No doubt over the years you’ve seen these names in this newspaper many times.
Theodia Gillespie, Curtis Wilson, Sherman Jenkins, Clayton Muhammad, Richard Irvin, Cynthia Latimer, Cynthia Miller, Peggy Hicks and Pastors Julian Spencer and John Thompson are just some of Aurora’s Black leaders who are concerned about what they see as the steady erosion of their community’s influence in Aurora.
In response, more than 100 of these African American advocates gathered at Kathryn’s Place restaurant in Aurora on Thursday for the launch of the Black Empowerment Coalition, which has been described not only as a “new organization” but as a “long overdue” one.
“We can no longer afford to just sit around” while “our culture is being pushed aside and not recognized as being relevant,” said Theodia Gillespie, president and CEO of Quad County Urban League, noting how many positions of Black leadership have been lost in the past year alone in Aurora, including mayor, police chief and East Aurora School District 131 superintendent.
“It’s time to get our hands dirty and be that advocate to not only create unity but develop new leaders,” continued Gillespie.
Interestingly, this already-planned gathering during National Black History Month took place amid renewed national outrage about racism after President Donald Trump shared a social media post portraying former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle as primates in a jungle – an incident that underscored for many in the room why unity felt increasingly urgent.
A press release by the Black Empowerment Coalition also noted the exclusion of Maryland’s Wes Moore, the country’s only Black governor, from a White House dinner tied to the National Governors Association, where he serves as vice president.
“It’s hard when you see micro-aggressions coming at you day to day,” noted Aurora African American Heritage Advisory Board Chair Curtis Wilson, who is the Black Empowerment Coalition co-chair with Gillespie. “We need to look at how we can protect one another, not in an insular way, not as a separate society but use our common power when things go off the rails.”
While the timing of this Black coalition seems less coincidental than consequential, the seeds were planted last year when the city of Aurora, under newly-elected Mayor John Laesch, decided not to hold a city-sponsored Juneteenth flag-raising celebration this year, with a flag-raising eventually held the evening before the holiday.
The frustration and anger within the Black community only grew when past interview remarks made by an East Aurora School Board member that went public seemed to place the needs of Hispanic students above their Black peers. These African American leaders, also upset over other ways they felt their students and staff were being treated by the district, confronted school officials about the many grievances.
At that time this group did not have an official name. But now it does.
And the Black Empowerment Coalition also has a mission: To serve as an umbrella organization for African-American businesses, churches, nonprofits and other groups in three critical areas: civic engagement, economic/business development and education. That includes everything from supporting Black-owned businesses to mobilizing Black voters to ensuring the educational and emotional needs of the city’s Black students.
A similar effort to organize had been attempted by Scheketa Hart-Burns in 2020. And although the late Aurora City Council member was successful in helping start several church and anti-crime initiatives, the unification effort failed to launch. Thanks to a more efficient way of communicating – and no doubt current headlines – the tide has changed, these advocates tell me.
In her 40 years working in Aurora, Gillespie said she’d never seen so many Black leaders in one room. While many showed up not sure of what the meeting was about, by the time it was over, she continued, participants were excited and committed to taking the energy and ideas back to their own boards.
It all comes down to action, rather than reaction, they insist.
“We can’t look to other groups to solve our issues. It was time for us to come together as a community and work together,” said Gillespie. “We are celebrating 100 years of Black History Month this year but we need to continue to create these stories going forward for the children.”
Wilson agrees, noting that the Civil Rights Movement did not succeed by “retreating into a shell” but by “linking with others in a common cause.”
Part of being a good neighbor is “understanding what is happening not only on your own block,” he insisted, “but what’s going on in the world around you.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
