Patty Stonesifer: Being antiracist requires education and action in your own neighborhood
It is early evening in the midst of a historic time: a pandemic paired with a long-overdue push for racial justice. We are sitting in a beautiful Northwest DC public playground. The swingset, the climbing hill and the nearby benches are occupied by families of every race and background, and children’s voices are lifted in glee. Most are speaking English, although there’s a smattering of Spanish mixed in. Some adults exchange greetings with extended family members as they arrive to share what little fresh air is moving on this hot summer day. Social distancing is in place, more or less, and the scene could easily be pictured on the front page of a newspaper as an example of the best of DC. Beautiful, no?
No. This playground has, for the past few weeks, been a focal point of neighborhood tensions over the new short-term housing facility, The Brooks, which opened to 50 families this past spring just one short block away. Friendship Place, which operates The Brooks under contract from the city, is quick to share the families’ progress: Already four families have exited The Brooks to new apartments, and families will spend, on average, just 90 days there while putting future plans together. The city has opened eight of these new programs, one in each ward, to ensure that every family experiencing homelessness in DC has a safe, supportive place to get back on their feet.
Hundreds of Ward 3 residents have responded with open arms to the arrival of The Brooks and the families being supported there, including creation of a Friends and Neighbors of The Brooks group and website. They know that privilege, which is apparent not just in beautiful homes and streets but in our neighborhood’s resources of great schools, parks, shopping and safety, should not be hoarded but instead shared. They applaud Mayor Muriel Bowser’s efforts to ensure better facilities and strong programs to help DC families reach the stability we all want for ourselves and our children. The pandemic has made grand celebrations impossible, but neighbors have raised funds to support families’ unexpected expenses. They’ve sent more than 1,000 books as well as new games and toys via an online Wish List and made welcome baskets for every family. Still others have placed yard signs in the area to underscore their own beliefs: Black Lives Matter; All Are Welcome Here; No Justice, No Peace. This is the best of my neighborhood. We need to keep it up.
But to my great dismay, others have continued the pushback that the city met when this structure was first proposed on Idaho Avenue NW in the Cleveland Park/Cathedral Heights area. Zoning and court appeals brought against the city to resist building the facility in this location didn’t stop the project, but the ugliness has taken a more personal and undeniably racist turn. Local listservs have posts about children “playing rough” in “our playground.” Focus on “out-of-town cars” has increased (it is a sad fact that many DC residents’ extended families have left the District due to the price of housing). Residents of The Brooks have been stopped on the street and asked, “Where do you live?” Complaints pour in to the facilities director about the residents on a range of things from smoking in public (still allowed in DC, whether we like it or not) to children playing on the sidewalk after 9 p.m. For any who are reading listserv posts, or even this commentary, and are of the impression that this is not about race but instead about “behaviors,” it is time to look deeper. We need not look further than the nightly news for the dangerous consequences for Black people when those with power and privilege interpret “their behaviors.”It is past time to realize that the behaviors and biases we should focus on are our own.
What can we do to ensure these families are safe and welcome? Individually and collectively, neighbors and local congregations are banding together to learn and do more — and to ensure visible signs of our support. Our efforts include ensuring The Brooks has the resources its residents need, educating our neighbors about the work being done there, and posting anti-racist signage. It only takes a small number of outrageous actors and racist actions to create a climate of distrust and fear. We need to ensure that those being targeted can see and feel our support — and that the haters see a cost to their actions. We need to continue what we have already been doing to provide funds and resources that are needed, but take our efforts up a level, too.
First is education, for ourselves and others. Bias exists in all of us, and close introspection and learning are essential. Consider reading Ibram X. Kendi’s How To Be an Antiracist, and then consider reading more. But knowledge alone is insufficient — and silence is dangerous. Marches and calls for justice are one way to move the needle, but they require hyperlocal action. We must all commit to being wise and active bystanders anytime we see actions that are unfair. The Quakers have bystander intervention training as part of their sanctuary commitment, and you can watch online. Friendship Place is planning to present more targeted offerings online and in our neighborhood soon. Plan to attend.
I hope all of us in Ward 3 will band together with our new neighbors at The Brooks and recognize our responsibility in this moment to use our privilege to build a more just community.
Patty Stonesifer, a Cleveland Park resident, retired last year as president and CEO of the DC-based nonprofit Martha’s Table.
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The DC Line welcomes commentaries representing various viewpoints on local issues of concern, but the opinions expressed do not represent those of The DC Line. Submissions of up to 850 words may be sent to editor Chris Kain at chriskain@thedcline.org.
Excellent article. Quaker bystander intervention do’s and don’ts is so enlightening. Thanks for sharing it and taking a stand about what more we can do.
I appreciate this commentary so very much. I witnessed all of the “Black Lives Matter” signs and all are welcome posters pop up throughout Cleveland Park following the murder of George Floyd, and the first thing I thought and said out loud was, “I really hope the people in these homes would be willing to open their doors to me should I ever need help. I hope my Black life really matters to them.” Me and my family are not residents of The Brooks, but we’ve been on the receiving end of questioning looks and actual questions from people who have asked if (and where) we live in Cleveland Park. We moved to Cleveland Park for all the reasons that everyone else did – great schools, safe neighborhood, access to businesses and amenities, friendly neighbors, parks, beautiful homes. While I love the neighborhood and have no intentions of moving, I also recognize that me and my daughter have been on the receiving end of certain microaggressions that we know our white counterparts never would be subjected to. For all of the pros of the neighborhood, there are a few cons that make me question the intentions of my neighbors.
Thank you for sharing your insights. It’s great to see action being taken in our own backyard beyond the yard sign. I hope Ward 3 embraces building a more just and welcoming community.
See the structual racism, and discuss! (pun intended) Thank you for your well written article. What does anti-racism mean if it doesn’t mean integrating affordable and accessible housing into every ward of the city? Ward 3 must do so much more. I would like to add that I believe racism is baked into the architecture of the Brooks buiding, so families face racism on the outside of the building and then have to live in racist architecture on the inside. How can architecture be racist, you ask? The building was planned and constructed so that families would have to share communal bathrooms with other families. We know that kids and adults sharing bathrooms with strangers is unsanitary, (COVID), unwise, and sometimes, unsafe. Yet the single parents in this shelter are stressed every time they or a child have a call of nature. Which would you do? Would you leave a child unattended inside a room (often not a safe option) in order to attend the bathroom with another child who needs it? Would you bring all your kids with you whenver you or they have personal hygiene needs? I believe that this architectural design is one that no parent would willingly choose, and leaves parents and children feeling constantly stressed and unsafe. I suspect this brand new building was designed like this by the DC government to “encourage” a shortened stay and to diminish the “attractiveness” of living at the Brooks. I hope that anti-racists in the future say a strong “no” to architectural racism. I hope in the future that the city invests much more in apartyment style housing for families, in Ward 3, and that we can stabilize families in our community, permanently, allowing kids to grow roots, connect to schools, teachers, friends, neighbors and their unstressed parents. Bouncing kids from school and neighborhood to another school and neighborhood is part of the harm that shelter perpetuates. These families need permanent housing that they can afford. Affordable housing (in contrast to shelter) is the anti-racist FOUNDATION for stable sucessful kids, stable sucessful parents, and for stable sucessful neighbohoods.