Author: jillian

This is a work in progress and I take full responsibility for mistakes and omissions. It goes without saying, but I will of course say it anyway, that none of this work would be implemented without the tireless efforts of our dedicated city staff, the hundreds of volunteers who serve on advisory boards and commissions, and the dozens of movement organizations, activists, and advocates who have helped us shape and move policy.

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2016

Increased city minimum wage – path to $15 in 2 years

Resolutions
Resolution in support of Paris Climate Accords
Resolution opposing HB2
Resolution Condemning Violence, Hate Speech, and Islamophobia
Resolution Supporting the Equal Rights Amendment
Resolution in Support of the Faith ID Program
Resolution supporting Medicaid expansion
Resolution in support of Duke workers organizing unions

2017

Transparent body camera policy created
Whitted School redevelopment contribution
Expanded paid family leave to 12 weeks
Misdemeanor marijuana possession reduced to lowest-level enforcement priority
Affordable housing trust fund levy increased to 2c.
Funding for Fayette Place site purchase provided to DHA

Resolutions
Resolution Supporting the Continuation of the Temporary Protected Status Program
Resolution Supporting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program
Resolution adopting Vision Zero
Statement in Solidarity with Anti-Racist Protests in Charlottesville VA
Resolution Opposing Trump’s Travel Ban and Designating Durham Refugee Day

2018

Participatory Budgeting program created
Mayor’s Council for Women created
Race Equity task force created
Ban on police exchanges for paramilitary tactics adopted
Willard Street Apartments approved as all-affordable development
Established annual council/commission retreat with youth commission members
Property tax grant program established
Committee on Confederate Monuments & Memorials established
Fare-free buses implemented for youth
Free parks & rec access for youth implemented
DEAR program launched
Welcome Home program launched

Resolutions
Resolution in support of collective bargaining for public employees
Resolution in support of breastfeeding awareness
Resolution opposing the Hyde Amendment
Resolution in support of CEDAW
Resolution in support of reserving public land for affordable housing
Resolution supporting immigrants in sanctuary in NC

2019

Housing Bond approved
Community Conversations program created
Workers Rights Commission created
Joined SEED fellowship program
Local Progress housing convening held in Durham
Expanding Housing Choices initiative approved
U-Visa policy expansion
Equitable Engagement policy implemented
Eviction diversion funding stream created
Department of Equity & Inclusion created (reorganized EOEA)
Wheels purchase
Beltline trail purchase

Resolutions
Resolution in support of renewable energy and carbon neutrality
Resolution in support of Medicare for All
Resolution in support of NC’s Working Families
Resolution in support of Public Art
Resolution against white supremacy, Islamophobia, & Anti-semitism
Resolution in support of LGBTQ community and repeal of HB2
Resolution in support of renewable Energy transition
Resolution calling for the repeal of the Hyde amendment

2020

$5M in COVID relief funding allocated
Recovery & Renewal Task Force created
Participatory Budgeting Cycle 2
Fare free buses implemented
Comprehensive plan equitable engagement
Transit plan equitable engagement
NIS community-rooted partners engagement funding
JJ Henderson Rehabilitation funded
McDougald Terrace Repairs funded

Resolutions
Resolution in support of Race Equity Task Force Recommendations

2021

FUSE grant obtained and fellows hired
Inclusive non-discrimination ordinance passed
Community Safety & Wellness Task Force created
911 Calls for Service Audit completed
Community Safety Department created
Expansion of Bull City United violence interrupter program
Funding for community health ambassadors approved
Funding for stipends and grants for boards & commissions approved
Workers Bill of Rights approved
Permanent Race Equity Commission established
Funding for language access coordinator
Funding for immigrant and refugee rights coordinator
Funding for immigrant legal defense fund
Youth Listening Project completed
UBI pilot program
Green & equitable infrastructure investment of $6M
Expansion of livestreaming capacity for up to 3 simultaneous languages
High-speed wifi installed in DHA family communities
Mayor’s for a Guaranteed Income UBI pilot started

Resolutions
Resolution in Support of the American Jobs Plan

Ongoing

Increasing community interest and diversity on boards and commissions (6x increase in applications from 2016-2021)

Affordable housing investments up to $160M over 5 years, including large investment in DHA DDNP and capital repairs

State- level Advocacy

Expanded circuit-breaker tax exemption
Allow elected leaders to access police camera video
Repeal HB2
Allow ranked-choice voting for municipal elections
Allow inclusionary zoning for affordable housing
Allow affordable housing requirements for rezoning cases
Remove 10% cap on state funding for light rail system
Drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants
End ban on public worker collective bargaining
Increase state minimum wage to $15/hr.
Give police review boards subpoena power
Allow ranked-choice voting for municipal elections
Support affordable rental housing for Durham Public Schools (DPS) employees
Decriminalize cannabis
Require all employers to provide at least 10 days of paid sick leave

EARLY VOTING STARTS TOMORROW!

