This article was originally published by The Emancipator.
Over 100 Black mayors from across the country converged in Washington, D.C., last week to strategize on how to prepare their communities as the Trump administration rescinds funding for crucial projects and targets diverse populations through regressive social policies.
The convening was reminiscent of a meeting of Southern Black mayors a little more than 50 years ago, who were elected after the Civil Rights Movement, to create a plan that benefits their communities in a post-civil rights era fraught with racial tension.
Today, Black mayors must navigate the same challenges on issues related to infrastructure and housing as the Trump administration ends diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, takes punitive legal action against universities and institutions that promote it, and purges civil rights offices across federal agencies. President Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric has emboldened a climate of xenophobia and White supremacy and many Black Americans worry about an all-out erasure of Civil Rights Movement social progress.
The Emancipator asked attendees at the annual African American Mayors Association conference how they plan to lead amid the Trump administration’s climate of racism. What emerged was an ideological divide within the Black community — one that is as old as debates between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington — on how to best resist, survive, and thrive. Here’s what the mayors had to say.
Resistance in a climate of racism
“We have to use every tool that we have in our toolkit to push back: Whether that’s boycotts, whether that’s marches, whether that’s sit-ins, whatever level it may be, whether that’s policy, implementation. We have to use everything. We have to use the courts. We have to go back to those old lessons to understand that what is new right now is not new to us, it’s just new to some. So, we have to make sure that we take those same lessons that we’ve learned, that we’ve heard, and we put them into action with technology, with the level of communication and opportunity that we have — from boardrooms to city halls to state legislature to the halls of Congress, to make that change.” – Mayor Steven Reed, Montgomery, Alabama
“My common ground for everything I do is equity. I think that’s a nasty word to them because to them equity means they have to sacrifice something that belongs to them. Not realizing that everything that they are given, that they have, is based off of the hard work and also long suffering of Black people in this country. I don’t see a middle ground for people who don’t understand that I, as a Black person, am owed something from America and it’s not a handout. … I am not comfortable lying to people that our pathway forward is on meeting a middle ground with an administration that doesn’t even recognize my humanity.” – Mayor W. Mondale Robinson, Enfield, North Carolina
Prioritizing resilience and survival
“Even twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, the work still continues, and we need the support. And again, we know that the city of New Orleans is known for its resilience, but again, we’re still vulnerable. We’ve made real progress, no doubt about it, in lessening green infrastructure, restoring our coastal wetlands, launching innovative stormwater management projects, flood mitigation techniques, you name it. But the work still needs to get done. More needs to get done. So together, we must prioritize investment in water infrastructure. … Federal support must be accessible. It has to be flexible and responsive to the unique needs in our own cities.” – Mayor LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans, Louisiana
“We live in a majority Black county in Eastern North Carolina and we are the Blackest town in that county … We’re one storm away from a terminal disaster. And what I mean by terminal disaster is our infrastructure is broken. People keep talking about lead pipes and that is an extremely important concern. But you never hear people mention about asbestos pipes. We’re suffering from people living with asbestos pipes. … We have no policies when we let the government deregulate EPA, when we allow for the defunding of programs that were meant to address all these harms my people are suffering from.” – Mayor W. Mondale Robinson, Enfield, North Carolina
“For our association and what you see not only on this stage, but those who make up the membership of this association, is a comprehensive approach to leadership and one that is prepared to deal with whatever type of opportunities we have coming from this administration. And I look at it as opportunities, not as challenges, not as what the rhetoric may be for the hour or for the day. But what can we do substantially for our communities? Because that improves everyone’s chance at life. It improves everyone’s chance to climb the economic ladder and to really provide for their families as well as for their communities.” – Mayor Steven Reed, Montgomery, Alabama
“What I think is the way we navigate is the way Black people have always navigated — around these people or through these people. We are already building public and private partnerships to ensure that people do not forget that what’s going on and what my people are suffering from in Enfield is not of or because of laziness. Or because people do not qualify because they’re lazy or not willing to work. It is because of systemic racism that is as old as this country.” – Mayor W. Mondale Robinson, Enfield, North Carolina
“Housing affordability continues across our country and even in Atlanta to be one of our top priorities. So, the federal government, through HUD, has voucher programs, has low-income housing tax credits, has various incentives and structured programs, the opportunity zones and others that can really help us develop more housing and housing that’s affordable. … We’re number one in the nation for Black businesses. … They make up a lot of our economy. So, when you go anti-DEI, on top of that, that means that sometimes the federal government programs that help support Black businesses, the state sometimes follows the federal guidelines. And so then you have state disinvestment in Black businesses all the way to the universities, state universities, which are controlled by state and federal laws.” – Mayor Andre Dickens, Atlanta, Georgia
“There’s a lot of uncertainty … there’s even some cases of nervousness if not fear, anxiety about what’s happening, how it’s going to impact programs. Whether it’s Head Start, whether it’s our public libraries, whether it’s public transportation. All of those are things that really have a lot of our residents asking questions.” – Mayor Steven Reed, Montgomery, Alabama
Thriving in times of uncertainty
“During these times of uncertainty, one thing is certain. We’re stronger together. We need one another. … And … if we stand together in this, we continue to stand, stay focused on what we need but collectively.” – Mayor LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans, Louisiana
“Atlanta’s a blue city, Democrat city, and we’ve been in a red state for a long time. So, working — Democrat, Republican, that comes with the territory in Atlanta. You’re a Democratic mayor, usually you’re working with a Republican governor or Republican state representatives and state senators. We know how to get along. We know how to make quality decisions on behalf of our public, our families, our businesses, our safety, et cetera. I ain’t going to say we agree every day on all things, but Democrats and Republicans can get along. What we’re dealing with now is trying to make sure we navigate a new federal administration. How do we make the causes and interests of cities, particularly major cities that have diverse populations of people with various issues from health care needs to homelessness support where the challenges of the greater society always migrate down into urban environments, because that’s usually where the help is.” – Mayor Andre Dickens, Atlanta, Georgia
“Collaboration among ourselves and with our federal administration is not only valuable, but is imperative for the betterment of our cities. … We are asking this administration to work with us, not around us. To work with us, not around us. Too often, mayors are left out of the room. That is a missed opportunity for the progress of our nation. Cities are where the rubber meets the road. Cities are where innovation begins and where it happens. So, please, leave room at the table for us because we wanna eat too.” – Mayor Van R. Johnson, Savannah, Georgia, and president of the African American Mayors Association
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