The Salt and Pepper Team

THE SALT AND PEPPER TEAM (A LEGACY STORY DEDICATED TO PEPPER)

It was a defining time in our community history. It was the eighties and there were diverse approaches to solving our societal ills. In some cases it was more of a suppression than an approach. Our local city government was bent on beginning a big economic growth initiative and that was a good thing, but reality dictated that other initiatives had to be dealt with as well for those who lived in the community below "eye level". I always preach that "a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link", and that cities are chains and the poor their weakest links.

Several entrepreneurs of the "social active kind" had begun small works with only a lick and a prayer to support them . Fate would intervene and there would be a ground swell of change. Some of us called it a God thing, some called it social justice and still others called it politics. But to those who lived it and shared the blood sweat and tears of the times. it was real, viable and sincere. And each of us can say we made a difference.

In the inner city at that time was a precious African American woman named Ida. Now Ida had some love and concerns about the welfare of the children in her area and began a work in her home that became "United Neighbors". At that time she and I aligned to help each other. Each from our own perspectives and with our own target groups were striving to strengthen the "weak links" of our community. She was just moving her organization into a white frame house on eighth and Gaines street where United Neighbors would be visible to the community and send the message, "We Shall Not Be Moved".

For my part, I was developing housing for special need people. Known as "Project FINISH (Furnishing Independent Needs In Special Housing) we included the mentally ill, retarded, homeless and special need people who were routinely in and out of safe housing or institutions. It grew to include; elderly persons abandoned by their families, domestic violence victims, people trying to get off drugs and alcohol, and judicially compromised people just out of prison. It was a great and audacious dream, but born of a life time of championing the underdogs. We grew from three houses to 120 apartments.

People would often challenge me with statements like, "Why in the world would you want to work with "those" people when you could do so much more with your talents?"

The answer was always simple and the same. "Because if I were in my home state in the forties, these would be "my people", "my family". A large part of my family was dysfunctional and fell into some of these categories. Some people think I say that for dramatic effect, but no, I truly mean it. Had I not been given mentors and met "angels unaware" during my lifetime, I too could have been trapped in that society.

If you are reading this and know me or my family you might be thinking, "Why in the world would you flaunt your "dirty laundry" for the world to know?" I have literally had that question phrased exactly like that more than once.

I would answer simply as Ronald Reagan once said, "Those who don't learn from history, are destined to repeat it". I never want another generation of my family to have to "crawl" through what we did in my childhood.

So here we were, Ida and I, sharing the same inner city trying to help people with a hand up instead of a hand out. We were both struggling for money to make this all happen and we shared some of the same challenges. Lord knows we needed money, but we both agree, the biggest problem wasn't about the money.

It was first that we were women. We still laugh about the times we'd be soliciting help or funds and we'd be asked to "produce the man that heads the organization." It would have been a cheerful and promising conversation up to that point. Upon finding that women headed up the organization, there would be an obvious and sometimes critical concern. "A woman can't do that kind of work in the inner city with those risks" they would point out. We would patiently point out that not only could we, we were the only ones doing it independently.

Ida being African American had her special set of circumstances and was often called a racist to her face. On the other side, I too was called a racist and periodically the two of us would come together to cover each other's backs. The tears that have been shed in commiserating with each other and seeing the pain inflicted by the barbed words of our critics are long since spent. But steel resolve would replace those sessions and we would return to the "war" for another battle.

Local politics had to get involved . The Agencies worked so harmoniously together and then came the time when our City government wanted to sweep some of the housing and homeless issues under the rug. It was like an unspoken mandate to the news folks that news stories on this would be bad for economic development so we couldn't get stories in the papers or on television. If only we'd had the "web" and "youtube" in those days.

A favorite news reporter at that time told me it was a "non issue" and would never become a political hot potato in the city or the country. I personally took him on tours of the homeless and let him interview homeless people who were usually not available for comment. I enlisted my sister, a police officer and specialist on the intercity beat to give him the benefit of her expertise. He later apologized and said that I was right and he had been blinded by the rhetoric of the times. It became the hottest issue of the election cycle.

