Letter of Resignation from the Maggie Walker CLT Board

I was invited to join the board of the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust by Bob Adams while serving as Community Engagement Manager at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The proposal made a lot of sense. MWCLT was new and had included in its original vision the provision of vacant lots to not only be available for affordable housing but when available also for urban green space. Being that I was in charge of a training program designed to increase the amount of urban green space in the region – it seemed a great fit. 

I vividly recall meeting with Nikki D’Adamo-Damery, Julia MacNelly and Jonathan Knopft in the early days of this work. Jonathan was also connected to our work in urban greening providing research regarding the benefits for urban greening while I was at Lewis Ginter; I also remember the early stages of advocacy at the General Assembly that would pave the way for the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust to exist. My connection to the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust is deep, I would say I have been engaged with the work since the beginning.

The community land trust model; as I and many others have interjected over the years, is at its earliest iteration in this county – a black civil rights strategy that has been borrowed from by predominantly white led affordable housing advocates and eir organizations across the country. Charles Sherrod; a native of Surry Virginia would join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee as eventually become its first field secretary. Working with black farmers in the South, Sherrod realized the importance of community land ownership in the face of racial terror resultant from black people advocating for their right to vote. The consequences levied after black farmers made their farms available for protesters and organizers were wide and disastrous to black land ownership. This led to the creation of New Communities Incorporated, the first community land trust in this country. The Maggie Walker Community Land Trust borrows from this legacy as it iterates its work today. 

Maggie Walker also borrows its name from Maggie Walker, the first black woman to charter a bank and the first black woman bank president. I think the community land trust borrows her name as an homage to her legacy of black community wealth building. Considering the context in which the Maggie Walker CLT was formed in Richmond – predominantly black, and large pockets of concentrated povery that are also predominantly black – I assume so. In this moment I am not sure. 

I provide the above as a context for our work to bring to life the Bensley Agrihood. One; my longitudinal relationship with MWCLT and two; the MWCLT relationship to black liberation struggle albeit some may feel that relationship is tangential – it is in the name and attached to the very conceptual framework that the organization uses. 

I have had many opportunities to experience allyship with white led organizations over my two decade praxis as an activist in Central Virginia. There have been no perfect allies. The Bensley Agrihood began as an idea that was proposed to MWCLT to do what it already does – build affordable homes; in collaboration with Girls For a Change and Happily Natural Day – we would build an affordable neighborhood with a community farm and wellness center as community amenities. Happily Natural Day would manage the farm. Girls for a Change would manage the wellness center. The concept is a literal callback to the vision of New Communities Inc but in North Chesterfield Virginia. 

The alliance between our organizations was clear until it wasn’t. Chesterfield County has long held a reputation of being racist. It is only recently that GRTC has extended bus routes into the county that borders Richmond. One cannot forget that Richmond annexed a portion of Chesterfield county to dilute black political power from South Richmond in the 70s. The county initially received the proposal with feigned enthusiasm but as time progressed the trepidation of County Board of Supervisors leadership made itself loud and clear.

The first was the question of whether the farm on the Bensley Agrihood would illegally grow marijuana. The second was the desire for restriction of “outside organizations” using the wellness center. The third was the prohibition of the farm selling produce that was grown on the site. The fourth was the limitation of how many volunteer days the farm could host. The fifth was the desire to call the farm a community garden instead of a farm. Then there was the prohibition of chickens and then of goats, no speakers when doing events on the farm, multiple deferred meetings and even the refusal of county officials to meet with the black leadership of this collaboration in an official capacity. I am no stranger to racism in systemic forms. 

To say that the overt and covert delay of the zoning application put a strain on the alliance for the Bensley Agrihood would be an understatement. However; it is a puzzling conundrum for the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust leadership. Does the organization confront the systemic racism that is being faced or does it pack up and run in face of implicit bias and discrimination by Chesterfield County. These are conversations that have been had multiple times by members of the alliance.

Unfortunately as an organizer in the black community I don’t have the luxury of not confronting systemic racism whenever and wherever it shows up. I can’t pack up and run. Neither can I explain how unnerving it is to be in collaboration with MWCLT and to bear witness to the vacillation and introspection of whether the organization is a social justice organization –  in the middle of the fight to literally do what it was designed to do. When white led organizations consider the fight for social justice to be optional –  while holding the name of revered black icons and borrowing from the legacy of black civil rights struggle; it should cause all involved to pause – and ask what are we doing here?

What happens when white led organizations commit to social justice work and collaboration with black community organizations and then retreat from those commitments? The consequences of white allies retreating from supporting marginalized communities could include decreased visibility, reduced resources, and less power for those communities in advocating for their equity and justice. White allies play a crucial role in amplifying voices, challenging systemic injustices, and promoting inclusivity. Retreat could lead to setbacks in progress towards equity and social change.

MWCLT pulled out of the collaboration with Girls for a Change and Happily Natural Day; we will find another organization to collaborate with to do the affordable housing. The work that has already been done to change the zoning will start over with another organization and for the moment the county of Chesterfield will have its victory.  

Over the course of the last year; the Bensley Agrihood project has given me unrequited insight into the anxiety and lack of resoundingly firm commitment to racial equity that the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust has. Instead of conferring with and standing unapologetically alongside the black organizations who brought the Bensley Agrihood proposal forward – Maggie Walker was hesitant to challenge the status quo that has historically marginalized black self determination in the region. This began with a trepidation to demand that the black collaborators attend meetings with Chesterfield County regarding the zoning application, even more explicitly; despite myself being a board member of Maggie Walker Community Land Trust. It continued with a shift towards micromanagement of the USDA planning grant as a projection of the org anxieties around Chesterfield zoning delays. Instead of doubling down to address those issues; MWCLT org staff began picking apart my organization’s delivery of work to the USDA couching its critique as fear that the USDA would request its funding back. This is on the heels of indicating that the bulk of the responsibility for administrating the USDA grant would shift to Happily Natural Day in light of the lack of MWCLT staff capacity to even apply for new funding from the USDA to implement the project.

The anxieties continued to manifest themselves in MWCLT repeatedly considering to repeal its application – despite the alliance’s awareness of discriminatory practices being lobbied against it. In essence; instead of charting a clear course forward – MWCLT  retreated – instead of standing on the strategy it borrows from and the name it holds – in confronting systemic racism head on. To compound the fracture, MWCLT did not confer with either Happily Natural Day or Girls For a Change regarding funding that was received for the Bensley Agrihood by other funders, instead deciding to allocate those funds to other MWCLT projects despite the funds being received explicitly for the Bensley Agrihood.

Who am I though? My singular investment in this work as a board member, supporter and partner is of no consequence. In two weeks, most will forget I was present. 6 months from now this chapter will be long gone and past from public scrutiny. My concern, and hopefully yours as a reader is what does my lived experience mean in relation to the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust and white led organizations like it? As a person of color who has dedicated their life to black freedom struggle- I hope that there is something to learn from this chapter in the evolution of this organization. I hope the organization changes its name. I am sure the way the org is showing up at this moment is nothing Maggie Walker would be proud of. Maybe that is the question to ask in this moment and moments going forward is: What would Maggie Walker do?