“Are you familiar with the 10 points of the Black Panther Party?” asked a man in a red hat, second table from the front of the room at the Hispanic American council.
Participants were allowed to ask questions of the four organizers pitching their projects at the Dec. 19 Urban Democracy Feast (UDF) before voting for the project they believed in the most.
Santiago Valles, one of Urban Democracy Feast’s organizers, says they want to teach three things: social justice, accountability, and proportional representation. He named several key problems that the community needs to rally around to make meaningful change: that a high percentage of Kalamazoo residents live below poverty (between 2009-2013 at 34 percent of city residents, census data shows); that we have
1,500 homeless school children in Kalamazoo County; and that many in Kalamazoo can't adequately read (according to the Kalamazoo Literacy Council, 13 percent of adults in the county cannot read at the sixth grade level).
The December Urban Democracy Feast attracted 93 attendees committed to tackling these key problems. They donated a total of $1,147 divided between the four projects promoted at the group's second Feast. It will continue its efforts in April 2016, at which time December's recipients will return to account for their use of funds. In April, a new round of applicants will vie for the community's votes toward their social justice projects.
The question regarding the Black Panthers went to Elisheva Johnson, who was promoting her project, “Prison Policy Campaign,” an effort to address the school-to-prison pipeline, and disparate suspension rates for black children in Kalamazoo.
“Yes, my dad was a Black Panther,” she replied.
“Well, your project sums up the ten points, and I can't help but note that, some decades later, we're still looking at these same issues.” He then went on to read
the ten points, as audience members nodded in affirmation.
Johnson didn't skip a beat or dance around the disparities that black people face in Kalamazoo, and neither did anyone else at this meal geared toward fueling democratic support of social justice causes. When Johnson got to the part in her presentation where she discussed the lack of accountability and needed education for school systems' perpetuation of these disparities she described The Kalamazoo Promise as “not enough.” She asked, “Where are the studies on people of color who graduate, use The Promise, and graduate from college?”
Just before Johnson, Sokhna Heathyre Mabin took the mic to tell about her cause, “Mama Sutra Loving Arts,” a doula training initiative aimed at equipping people of color to serve pregnant, birthing, and new parents transitioning into motherhood. A doula is trained to assist a mother during labor, and she may also provide support before and after a baby is born.
Mabin discussed the proven health benefits to those who have access to doula care -- including better birth outcomes – and she also noted mothers who need this kind of care and support most often are those who don't have access to it -- low-income women and women of color.
In addition to addressing the
disparate maternal and infant mortality outcomes of black women and their babies, Mabin also addressed the lack of culturally competent care presently available to black mothers in Kalamazoo. “There are doula organizations in our community that do not serve black people. It's hard to say it, but it's true.” Mabin took home the second largest dollar amount of the evening to help spark her work in further closing that gap in access to care.
The project that took home the most votes, though, was “
Humans Beyond Boxes,” a creative writing workshop series spearheaded by Allison Kennedy and Kendall Campbell. Their program is a grassroots storytelling collaborative that strives to claim power and healing for all people impacted by incarceration. Through writing workshops and performances, they support formerly incarcerated people re-entering society by offering a creative outlet for processing painful personal experiences, which can often result in political education.
Humans Beyond Boxes also works on ending mass incarceration through legislative efforts in partnership with
Michigan United and Michigan People's Campaign. They plan to use the funds they earned for studio space, food, childcare, transportation, notebooks, and pens for their upcoming workshop series.
The Kalamazoo Peace Center took home fourth place for its annual capital campaign. This year, its goal was to raise $50,000, with much of the funds going toward securing a stand-alone space for organizing in Kalamazoo. The Peace Center aims to educate people on social justice issues, encourage members to organize, peer-educate on activism history, and collaborate with networks to mobilize.
The accountability piece
In addition to hearing about and voting for new projects, participants listened to updates from the May Feast's funded recipients. The Institute for New Leadership (INL), a community organizing and leadership program helps young people, ages 18-26, learn how to organize for justice and social change. After receiving earnings at the last feast, they also received an additional $7,500 in grants from ERACCE, an Arcus fellowship, and from their Go Fund Me efforts. The group organized a People's Movement Assembly, printed T-shirts to raise funds for projects, attended the Million Man March in Washington D.C., and developed a one-year plan, with the help of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.
Majyck Radio Evolution also received funds in May. It's an online radio program that celebrates and promotes the creative, cultural, and political vitality of the local community. Its goal is to foster an appreciation of music and culture that is generally not available to listeners in Southwest Michigan and beyond.
And finally, Urban Exposure discussed the funds they used from their earnings this past year. In fact, their efforts were displayed for people to view at the dinner. Urban Exposure provided opportunities for 11 youth, ages 11-21 to participate in individual and small group photography/editing, and social justice sessions. Funds from the UDF were used to print, matte, and frame one 12x18 inch print and three 4x6 inch prints to display to the public.
Through the medium of photography, the youth in the Urban Exposure program instructed the broader community about barriers, discrimination, strength and resiliency in the community. They displayed their work during the November Art Hop, and sold some images to a local design firm to be displayed at KVCC Bronson Healthy Living Campus. Future plans include looking for a regular meeting space and extending connections and partnerships with local “experts” and parents and community members.
The disbursement of funds from this year's Feast was as follows:
• Humans Beyond Boxes (Allison Kennedy & Kendall Campbell et al) received 34 percent of the votes ($389.98)
• Mama Sutra Loving Arts (Sokhna Heathyre Mabin) received 28 percent of the votes ($321.16)
• Prison Policy Campaign (Eleshiva Johnson) received 22 percent of the votes ($252.34
• Kalamazoo Peace Center (Marissa Ross & Janet Peace) received 16 percent of the votes ($183.52)
You can watch for upcoming UDF events by visiting their
website and watching their
Facebook page.
Kathi Valeii is a writer, speaker, and activist living in Kalamazoo. She writes about gender-based oppression and full spectrum reproductive rights at her blog, birthanarchy.com.
All photos by Jacob Johnson.