The Charlottesville Equity Package

A conversation with Charlottesville Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy
October 10, 2017

Part of JACK's year-long series, Reparations365

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy of Charlottesville joins JACK via Skype on the big screen to talk about the "Equity Package" his city council passed this past January -- $4 million in support to the Black community, including direct payments to Black citizens under a certain income, investments in Black institutions as well as job training, education, etc. He'll walk us through the process of getting the bill passed, talk more about the specifics of the package and answer questions from attendees. After the conversation with Bellamy, we'll turn the conversation to our own city, and to any take-aways for our community.

Dr. Wes Bellamy is the Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia and the youngest individual to ever be elected to the Charlottesville City Council. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Bellamy moved to Charlottesville in September 2009 after graduating from South Carolina State. In 2011, he was encouraged by community leaders and school personnel to pursue a career as a teacher, and he has spent the last six years teaching and sponsoring several clubs at Albemarle High School. Dr. Bellamy earned his Master’s Degree in Education Administration in 2014 and his Doctoral Degree at Virginia State University in 2017. Dr. Bellamy was appointed to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Board of Education in 2016, a post in which he served for nearly a year.

Wes’s primary focus is on improving the lives of those who lack resources and positive role models in their lives. He strives to do this by sponsoring community days, coat drives, and empowering as many youth as possible through H.Y.P.E. (Helping Young People Evolve). Started in December 2011, H.Y.P.E. is a boxing and mentoring program serving boys and girls in the Charlottesville/Albemarle urban ring. Since the program’s creation, the overall GPA of participants jumped from a 1.8 in December 2011 to 3.2 in June 2016. Wes currently serves as the President of the national award winning 100 Black Men of Central VA, is an adviser for the Collegiate 100 Black Men of Central VA (UVA Chapter), serves as Co-Chair of the Charlottesville Alliance for Black Male Achievement (CABMA), and is an African American Teaching Fellow. He currently serves on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board and the Charlottesville Police Citizens Advisory Panel. He has also served on the Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee.

REPARATIONS365

Reparations365: From Memory To Movement is JACK's year-long series of performances, workshops and discussions around the topic of distributive justice for Black Americans. Launched in February 2017, the series consists of at least 20 public offerings featuring a convergence of scholars, artists and activists. Through the series, participants will discover multiple ways to engage with the topic, all with an intention of offering tangible take-ways for participants and a concrete movement forward.

The performances feature a host of artists in dance, theater and music exploring the topic of repairing racial injustice. The series also includes several community conversations, panel discussions and interactive workshops curated with the participation of our neighbors and members of the artistic and activist community in New York.

BACKGROUND

The transatlantic slave trade has forever shaped the lives of global peoples in systematic and personal ways. Millions of Africans and their descendants have experienced trauma to their bodies, minds, hearts, homes, families and work as a result of the atrocities inherent to the design and execution of the slave trade. Those who participated loudly, quietly, actively and passively in the systematic enslavement of African peoples and the economy rooted in their degradation and denunciation have exponentially benefited and accumulated an extraordinary debt.

Questions, debates and energy around the topic are resurgent -- through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Georgetown University’s reparations efforts, the platform of The Movement for Black Lives and the United Nations call for the U.S. to consider reparations. Momentum towards action is brewing.

The series has expansive implications that reflect JACK’s desire to contribute to the co-creation of a more just society, and to offer our space for conversation and imagination about how to get there. JACK is situated in a diverse neighborhood among other diverse neighborhoods – all of which are rich with Blackness and have varying degrees of trials, tensions and triumphs concerning black humanity, displacement, legacy and self-determination. This and many other factors affirm that the reparations series is well suited to our beloved Brooklyn.

Reparations365 is made possible by a Humanities New York Action Grant, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from many individual donors.