This is The Black Urbanist Monthly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m making this monthly digital newsletter to share my Black, Spiritual, Diasporic North Carolinian, Working/Lower Middle-Class, Educated, Queer, CisFemme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my monthly column, the one that flaps open as you start browsing that coffee table magazine or printed alt-weekly newspaper or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox. This is the one that will transition us from September to October of 2020.
We’ve made it to the end of another month. Not much has changed on my end. Other than garnering a little more hope through the depressions and anxieties.
Hope because many of us work on issues at the local level and so much of what is broken is local.
Police violence is local.
Lack of medical capacity is local.
Voting is local
Discrimination and prejudice of all kinds is local.
Eviction laws are local.
Pre-K-12 education is local
Higher Education is local
Zoning and development is local
Your home is local
Your family is local
You are local.
If you’ve been spinning your wheels trying to find the solution, it’s right in front of you. And since we’ve been in this pandemic world for the last six months, right in front of you is your family, your roommates, your own health and in some cases your job security, and ability to pay bills and keep a roof over your head.
When you do venture out your front door, the solutions come around to who gets to stay in business. Who got and who gets the toilet paper. Who can vote safely. Who gets covered properly in the press.
And depending on what kind of municipal government and state government you have (or work for), you have the power to feed, clothe, protect, insure and so many other things that are only enhanced or fully funded by the federal government.
It’s why in several of the talks I’ve had this year, in this post, in my full ten-year body of work and counting, I encourage and encouraged us to remember and know what kind of government is at our front door. And what kind of front doors do we and the people we claim to serve, even get to have.
Les and I recently binged the show Greenleaf, which just ended after five seasons. It addresses a lot of issues around the Black church, namely how it’s a resource and a refuge for so many, but for many others, there are issues around morality and respectability and even danger. The show doesn’t shy away from any of those things and doesn’t leave very many stones unturned.
It challenges you to think about ways that we do and don’t protect institutions that celebrate culture, without that celebration being at the expense of others. It also challenges you to think about how secrecy and respectability can ruin or slow down progress on the local level. When one is getting life decisions from their Higher Power or faith connections (or lack thereof), no matter what you do as a builder or designer or government official, you may not break through.
However, there are ways. Those of you who are still joining me for the book club, the latest chapter of Chocolate Cities: A Black Map of American Life, also goes into how churches and other civic institutions deem people as unrespectable, even while claiming to be beacons of light for marginalized people. In both sections, I delve into how we can examine ourselves for internalized prejudices and we can do better about creating better environments. Join us in the section that’s right for you.
Finally, you’ll be hearing a bit more from me during this anniversary month. Some dates and projects have changed, but what hasn’t changed for all of us this year? I’m reaching in the air, tapping into that hope and I look forward to continuing to deliver it through my work and projects.
Take care of yourselves and I look forward to seeing you all soon!
