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Rev. Nikia S. Robert, PhD

@drnikiasrobert

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Abolitionist Sanctuary, Founder & ED @abolitionistsanctuary
Public Scholar 📚| Prison Abolitionist ✊🏽| Preacher ⛪️| Provocateur 🦹🏽‍♀️| Harlem ✈️ LA

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Let’s talk inclusive democracy. ✊🏾💜

Abolitionist Sanctuary was invited to join the design team and plan a Future Tense convening in partnership with Sojourners/SojoAction and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.

Leaders from faith, advocacy, research, government and media came together around one question: What will it take to build a healthy, inclusive democracy where everyone can participate and flourish?

My answer starts with abolition. A democracy can’t be inclusive while it cages, surveils, and shuts out the people most affected by harm. At Abolitionist Sanctuary, we believe faith communities can help build what comes next by being places of reparation, restoration, and rebuilding.

I’m grateful to have also moderated a powerful panel on faith, domination, and participation, as well as guide constructive conversations on identifying a shared strategy for liberation across the transatlantic from Africa to America.

At the end of the day, the world we imagine building for a better future begins with real conversations, but eventually moves to karaoke and the dance floor. 🕺🏾💃🏾 Joy is part of the work!

The future is not something we wait for. We build it together, right now. Let’s resist siloing and talk to each other across ecosystems for greater impact. ✊🏽

🔗 Learn more and join the conversation: AbolitionistSanctuary.org

#AbolitionistSanctuary #RepairRestoreRebuild #Democracy #abolition #fyp

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Imagining What Comes Next!

What an incredible time we had at Future Tense, a convening hosted by @SojoAction and the @ketteringfoundation

We’re grateful to have brought together 70 leaders from across sectors to imagine what liberation can look like, engage in meaningful conversations and explore the resources, tools and strategies needed to build the future we envision.

A huge shoutout to Airlie Conference Center (@airlieva) for providing such a beautiful space to gather, connect and dream boldly.

The future looks bright! ✨

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☕ SIP TEA: You’re one of ONE.

You have the oil. You have the vision. And yes… God gave YOU the juice. 🙌🏾

What’s been placed inside of you wasn’t meant for anybody else to duplicate. You are the originator not the imitation!

So stop looking around for confirmation of what God already put inside of you.

Trust the vision. Protect the oil. Walk in your purpose.

Because when God gives you the juice, nobody else can make your flavor. ☕✨

#SipTea #OneOfOne #YouGotTheJuice #WalkInYourPurpose #AbolitionistSanctuary

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When the world tries to discard you, may your real ones treasure you. I’m thankful for my tribe. I pray you always have loved ones that are a soft place to land. #family #friends #sisters #tribe #community @tjonesjolivet @revjuju @drnikiasrobert @joyjones007 @daholyhipster @drnaimalett @mzkarribaby @jamalhbryant

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Dr. Nikia and Congresswoman Maxine Waters at the State of the Black Community to discuss the aftermath of the Eaton Fires and ongoing struggles to rebuild.

Rep. Maxine was the keynote speaker and Dr. Robert was a panelist.

#AbolitionistSanctuary
#RepairRestoreRebuild

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Dr. Robert joins a clergy panel about the State of the Black Community and a discussion about Eaton Fire recovery efforts in Altadena, CA.

#AbolitionistSanctuary
#RepairRestoreRebuild
#eatonfire
#Altadena
#blackchurch

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Repair. Restore. Rebuild. 💜

At Abolitionist Sanctuary, these three words guide the transformative work we do:

🟣 We repair harm.
🟣 We restore relationships.
🟣 We rebuild more just and equitable communities.

Because real change takes more than talking about what’s broken. It requires people willing to do the work.

The 3R’s summarize our theory of change and also how we define abolition!

#ReEnterTheSanctuary #AbolitionistSanctuary #RepairRestoreRebuild
#blackmothers #fypシ

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You were BUILT with the biological mechanisms to heal and thrive!!

We know that traumatic stress is held in our bodies and that its biological impact can be carried across generations.

Traumatic stress can shape our nervous systems, our patterns of connection, our capacity for trust, and even our ability to imagine a future different from the present.

