things positive.
"Everything we have learned is told from a perspective that is not our own. It's time to change that."
- Founder/Creative Director, Jesse D. Jones
WHY WE DO IT
There is a lack of positive images attached to Black and brown men, women and children. Also, everything "we" come into contact with is from the perspective of someone who is not us. It is imperative that each of us know the cloth that we're cut from. It is imperative that we all are familiar with those who have come before us, and what we are capable of doing and/or becoming.
Jones feels that being an educator and mentor that consistently and straightforwardly works with potentially misguided individuals gives him the best shot at reaching them where they are. He believes molding them into smart, responsible and forward-thinking humans is an obligation of his. Being an educator/mentor, and the feeling one gets when cultivating thinkers, prompted these efforts here at BLKxLIGHT.
It is BLKxLIGHT's full intention to be the voice for the voiceless; educate the ignorant (Black or not); and inspire Blacks to raise the bar within themselves in every facet, while simultaneously having the process repeated.
"Who taught you to hate yourself?"
- Malcolm X
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Malcolm X speaking to a crowd, displaying a headline in the Muslim newspaper Muhammad Speaks.