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| September 17, Indivisible Meeting |
In February
of 2011, Kevin Johnson was in the second part of his first term as the first
black mayor of Sacramento. This is a
time when politicians often ask their political advisors questions about their
prospects for re-election or seeking higher office. Instead, Mayor Johnson asked an uncomfortable
question about his effectiveness, not of his advisors, but of his
constituency. That question he posed to
black Sacramentans was this: Is your life any better because I’m the mayor? The answer—by and large—was a resounding
“no”. And so, the Indivisible collective
was born. Started as a few concerned
citizens, the group grew to now over 200 monthly attendees dedicated to
providing a presence (manpower) and buy in (financial backing) to issues
related to improving the overall status of black Sacramentans.
The framework
Indivisible employed to organize itself was to amass people and resources to
address three primary issues: Education, Economics and Politics. For almost two years, the monthly meetings
involved a community speaker, the mayor’s address, and some updates on two
related groups, STAND UP and PAC Fifteen.
STAND UP is an education nonprofit working for teacher quality,
accountability, school choice, parent engagement and effective policy and PAC
Fifteen is a super political action committee dedicated to raising funds to
support the campaigns of candidates for public service that will represent the
best interests of the black community.
By most standards, the collective was impressively successful in such a
short time. STAND UP launched the
Sacramento Reads program to improve elementary school literacy and the Freedom
Writer’s Institute. PAC Fifteen raised
$50,000, thanks to a pro bono fundraiser with Roland Martin in May 2012, the
money from which was helpful in getting Allen Wayne Warren elected to
Sacramento City Council in District 2.
As a product
of Sacramento’s Oak Park community, this cause is very personal for Mayor
Johnson. However, he’s been careful not
to alienate important supporters outside of the black community. He constantly reminds Indivisible of our
important allies and that being “pro black” does not mean being “anti-anyone
else,” but that we need to change the trend that black people are “in last
place for [indicators that measure] everything good and first place for
everything bad.” I can quote him on this
because it is a staple part of his monthly address. And, herein lies the inevitable critique; while
the point cannot be reiterated enough, over time as I looked at the faces of
the audience members, it began to feel as if he was preaching redemption to the
converted, specifically those attending their fourth service of the day because
they also sing in the choir.
Month after
month a growing number of community members attended the meetings and brought
new people with them. In fact, by
September 2012, almost 700 people had attended at least one Indivisible
meeting. However, the group had
difficulty month after month reaching the Mayor’s goal of having 200 people
fill The Guild Theatre in Oak Park during the monthly meetings. Part of the waning enthusiasm was that the
details about how Indivisible was going to address the three priority areas
seemed to lack direction. The goal of
simply “showing up” was not enough to keep a largely professional crowd coming
each month, despite their high hopes for the ambitious Mayor and his newly
formed group. And so, the chorus of
voices began to say, “I’m on the email list and I’ll come back when there’s
something for me to do.”
Coincidentally,
after a few meetings with lower attendance than previously recorded, renewed
enthusiasm for the group began when Indivisible sponsored a private viewing of
“Won’t Back Down” in October. Needless
to say, a very spirited public conversation took place after the movie
surrounding its controversial theme: the (false) dichotomy that teacher
interests (read: unions) and child interests (read: achievement) are inherently
at odds. Despite a groundswell of
interest in education, another key area began to have a little more weight in
the mayor’s monthly address: economics.
Beginning with sharing the Urban League state of black America in the
late summer, Mayor Johnson began to share information about generational
poverty and generational wealth, the spending power of the black community, and
the need for the restoration of community trust to make a collective
impact. And so, on December 17, he
invited Melody Hobson, 43, President of Ariel Investments and newly appointed
Chairman of the Board of Directors for DreamWorks, to speak on this topic.
To say her
remarks were epic is an understatement.
Her rags to riches story inspires a naïve belief in the American Dream….
and possibly even Santa Claus, because if this woman can achieve the success
she has, there’s nothing that anyone with willpower can’t do. But therein lies the point, I think. It actually isn’t magic. Nor is it luck or happenstance. Her story is remarkable in how much it relies
on basic common sense and everyday experience.
A good example of this is illustrated in the story of the impetus for
her life’s work. Watching her mother
squander money on unimportant things like Easter dresses when the light bill
hadn’t been paid, made Melody determined to make different decisions and
understand how money works. Or, stated
how your mother would say it, she learned early on that “doing the same thing
(we’ve) always done gets us the same thing (we’ve) always gotten.”
Melody’s
remarks were part inspirational speaker, part sister-friend, and part financial
guru, precisely the thing that we need to cultivate in our community. Her remarks taught the value of investing,
especially in industries you know well, because your familiarity and expertise makes
the process more personable and understandable.
She had a
special message to the women about the confidence of our voices. She spoke to
the women about being unafraid to be irreverent and admonishing for asking for
permission and undermining our own credibility by being afraid to speak first.
Most importantly though, she reflected on a great quote by Judith Collins, “As
women we’re raised to have rescue fantasies, but I’m here to tell you: no one
is coming.” Melody shared this quote in
a women’s only reception before the Indivisible meeting, so the mayor made the
men say, “We’re coming” at the beginning of the meeting without understanding
the context! Though we all got a kick
out of the “response” without the “call”, she later expanded this comment not
just to the women, but to the entire black community. “We need to behave as if no one is coming
because they’re not. It is up to us to
be able to leave an inheritance for our grandchildren.” To that end she gave five reasons that the
black community is underappreciating financial opportunities: 1) lack of
knowledge, 2) misinformation, 3) lack of trust, 4) lack of exposure, and 5)
financial conservatism. The latter term
she defined as the shortsightedness of taking extremely conservative risks which
result in the black community unwittingly sacrificing wealth.
Polling
audience members in the packed house at The Guild, people left feeling inspired
and empowered. It was a great launch
event for a stronger focus on economics in 2013. After the meeting, David DeLuz, President of
the Greater Sacramento Urban League, said he was impressed with Melody and the
direction that Indivisible is taking as the mayor continues to unfold the plan
of action for 2013. The Indivisible vision is in alignment with the work the
Urban League is already doing to help providing housing and financial
education. “I just want to encourage
people to attend the meetings. I think it's important, and it gives us an
opportunity not only to set the agenda, but also act upon it. Indivisible lets
us focus on a few basic things, and get them done. It gives us a place to
learn, act, and evaluate our impact.”
The next Indivisible meeting takes place Monday, January 28 from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. at the Guild Theatre, 2828 35th Street, Sacramento.
-Flojaune Griffin
