‘State of the People’ tour aims to help address needs of the Black community
ATLANTA—Black activists and com-munity organizers launched a 12 city tour to serve, to listen, to empower and to strategize about the future of Black people.
The nationwide “State of the People POWER Tour” kicked off in Atlanta on April 26-27. In the week after, organizers were scheduled to travel to Durham, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., Birmingham, Ala., and Montgomery, Ala.
The idea for the tour was born from a 24-hour livestream that took place on the same day as President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 4. Black leaders and organizers hosted a YouTube marathon on issues the Black community is facing.
“We had over a million people who tuned in at various times during the day, and we knew a couple of things. One is that Black people were thirsty for information from trusted messengers.
Second, that we needed to not only be talking at Black people, but we needed to be listening to Black people, because our communities are under a lot of stress,” Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the civil rights group, Advancement Project Action Fund, said to The Final Call.
“We wanted to engage Black communities across the country in a conversation about what they need and the kinds of policies that should be put in place so that we can thrive.”
More than 20 local organizations, 100 national groups and 500 volunteers were involved in the tour’s Atlanta stop, according to a post-event news release. Organizers include longtime activist Tamika Mallory, who is a co-organizer of the tour.
“These are groups of people who’ve come together, who’ve never worked together, in many cases, who’ve never necessarily been allied, never been in community. People who have never met,” political commentator Joy-Ann Reid said to The Final Call. Ms. Reid is part of the tour’s organizing committee.
“The state of the people livestream brought together those people in a way that was really revolutionary. … We took Black folks from all walks of the media world and civil rights world and activist world and put them all together. And it turned out, we obviously can work together,”
She said. “We understand the urgency of the moment. We don’t have time to argue among or bicker amongst ourselves. We have to be united.”
Organizers held a panel discussion tackling various topics like the U.S. immigrant crisis, tariffs and economics, White backlash and the importance of economic boycotts and buying Black.
“If we cannot be economically free, we can never be free,” Alphonso David, panelist and president of the Global Black Economic Forum, said to The Final Call.
He referenced the buying power of Black people, which is nearly $2 trillion.
“Black people spend an extraordinary amount of money, and when we spend that money and we spend it with the right companies and individuals, we can influence policy.
We shouldn’t be supporting companies that don’t support us,” he said. “If we’re supporting Black and Brown businesses, it will have a huge impact on our economy, because we spend so much money in the commercial space.”
Event attendees sat in on a plethora of workshops. Workshop topics included the state of Black public health, Black women leaders, farming and land investment, exploring power dynamics, empowering Black veterans, breaking the cycles of gun violence, the role of Black entertainers in the social justice movement, empowering Black men and faith-based organizing power.
A legislative session allowed Black elected representatives the opportunity to ask local activists and organizers what needs to be done.
Black political officials, faith-based leaders, business leaders, college students, rap artists, activists and organizers convened at The dReam Center Church of Atlanta on April 27 to further energize and empower the Black community.
Thousands of people registered for the tour. Other tour stops include: the cities of New Orleans, Newark, N.J.; Richmond, Va.; Detroit, Jackson, Miss.; Louisville, Ky. and Los Angeles are also scheduled tour stops.
—Anisah Muhammad, Staff Writer