Editor's note: This column is based on remarks made by John V. Moeser, an urban affairs scholar, on May 18th at the 2012 Unpacking the Census Convocation co-sponsored by Hope in the Cities and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and hosted by VCU.
At a public forum in downtown Richmond, a speaker talked about several major changes affecting metropolitan Richmond, including poverty. He discussed the lack of public transit in the counties and how it affects people without a car who need an entry-level job, most of which are beyond the bus lines.
He noted how gentrification leads to the displacement of the poor, whose only option for another place to live is moving to another high poverty-neighborhood. The only difference is that, unlike the old neighborhood — though poor it was rich with social networks — the new neighborhood is poor and also full of strangers.
My brief comments don't capture everything the speaker said, but they include the central point. In fact, what he said parallels what all of us have been discussing over the past year. Thousands of Richmonders have now seen Unpacking the Census and participated in discussions. You might wonder if these discussions prompted this speech.
They didn't. The presentation was given several years before the development of Unpacking the Census — in fact over 30 years ago, on Sept. 17, 1980. I was the speaker.
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Thirty-two years ago, there were discussions about extending bus service to the suburbs. Thirty-two years ago, we knew about the growing numbers of Richmonders priced out of their neighborhoods, stranded and unable to find another place to live except in an adjoining poverty neighborhood.
Thirty-two years ago concern was expressed about the lack of accessible entry-level jobs. Three decades ago we knew about the huge disparities between city and county.
It's a disgrace that 30 years of talk have produced virtually nothing. There has been change, no mistake about it, but, unfortunately, the change has to do with our problems getting larger. Not only has poverty increased, but it has now spread into the counties.
It's way past time for debate. No need for more studies and fact-gathering. We either act now or we'll be here another 30 years with nothing to show for our labor.
Now is the time to overcome the resistance to providing affordable housing in stable neighborhoods throughout the metropolis. Now is the time to develop mixed-income neighborhoods experiencing gentrification so that a rainbow of people can live together and well.
Now is the time to identify and then celebrate established neighborhoods willing to welcome good citizens whose greatest need is an affordable safe place to live.
We've got to start now. And the best way to do it is to gather all of the energy generated since January from the facilitated conversations to reach thousands of more citizens, in more jurisdictions, in more houses of worship, in more businesses, civic groups, nonprofit organizations, public agencies and legislative bodies.
Energy could grow exponentially and could ignite our movement unlike anything since Richmond's Civil Rights marches.
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That Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones created the anti-poverty commission and included among its members some elected officials from Chesterfield and Henrico is noteworthy. In fact, never before in Richmond history has such a group assembled whose sole responsibility is to develop recommendations for addressing poverty.
Once the mayor releases the final report of the commission, this army of citizens who participated in the Unpacking the Census discussions needs to be deployed to recruit other citizens and they, in turn, to enlist their friends to press for the implementation of the recommendations.
As one person said, "We need to get this knowledge and passion into the drinking water." When a legislative chamber is packed with voters who speak and demand change, the people's council members and supervisors can experience a remarkable conversion.
Were this to happen, how long would it take for us to see a new city, one defined more by its goodness rather than its greatness? How long will it take to ensure that all of God's people in Richmond, especially the people closest to God's great heart, the poor, are welcomed to live in any neighborhood, attend any school, and be given the same opportunities for a full life as the rest of us?
How long must we wait? How long?
Dr. Martin Luther King gave an eloquent response to this very question. This is what he said:
"I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to the earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow.... How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
May it be so here in Richmond and may we be the catalyst for making it so. Amen.