It’s arguable that the 2020 election is the most important in most of our lifetimes, with the potential to completely transform the politics of this country and put us on a track to a future that, at the very least, is livable for our children and grandchildren. I believe it’s incumbent on all of us who care about the future of our community to participate, to speak up, and to do what we can to ensure that progressive candidates who will implement policies that put working people first WIN this election. Toward that end, here’s my statement on who’s getting my votes in this primary and why.

* By endorsing these people, I am not claiming that they make the right decision 100% of the time, would pass a leftist purity test, or are in any other way super-human.*

* indicates incumbents

PRESIDENT: Senator Bernie Sanders

I supported Bernie in 2016, but was honestly struggling hard between him and Warren this round. In the end, Bernie wins it for me because political institutions don’t make change on their own. Political movements inspire and win the change that political institutions implement, and Bernie is the movement leader that we need to inspire this country. His base is younger, browner, and more working-class and he has the power to expand the electorate and bring more people into the political process.

US SENATE: Erica Smith

Erica Smith has been an important voice for rural North Carolina in the NC Senate and will bring that strength to the US Senate. She supports full funding for public education, expanding Medicaid, common-sense gun control, transit, and investing in fighting climate change. Smith would be a strong contender against Thom Tillis. 

US HOUSE: David Price *

David Price is the best choice in this race. Price’s senior leadership role in the house has advantages for our region and he continues to serve us well. He has co-sponsored the Medicare for All Act to provide free publicly-funded healthcare to everyone in the US, and supports initiatives to advance transit, sustainability, and common-sense gun control. 

NC GOVERNOR: Roy Cooper *

Roy Cooper is the clear choice in this race. With Cooper’s veto, NC has been able to prevent some of the worst right-wing abuses in the NCGA over the last four years. Cooper has prevented local sheriffs from being forced into collaborations with ICE and fought hard for Medicaid expansion. In the event that a right-wing legislative majority remains in power, we will need Cooper’s veto pen again. 

NC LT GOVERNOR: Chaz Beasley

Chaz Beasley is part of the next generation of great leaders in NC. In the NC House he has been a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion, full reproductive health access, fully funding public education, paying teachers what they deserve, and expanding transit options. As lieutenant governor, Beasley would have the deciding vote on any ties in the NC Senate, and I trust him with that power. Chaz is personable, values-driven, and will serve us all well.

NC AUDITOR: Beth Wood *

Beth Wood gets my vote here because she’s been doing this job for 10+ years and as far as I can tell she’s doing just fine.

NC COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE: Jenna Wadsworth

Jenna Wadsworth is an up and coming leader with the ability to get things done. As a Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor in Wake County, she’s well versed in rural issues and cares deeply about NC’s rural communities. Running in a statewide race like this without higher-level political experience takes real courage and vision from a young, progressive woman politician, and I’m here for it. 

NC SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: Jen Mangrum

Jen Magrum has the ability to fight hard for our public schools and against the right-wing privatization agenda of the NCGA majority. Her platform emphasizes equity, restorative discipline, universal pre-K, school counselors, and improving teacher pay. She’s also a former teacher and is endorsed by our state teacher’s union. 

NC TREASURER: Matt Leatherman

Matt Leatherman has a wealth of experience in the State Treasurer’s office and is committed to using the power of that office to advance the interests of working people in our state and a broader justice agenda. His commitment to doing his absolute best to serve the interests of teachers and other NC state employees is clear and his experience will give him the tools he needs to do so. 

NC SENATE 20: Pierce Freelon

Pierce Freelon is a lifelong fighter for progessive causes, youth, and the arts. He’s a principled leader who continues to fight hard for what he believes in and has a strong and sincere desire to serve our community. He is dedicated to a progressive vision for our state and will fight hard for a $15 minimum wage, public education, Medicaid expansion, and marijuana decriminalization. Pierce will be a strong voice for change in the NCGA, 

DURHAM COUNTY COMMISSION:

Nida Allam – Nida Allam is a values-driven leader with a strong progressive vision and a sincere desire to serve. She will work hard to ensure that Durham County moves in a more progressive direction. 

Matt Kopac – Matt Kopac is a strong leader on economic justice issues and environmental sustainability. He will work hard to implement progressive policy solutions that improve the county and meet our economic development goals. 

LeVon Barnes – LeVon Barnes is dedicated to our youth and public education and as a teacher himself, will be a strong voice for public schools on the board. His work as a youth mentor and coach has earned him the respect and trust of many young people, especially Black boys, in our school system.

