Black Roanoke

The current state of Black Roanoke, fragmented but hopeful. That is what I observe and experience as a beloved member of this community. I am born, raised, and returned to Roanoke. I proudly share my pipeline – Northwest Roanoke, Fairview Elementary, Addison Middle School, and William Fleming High School. My perspective is native, lived, and experienced. I consistently see decisions and behaviors that hold our community back on achieving collective successes. On the upside, it seems that we want the same thing or close to it – to advance the black community, to have safe, strong and healthy families, to provide opportunities for our youth, to economically and socially invest in our communities, and to obtain justice for our race. However, we seem to keep hitting roadblocks, going through the same cycles, and not seeing the results that we would like to see.

Although we may aspire for and share the same vision, we are divided on the overall strategy and implementation. We are split in our various civic organizations, groups, committees, and individual efforts. We are working in silos. We have different target areas that we champion, however we are not collectively sharing this information and communicating in order to best coordinate, strategize, and mobilize our resources. If we were to do this, we could present ourselves as a more unified front. Consequently, making a greater impact in the advancement of the black community. 

So what can we do to unify ourselves? How can we be successful and forward-thinking to uplift our people and make monumental changes and impacts? I’ll offer a few solutions based on my work in the community, ideas shared from Black Roanoke, as well as suggestions from black pioneers across the country.

Education. We need to educate ourselves and each other on black history, our culture, and issues that affect the black community. The resources are plentiful, we just have to tap in! There are literature books, audio, visual, and living resources right here in Roanoke, i.e. the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture, the historic Gainsboro tours by Jordan Bell, kemetic yoga and wellness with Ancestral Perspective by Antonio Stovall, and civic organizations like the black sororities and fraternities, NAACP, The Links, and Jack and Jill of America.

Unity. We must all be on the same page, or at least in the same book. We need a collective understanding of what our purpose is, what goals we are trying to achieve, our priority areas and strategies, and which organizations and people are focusing on specific target areas. If we do not unify and have this collective understanding, then we risk duplicating efforts, wasting resources, competing against one another, and appearing as a disjointed group of people.

So whether the focuses be mental and emotional health, safe and affordable youth activities, affordable housing, access to healthy foods, business development and management training, financial literary, diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, and/or any other issues facing the black community, we must unite to work together and help to solve our community’s issues.

Community. It is such a beautiful thing when we get together! We have great time. We laugh, dance, love, and share great energy. So let us celebrate at the Juneteenth festival, let us gather at the Black Father Family Festival, and let us meet at Washington Park for our family, class and community reunions. But let us not stop there! We must also show up in numbers for the neighborhood association meetings, City council meetings, and other community meetings where issues that affect the black community are addressed, heard, and decided.

Share our knowledge and resources. It is critical that we express ourselves and share our needs with the influencers and change-makers, i.e., government, business leaders, policy-makers, etc. This needs to happen consistently, on a regular basis. We need to build relationships and welcome others that are willing to stand up, speak, and put in the work with us.

Intentionality. Name it and encourage others to do the same. I find it ironic that although we know that African-Americans are the greatest underserved and disadvantaged people – as well as the largest minority group in the Roanoke area, the number of targeted programs for this very same population are limited. It is rare that an organization will proclaim a program specifically for African-Americans. I commonly see programs and services that serve everyone or that are nonspecific to a population. I believe these blanket programs and services are beneficial and have a great impact on all communities. However, if African-Americans are consistently at the bottom or have an unfair start and we are all moving forward, then African-American will be in the same place in the overall race.  So as a larger community, how are we really addressing the gaps and disparities of the Black community? We must call it out and name it. We must be intentional. 

Accountability. We have to be each other’s accountability partners. We do a great job of talking amongst ourselves. We talk about what we want to do, what we are going to do, but sometimes we do not make the action or follow-through. Let us hold each other accountable. Let us cheer each other on. Check in with that friend or colleague. Send a brotherly or sisterly reminder. Let us encourage each other.

Prioritize. Make the black community a priority. We must support each other. The next time you are considering a vendor to conduct business, somewhere to eat, a place to shop, a person to hire or recommend, a family to house…. Bet on Black! Prioritize your dollars in the black community.   

Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January 1 each year. I believe that we should practice the seven principles of Kwanzaa every day of the year. Created by Mualana Karenga in 1966, these principles are a great blueprint on how we can forward the black community. The seven principles are as follows,

Umoja means Unity, which is to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Kujichagulia means self-determination, which is to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves. Let us tell our story. 

Ujima means collective work and responsibility, which is to build and maintain our community together and make our community’s problems our problems and solve them together.

Ujamaa means cooperative economics, which is to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia means purpose, which is to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their greatness.

Kuumba means creativity, which is to do always as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it; and 

Imani means faith, which is believe with all our hearts in our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. 

And to that, I leave you with this… Cheers to our ancestors and elders that have laid the groundwork and achieved our current successes. Cheers to our brothers and sisters that are currently holding the torch, I see you. And Cheers to Roanoke, let us unite, build stronger communities, and be intentional. Ase’.