Leadership Change

From our March 2023 Newsletter

It has been an honor to serve as the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition liaison for the last four years. I am unbelievably proud of the work that has been done, and forever grateful for the support received and connections made. It is time for me to step back as the liaison and focus on law school and my work in restorative justice. I look forward to remaining involved in a more limited capacity and I am certain that the coalition will go on to make meaningful and positive change in Fulton County by remembering and confronting the history of racial terror. 

I am pleased to share that Ann Hill Bond will now serve as the liaison. Ann is passionate about and dedicated to this work. She has been a powerful steward of narratives of injustice and voices of the Black community. Ann will now be in receipt of emails to fultonremembrance@gmail.com. Please look out for updates regarding future meetings and marker projects in the coming days and weeks.

Additionally, as the group in North Fulton will to engage the narrative of Mack Henry Brown as a part of FCRC, they have also decided to form a new coalition that is centered around continued remembrance efforts in North Fulton. Erika Barnes Ford and James Brown will serve as the liaisons for this group. More information is forthcoming from them. 

Thank you all for your participation in this project, your flexibility as we navigated through the pandemic, and your support at events, soil collection ceremonies, and marker installations!

In solidarity,

Allison Bantimba

We will begin near South Atlanta Park for a welcome address from FCRC and our partners. The first 60 people to arrive will receive headphones to listen to a recording of the Atlanta Massacre. While listening and reflecting we will walk to Community Grounds to gather for a community conversation on why the Atlanta Massacre was not a “race riot” and the historical marker FCRC hopes to install in the Brownsville/South Atlanta community.

Our purpose is to remember the 25 Black men and women who we know lost their lives and the countless others whose stories we may never hear; to honor the resilience of the Brownsville Community; and to learn from this historic violence and injustice about how to better address what we are facing today.

This event is free and open to the public. Physical distancing and masks will be required.

Photography and Videography: We will have a photographer and videographer present. By attending this event, you give your permission to have your image used by FCRC. If you do not want your image used, please let us know when you arrive at the event.

In light of Covid-19 and its disparate effects on communities of color, conversations about race and equity are more necessary than ever.

Join us for the next Equitable Dinners: Lift Every Voice on Sunday, September 19 with a focus on Anti-Racism and Local History: Why the Atlanta Massacre was not a “Race Riot” featuring playwright, Pedro Alvarado, speaker King Williams, and breakout discussions with trained facilitators.

Equitable Dinners: Lift Every Voice is a series of online conversations, featuring guest speakers on a range of topics, and launched by a short play. Equitable Dinners: Lift Every Voice will take place one Sunday a month from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.

Join us for informal conversations surrounding the Stories From the Soil exhibit! Learn about its origins and meaning, engage with the narrative of a victim represented there, and share your own stories of how this affects you.

Moderator

Lyn May began her journalism career in Boston, Massachusetts, where she was a producer, reporter and news anchor. She served as press secretary, deputy director and director of communications during Mayor Maynard Jackson’s third term. Lyn was director of domestic media relations and a member of the crisis management team for the 1996 Olympic Committee. She is a freelance contributor and interviewer for various PBS programs.

History

Doug Blackmon is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, and co-executive producer of the acclaimed PBS documentary of the same name. Blackmon has written extensively over the past 30 years about the American quandary of race–exploring the integration of schools during his childhood in a Mississippi Delta farm town, lost episodes of the Civil Rights movement, and, repeatedly, the dilemma of how a contemporary society should grapple with a troubled past.

Trauma

Julia Bantimba is currently working to integrate best practices for trauma-related disorders into the non-public school settings at Seneca Family of Agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from Boston University before moving to the Bay area to begin her career. Julia serves as the advisory board chair for the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and is a faculty presenter at the Napa Infant Parent Mental Health Fellowship and Certificate Program. She is also certified in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and provides trainings around the country.

Activism

Nikki Roberts is an author, public speaker, activist, and returning citizen, who’s studied both Mass Communications and Theology on collegiate levels. Nikki served 10 years without parole in Georgia’s Department of Corrections from 2004 – 2014 and frequently uses her lived experiences as well as systemic research to raise awareness on the myriad of issues associated with Mass Incarceration. Nikki is also under book-contract with Fortress Press working on her soon-to-be released memoir “Freed From Within”.

Restorative Justice

David Hooker is currently an Associate Professor of the Practice of Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame and a core faculty member of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. For more than 30 years, he has practiced conflict transformation as mediator, community builder, scholar, and advocate with communities, governments, civil society organizations, and international NGOs. Hooker’s areas of expertise include post-conflict community building, environmental justice, and other issues of public policy and social justice.

Reception with hors d’oeuvres will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the panel discussion at 7 p.m.

Photography and Videography: We will have a photographer and videographer present. By attending this event, you give your permission to have your image used by FCRC. If you do not want your image used, please let us know when you check to the event.