I was honored to take "The Table" to Petersburg for what I hope is the first of many discussions regarding the state of the community.
The reason I selected Petersburg as our first travel destination is because the narrative traveling up 95 to Richmond about Petersburg doesn't appear to tell the whole story; and just for the record - neither does this podcast. The whole story is multilayered, it's historic, it's complex, it's segregated, it's difficult to uncover. Honestly, I don't know where one would begin with such a task of telling the accurate narrative of Petersburg in 2016. I started at the only place I know - the grassroots.
We came to Petersburg to hear both the bad and the good and to tell some of those stories through community dialogue.
I was joined at The Table by: J.D. Haze (Righteous Hustlers/Soul Logistics) , Bari Muhammad (Allusions), Atiba Muse (Petersburg School Board), Shahid Shabazz (Allusions), Fancie Greenwood Terrell (Community Organizer/VSU), Dawn Cherry (Boys and Girls Club of Petersburg), Jesse Vaughan (Filmmaker), Kofi Adih (Small Business Owner), Scott Yates (Journalist), and Officer Betts (Petersburg Police Department).
The discussion is lively and heated at some points but it articulates the challenges that these grassroots leaders face everyday. Petersburg will only grow if the community works together. Everyone has a job to do and it's great to meet a small fraction of the Petersburg community that is doing their job to the fullest. #WESEEIT
