Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work.
Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.
This is Edition #20 and the last edition in my series “And That’s What Time It Is”.
The series title comes from a saying that my dad used to use after making a bold statement. I’ve used the statement to ask and declare the following:
— To make more quality media
— To make more inclusive and safe spaces, especially for black women in urbanism.
— For my home state of North Carolina to live up to it’s state motto and to be rather than to seem.
—And that everything is up-to-date in Kansas City.
This week, DC, Maryland and Virginia, specifically the Richmond to Baltimore Corridor, the time is now.
Even though I’d made my customary wishes in December of 2019, I felt inspired by the coming of 2020 and the talk of a new decade altogether, to make even bolder statements about what these times mean for us.
Before we dig in to this last installment though, Rail~Volution 2020 has a very special announcement below, before you go. You can join them in advertising your event, school or initiative. Email us at les@theblackurbanist.com for rates and information on packages.
Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.
Also, our @theblackurbanist.com emails are back up and running. Thanks for your patience.
And now, what time it is for the DMV.
And That’s What Time it Is Part 5: The Time is Now for the DC, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) Metro Region.
For so much of this series, I’ve been calling for changes in areas I once lived in or that start inside my mind and heart. This week is where the two come together. Originally, I had planned to release this on January 31. However, it’s actually February 2nd (02/02/20) and this month’s theme is love. You’re going to get a bit of the love of city perspective too.
It’s a good meeting place because outside of Greensboro, DC was one of the first cities I loved. In fact, it was the site of my first out-of-state trip at the age of five in 1991. My mom and I took the train to Union Station and then were picked up by my uncle and aunt and we drove up to their then home bordering Ellicot City and Columbia, the famously racially-diverse town built halfway between DC and Baltimore.
I immediately thought Union Station was the best building ever, questioned why there weren’t any two story McDonalds and Wendys at home in Greensboro and I thought electronic dancing flowers were only sold at the Columbia Mall Spencer’s Gifts. Oh and I always thought I was imagining that the mall food court and the platform from the Carolinian were semi-underground, but I’ve sense verified that this is true.
That childhood trip implanted the DC/Baltimore region on my mind as THE REGION and a place to aspire to for growth. It’s been the endpoint to so many of my early solo road trips. GRO/WAS has been the bulk of my Amtrak mileage. That aunt and uncle from earlier later moved to the Hampton Roads region and I have another aunt and uncle there. It’s also my partner Les’s hometown region. I have several good friends from and living in Richmond. It’s the only place I could think of coming to, after I decided in 2016 that I wanted to take an active role in where I lived and why, that wasn’t quite home, but was home enough.
I used to have this photo of the National Mall hanging in my room at my mom’s house and for those of you who also believe in the power of visualization and manifestation, I think that photo had a huge role in me ending up here too.
But, like all childhood dreams and wishes, even when they do come true, we realize they are imperfect.
I’ve learned that the hard way over the nearly four years I’ve been a resident in this region.
And that’s why the time is now for this region to step up and meet several wishes that residents have. What are mine in particular?
Statehood for the District
There are a number of other states that are smaller population wise, so let’s get that criticism out of the way. And, the paperwork and frameworks are set for how at the stroke of the presidential pen, the Douglass Commonwealth would assume all workings of a state seamlessly. Plus, with us having a state apparatus, but still benefiting from the existing state apparatuses of our adjacent counties, we should absorb all the counties and jurisdictions in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments into one big state, not just the existing District of Columbia.
Yes, I know it’s a blue state. I know it may leave other states surrounding it behind. But, it would culturally connect a region that suffers from being more than one state level (and sometimes local level) jurisdiction.
We have come to gather before on projects like Metro and the Wilson Bridge, could we not expand our thinking as a region and formalize it into a common state?
Finalizing The Transit Corridor That Creates This Super State.
Yes, the highways and roads exist, but the congestion is high and it’s part of what makes Baltimore’s and DC’s downtown cores seem so far apart.
