Racial Inequity

POTENTIAL ACTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

  • Establish monthly BOBBs (Black-owned Business Backers) events that focus support on specific African-American restaurants
    • some Cinci-based restaurants HERE
    • The Guideposts article HERE inspires this idea based on what’s happening in Memphis with “Bust-A-Move” events
  • Schedule similar events that focus support on African-American businesses in other industries [Cincinnati region starter ideas listed below]
    • Consider pre-working with specific Black-Owned business owners to figure out how to promote them in ways that don’t OVERWHELM 🙂 [and/or consider some helpful adaptations as in Guideposts article above]
      • See Cincinnati Black-Owned Business page HERE
    • Regular socials at Esoteric and Revel OTR Urban Winery – and other Black-Owned social establishments in the Cinci region – with invitations to groups so we get good racial diversity at BOBBs events
    • Periodically promote ordering flowers for loved ones, for pastors, for ??? from one of our Black-owned florist businesses listed HERE
    • ???
    • Start small-group brainstorming of such efforts if there’s interest by a specific small group(s) – maybe gathering at Esoteric / Revel sometime soon?
  • Business/workplace specifics
    • Identify/support/promote existing Cinci tri-state racial equity initiatives that are business-practice-related being led by Melvin J. Gravely, Flywheel, at Work on Purpose, Mortar and/or ???
      • Minority Business Accelerator – Cinci Chamber of Commerce
      • Others from Billion Dollar Roundtable?
      • Grace Chapel hiring practices
    • Efforts by groups like TheCourageousLove.com 
    • depending on what’s already happening, are there other identifiable efforts needed?
  • Continue perspective-building through study and review of good resources

BACKGROUND / RESOURCES

The video capture of George Floyd’s murder was powerful. For those wondering about the ferocity and incidence of such racist behaviors, they were MUCH MORE apparent after that event and in the way the public rallied towards (and, sadly, away for the “wrong reasons”) from the Black Lives Matter and other such movements aimed at addressing racial inequity.

Some well-intentioned White folks like me have read books and talked about this issue. Yet, many 1) don’t know what to do, 2) lose steam/focus or 3) don’t have the real inclination to change their comfortable lives to take actions towards trying to make a difference.

The book Dear White Friend shares some actions at individual, group and national levels. The author, Melvin J. Gravely also makes the case that before any such actions can take hold, there must be fundamental agreement that racial inequity exists and should be addressed. Each of the 19 letters in the book are written to Mr. Gravely’s “friends” (White readers) at a personal level with sincerity and intentionality. A book highly recommended to all White folks – well worth purchasing and reading!

Here’s a quote from the Dear White Friend website  https://www.dearwhitefriend.com/

The book presents an invitation to understand three questions at the heart of the issue: What is really going on with race in our country? Why must we care? And what can we do about it together? In the end, Gravely calls on us to ask ourselves, “What is my role in all of this?” After reading Dear White Friend, readers will understand why their answer to his question can change everything

One term Melvin Gravely created and uses in Dear White Friend that is very good from my perspective: “benefiting bystander”

The podcast HERE shares some of Mel’s commentary in a Cincinnati Enquirer interview (starting at minute 18:30 about the book, with background prior…)

ADDITIONAL BOOKS/RESOURCES

  • Migration Series of Paintings by Jacob Lawrence – a powerful, historically-accurate series of paintings by a young man https://lawrencemigration.phillipscollection.org/the-migration-series 
  • Rather says the most effective accompaniment to the Lawrence’s paintings is “Strange Fruit,” a chilling Billie Holliday song about lynching
  • Quoting the Rather book: “In 1999, Time magazine dubbed it the song of the century”
  • Marian Anderson sings “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” to 75,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial because DAR banned her from singing in Constitution Hall

Isabel Wilkerson has written about The Great Migration in her book The Warmth of Other Suns

VIDEO RECOMMENDATIONS

Juneteenth – HISTORY Channel info

Response to the George Floyd murder included this Missing Front Plate Productions effort by Cincinnati’s Derek J. Snow: “The Ballad of the Dying Body or The Breath to Say”

Good “benefiting bystander”** commentary, especially in the last paragraph of this NYT article HERE

** see Dear White Friend reference above