Why subscribe?
Subscribe to read short essays, poems, or narratives posted daily between June 19th and July 4th to guide us in remembering, lamenting, and seeking renewal over the history and legacy of white supremacy in Lynchburg, Virginia. We are a local writer/editor collective lamenting our city’s racial past, and on our way to properly celebrating its successes and future possibilities.
We believe that only by properly remembering the past can we intentionally steward our society’s fabric in the present. Our annual 16-day journey from Juneteenth to Independence Day ushers us through readings processing the complexities, contradictions, and shortcomings of white ethnocentricity that came before us, and celebrating those who stood against it. Through daily written pieces containing history, poetry, art, or personal essays, we will draw members of our community into remembrance, lament, and ultimately hope for a renewed pursuit of equality and justice in our community.
Why Lynchburg?
Because we live here, we love our city, and we have inherited the legacies of residents before us. At a macro level, Lynchburg’s racial history is not unique (unfortunately) to most Southern towns and cities. We care about state and national discourse on these issues, but this project enters into the conversation at a local level. Our city is rife with specific cultural, economic, and social legacies benefiting whiteness over the years to the exclusion of non-whiteness. It’s our history and we can’t help but lament over it.
Cross the Bridge
Be part of a community of people traveling this bridge together. You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new post we release goes directly to your inbox.
We also invite,
Writers of any background and skill are encouraged to submit topics about which they are interested in writing. If your topic fits with our goals, we will invite you to write a piece for the project. The pieces need to stay under 750 words for our readers to keep up on a daily basis, but we will consider longer if they help meet the project goals.
Editors help us refine our prose and presentation for the public audience. If you have a talent for grammar and spelling or are able to edit pieces for organization and flow, we would love to hear from you. Our first choice will be to have local editors, but we encourage others to consider participating, as well. This is a way to draw wider participation in the project than just our region.
Pre-Readers will help us connect with the audience. We know these are sensitive topics for the community. We need pre-readers to advise us when to pull back on a topic that contradicts our goals. The pre-readers may also encourage us when to lean in further where we are holding back.
Goals
To provide space for lament over the legacy of white supremacy in our community.
To recognize the contributions of enslaved and marginalized people to the wealth and cultural vibrancy of the city and counties.
To encourage collective work that reflects the principles of freedom and equality aspired to at America’s founding.
To welcome support from African American and indigenous communities, as writers, but especially as pre-readers or editors, to honor their perspectives and guidance above white perceptions.
To build connection with and between our readers through community activity and service events
The Language of White Supremacy, Superiority, and Ethnocentricity?
The term “white supremacy” may evoke uncomfortable or uncertain feelings in readers. Many confine the concept to explicit extremism — white hoods and burning crosses — but authors Duke Kwon and Greg Thompson define it more broadly as the “social supremacy of people characterized as White.”2 It is the promotion and valuation of white identity above non-white identity, whether consciously or subconsciously, by economic, political, and social means. As with many caste systems, this social promotion is often invisible to the beneficiary group itself. Yes, white supremacy included “its embodiment, slavery,” but its legacy also endures through modern times. Even though it’s a difficult term, we know that people of color appreciate the acknowledgment that our society has embodied this valuation in the past. We use the terms white superiority and white ethnocentricity interchangeably though they may have slightly different connotations to the reader.
Community
We live in a world more and more isolated behind our doors and social media accounts. To encourage the well-being of the community, we desire our project to catalyze relationships. Once or twice during the 16-day journey, we hope to host an event that helps our readers connect with and serve the community that we seek to steward.
Contact Us
Continue the conversations at bridgeoflament@gmail.com