Wendy Jacobs * – Wendy Jacobs is a committed chair and advocate at the county commission for education, jobs, healthcare, and other critical human needs. In her 8 years on the county commission, she has shown that’s she’s not afraid to fight hard for Durham’s residents and is leading on efforts to create universal pre-K, healthier food in schools, and more jobs for Durham residents.

Heidi Carter * –  Heidi Carter is a strong advocate for public education, transit, and sustainability. She leads with her values and is not afraid to take a stand when needed. Heidi is leading on efforts to support our public schools, increase transit options, and promote sustainability.

DURHAM BOARD OF EDUCATION AT-LARGE: Steve Unruhe *

Steve Unruhe is a critical leader on the school board and has worked hard to build a collaborative and forward-thinking progressive majority on the board over the last four years. His work has been an important part of moving the school board into better relationships with DPS administration, parents, teachers, and the broader community. He is also a former teacher and endorsed by our teachers’ union. 

DURHAM BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT A: Jovonia Lewis

Jovonia Lewis is a powerful parent advocate and mother of 3 boys in Durham Public Schools. She’s a strong advocate for racial equity in educational and disciplinary practices and supports community schools. She will be a powerful voice on the board for DPS’s students and teachers of color and for an effective and equitable redistricting process. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my endorsements! Don’t forget to get out and vote, and remember that YOU DO NOT NEED AN ID! Get more info at www.dcovotes.com/#VOTE

Dear Friends,

The last 24 hours have been tragically violent and terrifying for all of us in Durham. Gun violence is a scourge that impacts every single one of us deeply, but none more deeply than those whose families are personally affected. We all have a responsibility to do what we can to stop and prevent violence, but none of us more than those who have taken on the responsibility of community leadership.

As a mother of two Black boys, I share the fear that when my children leave my home in the morning, they may not come home in the afternoon. I live in a neighborhood where just a few years ago, I regularly brought my son from his front bedroom into my rear bedroom in the middle of the night to avoid gunshots that I feared might come through his window. I never turn off my phone while my teenager is at school because of a constant fear that his school will become one of the many schools that have experienced violence within their walls. I have been awoken by sirens rushing down my street to respond to an act of violence in my community. This fear is very real, and we all share it.

We primarily rely on our police department to fight violent crime, and DPD has committed to focus its energy on this priority. Policy changes like reducing arrests for drugs crimes, performing fewer vehicle stops, and eliminating discretionary vehicle checkpoints help give our officers more time and resources to focus on these issues. Chief Davis shares the council’s priorities in this, and will continue to put officers where they can be most useful. Our police department is the most well-resourced department in the City, and we continue to provide them with additional resources each year to do this important work.

It is when we are most afraid that it is hardest to lean into our values, but it’s also when it’s most important. Policing and incarceration are not going to solve our city’s problems with violence. The real solutions to community violence are slow and difficult, but they are the solutions we must pursue. We must provide every human being with a good public education, safe affordable housing, access to health care, a living wage job, and fulfilling social and recreational opportunities. We must fund prevention, intervention, and re-entry strategies to stop crime before it starts. We must help everyone in our community learn how to solve their conflicts without violence, and more than ever, we must make it clear to our state and federal officials that responsible gun laws are an imperative.

For the last 25 years, we’ve focused our energy on punitive responses to crime and violence. We have locked over 2 million people in cages, and yet we still do not feel safe. We need different solutions. If we are to be successful at building a safer city for all of us, we will need the entire community to come together. We will need to build a city that provides for and sustains each and every one of us. I am committed to doing this work, and am thankful to everyone who shares this commitment.

On Thursday, October 10th, former Durham City Council candidate Victoria Peterson filed an election protest challenging the results of Durham’s municipal primary election. Mrs. Peterson challenged the eligibility of Durham City Council Member Javiera Caballero to run for office. At their regularly scheduled meeting on Friday, October 11th, the Durham Board of Elections unanimously dismissed the protest, finding that the petition was not supported by any evidence. After the Board’s action, Mrs. Peterson announced plans to file an appeal with the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

This is not the first time during the course of this election that our three campaigns have been subjected to baseless accusations. We have always chosen to focus our attention in this campaign on the issues that matter to the people of the city of Durham. While this allegation is hurtful and harmful, it is also an opportunity for Durham to recommit to inclusivity and our belief that Durham is for everyone. Since launching our campaigns, we’ve used the slogan “we’re all in this together,” and we encourage all residents of Durham to champion this idea and to help us build a city that values, welcomes, and supports all our diverse communities.

