OneKMB: "We will not stand by and watch the slaughter of our children"

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Twenty-five students from the African American Male Initiative at North Carolina Central University made their way up the steps at the Hayti Heritage Center. Their marron jackets and prideful strut illustrated why the more than fifty people gathered waited for their arrival.

They represented the core of Black people’s dreams.

Founders of OneKMB (One Thousand Black Men) called a meeting to discuss the future of Durham. It was a blending of eulogy and revival with an action plan targeting increased gun violence.

“When we have kids using bathtubs for shields in Durham, we can do better than that,” Antonio Jones, chair of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and one of the founders of OneKMB, said.

Black men stood in an area above the crowd – like a commissioned army taking an oath of service. They wore the pride of a common bond, a commitment stirred by memories of scuffling in a world conditioned to discount Black men.

“We’re brothers. We’re fathers. We’re sons, uncles, and in some capacity, we’re mentors and coaches,” Omar Beasley, past chair of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and co-founder of OneKMB, said. “We, as a community of Black men, have been working together to galvanize our efforts, but now is the time that we can not allow Covid to be the reason for us to not put our plans and programs in action.”

A year has passed since OneKMB organized as a challenge to Black men. When the city was shut down due to Covid-19, crime didn’t take time off. In Durham, and in places across America, gun violence has escalated during Covid-19.

“We are here because there is no species on the planet that will stand by and watch you slaughter their offspring,” city council member Mark-Anthony Middleton said. “From the smallest turtle to the fiercest lion, there is no species on the plant that will just idly stand by and watch their children killed. Whether they wear feathers or talons, we will not stand by and watch the slaughter of our children as a spectator sport.”

Middleton, another co-founder of OneKMB with Leonardo Williams, a candidate for the city council, says he’s issuing a clarion call to every Black man in Durham.

“Whether you are in the board room, or on the corner. Whether you’ve been to college or not. No matter what area you participate in life, we need every Black man in this city to stand up, unite and say it’s up to us,” Middleton said. “We are not here to exempt the government, or to relieve them of their responsibilities. But we are here to say we are going to be perpetual, persistent partners in saving our children because we do not need permission to save our lives.”

Middleton announced the four pillars of OneKMB. The group will advocate for policies and programs already formed to address the needs of Black people.

“So, I’m saying to our local and state officials, adequately fund programs that are for us and by us,” Beasley said. “We have existing programs, existing plans, that don’t have adequate funding.”

Middleton says OneMKB will be a support system for existing programs.

“We will now have a virtual army, a data base of 1,000 plus men that are willing to come in and buttress up your program,” Middleton said.

OneKMB will also build an economic development strategy that utilizes resources among Black men to create pathways to opportunities. Middleton says some Black men have special access due to experience and relationships to offer direct intervention.

“Some can pull up and speak to brothers directly,” Middleton said. “They can go into situations and pull people out.”

Williams says his work with OneKMB is personal.

“I’ve lost count personally of how many students I’ve lost. Whether they were the killer or the one who was killed,” Williams, a two-time Durham Teacher of the Year, said. “What I can say consistently is they are all victims, and that is what we have to stop.”

Williams acknowledged that people are doing the work to curtail gun violence without adequate resources, while far too many people are left wondering what to do.

“I think we have been waiting for permission, but also we have been audience participants for too long,” Williams said. “Now, we’re sitting back eating popcorn watching news stories.”

Leonardo Williams and Mark-Anthony Middleton join a group of Black men in calling for remedies to mounting gun violence

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Leonardo Williams is joining forces with Mark-Anthony Middleton in a challenge for Black men to help curb gun violence in Durham.

It’s been a year since Williams and Middleton co-founded OneKMB (One Thousand Black Men). Both are busy campaigning for Durham’s city council. Middleton is the incumbent in Ward 2. Williams is running against A.J. Williams to replace Pierce Freelon as the Ward 3 representative.

Williams and Middleton are pausing their campaigns because they’ve seen too much to wait.

“Public safety is not a binary issue with one answer. It’s ensuring that we can live and prosper without fear of losing lives,” Williams wrote in a statement released to the press. “I have a son, I hire young men, I’m a Black man; so, it’s personal for me. I’m committed to hiring, mentoring, and growing young men of color, yet I’m in direct competition with forces that do not have our best interest at heart. I refuse to sit idly and watch another young man’s life end senselessly.

Omar Beasley, past president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, John Rooks, Jr., former candidate for Durham city council, and Antonio Jones, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, are also co-founders of OneKBM.

Middleton says Covid-19 would not allow the group to meet and organize like they needed to last year. OneKMB plans to generate and facilitate resources for mentoring groups, organization, and economic ecosystems throughout Durham. They are challenging local governments and concerned citizens to devise an action plan to address gun violence.

