The challenge

Greensboro, North Carolina’s low-income African-American communities struggle with discrimination, inadequate housing, police misconduct, poor schools, and low-paying jobs. Underlying those chronic problems is a decades-old tragedy that still haunts the city. In 1979, as a march for racial justice was about to begin in Greensboro, five marchers were killed and another 10 wounded. Two criminal cases failed to yield convictions, but a federal civil suit found Klan members, Nazis and Greensboro police liable for one death. Decades later, many prefer not to discuss the deaths, whose legacy has never been fully acknowledged or addressed.

Seeds of commitment

Growing up as an ill child in a very poor, uneducated, but hard-working family, Joyce Johnson felt the power of community. “It was because of my family, teachers, neighbors, and others,” she says, “that I moved from a family with fewer than five high-school graduates in our immediate circle to become one of the first ten African-American graduates from Duke University in 1968.”

Nelson Johnson grew up in a family that valued social action. His father, who was head of the local NAACP, emphasized to his son the importance of African Americans joining to make an impact. Evidence of the need for change was everywhere. “My neighbors who sharecropped were mistreated and cheated regularly,” Johnson says. “I saw grown black men slapped open-handed across the face by white policemen on the streets of our one-stoplight town in the ‘50s. I remember well as a small child saying to myself, ‘when I grow up I am going to do something about this.’”

Accomplishments

The Johnsons and other community activists founded the Beloved Community Center (BCC) in Greensboro in 1991, in part to consolidate their work with the poor and disenfranchised in the city. Nelson Johnson is executive director of the center, which has taken on a wide scope of issues, from inadequate housing to education. Joyce Johnson runs the BCC Jubilee Institute, which focuses on administrative support and fund raising.

BCC’s success in a labor dispute between Kmart and its workers illustrates the group’s inclusive approach. The disagreement centered on 500 employees, 61 percent of whom were African American, who accused the company of unfairness in pay and treatment. BCC organized a coalition — business leaders, workers, clergy, neighborhood leaders, union officials, and members of Asian and Latino communities. By reframing the issue from one of labor versus management to one of community justice, they were able to secure $6 million in pay increases and other benefits. In addition, the campaign spurred a town meeting with city leadership, grassroots leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, the mayor, and clergy to discuss how to ensure a living wage for Greensboro workers.

The Johnsons’ most ambitious project is also their most challenging. Nelson Johnson was a leader of the gathering that resulted in the deaths in 1979, and was vilified by some as a march organizer. Searching for a way to discuss that long-buried episode and reach reconciliation, the Johnsons decided to use South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a model to reflect on the tragedy and learn its lessons. Though the process has not been easy, the Johnsons estimate that the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project is about 65 percent complete. A diverse committee that includes representatives of the mayor, local churches, political parties, six colleges, and neighborhood groups continues to meet. The group conferred with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and “committed to engage perhaps the most unpleasant memories and most difficult issues related to social justice this city has ever faced,” the Johnsons write. “We are excited that this effort holds the promise of making something of a breakthrough in both the substance of human relations and in creating a method that can be applied in other cities in the nation.”

Leadership style

The Johnsons’ leadership flows from the idea that they are leading a community in which every
member has a stake. In the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project, all groups were invited to participate, but some, including the Chamber of Commerce, declined. In the face of such disappointment, the Johnsons emphasize patience and tenacity. “We approach all of our work with the orientation of bringing together people from different racial/ethnic groups, social strata and geographic sectors for our common good,” they write. “We firmly believe that all parts of the community are implicated in and impacted by any issue of social injustice.”

Being married and working together is another leadership challenge. The Johnsons deal with this by having a clear understanding of one another’s strengths and a joint sense of “compassion and empathy with the poor, as well as a profound belief in the enormous unrealized human potential for good in everyone.” Nelson is the visionary who plans tactics and strategies. Joyce is pragmatic, the partner who keep the books and manages the organization. Together, they spend a good deal of time working to “share, help, and enroll others in the vision and vocation of community building.”

The future

The Johnsons are working toward a future in which the Beloved Community Center has a greater reach and helps organizations and groups solve problems collaboratively. They would like BCC to be known for its development of emerging leaders. “Five years from now, we also hope to have substantially strengthened and/or developed a network of leadership throughout the various communities and strata of Greensboro,” the Johnsons write. Joyce plans to concentrate on leadership development, particularly among women and youth leaders. Nelson would like to help other groups develop strategies to meet their goals. “In short, we see continuing to be a resource for community building while living out the visions from our childhood of improving the lives of our family and community.”

More about the Johnsons and the Beloved Community Center

“As the 20th anniversary of the shootings passed, officials with the Justice Fund and Beloved Community Center began pursuing a way to bring healing to the community. Using South Africa's post-apartheid efforts as a model, they settled on the creation of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project, the first truth and reconciliation project in American history.”
- Washington Daily News, North Carolina, Sept. 10, 2005

"I’ve seen a lot of great work, and I’ve been moved by the passion and talent of many people working for social justice. Nelson and Joyce represent all that and more. They hold out for all of us the possibility that we might be able to realize the potential they see in each of us, and that we can become a more just and inclusive society.”
- Ellen Schall, Dean of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service