Leaders and organizations of the Dane County African-American community have collaborated to form a council, hoping to reform a city and county they say perpetuates poverty and discrimination.
Dane County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Greg Jones said some of the most influential African-American organizations, along with neighborhood centers, parents and others created the Black Leadership Council, which will focus on at least eight ongoing issues.
The preliminary issues the council will address include disproportionate minority confinement, an educational achievement gap and affordable housing. Jones said data from studies like the Race to Equity report helped target these issues as vital to their communities.
“We came together to ask what we could do, African-Americans, for a collective response to not only the Tony Robinson event, but the ongoing, structural and systematic issues facing the African-American community,” Jones said.
Working with city and county government is something Jones said he is hopeful and excited about. While many of the organizations have been individually successful, working collectively with the community is one of the council’s main goals.
While tension remains high across the country over many of the issues the council plans to tackle, Jones said the social change they are working toward will be felt by all for the benefit of the future.
"[Social change] will be seamless for the upcoming generation, but it won't be seamless for those who are now experiencing and living the life of those Race to Equity indicators that show that Wisconsin and Dane county is a tough place for African-Americans,” Jones said.
