An important and exciting event, Southside Rising for Justice, is happening on Saturday, July 14 from 1 – 9 pm at the Arthur R. Edington Center. Here are details pulled from event announcements, visit the FB event for more:

Asheville’s Southside community, a historic and seldom celebrated black neighborhood, is responding to high levels of gentrification and poverty by rising for a new future that ensures everyone has a healthy place to live, learn, work, worship and play.

Southside Rising For Justice will be a family-friendly community celebration including live music in the garden pavilion featuring performances by local artist Lyric and many others. There will be a supervised activity area for kids with crafts, games, and plenty of space to play. A community marketplace will feature food and goods from local vendors plus interactive arts activities and representatives from community organizations. In addition, a special performance by the No Kapp Dance Team will be followed by a creative strategy session to ensure everyone has a healthy place to live, learn, work, worship and play.

Uniting community residents, partners, and allies through food, cultural arts and civic engagement, Southside Rising For Justice is a day to build community pride and channel it towards co-created strategies for putting justice first in health of mind and body, policies that impact our lives, sustainable community practices and economic mobility.

Join us as we rise. #SouthsideRising

Schedule of Events:

1:00 Opening
1:30 Southside community walking tour
3:00 Justice First Design Jam
5:00 Community showcase
8:30 Closing

You can click here to hear an interview with one of the event organizers, Sekou Coleman, on the Waters & Harvey Show.

History and Context

For some history and context on the Southside neighborhood, check out Twilight of a Neighborhood (essential reading if you live in Asheville), and this two part series from the Mountain Xpress: Legacy of loss: Food insecurity and its disproportionate impact on Asheville’s black community and Legacy of loss, part 2: Food access challenges in Asheville’s Southside community.

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