We are gratified that the voters of Durham responded on primary election day by voting to make the three of us the top three finishers. As the Durham Board of Elections concluded, there is absolutely no evidence to support the reckless contention that Council Member Caballero is ineligible to run for office. Council Member Caballero is a citizen of the United States, is a duly registered voter in Durham County and has lawfully voted in Durham elections since 2010.

“I support my colleague Javiera Caballero and all of our immigrant residents, many of whom have had to endure this type of suspicion throughout their lives. An immigrant perspective on the council is a benefit to our entire city, and Javiera’s capacity to engage the Spanish-speaking community has helped us all to be more inclusive and improve our practice of language justice. This city belongs to all of our residents, no matter where they were born,” said Mayor Pro Tempore Jillian Johnson. 

“My friend and colleague Javiera Caballero is one of the finest public servants with whom I have had the privilege to serve, and I am proud to stand with her in this campaign. Javiera has faced these sorts of baseless claims about her citizenship throughout this election, and it’s time for our community to speak with one voice to say that enough is enough. Durham must be a city that works for everyone, and that must include our immigrant neighbors,” said Durham City Council Member Charlie Reece.

We have every confidence that the people of Durham will see through this fact-free distraction. Between now and election day on November 5th, we will continue to spend our time and energy campaigning in every part of this city to share our progressive vision with Durham voters.  

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This decision is forcing us to consider very serious questions that are at the root of who we are as a city, how we create safety together, and what safety means. Like every other community in America, this community is over-invested in policing and incarceration and under-invested in housing, jobs, education, health, and all the other interventions that makes those punitive interventions unnecessary. 

The world I want to live in, and the world that I am here to build, is a world that creates safety for every human being without using policing or incarceration to do so. My work and my life is about building a community that is equitable, inclusive, and just for all people; that’s the community that I want to live in and that I want my children to grow up in. We create that community by investing in our people, by providing the things people need to thrive and with the opportunities they deserve. My commitment to these values didn’t change when I got elected to office and they won’t change when I’m out of office. 

At the same time, we all live here in this world as it exists right now, and there are practical considerations that will sometimes require an increase in police capacity, pay and benefits, or other incentives in order to do the two pieces of work that I think our police department Really needs to do well. Those things are 1) responding to calls for help, and 2) investigating crime.

In FY 2017, I voted for a budget that added 36 additional police officers to the Durham Police Department, in spite of the objections of many of the same community members who are opposing the current increase. I supported this increase at that time because our response times were significantly above our targets, our clearance rates weren’t where we wanted them to be, our staffing levels were much lower, and I felt convinced that we needed additional officers to bring those numbers down. I encourage people to only call the police when they really need to, and we don’t want any of our residents waiting for long periods of time for help when they do feel the need to call. We want to ensure that when violent crimes do happen, we’re able to intervene effectively.

In FY 2018, I voted for a budget that included millions of dollars and multi-year commitments for take-home cars, raises, hiring bonuses, and relocation bonuses for officers. I voted for this because I believe that encouraging officers to live in Durham can help create a better department, with officers who care more about the community and would do a better job as a result.

Now we’re being asked to make an even bigger investment in policing, this time 18 officers this year and another 54 in the next two years.

I agree with the DPD that we should minimize the use of overtime for cost reasons, but it doesn’t make sense to me to fix a $1M overtime problem with a $5M+ investment in more officers. Even if we wanted to replace all 35,000 hours of overtime with regular staff, we would only need to add about 22 additional officers, and we could make a dent in that by filling the 19 existing vacancies in the department.

I also agree with the DPD that we should move to 10.5 hours shifts, but if we’re not trying to increase the number of officers on the street, why not just rearrange shifts so that officers are working approximately the same number of hours spread out over more shifts? The IACP recommendation for 10.5 hour shifts would result in officers working 169 hours less a year. If we took this recommendation and wanted to maintain the same total number of working hours, we would only need one new officer for every 9-10 moving to the new schedule. That means 4 new officers in District 4, not 18.

So this request is about more than solving overtime or shift scheduling problems to improve employee quality of life. These numbers suggest a desire for more officers on the street. Durham already has more officers per capita than other cities our size. Calls for service are down, response times are meeting our targets, or very close, and clearance rates are largely above national benchmarks. More officers are living in the city limits and we have fewer vacancies. In addition, there’s very little evidence out there that more police, or more policing, leads to less crime. In fact, in most cases, the communities with the most police also have the most crime. The communities with the least crime have the most resources.