Job centers are spread out all over this mega region and some people drive daily from the Northern Baltimore suburbs to the far West and Southern DC suburbs for jobs.
The talk of expanding commuter rail is at a fever pitch, for good reason. Even though I live in a more suburban portion at the moment, when I can take the car to a Park and Ride and just worry about using transit in the core of DC daily, it puts my mind at ease. Yet, when I lived in Baltimore City, it was frustrating that for a city of similar density, driving was the only real option, as real-time transit tracking had only just made its way to the city.
And then there’s the reality that Les’ and I’s commute is shorter and cheaper when we carpool together and use our proximity to the Wilson Bridge and West Alexandria, where she works, to our advantage. I’ve only worked at L’Enfant Plaza and the Watergate since we’ve been together and I’ve been working, but of course, this could all change.
That’s why we have to fix our transit systems. We are a region of constantly shifting work and family priorities and we are closer than we think, at least on paper.
Being A Refuge for Queer Black/Indigenous People of Color, Not Just Honoring Our History
Some of you may have seen this article in the Nation about how black DC residents were holding drag balls not long after becoming free from enslavement.
If we are going to go as far as making a new state, we could also be a known safe region for once homeless queer youth, beef up DC’s well known youth job program and ensure all members of the queer community regardless of age have steady and fulfilling employment or business funding.
Every jurisdiction should ensure not just the safety of trans and gender non-conforming folks, but in being a place they know they can be employed at high levels. I look to Philly in their hiring of a black trans woman as their Office of LGBT Affairs executive director as a standard bearer. And I’m seeing great things out of Baltimore’s LGBT office. The counties directly surrounding the District and Baltimore have to step up their efforts as well.
Right now, I feel that we have the presence, but like everything else here, it still requires a degree of assimilation and that’s not the freedom or liberation anyone needs.
Honoring the History of Being the Chocolate City and a Proud Magnet for Black Wealth and Creativity
We have never needed to diminish our black history and contributions to grow. Part of the childhood dream of getting to DC (or Atlanta) was that these were known as meccas for black excellence and achievement.
I do feel like efforts to make the city solvent in the late 90s and 2000s swung the pendulum too far to the point that green is the only color that matters, not just in Federal/Beltway/Hill Washington, but regular parts of DC that were refuges for generations of black migrants from more hostile parts of the South.
Also, this alludes to why we are having housing and education struggles that revolve around who gets to build what and learn what and where, both of which are just flat out racist, despite what some may think covers up the issue.
So yes, this is where I am and where we are. And this is because, I still have love for DC and want the absolute best for they’re people. Next week, the first full newsletter in my love series. This is a month where we declare love for ourselves and specifically love for black people. I’m going lean into that over the next few weeks.
Other Things On My Mind
— A follow up to last week’s story about Moms 4 Housing— sadly, they still may not be able to purchase the home. But, I really appreciated this perspective on Essence on this issue from a black woman.
—Speaking of black women telling their own urbanist stories, the blogosphere has grown with the addition of America’s Hidden Gem, highlighting black women architects.
— And yes, I feel some kind of way too, when a business has benefited from gentrification and all they think to do is to put on black music, and “generic” black music at that, and/or cook soul food for “aesthetic”, and then look at a group of black patrons as enemies or fail to consider black folks for staff positions.
Before You Go
—Just one active job opening this week. Submit your jobs with this online form.
–Rail~Volution 2020 is coming up and they’ve reached out to me to let you know that they are looking for speakers for this year. If you live in or plan on being in Miami September 20-23 and want to share a transit or community development related project, head to https://railvolution.org/the-conference/conference-information/call-for-speakers/. The call for speakers ends on February 28th. There are also scholarships available.
—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.
— Book me for a lecture, workshop or both.
—Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join her email list.
—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode.
— You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as an nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email Les at les@thblackurbanist.com and she can send you our media kit and package options. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.
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