Our Approach
You left the service. Now find your new formation.
Black Veterans Becoming Collective is where Black military veterans and servicemembers gather. We remember who we were before the uniform, name what we carried through it, and fall in with a new formation rooted in lineage, identity, and liberation.
We present a cultivated selection, refined for those who seek understated elegance.
Three chapters of every veteran's story.
In the Circle, we move through these chapters together, one conversation at a time, telling our stories to each other to rebuild who we are.
Before.
Remembering who we were before the uniform shaped us.
During
Telling the truth about what service asked of us as Black service members.
Becoming
Choosing who we are now, and what we build for our people.
Our theory of change
From individualism to collective work.
When the uniform comes off
Carry it alone. Handle it yourself. Your struggle is your problem.
Let’s face it, there are gaps that cut off from each other and from the Black veterans who came home before us and organized.
What we are building
Alone, we survive. Together, we build.
Each of us served in our own way, and that is a strength. We see each veteran's own skills, gifts, talents, and experiences, and we bring them together for the self-determination of our communities.
Through Sankofa, we move in three phases
Recall. Regroup. Rebuild.
01
Recall
We call back who we were before the uniform, and the Black veterans who came before us.
02
Regroup
We come back into formation with each other, no longer carrying it alone.
03
Rebuild
We put our skills, gifts, and experiences to work for our communities, toward self-determination and liberation.
The drumbeat
Our people once moved to a shared drumbeat that connected our hearts and spirits. That drumbeat was scattered. Black veterans carry cadence in our bodies. We are the ones to begin putting it back together.
Our vision
Black veterans and service members who see themselves as part of the historical lineage of Black veterans and as a collective, where each person's unique skills, talents, and gifts are seen, valued, and put to work building and liberating our communities for our future.
Our mission
The Veterans Becoming Collective™ reconnects Black veterans and service members to their history through Sankofa, and moves us from isolation and individualism into collective work.