Most of us on this council, including me, share the goal of reducing and eliminating the circumstances that lead to violence. We’re continuing to actively make the investments that we need to do that, while balancing the need for services with the desire to keep our property taxes as affordable as possible. Every year since I was elected we’ve increased the funding we spend on affordable housing, and are about to hopefully spend another $180M over the next 5 years. We’ve increased our investment in transit every year, keeping fares at $1 and increasing the number of people eligible for free passes. We’ve built more sidewalks, bike lanes, and bus shelters, to make it easier for people to get around. We’ve continued to provide economic development grants in target neighborhoods and are funding an initiative this year that will create a permanent fund to help minority businesses access capital, and we’re building economic development into our affordable housing work. We’re investing in stronger democracy with Participatory Budgeting and Community Conversations, and in 2nd chances with the DEAR & Welcome Home programs. I’m studying crisis response programs outside of law enforcement, community training programs, violence interruptor work, and diversion programs that exist in other cities. We’re investing in making sure our residents have the opportunities they deserve. We need to invest more, but we also have limited resources. We need to be sure that we’re using the resources that we have in the most effective ways.

On this issue, like most issues that come before us, our residents have widely differing views. Some think that any increase in policing will make our community safer. Others oppose increases in policing under any circumstances. We’ve heard from a number of people on both sides of this question over the last few weeks, and I very much appreciate all of them coming to speak with us. I’m glad that the DPD is in conversations with residents in the Cornwallis public housing community about their plans to increase their presence there, as well as ongoing conversations with residents in McDougald Terrace. The work in McDougald was initially very successful, but that success is starting to decline, and I think we need to look at the reasons for that as well.

I’m not willing to support an increase in police staffing for this fiscal year. I have a high threshold for supporting increases in policing and I think that’s clear to everyone, but I do want people to know that I will support increased funding for policing, and have, under specific circumstances, to support those two things I mentioned earlier that I see as critical functions: to ensure adequate responses to calls for service, and to ensure we have the resources we need to investigate violent crime. As our population goes up, we may have to increase staffing in many of our departments, including the DPD, to meet our goals. I hope that as we continue to build a safer community together, we’ll see calls for service continue to decline and we won’t need to, but of course we don’t know what will happen. 

I also want to respond to the comprehensive and detailed proposal and report that we received from Durham Beyond Policing. I really appreciate the amount of research and thoughtfulness that went into this report. I am very supportive of pulling together a community task force on public safety to help us think about the best ways to keep our residents safe. The proposal also included a funding request, but unfortunately we’re not at a point in the budget process where it makes sense to fulfil that request. We also don’t have any kind of consistent funding structure for our boards and commissions, but it’s something we’re going to look into.

Statement in Support of Public Schools and the Statewide Day of Action on May 1st

Jillian Johnson, Charlie Reece and Javiera Caballero fully support our Durham Public Schools and the Statewide Day of Action in Raleigh on May 1st, 2019. As public school graduates and the proud parents of seven fantastic kids in the Durham Public Schools, we believe that a fully funded system of public education is vital to our growing community. All of Durham’s children deserve schools where their academic and social needs are met regardless of their backgrounds. All educators deserve to be treated as professionals and valued partners in the critical work of preparing our kids to enter the world as adults. We believe in a public school system where students, families, and educators work together, and where sound educational policies are rooted in evidence based practices that acknowledge the needs of each of our unique communities. We enthusiastically support the five demands our educators have put before our state legislators:

• Fund student services to meet national standards, including counselors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and librarians;
• $15 minimum wage plus 5% raise for all school workers and retirees;
• Expand Medicaid to improve the health of our students and families;
• Reinstate state retiree health benefits; and
• Restore advanced degree pay.

We will be in Raleigh on May 1st in support of our students, teachers, families, administration and staff.

The city council will consider a joint statement, written by Mayor Steve Schewel, on this issue at our council business meeting on Monday, April 16th at 7pm. After meeting with both supporters and opponents of these exchanges, as well as conducting independent research on police militarization and the practices of the Israel military and police, I believe that it is not in the best interest of the Durham Police Department to be trained or share practices with Israeli police and military.

It’s important to note that Mayor Schewel’s statement is significantly different from the original petition we received on this issue, which I signed. The original petition from the “Demilitarize Durham to Palestine” campaign included language linking violent and racist policing in the US to tactics of the Israeli police and military. That language will not be included in the statement that Mayor Schewel will introduce today. Though many of the unethical practices that US police forces engage in are similar to practices in Israel, our police forces have had issues of excessive force and racial disparity since before these programs existed, and I do not believe sufficient evidence exists that these exchanges have caused these problems or definitively made them worse.

I believe our police officers do not need to be trained to battle terrorists or fight an insurgency by foreign military and police in order to effectively protect and serve the residents of Durham. Though terrorism does happen in US cities, as we have seen recently in Austin and Parkland, Florida, it is a small threat when compared to the threat of being harmed or killed by a militarized police force. Americans are killed by police at a rate that is 500% higher than the rate at which they are killed by terrorists. Police militarization is a much greater danger to our residents.

