“I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope.”
― Cornel West
Morgan State University Choir rendition of Glory during the summer of 2020
Walking a city block along the bus route one sees benches inscribed with the proud phrase “Baltimore, the greatest city in America.” Once one of the wealthiest American harbors, Baltimore is a city marked by contradictions. Residents in many neighborhoods experience food apartheid, a menacing police presence, high crime rates, and poor health conditions. In other areas, the city’s streets pulsate with bustling restaurants, four-star hotels, celebrated universities and museums, and a thriving arts scene.
Baltimore is also where community leaders steer grassroots organizations to improve the lives of individuals left behind by government bureaucracies. Propelled by a sense of justice and driven by the hope that their community’s quality of life can be improved, these trail blazers stand up and stand tall for others, in kindness.
Betting on Hope documents initiatives supported by Relief & Restoration Grants distributed by the Center for the Study of Religion and the City at Morgan State University. We invite you to experience first-hand accounts of people doing the good work, while coping with a life-threatening virus and facing systemic racism. Their stories guide us along the arc of justice and inspire the hope that the work we do together will shape a future Baltimore that we all deserve.
This exhibition is made financially possible through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. We also wish to thank all the participating student curators, artists, and creatives.
TWO BALTIMORES: THE “BLACK BUTTERFLY” AND THE “WHITE L”
Baltimore is a divided city…
a phenomenon that Morgan State University Professor Lawrence Brown describes as a “Black Butterfly” and “White L," in which
The white neighborhoods on [the city’s racial mapping] that form the shape of an ‘L’ accumulate structured advantages, while Black neighborhoods, shaped in the form of a butterfly, accumulate structured disadvantages. Baltimore’s hyper-segregation is the root cause of racial inequity, crime, health inequities/disparities, and civil unrest (Brown, 2016).
This mapping of Baltimore is symptomatic of redlining – the institutionalized denial of services to residents of socio-economically and racially defined neighborhoods, either explicitly or through the selective raising of prices. Even with the passing of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, housing discrimination continues with serious effects.
Prominent and well-funded cultural institutions are located on the “White L,” such as the Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University, and the Walters Art Museum. Baltimoreans residing in the “Black Butterfly” experience insufficient access to healthy food, medical insurance and other public health services, and educational technology. They also suffer far greater Covid-19 infections and deaths.
IMAGE: Untitled #003 by Nia Clark-Dallas
PANDEMICS: COVID 19 | POLICE BRUTALITY| SYSTEMIC RACISM
To date, the coronavirus has stolen over 970,000 American lives.
In cities like Baltimore the pandemic’s violence is magnified by palpable health inequities in low-income neighborhoods, where communities of color suffer from social and economic disparities created by systemic racism– a “disease” that has long infected the United States of America.
On June 6, 2020 Morgan Students led a protest against the unjust and shameful police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and far too many other Black individuals. Despite the dangers of mass gatherings during the pandemic, the World Health Organization maintained that protests are important for addressing the structural inequalities that have led to public health disparities along racial lines.
For many Baltimoreans, images of a white police officer mercilessly kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, and ensuing protests, brought to the fore painful memories of the brutal murder of Freddie Gray while in police custody in 2015. As well as sharp realities of the report issued by the US Department of Justice in the summer of 2016 stating that the “Justice Department finds a pattern of Civil Rights Violations by the Baltimore Police Department.”
IMAGE: Dismantle by Junious Woodrick
HOPE BETWEEN THE WALLS
In June 2020,
the Center for the Study of Religion and the City’s leadership was given the opportunity to distribute Relief & Restoration Grants made possible through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation to organizations in Baltimore and beyond. Here we share the transformational work of the individuals and collectives who shape these organizations and who have stepped up to offer help, from providing PPE to essential workers, to offering housing assistance, to planting gardens so that under-resourced Baltimoreans may become food independent.
We wish to uplift their stories. Over 30 of us banded together to record and transcribe oral histories, to create works of art, to photograph and video the city we love– and to curate this exhibition. Our team celebrates the action of the organizations featured here and the power of hope in the face of righteous frustrations experienced by People of Color in one of America’s greatest cities.
IMAGE: HOPE BETWEEN THE WALLS by Eve D'Antignac
IT STARTS WITH FOOD
Planting a seed is an act of hope. We turn to gardening for a variety of reasons: to spiritually ground ourselves, to connect with others, and to enhance a sense of health and wellbeing. In need, we turn to the land upon which we stand to sustain ourselves– to eat. Several organizations utilized the Relief and Restoration grants to provide sustenance and to disseminate knowledge of land cultivation as a means to fight back against food insecurity. Watch Farmer Chippy from Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm and Sha’Von Terrell from Black Church Food Security Network, community organizers engaged in relief centered around food and health.
“Teamwork makes the dream work! Help us feed Baltimore and eliminate food insecurity!”
