In a meeting with Madison pastor Alex Gee today he revealed that he had not chosen the title for his December “Justified Anger” newspaper column in the Capital Times that has started a movement to address racial disparities in Madison. He acknowledged that some people are uncomfortable with anger. But, he said, “There’s no way you can identify injustices and not be angry about them.”
Gee is not angry in demeanor. But as a long time resident of Madison, he has lost patience with the conditions that are holding back the city’s minority residents. He has examples from his own life to point to, that do not allow him to rest comfortably in what might otherwise by a middle class lifestyle.
He’s hopeful that the momentum established by his article will change the city. “There’s something really incredible about this window of opportunity that God has given us,” he said.
My question to him was, what comes next?
Foundations Respond
He was pleased to report that earlier in the day the Justified Anger coalition had announced that it had been given a total of $100,000 by local foundations, companies, and individuals. “That was really affirming,” he said. The money from the Madison Community Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, CUNA, MG&E, and the other sources will help The Coalition toward its goal of building a comprehensive proposal to address racial disparities in Madison and the surrounding area.
Gee says there will be a lot of listening over the next 90 days to hear from more people and get more ideas and feedback about what needs to be done. An African American Community Family Meeting is coming up on Thursday, June 5th, at the Fountain of Life Church, 633 W. Badger Road.
A Madison-based community-minded tech community called 100 State is helping The Coalition get additional feedback on a creative website called justifiedanger.ideascale.com, which allows people to submit ideas and discuss them. “We need to hear from the broader community,” Gee said.
Gee said that he hopes to avoid building a lot of new structures to address the problems that are being identified, but to establish collaborative partnerships that builds the capacity to make the changes that are needed.
Still Talking About It
Where are the rest of the Madison churches in all of this? Gee said that when he brought Madison pastors together to discuss his article, some new conversations were started. But whether churches will stay engaged with the issue is an open question. Nonetheless, one of the city’s leading pastors is preaching to the city, and the city is listening and responding.
When Gee first discussed his idea for an article with Capital Times editor Paul Fanlund last August, Gee said Fanlund told him, “If you write that, I guarantee that people will be talking about this article a year from now.” Gee didn’t believe him. “But here we are, still talking about it,” he said.