Elizabeth Leiba fights for the rights of the black community

Written by Gloria Peebles

Elizabeth Leiba is a College Professor currently working as Director of Instructional Design and Innovation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where she designs online classes for about two thousand students at the college. When George Floyd was murdered, she started being very vocal about his death. While on the platform she started a Podcast speaking out about social justice, equity, and police brutality. Elizabeth gained one hundred thousand followers on the podcast.

Elizabeth was named the Top Voices on Linked in 2019. She talks about #blackpower, #blackpride, #blackpride, #blackculture, #blackstories, and #blackexcellence. She has been featured in NYTimes, Forbes, Time Magazine written for CNN, NBC, and Black Girl Magic. She was inspired to become an advocate due to a situation she found herself in as a young girl. “As a teenager I had a false arrest and imprisonment charge that was brought against me I was accused of shoplifting” stated Elizabeth.

Elizabeth realized that black people are more prone to be racially profiled than any other nationality. She was accused of stealing a two-dollar pack of batteries and had to go to jail. While in jail, they gave her an opportunity to sign a no trespass citation which she refused to sign. “If you sign this and admit that you stole, we’ll keep this on file and you can’t come back in the store, no! I’m not going to sign that because I know I brought them I just can’t find my receipt” said Elizabeth.

She found herself being stereotyped because she was a young black girl. Elizabeth later found the receipt which was in her book bag. She sued the company and won the case, received monetary compensation for being falsely accused and had the charges thrown out. “What can we do to make sure we’re always standing on the side of justice? I think about John Lewis, who is my civil rights hero and always said, “if you see something say something do something” and that’s how I carry myself” said Elizabeth. 

Because Elizabeth is on a platform where her followers are mostly educators, professionals, and leaders who sometimes don’t understand black culture and questions her about where she is getting her statistics? Can be very challenging at times. But she doesn’t let this get to her because she knows the work she’s doing will benefit the black community in the future. “If you’re pointing out the equity now, you’re becoming the problem,” said Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who is an immigrant herself originally from the UK, is no stranger to injustice and will continue her pursuit in making the United States own up to their constitution statement which is “ We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”. If you like to find out more about Elizabeth and how you can support what she’s doing you can contact her at linkedin.com/in/elizabethleiba.