Sometimes conversations can get a little intense, but there is a lesson to be learned in every discussion you have with like-minded individuals. This is exactly what happened on Saturday at the Charleston County Library in downtown Charleston, just a few feet away from where the massacre took place at Emanuel AME Church. Led by Antonio Fokes, the Saving Our Community Forum was born; I was honored to be a guest on a panel which was comprised of young and gifted individuals, like KJ Kearney, Sharika Harley, Port Baby and others, who all have one thing in common – making our community a better place.
After being welcomed by Vincent Gathers and Antonio Fokes, the forum started off with some wise words from Mayoral Candidate, William D. Gregory of District 6 in the City of Charleston. Mr. Gregory spoke on the subject matter of dealing with what he calls the, “unintended racial / racist environment” that we are currently living under in the United States. Gregory went on and touched on the symbolic gesture of the removal of the flag as merely a small step in eradicating racism, he says, “Simply tearing down a flag is a first step, but that is just one step. We can only save our community by eradicating racism.” He also encouraged the room to become engaged in our neighborhood associations and hold community leaders, like himself accountable. His message ended with making sure we all understood that change starts with US.
There were a number of topics assigned to each of the panel members prior to the forum and we were able to touch on a few. We started out with the topic of Gentrification and many of the panel members had passionate opinions regarding the topic. There were some of the panel members that believed the best way to prevent gentrification was to educate the elderly and members of the community on the issues of taxes, budgeting and planning. Other members of the panel believed that the damage of gentrification has already been done – the goal now is to become more proactive in our roles as property and business owners; and to become more vocal in addressing our needs as taxpaying citizens.
The next topic of discussion was Police Brutality. Because of the raw feelings that continue to exists in light of the cases such as Walter Scott and Sandra Bland, this topic became an extremely passionate discussion among members of the audience and panel. Antonio Fokes spoke on some of the details of the Sandra Bland case and the views throughout the room were torn. This topic ignited an intense discussion and Fokes explained that this is why we need this type of dialogue – because of the various ways that we all viewed this sad case. We all seemed to take a different viewpoint when we addressed the subject of “complying” to an officer’s orders. There were some that beleived when the officer asked Sandra Bland to put out her cigarette, she should have simply put it out and comply to the officers demands. The remaining participants believed that Sandra Bland did nothing illegal and had every right not to put out her cigarette if she chose not to because she was breaking no laws.
The conversation regarding police interaction and brutality took up most of the time at the forum. No one was expecting it to become so intense. The passion of everyone’s convictions was a sure sign that we needed to continue this dialogue and many more regarding the best ways in which we can take better care of our community.
The last comment of the day included an action item presented by KJ Kearney who emphasized that no matter what position you take on the various ways one chooses to interact with the police. It is most important that individuals know their rights and know the law.
The sequence of events that have been happening throughout the city of Charleston and across the world world are simply signs that we as African Americans have to take action and become more accountable – basically ‘wake up and stay woke’. We must become proactive in our dealings with our communities, legislature and one another. There is no better time than now to commit to bettering ourselves and our communities and the Save Our Community forum is an excellent place to start. Antonio Fokes and his team have decided to commit every last Saturday of the month to discuss issues that need to be addressed, and we will work with them to make certain that the info is shared.
The Saving Our Community forum is a great start to a long road of addressing and resolving the needs that througout our communities. Kudos to the #SavingOurCommunity team.
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