Local officials key to change, summit told
‘Watershed moment’ in U.S., activists say
Local lawmakers were singled out in broad terms on Wednesday as key players to fixing a system not working for the Black community, as activists on a panel about race relations mulled next steps in confronting social injustice.
“The people that affect your day to day lives are local elected officials,” said Sandra Douglass-morgan, chairwoman of the Gaming Control Board, the first African American to serve in that role, and a former North Las Vegas city attorney.
The Solutions, Strategies & Service Summit, hosted by Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly and moderated by rapper and entrepreneur Tip T.I. Harris, sought to define how the community can move forward amid weeks of protests against systemic racism following the May killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis police custody.
Laura Martin, executive director of Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, cast social unrest around the country as a “watershed moment for change.”
“It”s not just the police, which is a focal point, but it’s an opportunity for all of our communities to decide for ourselves, what does safety look like for us?” she said.
Elected officials, she noted, decide where tax dollars are invested, including at jails and in police departments.
Harris said it was incumbent upon local lawmakers to speak to issues important to young people.
Assemblywoman Dina Neal, who did not participate in the panel but attended the summit and was invited by Weekly to address the socially distanced crowd inside the Pearson Community Center, said that young people were telling lawmakers exactly what they needed to hear right now.
“And sometimes as political leadership, we seem disconnected from actual real people,” Neal said. “And sometimes we have to come down off our pedestal and actually merge and submerge ourselves with them to hear them, so that we can move policy that’s effective for them.”
Youth, capitalism matter
Young people today are part of the most active generation, illustrated by protests and social media engagement, according to minister Kyle West, a youth activist, who said that “Black Twitter” is “extremely dangerous for good purposes” and had contributed to a culture that has created a united front against injustice.
“What is now happening is we are collectively using our voices to bring change,” West said.
But where votes and engagement can be a tool to effect change, so too can the dollar.
“Ultimately what we all need to be saying is that Black economy matters,” said Devin Brooks, an entrepreneur and community activist. “The only thing that is stronger than racism in this country is capitalism.”
And that means supporting businesses and corporations who back the lawmakers that speak to the concerns of the community and withholding spending from those that do not, Harris said.
Work just beginning
With social unrest occurring at the same time as a global pandemic, and spending priorities under review by lawmakers throughout Nevada, the time for reform is now, whether it be in police departments or the economy, according to Douglass-morgan.
“You actually need to be on the playing field to effect change,” said Dwayne Morgan, Caesars Entertainment’s chief of nightlife compliance and a retired Metropolitan Police Department detective.
He said he advocates for more minorities within the department.
But voting a local lawmaker into office — municipal elections routinely receive dismal voter turnout — does not signal the end of the work, said Lady A.K. Mcmorris, a community activist, radio personality and comedian.
Mcmorris said it takes mobilization to pass important legislation, the type of public excitement that Weekly told her the summit had received.
“This ain’t a meet-and-greet for T.I.,” she said. “This is a community discussion for us to lay down what it’s supposed to look like for our future and the future of our community.”
Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @SHEA_LVRJ on Twitter.