Celebrating Hamer

The Fannie Lou Hamer Legacy Committee is presenting a commemoration program for legendary civil-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer from Thursday March 1 through Saturday March 3.
The festivities will begin on Thursday night with a musical tribute to Ms. Hamer at the H.G. Carpenter Auditorium at Valley State in Itta Bena. This will include The MS Valley State University Choir, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Hollis Watkins, Vincent Harding, Margaret Kibbee and others.
Friday morning, 10am at the same auditorium the Sunflower County Freedom Project will present the play "Five Feet Four Inches Forward," celebrating the life of Ms. Hamer.
Friday afternoon from 2-5pm in Ruleville, there will be a multimedia presentation about Ms. Hamer, featuring video, photos and testimonies from friends who worked and struggled alongside her. This will take place at the Fannie Lou Hamer Multi-Purpose Building on Byron St.
At 7pm on Friday there will be a commemorative forum at Williams Chapel Baptist Chruch, also on Byron St. in Ruleville. This will celebrate the Rev. Joe D. Story, who opened the chapel to the movement and supported Hamer and friends.
Saturday morning there will be a parade in Ruleville starting at Rule Park at 10am. The events will conclude with a barbecue and speeches from those who were touched by Ms. Hamer's life and legacy.
These are going to be great events and an opportunity to learn about and celebrate one of the Delta's and America's great leaders. Let's support this awesome effort!

Impassioned, Informed, Effective

I hope that these three adjectives continue to describe our Design Work Group. They also apply to someone I want to introduce you to. Her name is Majora Carter. If you click on her name, you will see what she has been up to. If you're like me, you will get the chills several times while watching this.

Majora is from the South Bronx, and she grew up watching the decline of her neighborhood and community, largely brought on by large scale city "planning" that did not take the people living in low income areas into account. As in many low-income areas, her neighborhood hosts a disproportionate number of sewage treatment facilities, noxious industrial plants and prisons, all of which benefit people outside of her community while disrupting the quality of life in her own neighborhood.

However, Majora is one of those rare people we talked about. An informal leader (activist) whose passion for improving her community is matched only by her effectiveness in mobilizing those around her to do something about it. She's started an organization called Sustainable South Bronx, (click on the name to check it out.) Among a number of exciting projects, they've developed the neighborhood's first waterfront community park in decades.

Majora's special, but not unique.

There are people like her in our communities throughout the Delta. People who accept no excuse for the sorry condition of their neighborhoods and who will do whatever it takes to improve things. Our mission tells us it's going to be our job to find the Majora Carters of the Delta, and make sure that they are empowered to do what they have been called to do. Tell me what you think in the comments.

How the Word Gets Out

I was thinking about this blog the other day and how I could make it more active. When people don't contribute as much, other people stop checking the blog, and it becomes a downward spiral.
This is a new way of communicating for some of us. It reminds me of a lesson I learned as a teacher:

One year we had a new principal come in after the school year was well under way. He wanted to have a PTA meeting, so he did the things most sensible principals would do:

He announced the information over the intercom.
He sent home a memo about the meeting.
He posted the memo in the staff room and around the school.

The night of the meeting, only about 3 parents showed up. This was a school that usually had a good showing on PTA nights-- what had happened? As it turned out, the new principal was unaware of the real communication system. No one listened to the intercom (too much junk) or looked in the teachers' lounge (no breaks) or read flyers (usually out of date).

What teachers did do was talk to certain people who I will call the hubs. Hubs are people who connect entire groups of people-- you know them, the ones who know your business before you know it yourself! Here in the Delta, most information still travels by good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth and it pays to know who the hubs are.

For example, when I was teaching 3rd Grade, I had a couple parents who tended to know most of the other parents. Whenever we had class events, I would call these parents first and get them involved and then sit back as the event took off on its own!

So to my fellow Leaders reading this, I want you to comment on who the hubs in your community are. Then maybe if some of y'all step up and create some interesting new posts, this blog can become the hub it needs to be for our group!

U.S. Public Service Academy

Chris Myers Asch, who founded the Sunflower County Freedom Project, is at it again. The former Indianola resident is currently working to create a national university with a public service focus. The National Public Service Academy will be for public service what Westpoint or Annapolis are for the military.
Here's the stated mission:

The mission of the United States Public Service Academy is to build a corps of civilian leaders who have the moral character, academic training, and leadership experience necessary to serve the American people honorably and effectively, and who are committed to devoting their lives to public service.

I bring this up because on Friday the 2nd there will be a letter-writing party/information session about the effort from 4:30-6:30 PM at the new Regent Coffee House in Indianola. One of the goals of our MSDI group is to bring together leaders throughout the Delta. With that in mind, this event will definitely be a gathering of some great community leaders (some of whom are working closely with national leaders). If any of you are in the area, please stop by and enjoy the free food and company. I hope to see some of you there!