“This call for 1000 Black Men to assemble is not meant to excuse nor exempt the government from its responsibilities; it is rather meant to augment and complement the efforts to literally preserve Durham’s future,” Middleton said. “We do not need permission to save our own lives.”

The press release notes recent police data that has Durham on pace to surpass 2016 as the deadliest year on record.

“To counter the uptick in gun violence, Black men of several organization and ministries are asked to join a mass action movement in order to keep our communities accountable and change the trajectory of young men of color who are committing crimes and are the victims of crime, enhance their engagement in the community, and provide access to stable jobs and workforce development,” the OneKBM press release states. On Friday, OneKBM will begin a movement that will directly impact how Black men are involved in Durham’s public safety.”

Black men are asked to meet on Friday, September 24, at noon on the steps of the Hayti Heritage Center.

Questions regarding the leadership of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People exposes the assumptions of white power and privilege

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commentary -I challenged Antonio Jones, chairperson of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, to prove his leadership is making a difference. He offered a list of behind closed-doors meetings with corporate bigwigs.

My question reflected growing frustration with the state of Black leadership. I’m dismayed by the slow-motion movement toward embracing the goals of women, LGBTQIA inclusion and affirming the concerns of Durham’s Latinx community. My desire for more than the traditional rhetoric of a Black middle-class agenda is troubling my soul.

In fairness, these issues transcend questions related to Jones or other men and women appointed to lead Black organizations. The models for community organizing are massively outdated and reflect assumptions involving what it takes to move the needle. Changing times require more than a protest movement and the election of Black politicians to secure a Black agenda.

The suppositions regarding the agenda have changed. The perception of a Black agenda is clouded by a myriad of thoughts regarding what’s best for Black people. The legacy of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black people is the ability to rapidly mobilize Black people to confront an enemy. There was clarity involving what that meant. The influence of white supremacy was correlated to laws limiting the progress of all Black people.

Today, there are diverged opinions regarding the enemy in the way of progress. Black people are divided. Locally, this shows up in views regarding police funding. White progressives have strategically and effectively manipulated the division to persuade Black people to consider other ways to combat white supremacy. Their pitch – the problem isn’t Black versus white. It’s capitalism versus socialism. It’s the Black elite versus working class Black people. It’s homophobic Black people versus the force of an inclusive agenda.

Within this context, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People is named the enemy of economically challenged Black people. The organization is labeled a relic of the past.

The organization is blamed for the dismantling of a Black power base. What is missing in this critique is something more consequential. The narrative surrounding the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and other Black led organizations, exposes the impact of white supremacy in minimizing Black mobilization.

The founders of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People were business owners. The leaders of Black movements across the country were religious leaders supported financially by their congregants. They could freely speak because they weren’t forced to capitulate to the interests and demands of their employers. They were free to challenge the systems created to regulate the movement of Black people. All of that changed when congregations shifted their theological and political positions. It changed when former business owners, supported by Black consumers, became employees at Duke and other white controlled businesses. It changed when urban removal dismantled more than 100 businesses in Durham’s Hayti business district.

It also matters that white funding channels dried up when white led organizations took on the business of fixing Black people’s problems. Most nonprofits doing work addressing Black disparities are managed by white people. The executive directors are white. The board members are white. Their program models are based on research with little or no input from Black people.

The impact of generational wealth feeds into the funding disparity of organizations like the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. White funders feed organizations like Durham’s People Alliance with enough to hire staffing to manage their political agenda. Organizations like the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People raise just enough to address the needs of their political action committee, and that amount pales in comparison to the People Alliance’s war chest.

This is the corollary of white people investing in Black folks’ business. The leaders of Black led organizations consistently walk on eggshells out of fear that saying too much will result in their termination. Black leaders incessantly endure the fear of being blackballed for being a “firebrand” within a community that wants it all to go away.

Black leaders aren’t protected by Black self-determination. They’re forced to assimilate in a world that measures achievement by the standards of white normality.

In this sense, the nature of Durham’s political system uncovers the impact of white supremacy and institutionalized racism. There are double standards limiting how Black people speak versus the freedom of white people to share opinions. The economic disparities related to the funding of nonprofits, who does Black focused work and political action committees engaged in getting Black people elected, is why groups like the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People seem to do less.

The municipal election is rapidly approaching. The Political Action Committee of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People is endorsing candidates for mayor and three ward seats. They will do so after pondering the concerns of a cross-section of Black people. They will also consider the interests of Durham’s Latinx community.

During their recent annual dinner, Jones made a strong statement regarding LGBTQIA inclusion. His comments were met with a standing ovation. The narrative regarding the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People lingers in places managed by some white liberals.

Upon deeper evaluation, don’t believe the hype.