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I HAVE LEARNED more about Iowa City
in the past two weeks than the two decades prior to this. I bought the myth of Iowa City as a progressive town. I would watch and sometimes participate in protests where liberal choirs preach liberal sermons, sometimes vehemently, and then everyone goes home. The desire for change is exhausted in voicing it. Nothing changes. Watching the Iowa City Council meeting on June 9 was informative. The council discussed the demands made by the Iowa Freedom Riders. The bulk of the two-hour meeting focused on how to create the image of an Iowa City that respected all of its citizens. The council literally discussed painting streets and creating a mural. The discussion of new policies to reform the police was similar: it would be a show of support that would ultimately only
FEATURING
THE BLACK FUSIONIST SOCIETY A TRANSMEDIA HISTORICAL FICTION DIGITAL PROJECT BY ANTOINE WILLIAMS VISIT:
support the status quo. This status quo falls short of being anti-racist, even if individual persons do not see themselves as racists. The Black Lives Matter movement is committed to allowing all humans to flourish. It wishes to liberate everyone: oppressed and oppressors. This message is communicated in each of the protests. Protesters are fed, litter is cleaned, water is offered: genuine care abounds. Elected officials have marched, talked, worked, listened, spoken. These conversations too often reflect the world of 2019, not the future that invites us. I want to join the Iowa Freedom Riders to ask the city council to commit to change. I want to live in a city that values life over property. I want to live in a city so deeply committed to its anti-racism that it transforms
