City Leadership

My Public Diary (July 2023)

Alabama on the Map, Long Form Comms, and an August to Remember

“Too high to get over, too low to get under. You’re stuck in the middle and the pain is thunder.” — Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Michael Jackson

I recently saw George Floyd walk into a coffee shop the other day. At least, I thought I did. It was triggering, so I wrote about it here.

It’s hard to believe it has been three years since his murder. So much has changed. So much has not. Like riding the emotional roller coaster of a fake abduction — leaders can find themselves stuck somewhere in the middle of old and new constructs.

Like so many other American cities, Birmingham has had three years of accelerated, generational leadership transitions across all sectors and all communities. The civic challenges I wrote about in my series titled, A Far Smaller Birmingham, have been exacerbated for several reasons.

Reason 1.

The summer of 2023 has turned out to be a remarkable period of unplanned opportunities for Birmingham’s political landscape.

First, County Commissioner Steve Ammons resigned from his position to become the CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance. His resignation created one non-partisan vacancy among the 5-member commission, potentially allowing for a Democrat to seize a long-held Republican seat. That election was held on July 18 and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice, Mike Bolin, will hold the seat for Republicans.

Then, newly elected state representative, Fred “Coach” Plump, resigned from office due to a federal probe related to a kickback scheme. That same federal probe has delivered an indictment to State Representative John Rogers’ longtime aide, Valerie Johnson. That’s one seat vacated for sure and questions about what else to come from this saga. The special election for Plump’s seat will be held on September 26, 2023.

Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Alabama’s Congressional lines unconstitutional. The Court compelled the State of Alabama to create two Congressional districts that are majority black instead of the current one we have. As of this writing two versions of the new map have been produced, neither meeting the “majority black” standard set by the Court. The deadline was July 21, 2023 and the maps presented by Alabama Republicans actually made Black representation in Congress even more challenging to achieve. Republicans totally flipped the script. A maddening, but smart oppositional gambit — a special master appointed by the majority Republican U.S. Supreme Court might just inure in their favor.

I fully anticipate the shifting political agendas and players to have some impact on how much energy will be required to drive Birmingham’s agenda forward.

Reason 2.

Alabama’s biggest cities are playing Hunger Games for population dominance. Is this the game Birmingham should be playing now that we are unofficially the 3rd largest city in Alabama — and only separated by a mere 600 people in Montgomery, Alabama to potentially become the 4th largest?

There is a lot to unpack, which I have done in part in A Far Smaller Birmingham, but the economic heart of the state remains the Birmingham region. And, now that we are talking more about our population and economic strength at a regional level — maybe more leaders will start acting like they understand our fates are truly tied together.

But, shifting their mindsets is predicated on embracing Reason 3.

Reason 3.

Who do we think we are? Birmingham. Birmingham-Hoover. Or, ______ (name your smaller suburban city.)

The classic skit, Who’s On First, is one of the most enduring comedy sketches in the history of American humor. It is a mind-boggling array of one-liners, syntax acrobatics, and comedic timing. It is pure brilliance.

It is also a great example of how two people can be saying the same thing and be right and wrong at the same time.

The Birmingham region needs a stronger shared identity, but, collectively, leaders refuse to reconcile the role racial identity plays in a place that wants to move beyond being defined primarily as a place of racial reckoning. We do not agree that we can embrace our past and future in equal measure — that’s the elephant in the room.

We seem to be perpetually stuck in the middle. But, I am optimistic about our ability to figure it out.

Narratives are Damn Sticky

Here is the truth — our administration has cranked out more than 50 press releases from January 1 — June 30, 2023. 85% of those releases were associated with big, transformational initiatives such as our transformational solution for unhoused residents and unprecedented investments in peaceable solutions to a crisis of gun violence. We’ve garnered hundreds of thousands of views, clicks, and an unprecedented amount of news coverage. Most days, we win the local narrative on progress in Birmingham.

But, the volume and velocity of these efforts altogether still may not be enough to overcome decades of negative narratives perpetuated by national media who see Birmingham in black and white and a sticky crime narrative amplified by The (Who’s On) 1st 48.

So, while much of our energy is placed in sharing the immediate efforts of our departments, we are also investing time and energy in long-form narrative change initiatives such as issue-specific publications, business cases, a book about Birmingham, and a documentary film.

We must push deeper into the American consciousness on national platforms and issue-specific publications. We need a firm, psychic break from The 1st 48.

Birmingham’s communications strategy includes long-form narratives on platforms that fit our agenda. And, it’s going to take more than just the city organs to get it done. It’s going to take all of us, especially now that we do not have a daily newspaper that (even if you didn’t agree with a story) gave us a common starting point for dialogue.

In fact, Birmingham lucked up on another opportunity to burrow into the American psyche by landing on Monopoly’s square — what a terrific opportunity for sharing our story in a way that might stick more.

The most substantial communications project the city is undertaking is a sorely needed new website. Believe it or not, the website we inherited nearly six years ago was a vast improvement from the one before it. Now, we need something totally different and better. Check out the specifications on the request for proposal published in June. The RFP has closed and we have received 20 proposals from local and national advertising firms.

Birmingham Newspaper Airplane Crashes

The loss of Birmingham’s daily newspaper in February is an incredible travesty. Personally, I’m not clinging to the old idea of what a newspaper used to be. We all know the classic business model of the newspaper business is broken and has been since 2008.

But, newspapers are paper airplanes that communities rides together. The papers are what we want them to be. We set entire family routines around them. The Sunday morning shuffling of slippers to the coffeepot and kitchen table. We clear tables like alters to explore worlds both familiar and new, to read funnies and gossip, and to get the truth of matters that matter most to us. We fold, flip, lick edges and bend the paper into something that elevates us. Lifts us higher.

But, leaders know that newspapers do more than entertain and inform us. They level us — giving us the same exact mirror to see ourselves as a whole community. Without one mirror through which we see each other, we end up in a fun house of images. Everyone seeing the world through their own distorted lenses. If we are not careful, we might find ourselves in more of a circus.

We might find the clowns running the circus.

August is Going To Be Awesome in Birmingham

There is much more coming soon that will be unveiled in the days and weeks ahead, but we already have public evidence that Birmingham will have its best chance to earn attention among national influencers in the month of August.

• Applications open August 1, 2023 for the inaugural Birmingham Poet Laureate program thanks to our partners at Create Birmingham. The program is well-designed and supported in deep partnership with the Mayor’s Office, Birmingham City Council, and the reigning Alabama Poet Laureate, Ms. Ashley Jones.
• The National Association of Black Journalists will host their national conference in Birmingham on August 3. bringing thousands of America’s top black influencers, journalists, advertising agencies, publications, and celebrities. Two Birmingham communicators will be inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame
• On August 4, Birmingham will host SlossTech — the premiere tech conference in the Southeastern U.S. The speaker lineup is incredibly diverse and represents the entire spectrum of technology — talent, development, deployment; entrepreneurial, and corporate alike.
• Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Institute — America’s premiere leadership training program for rising Democratic leaders, will convene in Birmingham during the first week of August.
• The Birmingham Museum of Art will hold its uber-popular Art on the Rocks on Friday, August 4. I’m particularly excited about the headlining artist, Durand Bernarr, a brilliant songwriter and flamboyant vocalist.

There is a dizzying amount of activity in Birmingham right now. And, there is much more to come.

Honestly,

Ed.

I am a poet, essayist, and civic strategist based in Birmingham, Alabama. Get to know me better here.