Volusia Remembers Community Coalition Agreement

in Collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative
DRAFT June 24, 2020

Values
Our values center on our recognition of the humanity of the victims of racial terror lynching, but also on our willingness to confront the troubling humanity of those who lynched them or allowed them to be lynched. We recognize that the concept of race was developed over centuries to support the degradation and enslavement of Black peoples. Over that same long period, myths of White supremacy were established to support that injustice. We believe that we cannot become a “more perfect union” until we have acknowledged the past but also recognized how past trauma still taints our present relations and political, economic, and social institutions.  We accept that repairing our present requires attention to the wounds of our past.  But we also believe that, working together as a multicultural community organization, we can honestly examine that past, begin to “heal hard history,” and build a more united future, pursuing the ideal of “beloved community.”  

Goals  
Our mission, briefly stated, is to Remember, acknowledge, and reflect upon our history of racial terror by partnering with the Equal Justice Initiative to recognize victims of lynching in our county, Volusia County, Florida.  Our goals emphasize three points:  Honor (remember lynching victims and celebrate Civil Rights victories), Educate (explore our divided past and chart a united future), and Reconcile (cultivate healing and reconciliation).  Each of these words presents challenges.  Reconciliation, for instance, requires all of us to confront a painful past. Black members must recall, again, the indignities they have faced and the violence their ancestors have faced. White members must understand that apologizing for past racial terror is only a first step toward healing in the present and for the future.  

Atmosphere     
We are committed to a friendly, welcoming atmosphere where all persons are respected.  Our Steering Committee chairs are charged with keeping meetings focused on a shared agenda, but they are also expected to make sure that everyone has “time” and “space” to enter a discussion.  We emphasize conversation: when possible, we sit in a circle, with no one designated “at the head of the table.” Our larger Coalition “plenary” meetings are structured around an announced agenda, but new voices and perspectives are always encouraged. We value learning together and working collaboratively. While respecting each other’s experiences, we especially wish to lift up the voices of our African American and Black members who have personal and family histories of suffering from racial prejudice. They must have the leading voice in our work.

Unity  
We are strongly committed to our values of respect, honesty, and openness.  We are intent on welcoming debate and bringing sources of difference out for respectful discussion early on, and we work for strong consensus, not necessarily unanimity.  We support each other—listening first to African American members who have had direct experience with racial prejudice but also encouraging the voices of White members who may still be confronting their own personal experience of race. We know that it is painful for some of our White members to acknowledge that racial injustice has benefitted them in countless ways. We will support them in the important work of educating others who were born into a racial system that they only later came to realize was and still is unjust.

Roles    
We have two co-chairs, five committee chairs, and persons with important expertise (in history or social media, for instance) who form our Steering Committee.  We report to the full Coalition in plenary sessions, which meet at least monthly.  Minutes are kept by a member of the Steering Committee and shared for all our meetings; agendas are established in advance of meetings.  As our project evolves, we anticipate new committees or task forces to draft language, with EJI, for historical markers and to develop the plan for installing here a replica of the Volusia County Monument now at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. We also have college student members of our coalition, from Bethune-Cookman University and Stetson University, who provide valuable expertise in research and outreach to younger people in our county. We plan to expand our student membership in coming months.

Accountability   
Steering Committee and Coalition meetings are opportunities for examining our successes and failures in upholding our values and making progress toward our goals.   Our leaders—co-chairs, committee chairs, and other Coalition members—are committed to honest self-evaluation. We are prepared to listen to critics of our project, always trying to learn from their perspectives and to improve our work. Our close relationship with social justice organizations in our county means that we have people we can turn to for counsel; they support our goals but will caution us about any missteps. These organizations include the local chapters of the NAACP, CIVITAS (a local social justice organization, which shelters our financial accounts), universities (notably Bethune-Cookman and Stetson Universities), faith communities, especially the Concerned Clergy of West Volusia and African-American pastors county-wide, and Black elected officials at the local, county, and state level.  

Reflection
Individual and communal reflection on the history of White supremacy and racial terror is at the heart of our work. We must reflect critically on the history we have been taught and question the received prejudices that have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our nation.  Undoing so much that is so deeply reinforced in our history and culture will be challenging, but we know the way forward will only open up when we have cleared thickets of myths and outright lies about race.  In particular, we are committed to immersing ourselves into the lived experience of the lynching victims we are remembering, of their family members and neighbors, and of all people of color living in our county during the Jim Crow period.  We want to remember that they were sons, brothers, husbands, human beings. We also will attempt to understand the minds of the perpetrators of these racial terror events; this will not be pleasant to do, but understanding what made it possible for them, at that time, to think themselves justified in torturing and murdering these Black men will help us to understand what we need to do to strengthen justice in our time.  We will regularly set aside time during our meetings for reflection on this “hard history,” and we will also schedule times to discuss reading materials which are relevant to our project. To connect our work with that of others, we plan visits to African American heritage centers in Florida and a second trip to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.  

Decision-Making   
We are fully committed to collaborative decision-making.  Whenever possible, carefully noting dissenting voices, we seek to make decisions by strong consensus.  On important decisions, where we need to have an official record, we will call for voice votes, and if requested, we’ll offer secret ballots.  [This agreement has been approved by voice vote of the Steering Committee and will be brought to the Coalition on June 30.]

Dialogue    
Nothing is more important to us than listening with respect and full attention and speaking calmly and thoughtfully in our Coalition meetings and in public meetings with our fellow citizens.  We want to be welcoming of all voices, even voices that question our thinking. We speak of “healing” through honest examination of “hard history,” and we know that this examination will open old wounds and deeply held prejudices. We know that we will not convince anyone by shouting at them.  It is only through calmly speaking our truth and respectfully listening to the responses of others that we can begin to build the kind of dialogue that will ultimately bring truth and healing to our community.  

Conflict Management   
When there are conflicts, we will follow our commitments to dialogue, respectful listening and speaking, and collaborative decision-making. Our mission--to remember, acknowledge, and reflect on racial terror--is our focus, and our commitment to a respectful atmosphere and collaboratively working through differences of opinion is critical to that mission. We are confident that we have the values and the team-building skills to work through challenges we know we will face. We will seek always to remember the words of theologian Howard Thurman, a native son of our county, who urged Civil Rights activists to seek that “miracle when one man, standing in his place, is able, while remaining there, to put himself in another man's place.”