Though I understand that some in our community view a rejection of cooperation with Israel as anti-Semitic, I believe that idea is belied by the fact that our city government and many of our residents have a history of acting in direct opposition to hatred of all forms. Durham has consistently honored a commitment to inclusion and diversity, and there is no tolerance for anti-Semitism or any other forms of hate and bias in this city. I have witnessed our city leaders and many in our community actively fight back against hate in inspiring ways in the last few years. A number of our residents traveled to Charlottesville to oppose the anti-Semitic “Unite the Right” gathering there last summer. When people thought white nationalist groups were coming to march in Durham, a thousand of them showed up downtown ready to resist. When I found an anti-Semitic hate symbol carved into a city parking garage, it was removed within a few hours of my report. When white ethno-nationalist and anti-Semitic flyers have showed up around town, our residents and staff have removed them as quickly as possible. We have passed resolutions supporting the rights of immigrants and refugees and opposing Trump’s immigration policies. This city has and will continue to stand up against hate in all its forms.

I do not believe that the statement we will be supporting defames or demonizes Israel. I do not believe that it is inherently anti-Israel, much less anti-Semitic, to criticize Israeli policies and practice, just as I don’t believe it’s anti-American to criticize the practices of the US military and police (which I do often). In fact, I believe it is a duty of those who believe in the inherent dignity of all human beings to stand up against injustice, no matter where it occurs and who is responsible for it. I believe that the Israeli military and police routinely violate the human rights of the Palestinian population, Arab & African Jews, and immigrants to Israel, and I believe that the U.S. military and U.S. police forces routinely violate the human rights of people here at home and around the world. How is it possible to have a genuine exchange of “goodwill” while this situation continues? A great many U.S. Jews of conscience, including many in our community, have spoken out against militarization and violence in both the US and Israel for decades, and I will continue to take my lead from their example.

I am also heartened that the City of Durham and the Durham Police Department have taken affirmative steps to shift toward more a more responsible and less violent policing practice than exists in the US broadly, and we are beginning to see the results of that in our recent policing statistics. We have reduced traffic stops, consent searches, and drug arrests, are approving more U-Visas, and are making active use of a misdemeanor diversion program for youth. More officers are making use of de-escalation, race equity, and crisis intervention training. These are the practices that I believe keep Durham residents safe and represent the direction in which we should continue to move.

**This is a speech I gave at Mt. Level Missionary Baptist Church for their Black History service on February 12th, 2017.**

I live in the West End neighborhood, and as I was walking on Chapel Hill Rd. yesterday I read this quote by Pauli Murray, posted in a mural on the side of a building –

“It had taken me almost a lifetime to discover that true emancipation lies in the acceptance of the whole past, in deriving strength from all my roots, in facing up to the degradation as well as the dignity of my ancestors.”

This expression of the complexities involved in holding multiple histories and perspectives at once, learning from and honoring them all, helped me frame the complexities in our history that I want to talk about today.

Personally, I am most inspired by stories from Black history where people insisted on their dignity and their rights as human beings by directly challenging the systems that oppressed them. From slave revolts to anti-lynching campaigns to lunch counter sit-ins, these are the stories that I want my children to hear when we talk about about Black history. When facing circumstances of extreme injustice, I take inspiration from people chose to resist, to refuse, and to disobey.

In light of this political moment, with the recent election of Donald Trump and the ongoing mainstreaming of white nationalism as a political force, I have been spending more time considering the roots of compliance and non-compliance in situations of injustice. I’m asking myself the question, what motivates this choice? How do people choose to obey or disobey? How can we inspire the resistance that we need from our people in this moment? The same resistance that we saw overthrow Jim Crow and consistently fight back against slavery?

One motivation behind compliance is of course, fear. Following the rules is the easiest way to get along. Most people don’t want to rock the boat or challenge the status quo. Non-compliance can get you hurt or even killed, as we saw in the number of slave revolts that were violently crushed, the extreme attacks on civil rights marchers, and the brutal lynching of any black man accused of even looking to long at a white woman, even when those accusations where entirely fabricated as we see now with Tim Tyson’s new book on the Emmett Till case.

The impact of this history continues to be relevant for our communities today. Black parents have always insisted that their Black children be exceptionally respectful in order to simply survive under white supremacy. Standing out, being non-compliant, or being disrespectful, is risky. These are basic survival strategies for oppressed communities.

Compliance by people belonging to majority racial and religious groups can be very dangerous for oppressed communities. Martin Luther King Jr. is widely quoted as saying “It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.” We see examples of how this appalling silence enables intense suffering and tragedy throughout our history.