Farmer Chippy, founder of the Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm
On a mission to plant a garden in every vacant lot, folks at Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm are bringing together community leaders, youth farmers, artists, developers, and many other essential stakeholders to grow healthy foods and distribute produce in the creation of Baltimore City’s first “Agrihood.” In the summer 2020, supported by CSRC and in collaboration with the Morgan State University Architecture Department, Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm unveiled a demonstration kitchen with the goal of providing the surrounding community with healthy prepared food and nutritional food education.
“Taking our health in our own hands.”
Reverend Heber Brown III, founder of The Black Church Food Security Network
The Black Church Food Security Network’s mission is to connect the resources of historically African American rural and urban churches to promote food and land sovereignty. With the support of the CSRC the Black Church Food Security Network developed North Star Farms, an urban teaching farm that serves as a “fresh food hub” and a food processing site for those in need. As Sha’Von Terrell describes: the pandemic prompted introspective work that focused communities on the knowledge and skills ingrained in their own DNA.
REFUGE
is “the condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble.”
What comes to mind when you think about refuge– a home, a job, a quiet neighborhood? Relief and Restoration grants were given to organizations committed to providing shelter, employment, and reprieve from gun violence before and during the pandemic. Listen to our partners’ stories HERE.
“The lack of access to public assistance, asylum seekers can't get SNAP or food stamps. They can't get Medicaid, they can't get housing assistance...”
Ms. Tiffany Nelms, Executive Director of Asylee Women Enterprise
Arriving in need of safe housing, food and language skills, asylum seekers can not work in the initial stages of their legal process and can not receive unemployment insurance or the federal stimulus that others impacted by COVID-19 have been able to access. Asylee Women Enterprise continued to provide housing, client advocacy, and other support throughout the pandemic to those who came to Baltimore without family, friends, or community ties.
“...that's what BUILD does as organizers on the ground; they go out, literally, go door to door and find out what people's needs are.”
Melvin Wilson, Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, Co-director of Turnaround Tuesday
Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) is an interfaith, multiracial community power organization rooted in Baltimore’s neighborhoods and congregations. Turnaround Tuesday is a jobs movement of BUILD committed to helping people– largely ex-offenders– get livable wage jobs. Layoffs, furloughs and reduced employment opportunities caused by the pandemic drastically impacted the people that Turnaround Tuesday serves. The staff at Turnaround Tuesday amped up their energies to support these vulnerable communities with laptop devices for remote job training, video counseling, and PPE.
“We started by calling ceasefire weekends, where we ask everyone to be peaceful and celebrate life.”
Erikka Bridgeford, Founder of Baltimore Ceasefire 365
Baltimore Ceasefire 365 offers a community-based approach to gun violence reduction, with the goal of all Baltimoreans committing to zero murders. Ceasefire’s activists believe that the very spot where a human life is taken becomes Sacred Ground through community rituals facilitated by Ceasefire volunteers, replacing violence with love. The CSRC grant allowed Ceasefire to provide outreach materials, support families who lost loved ones to violence during ceasefire weekends, and to expand Baltimore's ability to address and heal root causes and impacts of violence.
COLLECTIVE WORK TOWARD JUSTICE
Collaborators, accomplices, and co-conspirators…
who promote equity are learning from Black-led organizations, from Black Lives Matter to CLLCTIVLY, featured here. We are hopeful to see Communities of Color working alongside allies and advocates for the reform and abolishment of unjust policies and systems. We are indebted to all of them for showing us ways forward. Listen to them HERE.
“In the spirit of Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) now is the time for all of us to come together to support those in need and to contribute to the vitality and health of our community.”
Mr. Jamye Wooten, Founder of CLLCTIVLY
CLLCTIVLY is a Black-led organization with a mission to end the duplication and fragmentation of programs by operating as a resource for the Baltimore community, seeking out black social change organizations to fund and with whom to partner. With CSRC funding, CLLCTIVLY distributed “no strings attached” micro-grants to Black businesses, organizations, and artists under under the rubric “solidarity not charity.”
“...it's not just about doing the work but it's also about educating our community and bringing them into the work to help contribute.”
Ms. Molly Amster, Director, The Baltimore chapter of Jews United for Justice
The Baltimore chapter of Jews United for Justice (JUFJ) is a grassroots community that organizes Jews around local policy issues to amplify the voices and needs of those most directly impacted by injustice. In 2020 JUFJ mobilized with city partners to make sure Baltimore City government protects its most vulnerable residents, ensuring such housing protections as eviction moratorium and rental assistance.
“In a Biden/Harris administration, we must urge the legislative changes that can bring our families the dignity they deserve, while demanding local policy solutions that respect our peoples’ contributions and improve the quality of life in the Baltimore region.”
Lydia Walther-Rodriquez, Regional Director of CASA Baltimore and Central
CASA de Maryland is the largest immigrant advocacy organization in the Mid-Atlantic region supporting Latino and immigrant people in the state of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Their organizing work takes the form of rallies and protests to transform legislation as well as direct community engagement in programs such as providing employment placement, workforce development and training, health education, citizenship and legal services, and financial literacy training to Latino and immigrant communities throughout the state. The CSRC grant contributed to CASA’s Solidarity Fund which enabled CASA to directly distribute cash benefits to members who were ignored by the federal government in the CARES Act stimulus package.