MADISON, Wis. – Plans for a Black cultural center on Madison’s south side are getting closer to becoming a reality.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced he’s putting $810,000 in his 2021 budget to help with the acquisition of land for the Center for Black Excellence and Culture.
Right now, all one might see on the 3.5 acres of land on West Badger Street off of S. Park St. is emptiness, and Rev. Dr. Alexander Gee, Jr. notices something missing, too.
“It’s just something so many of us have lamented not having in our community,” Gee said. “In the communities that have strong cultural hubs, you don’t have that same level of disparity.”
That’s where he spots opportunity.
“We want to eradicate the tale of two cities,” Gee said. “We felt with all that’s going on in the world right now and the country, there’s no better time than to build something that strengthens the Black community (and) brings the broader community together to celebrate Black culture and our contributions to the world.”
Gee is collaborating with other community leaders to create the the Center for Black Excellence and Culture, which will aim to foster entrepreneurship and a sense of community for all ages.
“You could tell people were wanting a space to breathe,” said Annette Miller, founder and CEO of EQT by Design, which helps amplify diverse voices in the Dane County area. “It’s community centered. It’s people centered.”
Miller said Madison is a welcoming city if you know how to navigate it.
“It can be very complicated and difficult and challenging, and I had experienced that myself when I came here,” she said.
That’s why Miller said the community needs a space like this.
“It’s about pleasure. It’s about joy,” she said. “It’s about showcasing and highlighting the beauty of who we are as Black people and really creating a space where that can happen in a very aspirational and profound way.”
The Center, located right near Madison College’s Goodman South Campus, the Urban League and the Beltline, will shine a spotlight on Black culture and contributions.
“We’ve been here 100 years really making progress, just it was hidden,” Miller said. “Now here’s a place to showcase and highlight that.”
Gee said that will instill a sense of pride in young people, adding that such a space would have made a difference when he came to Madison as a child 50 years ago.
“I found out amidst white people from a white teacher that I was a slave and had to deal with the snickering,” Gee said. “There was no talk of the Harlem renaissance, of Reconstruction, of the civil rights movement. I thought that was all I contributed.”
He said the Center will fill a void, and now is more important than ever to have it.
“If we don’t do this, Black people will continue to die at a higher rate than our white counterparts because of the micro-aggressions and the stress of having to explain what it means to be Black,” Gee said. “This now is a matter of life and death.”
The goal is to build up not only the Black community, but the whole city.
“This is not something that will separate us. This is something that’s going to unite us,” Gee said. “I want people to know this is for all of us.”
Over the next six months or so, organizers will get feedback from all ages in the Black community on what exactly they would like the Center to look like. Gee thought that fundraising for the estimated $18 million project will begin early next year, with plans to break ground in 2022.
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