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When Farad Ali announced his bid to become mayor in 2017, it was viewed by some as the rekindling of Durham’s past. The former CEO and president of the Institute of Minority Economic Development was leading a movement for minority economic development across America. His office on Durham’s Black Wall Street evoked memories of the men and women who created institutions offering services to Black residents a few decades after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Ali ran a campaign that stressed a lack of equity in Durham’s flourishing economy. He says his work is about helping Black people make more money while helping corporations build diversity plans.
“Seventy percent of what goes on in city government is land issues. Those are economic issues, so those are job issues and those are income issues,” Ali said in a recent interview with the Rev-elution. “But we don’t see that if the people on the city council don’t think that deeply about how that works in our community.”
Steve Schewel topped Ali with 60 percent of the vote. Ali was endorsed by Bill Bell, who stepped down after 16 years as Durham’s mayor. Schewel received the endorsement from People’s Alliance, viewed by many as a statement against Bell’s pro-business policies. During Bell’s tenure, downtown Durham was transformed into an entertainment and dinning hub with raving national reviews. The Durham Performing Arts Center and American Tobacoo factory shifted Durham’s identity as the Triangles “Black Sheep” to one of the best places to live in America.
Ali was chided for his pro-business agenda. A growing group of Marxist organizers planned a takeover of city government. Big business was named the enemy with expanding gentrification applied as proof. In 2019, Joshua Gun, former vice-president of Durham’s Chamber of Commerce, was condemned for his ties to the business community. PA endorsed Jillian Johnson, Charlie Reece and Javiera Caballero during a hostile meeting.
The Strategy to Control Durham
In Durham, the PA endorsement is gold. Supporters of Gunn showed up to make their case. His great-grandfather moved to Durham one generation removed from slavery. His family remained in Durham because of its reputation for being a great place for Black people to fulfill their dreams. Gunn, also a hip-hop artist, moved back to Durham after three successful international tours. Gunn attempted to do what other young Black men born in Durham failed to achieve. Donald Hughes, DeWarren Langley and Pierce Freelon, all Black men under 40, couldn’t win a local election.
People present at that PA endorsement meeting say many of the volunteers managing the meeting wore t-shirts supporting Johnson, Reece and Caballero – who ran as a team. T-shirts were available at the registration table for anyone interested in displaying support. They say the odds were stacked against Gunn in what felt like a decision already made.
A person in attendance says it was the moment the influence of Durham For All was noticed. The rules for voting were used to out vote long-term PA members. The focus of Durham For All shifted from the original goal of offering an alternative to the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and PA. The group’s pivot as a voice for working class people of color to packing the room to leverage power within PA was evident during that endorsement meeting. Years of organizing with the tools of Marxist theory paid off.
Aidil Ortiz, a nonprofit consultant and resident of North East Central Durham, says groups like Durham For All aren’t being transparent about their relationship with Marxism and Communism.
“Most people in poor neighborhoods who are dealing with all these things are not aware of who the hell Marx is,” Ortiz says. “They may know certain things that align well with it, but they don’t know Lenin.”
Ortiz says groups organizing Black and brown people in poor neighborhoods aren’t telling people the real deal because it may not be popular or understood.
“Being a well-read person on Marxist theory does not mean you know how to impart that information in growth with that theory,” Ortiz says. “So being well-read scholars of the content does not mean that people have a ton of love for community and are willing to be in the trenches and experience a relationship with people.”
Ortiz says there are consequences related to how people approach people who don’t understand Marxism or Communism.
“Kaji (Reyes, director of Durham For All) won’t pay for those consequences, Jillian (Johnson, city council member) won’t pay for those consequences, Bennett (Carpenter, with Durham For All) won’t pay for those consequences. Poor people will,” Ortiz says.
The Battle with Black Wall Street
Durham is a city where Black people build institutions – Black owned banks (Mechanics & Farmers and Mutual Savings and Loans), a Black owned insurance company (North Carolina Mutual) and a historical Black university (North Carolina Central University). It is the home of the once thriving Hayti business district. Black business is in Durham’s DNA.
The Marxist wing of PA is on a quest to undo the influence of businesses. They rightfully point out massive disparities resulting from capitalism. It is valid to address how capitalism, flaked with the force of white supremacy, are used to curtail Black economic security.
It is appropriate to ask how the message of Marxism plays out in a city known for being the home of Black Wall Street. It matters that Black people built and maintained a system that produced wealth for Black people just decades after the end of slavery. A persistent attack against capitalism can be construed as a dismissal of Durham’s legacy as a center of Black prosperity.
The Marxist wing of PA is on a mission to remove Durham County Manager Wendell Davis. In a recent response to a Thomasi McDonald article in IndyWeek, Davis is called “a self-described ‘fiscal conservative’ who prefers high surpluses and low government spending for human needs but not police.”
The PA statement seeks to refute the criticism that their desire to remove Davis is driven by race. It’s not the Black man they oppose, it’s a form of conservatism compared to Republican trickledown theory.
“This fiscal conservatism took deep root in the 1980s during Ronald Reagan’s administration — with Reagan’s belief that government did not solve problems, it WAS the problem,” the PA states. “‘Reaganomics’ set about to “starve the beast” of social welfare — housing, healthcare, job training, public education — in favor of tax cuts to the rich and to corporations.”
This interpretation of progressive is what separates white liberals from Blacks who support the Democratic Party. The Marxist led wing of PA is pressing an agenda aimed at defining what it means to be progressive. In doing so, Davis is labeled a conservative Republican who espouses the economic theory of Ronald Reagan. To make a point regarding not being racist, they show a lack of understanding and affirmation of views held by many Black people.
Black people are pro-business. What most want is a piece of the pie. Black people want equity in their quest to create generational wealth. Black people seek what white people have taken advantage of for centuries – the opportunity to advance without facing limits to their dreams. Many of the people supporting Durham’s Marxist agenda come from affluent backgrounds. They preach a message without a firm understanding of what it feels like to be poor.
The Marxist wing of the PA normalizes Black poverty to advance a political agenda. In attaching the fiscal management of the county manager to "Reaganomics", they fail to recognize the dog whistle blown demonizing a Black man intentional about creating an equal playing field.
Black people are raised in a culture that promotes business. It is viewed as the only solution to the Black/white wealth gap. The vision for most Black families isn’t a life trapped in support from government programs to feed families and pay public housing. It’s a life committed to creating businesses to feed the children of their children.
Marxism is a movement aimed at supporting labor. Mobilizing workers to increase pay is valid. Pressing public policies aimed at supporting people without enough matters. All of that is true.
There is a more profound lesson. The hope and dreams of Black people isn’t in getting paid more to work at a local factory. The goal isn’t to get pay increased to $15 an hour. It’s to start a business, hire a team of employees and add to the wealth of the Black community.
That is the lesson of Black Wall Street that conflicts with the Marxist wing of PA. Black people have worked hard to build America. Black people have endured the manipulation of white politicians. There’s a lack of trust. It matters when white people think they know what’s best for Black people.
Black people in Durham want resources and the freedom to build vital businesses. The Marxist wing of PA is coming after businesses. It feels like racism because, without realizing the disconnect with the Black community, members of the Marxist wing of PA make the mistake often made by white people – assuming they know what’s best for Black people without an open, transparent conversation involving how they feel.
It would help if they considered Black history.
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