At the time of the civil war, about 2/3rds of white people in the south didn’t own slaves, but the vast majority of them were content to live beside an enslaved population, enjoying the benefits of their white skin while their neighbors kept people in bondage. During Jim Crow, the vast majority of white southerners were not carrying out lynchings or joining the KKK, but they were content to live in separate and unequal spaces, ignoring the suffering of the black community, or shaking their heads sadly and continuing to eat their dinner.

This is what concerns me the most as we move into this political era – the willingness of people to tolerate extreme injustice and suffering as long as they themselves are not affected. In particular for Black people, I believe we will need to organize and motivate our communities to actively challenge that historical survival strategy of keeping our heads down and instead follow the paths of action and resistance of our strongest leaders – Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Huey Newton, Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, and modern heroes like Bree Newsome, who climbed a flagpole to take down the confederate flag at the SC state house after the shooting at Mother Emmanuel church in Charleston.

Why is this so important right now? In the few days following Trump’s executive order on immigration, we saw ordinary people willing to carry out his orders without regard for the safety and well-being of the people in their charge. A federal employee at Dulles airport handcuffed a 5-year-old child, separated him from his mother and detained him alone for several hours. At Kennedy Airport, still other federal employees detained and handcuffed a 65-year-old disabled woman traveling from Qatar. She was held for more than 33 hours and denied use of a wheelchair. A federal employee at Dulles reportedly detained a Somali woman who was traveling with her two children for 20 hours without food. She was handcuffed (even when she went to the bathroom) and threatened with deportation.

This is happening right now in our country.

And since we’re talking about black history, it’s important to point out that three of the countries impacted by Donald Trump’s Muslim ban are in Africa – Libya, Sudan, & Somalia. I want to focus on Somalia for a minute, where millions of people have fled since 1991 when the government there collapsed. Almost ¾ of a million people live in refugee camps Kenya and Ethiopia, some who have been there for many years. What has been greatly underreported is that the number of refugees has been increasing sharply since 2011 due to worsening conditions, famine and terrorism. These people continue tolive in refugee camps, some of which have turned into semi-permanent slums due to the length and difficulty of the process they are forced to go through for resettlement.

Almost all of us believe that if we were put into a situation where a bold moral choice was necessary, that we would make the right choice. The truth is that so many of us don’t. We are so very used to just living our lives that it’s hard for us to stop and take a stand.

I think about how much less of the degradation that Pauli Murray speaks of that Black people would have had to endure if more of those facing these choices were unwilling to be bystanders.

I believe that non-compliance and resistance is like a muscle – you have to practice. Protests, rallies, demonstrations, direct actions, and civil disobedience are opportunities for us to exercise and grow our capacity to resist.

Yesterday at the HKonJ Moral March in Raleigh, tens of thousands of people gathered under the leadership of the NAACP to fight back and assert a positive vision for the world we want to see. At the Women’s March in January, and at many smaller rallies and demonstration, I see that same energy and vision. More and more people are deciding to take a stand and get involved. I believe that it’s these spaces that we can encourage more people to not just be bystanders and to actively intervene when they see situations of injustice.

**This is a statement I gave at a demonstration against Donald Trump’s immigration & refugee policies on Friday, January 27th, 2017.**

My Friends and Neighbors,

As much as I wish it was under different circumstances, I am proud to stand with you today and offer my unequivocal solidarity to the immigrants and refugees, their families and loved ones that share this community. I want to make it clear that I am committed, both in my personal capacity and in my capacity as your representative, to do absolutely everything that is in my power to protect every single member of our community from the destructive, racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic policies and actions of the Trump administration.

If you march, I will march with you. If you protest, I will protest with you. If you need sanctuary, I will shelter you. I will stand behind you and I will not back down, wherever the next few months or years take us, and there are many others in this city who will stand with you as well. We are ready for a fight.

The Durham City Council has on many occasions in the last 2 years reiterated our commitment to a diverse and inclusive community.

In October of 2015, we unanimously passed a resolution supporting the resettling of Syrian refugees in our community.

In February of last year, we unanimously endorsed a resolution from our Human Relations Commission urging federal immigration officials to release Durham youth being detained in immigration facilities and to suspend raids in Durham targeting immigrant youth.

In April of last year, we passed a unanimous resolution opposing the discriminatory and anti-LGBTQ House Bill 2 and calling for its repeal.

In June of last year, we endorsed the Faith ID program, an initiative that allows undocumented and other immigrants to obtain identification that can be used to help them access community resources.

