Report Back Zoom Gathering Atlanta September 29, 2020

We began tonite’s zoom once again by talking about how patriotic we used to feel, how proud we were of and how much we loved our country, especially believing as fact and committed to the ideals of democracy, freedom, justice. And how much of a painful shock, a betrayal it was to learn that no, these were not truths at all but in fact are lies, failures, propaganda; and thus, a turning point in our lives. 

For some of us it was a book we read, a Black friend we made, or a Black History course that began the challenge to our most cherished patriotic beliefs. For others, this turning point was fueled by an individual personal experience: for one of us, having a child who lives with a disability, facing and navigating that system of discrimination; for another it was being smacked across the head with miscegenation laws, even after the Supreme Court outlawed them in Loving vs. Virginia.

Increasing the violence, the added racism to the miscegenation laws was the punishments for breaking the law: for a white womon daring to marry a Black man, she would be fined $1000 and put in jail for life; for the Black man, he would be lynched which included castration.  

Revisiting hope: Our discussion led from this destruction of naivety and lies and once grasping the enormity of racism, to a discussion of hope. Is hope for a better life part of the fabric of our society or just for white people? If all your energy has to be put into hope for survival let alone fighting for basic respect, how do you hope for ‘self-actualization’ or anything else? Some of us have lost hope things will ever change; some hold onto hope and think it is necessary for health and survival. We addressed the need – or not – to have hope in order to act, to continue to fight. We talked about if the people most negatively impacted by racism continue to hope, what does that mean for those of us benefiting most from racism and hope? Bottom line: whether we have hope or not, we never give up.

Which led into the conversation of how the system is set up to make it extremely difficult if not impossible to merely meet basic minimal needs of survival based on skin color – as opposed to those of us chosen by skin color who can climb Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, not having to focus on meeting those basic minimal needs but might struggle to meet the needs of survival of a certain lifestyle. 

“Segregated By Design” makes it clear not just how purchasing housing, financial credit, capital gains were all intentionally denied to Black people from the 50’s to the 70’s, but how slums and ghettos were actually intentionally created to confine Black and poor people. And then how white people have reaped the financial, educational, superior quality of life benefits along with supremacy and privilege of this intentional cruelty and legal implementation of segregated neighborhoods.

We reflected upon our neighborhoods growing up and the physical barriers that separated neighborhoods – white neighborhoods from Black neighborhoods: the railroad tracks or river until “urban renewal” further demolished certain neighborhoods to “revitalize” downtown with stadiums, shopping centers, as well as systems of highways. 

Finally, we talked about “white flight” and how white people chose our neighborhoods, where to live, what schools to put our children into, how ‘safe’ the neighborhood is – i.e. how segregated or integrated.

We will continue to talk about how gentrification is just another segregation by design practice.

Many thanks to Laura for her brilliant notes – all mistakes in this report back are mine! See you all next Tuesday, 6pm!

In love and rage, our zoom folks!