March 30: Confront the Klan by Building Community.
Creative Arts Building
@ Tiger Lane
Free and Open to the Public
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
There has been much written and said about the planned March 30th rally of the KKK. This rally is inspired by recent Memphis City Council action changing the names of three Confederate parks, Nathan Bedford Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park and Confederate Park. The parks were given temporary placeholder names and their permanent names will be decided later with a great deal of promised public input.
These facts have been presented and these stories covered in the media and discussed in our workplaces, classrooms, places of worship and homes. Yet, it falls to the public, to the people of Memphis and Shelby County to answer one pivotal question. What is to be our response to this?
Some very sincere and passionate people believe in being at the scene of the Klan rally to show, publicly and assertively, that hate-mongers such as the Klan and their ilk are neither welcome or wanted within our community.
March 30th at Tiger Lane (old Fairgrounds) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. is the date and time of an unprecedented community-wide partnership under the banner of HEART OF MEMPHIS.
HEART OF MEMPHIS will provide an event that is free and open to the public, safe and family friendly. This event will not only have great music, dance, food and culture, but most of all, will focus on building a long-term movement that opposes racism and discrimination of any kind in our city on March 30th and every day thereafter. This pivotal section of the event is the first annual MEMPHIS UNITED: People’s Conference on Race and Equality.
This will be a space where the greater community can hold substantial conversations and dialog about racism – both interpersonal and systemic – in our community. There will be a rich selection of workshops and trainings available around grassroots organizing, nonviolent direct action, mindful communication, anti-racism and anti-oppression organizing and understanding privilege.
What we cannot have is a lot of energy and passion being expended on Saturday the 30th in the name of fighting racism, that all goes away the next day, Easter Sunday; or worse, a repeat of the violence of 1998.
Let’s make this Resurrection Sunday a resurrection of our community’s commitment to building the beloved community. The event is free and I do so hope that Memphians of all races will attend, bring your children and, join the work of ending our city’s legacy of hate.
I urge all of us to be mindful and do nothing that would play into the hands of racists and for all of us to act responsibly in the coming days.
Please join our Facebook page here: facebook.com/MemphisUnited
Check out the full Heart of Memphis lineup here.
Peace, Salaam, Shalom.