It was then that I made a momentous and life changing decision. My crusade would become political.I decided to run for city council so that I would be able to participate in every forum and discussion there was. No one could "shut me up" about the homeless issue or poverty. When I let it be known I was going to run, I had offers from both sides.

My Democratic friends tried to convince me to run as a Democrat, but the incumbent I faced was a Democrat. I didn't know much about politics yet, but I knew the statistic that 96% of incumbents are re elected. I also knew who would draw the funding between an incumbent and an upstart white woman trying to preach poverty and homelessness.

The Republicans also courted me and my son was a die hard Republican so with his encouragement, the die was cast. I am sure in hind sight I was known to the Republicans as a "Demo-publican" and to the Democrats as a "Republi-crat" because I always tend to vote the issues and the candidates and my boundaries are somewhat indefinable. For my part, I created a bumper sticker which said "Independent Voter, Convince Me".

I could never have realized the repercussions of that decision. The Agency people I had worked with for years wouldn't speak to me or take my calls. I was shell shocked at the thought all those years of blood, sweat and tears working together were gone because I ran as a Republican. I was abandoned by my own peers.

Well, not all my peers. Ida stood by me. She was also friends with my opponents and while she couldn't endorse me solely, she wouldn't endorse anyone else. She saw to it I was treated courteously, included in forums and meetings and more importantly, "heard". I would always remember how she championed me.

My aim had never been to win the seat I wanted only to be able to get the issues before the public forcing the city government to deal with it. This was accomplished. It took a second angel named Dan Ebener to set it up and he did it by optimizing on all the publicity and momentum of the campaign.

Dan was the right hand man to the Bishop of the local Diocese. He was a born "Mediator". As the head of Diocesan Social Action he controlled the funds and influence of the Diocese in our area for outreach in social action issues.

He began a new organization as I was getting things moving in my Project and as Ida was becoming a force to be reckoned with. Dan did what no one else could have done. He brought together as many as twenty diverse non-profit agencies into an umbrella organization known as "The Q.C. Coalition for the Homeless". Formerly they had been competitors in many ways but he brought it all together. Even me.

I had steadfastly refused to be "beholding" to anyone and was a true maverick when it came to my organization. I didn't want any strings attached and I surely didn't want any government intervention or government money so I did my own thing and raised my own monies.

But Dan changed all that. He won me over with his vision for a Coalition that would not compete with each other for grants and funds but would ban together and apply for things as groups. The cooperation paid off and truly funds did start coming in to the agencies. Also we met regularly and those of us who had issues with each other put them aside in the interest of growing the influence and success of the Coalition.

The organization brought in the most famous of all Homeless Advocates Mitch Snyder. Mitch ran the largest homeless shelter in America in the very heart of our governmental base, Washington DC. I had the privilege of meeting him and giving him a fabric patch with my Project logo for his famous jean jacket sporting logo patches all over it. He was the catalyst to the Coalitions efforts to bring attention to the local homeless issue.

The Coalition was diverse with members who used diverse methods to bring attention to their issues. At one point we had decided to utilize the bridge from Illinois to Iowa to do a March On Poverty. This would give participants a voice with singing, signs and we could receive coverage by the news media. One faction of our group had experience in marches from the sixties and had been arrested for civil disobedience. They proposed that we have an act of civil disobedience take place to draw more media by having members arrested.

The strength of the Coalition was shown when we hammered out a compromise which showed how united we had become. I knew we could not function as a group that got it's members arrested as there were city officials and people with jobs that would be affected. But in the interest of harmony and democratic decisions, I suggested that if a splinter group wanted to commit an act of civil disobedience they could do it independent of the march. We could have a sleep over in the intercity park almost at the base of the bridge .We would be crossing the bridge as an alternative event to the act of civil disobedience for others to participate in. That way, everyone could participate and it was a "new and fresh" approach to drawing attention to the issues. More "marketing" of the issue instead of relying only on "protesting".

We held the sleepover in Lafayette Park in the inner city and gave the City Council, Mayor and Civil Rights Commissioner an invitation they could not turn down . It was to spend the night with us sleeping in the park on the ground and then going to work the next morning. Sleeping with us were homeless families, homeless individuals and the Salvation Army fed us supper. There were only the park bathrooms to clean up in the next morning which made the point of people who expect homeless to go for job interviews all nice and neat. Day old breakfast rolls and doughnuts were offered but no way to make coffee.