The good news is that our brains and bodies are DESIGNED to move from survival toward resilience and flourishing. We simply need the skills to better activate those biological mechanisms more effectively.

What if our faith communities became places that not only speak about healing, but actually help 👉create the conditions for it?👈

After decades of teaching, training, researching, and co-creating communities that organically heal, four pillars have emerged as essential:

🤎 Liberative Theology
Understanding Scripture through the lens of its social and political context.

🧠 Interpersonal Neurobiology
Understanding how connection and belonging shape the brain and create the conditions for healing and flourishing.

🌱 Generational Trauma
Exploring how trauma is carried in the body and how healing can interrupt cycles of harm.

❤️ Beloved Community
Cultivating communities where healing, belonging, dignity, and collective flourishing can thrive.

These four pillars form the foundation of our inaugural Howard University School of Divinity certificate program:

Healing Racial Trauma: Integrating Theology and Neuroscience to Create Faith Communities that Heal

We begin in less than three weeks. Limited space!

LINK IN BIO
Www.HealingRacialTraumaatHoward.com

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LABOR DAY POST: According to a new IWPR report, 600,000 Black women were pushed out of the workforce.

Anti-DEI, discrimination, and federal job cuts have pushed highly educated Black women out of the workplace even as headlines indicate that unemployment rates fell.

What does abolition mean for Labor Day? Building an economy where Black woken are not one lost job away from criminalization and providing for their families.

Learn more: AbolitionAcademy.org (link in bio)

#AbolitionAcademy #AbolitionistSanctuary #RepairRestoreRebuild #BlackWomenWork #fypシ

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We need to talk about the hangings of Black people starting with Sandra Bland.

We need answers and a DOJ investigation.

Repost:

@rorstll TW// discussing currently lynchings of Black Women and femmes... from trees.

Pretty disturbing to read about what’s going on.

Civil rights organizations and legal advocates report that modern-day lynchings and suspicious hanging deaths of Black Americans are occuring.

A 2026 report by the civil rights group JULIAN documented over 70 suspected racial terror lynchings in the American South since 2000.

Recently, 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, a Black mother of four was discovered hanging from a tree behind an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi.

There is so much going on and information happens so rapidly today, we miss a lot of terrible things that are suspicious to say the least.

#tasiafortune #mississippi #lynching #blackhistory #civilrights

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Abolitionist Sanctuary is grateful to join the 2026 Black Freedom Fund (@blackfreedomfund) Grantees for a second year of funding in the amount of $50k to support Black mothers, especially those impacted by the Eaton Canyon fires in Altadena.

Based on our findings, Black mothers who were vulnerable prior to the fires and engaged in underground economies or micro businesses to survive are uniquely disadvantaged after the fires and disconnected from the resources they need to rebuild.

Abolitionist Sanctuary is raising awareness that responds to this problem through narrative shifting, mutual aid, and spiritual/emotional care.

Learn more about our impact here: https://youtu.be/iVuO3uNP6qU

Visit AbolitionistSanctuary.org/donate to support this work. We are raising $500,000 for our 5th anniversary by Juneteenth 2027 to deepen our impact and we need partners like you to join us!

Link to donate is also in bio.

#AbolitionistSanctuary
#RepairRestoreRebuild
#EatonCanyonFires
#500kFor5YearsOfSanctuary
MutualAid

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🔥 ONE CHURCH. ONE FAMILY. ONE SOUND. 🔥

Join us for a powerful Men & Women’s Day Celebration as we come together in worship, unity, and celebration!

📅 Sunday, August 30

🕚 11:00 AM
🎤 Guest Preacher: Dr. Nikia Smith Robert
First AME Church – Pasadena, CA

🕞 3:30 PM
🎤 Guest Preacher: Rev. Kennedy Young
Mt. Zion Baptist Church – Los Angeles, CA

📍 People’s Independent Church of Christ – GATHER LA
5856 West Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90043

This is more than a celebration—it’s a gathering of generations, families, and faith. Invite your family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors as we worship together and experience what God has prepared.

Everyone is welcome!

#GatherLA #MensAndWomensDay #OneChurchOneFamilyOneSound #WorshipTogether #Community LosAngelesChurch LevelUp FaithFamilyFellowship

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