by Cecilia Olusola Tribble, GARE Director of Innovative Practice
The South is a unique place. While there are cultural particularities, the South – below the Mason Dixon line – shapes the nation’s ideological positions and policies concerning race. Yet many local jurisdictions are doing progressive work toward systemic change that bends toward racial equity. Even as many local southern jurisdictions may have a GARE-supportive chief equity officer and equity friendly executive (i.e. mayor, county manager etc.), they are currently facing barriers: the initiatives are centralized in their executive office and powers or have been legally blocked through state and federal legislation.
From July 28 to 30, GARE gathered 10 practitioners from 8 jurisdictions across the South - GARE regions 3, 4, and 7 - for the purposes of strengthening regional relationships, to examine the current political and legal landscape, identify opportunities for collective organizing, and build a shared think tank for advancing racial equity work. We met in Nashville, TN – the unceded lands of the Mississippian, Cherokee, and Wasioto peoples, President Andrew Jackson, parts of the Trail of Tears, home of the Grand Ole Opry, the last state to ratify the 19th amendment, four HBCUs; and the place where John Lewis, Diana Nash, Bernard Lafayette, and CT Vivian went to college and taught folks how to organize. Our cadre of practitioners met at the historic downtown Nashville Public Library – where we took in the award-winning Special collections about Nashville’s Civil Rights and Women’s Suffragist history.
We began by stating our intentions for our meeting. Though the answers were varied, the through line was that “we don't get these psychologically [safe] spaces often... We're still diverse in how we think, but the passion and the understanding is here in this room that we don't get on an everyday basis in our respective environments…” and that “[we’re] here to definitely dream, create, and go back and get it done.”
Together we were able to get grounded in the political and legal landscape in each state. The de Beaumont Foundation led the conversation about findings published in the report, “Progress to Pushback: Navigating the new Landscape of Racial and Health Equity in Local Government" – that helped us to focus on the particular needs and how GARE can support by continuing to provide safe spaces for ideation, strategy, and connection, network weaving, and narrative support. Next, we engaged in deep power mapping across individual jurisdictions, comparing jurisdictions, and started thinking about action steps for moving toward a regional strategy.
Because the South is the testing ground for racial inequality, the South remains the place for racial justice innovations, movement, and hope. As one of our attendees said, “I intend to be joyful in spite of all of the things... I intend to remain joyful, and I intend to remain whole even in the midst of what will be.” Hope has to be the undercurrent for the work or we wouldn’t be doing it. The group’s intention is to continue virtually and in-person when possible; to continue to share resources, lend an ear, and work collectively. As another practitioner said, "It's going to take all of us to figure out this path moving forward.”
#Region3
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#Region7