The idea was accepted and it was attended by all, but hardest on our Civil Rights Commissioner Brenda. She was not used to the outdoor life and "critters" and sleeping in an inner city park was foreign to her and scary. She insisted on sleeping in the middle of the group.I used to blackmail her "tongue in cheek" by threatening to reveal she'd slept with every member of the council and the mayor. Her eyes would sparkle and she'd laugh showing those beautiful white teeth and scold me.

Local music groups filled the air with music and the melodies of old gospel songs abounded. It was a very festive atmosphere which was also different in the presentation of such a serious subject as Poverty. But it was a moment of coming together for citizens of all areas of our community and a lasting visual impression for all of us to carry to the ballot boxes.

It was spectacular as a fundraiser too, filling a large moving truck with donations folks would drive by and drop off. We were able to supply new organization endeavors for the homeless with many of the donations received that night. Clothing, food and money were dropped by the event . Some families and citizens stopped by to talk with the folks and politicians in the park. It was an amazing and successful event never duplicated since. Some local employers even stopped with job offers, now that's success.

From the small ban of about twenty agencies evolved the first local homeless shelter that would take in anyone in need. The shelter brought them in from the cold and they were safe. It grew into a multi-million dollar organization now known as the John Lewis Housing with services that built shelters, food programs and transitional housing.

My sister,in her perspective as a police officer, pointed out that cops marked the onset of winter by the first frozen body they find in a dumpster or outdoors trying to stay warm. With the coming of the shelter and services of John Lewis, it has been rare in these years since to have a frozen body found.

Ida's program has grown into a prestigious program that serves the community youth as no other. United Neighbors has; educational programs, peer programs, a strong alliance with the community policing issues and programs and oh so much more. They now have a beautiful building that will stand for generations as a place to bring the African American community together as well as support the neighborhoods . They will continue in a way that fights gangs and drugs.

Ida is now Dr.Ida Johnson and has won the Martin Luther King Award for service. Though she could have retired long ago, it is not in her vocabulary. Like me she thinks of retirement as being when you cut your work week to five days instead of six. Long after we are gone, she will continue to be known as the "Mother of the Community", and I will be her greatest fan.

While I moved on to other work eventually, the seeds that were planted and the lives that were changed were many and significant. I never doubt for a moment that God brought Ida and I together to work in that risky area of the inner city and to be there for each other so many times and in so many ways.

It is in the covering of each other's backs that we developed into the "Salt and Pepper" Team. Many times the clients would try to manipulate us, or threaten to make a complaint . They did not know of our close association so they would try to pit us against each other . Our mutual standard answers were, "If Ida said it, I said it" and she would say "If Joyce said it I said it".

In those times when people would complain that I was racist Ida would throw back her head and laugh that lusty low laugh of hers and say, "Now I know you don't have that right". It was a comfort and a privilege to be held in that kind of esteem by such a great lady.

For more than thirty years, Ida has been my friend, my peer and my "she'ro". She is a beautiful Christian woman who took all the snarling racists could throw at her and is still standing. She has suffered great personal loss, family tragedies and many health changes. But, as of today she still pulls eight to twelve hour days at her organization. She knows there are good people in all races and sometimes she, like me, has to stand up against some of the ones who aren't. In those times we are still there for each other.

Ida and my sister were great friends when my sister was a police officer working the inner city beat for over twenty five years. They had occasion to work together on many things. When my sister died she had intended to leave Ida a special picture which hung in her apartment of two African sisters aptly entitled,"We Are Sisters". She believed it personified the connection we had with Ida. Unfortunately it was never able to happen as the picture had been given to someone else. But, Ida knew it was the heart's desire of my sister and that touched her and was enough.

In our own way, we are sisters. To signify the American Indian in our lineage my sister often signed some of her artistic works with "Sister of the wind, blood of the wolf", so I would like to end this legacy story by saying that we are "Sister's of the Wind, and ever shall be". I love you Ida and ours is a legacy worth leaving.