Finally, in November of last year we passed a resolution condemning hate speech, racism, and Islamophobia and issued an open letter to the community. In that letter, we write:

“The Durham City Council (1) condemns all hateful speech and violent action directed at Muslims, those perceived to be Muslims, immigrants and people of color; (2) categorically rejects any politician’s anti-Muslim rhetoric used as a tactic to influence voters or inflame hostilities; (3) commits to pursuing a policy agenda that affirms civil and human rights, and ensures that those targeted on the basis of race, religion or immigration status can turn to government without fear of recrimination; (4) reaffirms the value of a pluralistic society, the beauty of a culture composed of multiple cultures, and the inalienable right of every person to live and practice their faith without fear; and (5) pledges to work to make Durham a city that reflects those values in word and deed.”

I believe that it is an act of violence to deport young people who were brought here by their parents as children. It is an act of violence to separate parents and children, spouses and partners, from the connections that form their lives. It is an act of violence to lock up children with their parents on the border, sometimes for years, without access to proper care, people who pose absolutely no risk to our communities.

It is unconscionable for us to turn our backs on people who are fleeing violence and oppression rather than welcoming them as neighbors. We are a nation of immigrants and immigration has built this country, but we are also a nation built on stolen land with stolen labor. We are a country that has dropped bombs on the residents of nearly every nation we seek to ban from entering this country. We owe these people sanctuary, and we should turn no one away.

I want to quote the poem Home, by Warsan Shire, a Somali-born British poet. This poem was inspired by the war and refugee crisis in Syria.

“no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark.
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city
running as well.

you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.”

It is my belief that migration is our birthright as human beings. We have an inalienable right to travel this earth without fear, to build and create with each other, to build families and lives of purpose and happiness, without the limits of borders and walls.

I watched an interview recently with Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist who was a lead organizer for the Women’s March on Washington and has recently been targeted by Islamophobic abusers online. In this interview, she spoke about the role of love in our movement, and she said “our work is not done, because our love for our people is not done.”

It is with love for all of our people that I am calling us all to action. It’s time for us to fight like our lives depend on it, because they do.

On behalf of the Durham City Council I’d like to welcome you all to the 2016 Human Relations Commission Awards Ceremony. Tonight we will honor three members of our community who have committed their lives to the service of others and to making Durham a community where everyone can contribute, thrive, and feel welcome. These are people who embody the very best of what Durham can be, and whose efforts to create positive and lasting change in our community deserve our very highest level of acknowledgement and support.

At an event that focuses on human relations, I would be remiss in not mentioning one of the biggest challenges to our inclusive community – HB2. We all took a hit last month when our state legislature passed this bill, which among other things, limits the power of municipalities to ensure that people are not discriminated against based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The backlash against NC from across the nation has cost us hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars, with more canceled concerts, relocated conferences, and delayed corporate expansions announced each week.

Yet here in Durham, we can all be so proud that we live in a city where our governmental, economic, and educational institutions have used this as an opportunity to reiterate their commitment to diversity and support for the rights of the everyone in our community. Statements against this discriminatory legislation have been issued by the City Council, County Commission, Board of Education, Chamber of Commerce, Duke University, NC Central University, the Durham Bulls Organization, many more local organizations and businesses, and of course, our own Human Relations Commission. We are on record as a community that values diversity and inclusion and that opposes discrimination of any kind, and we will continue to work to make sure that ethic is part of our foundation as a city and as a community.

I think HB2 also gives us the opportunity to highlight just how important it us for us to have understanding and trust between different types of people in our community, the fostering of which is one of the most important goals of this commission. In addition to hurting LGBT people, HB2 also hurts workers, by forbidding municipalities and counties from setting higher minimum wages and labor standards. In fact, it hurts everyone, by taking away our right to sue in state court for discrimination claims. These two issues have gotten much less attention overall, and have absolutely nothing to do with which bathroom transgender people use. It’s clear to me that in this case, as has happened many times before, that people are capitalizing on our fear of those who are different to both mask and garner support for an even more destructive agenda, to the ultimate detriment of all of us. It’s much harder to take an action that hurts your neighbors when you know them, and their families and children. It’s much harder to misjudge, mischaracterize, and dehumanize everyone who belongs to a certain group, when you’ve had the opportunity to meet them, perhaps at a panel discussion or community event, hosted by our very own Human Relations Commission, that introduces you to people you may not otherwise have met, people who may be very different from you, and gives you the opportunity to explore our common humanity.

So I want to thank you all again for coming out tonight and for being involved in this important work to make Durham a place where we can all achieve our greatest potential, free from discrimination, and in partnership with neighbors from the many diverse communities that we are lucky to share our beautiful city with.

I would now like to introduce Commissioner Susan Austin, who will tell you a little bit about the Bull City Poetry Slam and introduce our first poet.