BHI Statement of Resolve
Civic Commons was born out of a clear assessment that inequity in our region was growing, despite our investments that sought to overcome it. That realization was the canary in the coal mine.
The tumultuous year of 2020 included the horrendous murder of George Floyd. This sparked a level of awareness for many people, those whose lives never intersected with the harsh realities of the discrimination so many in our nation face.
The Black Home Initiative network emerged early in 2021 to mobilize an entirely new level of engagement by all sectors. Its intention was to strike deep into the heart of entrenched structural and institutional racism, the forces limiting access to intergenerational wealth through homeownership. The stark racial wealth gap— evident in data on homeownership rates and intergenerational wealth— was shocking to many. As was the realization that this is not a thing of the past, but a very real consequence of the lingering discrimination embedded in the systems and practices of today. The conviction that these must be repaired is the basis for BHI’s existence.
Right now, in the face of deliberate efforts to hold us back by stirring chaos and instilling fear, the BHI network refuses to be dissuaded. As noted by Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attiah, writing about the new DOJ report on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: “Still, we must ask whether defenders of civil rights are acting as boldly as the enemies of progress.”
We will not succumb to the present-day headwinds. We have been here before. And we will act as boldly as the forces that seek to stop our progress. We will embrace and utilize the commitment of the region we live in. We know that BHI’s focus— changing systems that for so long have kept the doors of opportunity closed to Foundational Black Homebuyers and business owners— has already benefited families, communities, and our region. So we will press on. And we will prevail.
We are strengthened by knowing that BHI is a movement, and we are not alone. As a network of partners, we are bound together not by force or structure, but by our determination to reach a shared destination together. We are like a murmuration of birds— moving independently yet also in synchrony, responding to the ever-changing winds with the agility of each and the power of all.
BHI continues to hear from others who covet what we have, and what we are doing here. These signals affirm our work; the canary, in daylight, sings. So today, we double down on our commitment to our shared goals, and we stand together, resolved to prevail.