This is The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m making this weekly 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 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 #25 and I’m back this week ready to take chances. (In case you’ve missed last week’s email, here’s a direct link). Now many of you may think of chance like a game of luck. For me, in my case, chance means putting myself out there and putting out new levels and opportunities for information. It means learning more about who’s reading and bringing in people who could read more.
This week I am launching the first of several surveys of who reads this newsletter, listens or has listened to any of my podcasts (hence the hiatus, I want to know more about who you are) and who also shares points of my identity, so I can help you better, provide more relevant and accurate information and also add to the cannon of urbanism thought and practice.
- Before we dig into this week’s edition, just a reminder that you can send all emails related to myself or The Black Urbanist to theblackurbanist@gmail.com. Plus, author and esteemed Black architect Mel Mitchell has a very special announcement below, before you go. You can join him in advertising your company, organization, book, event, school or initiative by emailing theblackurbanist@gmail.com as well. These surveys will help with me creating ads and picking paid affiliate organizations that make sense for who I want to serve, aren’t doing shady things and can help keep this platform running.
You can also support the platform financially, individually, on a monthly basis using Patreon or one-time using Venmo.
I also want to clear it up, that I’m not currently recovering from the flood situation. Les and I are fine, our apartment is not flooded and it’s the cumulative hurt and pain that have inspired me to do what I do, which, is exactly what I’m here to talk about and survey about. However, the folks in North and East Nashville could use help recovering from their recent disaster and this is how you can help them. Unfortunately, there are fears that rebuilding may permanently displace black communities in Nashville, but this organization of community members is ready and organized to help and you can donate or connect with them directly.
Also, today would have been my late father’s 60th birthday. As many of you know, he was a key influence in me building up this media platform and I miss him dearly. Happy Birthday, Daddy! Rest in power and relax in paradise.
And now…
Introducing The Inaugural How Black Women* Are Really Living Survey
(*Inclusive of Anyone Who Claims a Tie to Womanhood/Femininity, i.e. those who are also non-binary, trans and gender non-conforming people)
When I first started this platform back in October of 2010, I really thought I was the only black woman urbanist. I knew of black men, but really, besides myself and a handful of other women, I didn’t think we existed.
Later on, I would learn about all of you black women architects, planners, social scientists, mothers, ministers and anyone else who considers themselves friends of the city, warriors for justice in our streets, builders of homes, healers of body and spirit, the 4.2 million strong of us in major cities across America and the remaining millions in small towns and farms across America and the billions of us on all continents, that all connect back to mother Africa.
I would learn what erasure is and intersectionality is and I would come out into my own complete sexuality and gender expression. I would become poor and feel rich. I would feel uneducated, inadequate, impractical. And sometimes in the next hour feel and know how educated, adequate, practical and necessary I am and we are.
So that’s why, in the spirit of making this platform I’ve ran for 10 years, more equitable and ACTUALLY centered in the experiences I’ve had in this body, with these identities, and all the things you do in your bodies, for our communities, for our souls, I’m launching this survey of Black Women in Metro America.
With the results of this survey, I hope to publish and house a more comprehensive snapshot of how urbanism is working for black women-identified and aligned folks. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be asking some of these same questions, along with a few others to those of you who are not black women and non-binary people.
Other Things I Think You Should Know About
There’s really not A PLAN for the displacement of black folks in many cities, namely DC, but a lot of our city plans do in fact account for displacement of people of certain economic classes and the loss of certain businesses, who also happen to be disproportionally Black and non-white descendants of Latinidad. An update on how this is playing out in my old DC neighborhood, Park View. DC’s property tax assessments are out and based on a simple reading of this map, areas east of the Anacostia River and several other neighborhoods that have seen shifts with their Black residents, have rising rates.
In better news, Durham County (which encompasses the city of Durham and a few surrounding towns in North Carolina) has an all women-identified county council and a new council of women that advises the mayor’s office.
A history of Black American womanhood through recently released archives of the Smithsonian.
Finally, what I’ve been through with housing is nothing compared to what folks go through who are returning from being incarcerated. While there may not be many, one person is too many to go through this. This article walks through this process, which happens to be a success story, through a DC-based black woman with children. And again, this is a success story, where are the other sisters who are still struggling and how are we reaching them? Also, Rep. Ayana Pressley and her husband Conan Harris recently did a joint interview on their own experiences with incarceration.
Before You Go
- Five open jobs on the job board! Submit your jobs with this online form for free for a limited time. Note that this week’s board is the main spreadsheet, as I had some technical difficulties with the other sheet.
- I’m working with esteemed Black architect Mel Mitchell, FAIA, NOMA, over the next few months to get the word out about his newest book of Black architectural history and commentary African-American Architects: Embracing Culture and Building Urban Communities. If you would like for him to come to your campus, bookstore or on your program, please also let me know.
- I’m still making custom infinity scarves and printing Les’s and I’s joint card line via the Kristpattern label. Check out its Instagram and DM me if you’re interested.
- Book me— on your media platform, as a keynote/lecturer, for one of my workshops or as a panel participant. If you are a member of the press and you would love to get my expert commentary on deadline, you can reach me at (301) 578-6278.
- Les, that wonderful life partner and sales advisor of mine, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join the email list for her company Les’s Lighthouse for periodic motivational and comedic updates.
- 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.
- One last reminder for Black women-identified people to fill out the survey!
- You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as a company, nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email us at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and we can schedule a call to discuss email, and social sponsorship options. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo. Remember, Patreon supporters get exclusive audio from me and soon video!
Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and a special audio edition of the newsletter; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.