The Rev. Alex Gee doesn't bother any more with folks who try to tell him that having a place for Black people to gather is racist because it excludes white people.Â
“They're upholding a concept where race really does matter. If you have to tell someone who looks like me, ‘Your race doesn't matter,' then by default you are saying that your (own) race, your gender, your educational background is the standard, and the way business is being operated at a governmental level or local business level is the right way to do it,†Gee told WPR's “Wisconsin Today.†“So, I don't really spend a lot of time refuting that, because it's beneath me.â€
This month, Gee realized a longtime desire to create a home to celebrate and create “Black brilliance in all its forms.†The Center for Black Excellence and Culture officially opened this month on the south side of Madison. The multipurpose, $32-million center includes spaces for women, seniors, a Club Afrique lounge, as well as an innovation center to help entrepreneurs, performance and meeting facilities and places to create art of all kinds.Â
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Gee joined the show to explain what they hope it accomplishes and what people can find there.
The following was edited for brevity and clarity.
Rob Ferrett: This has been some time in the making. What's it like to have this vision for the Center for Black Excellence and Culture become a reality?
Rev. Alex Gee: It's surreal. The grand opening happened a little more than a week ago, and I'm still pinching myself. The dream that I'm waiting to happen still feels like it hasn't fully happened, because I feel like I'm still in the dream, but it is amazing.Â
RF: Rev. Gee, now that it is open, what are your hopes for the impact of the center for Black communities in the Madison area and around Wisconsin?Â
AG: This is really about mitigating a lot of the stress that comes from navigating predominantly white spaces when you are from a minority, minoritized group. So my big dream is that this will pay dividends on Black wellness and Black health that will be documented and will provide empirical data that proves that when we have a sense of belonging, we thrive. When Madison is spoken of, or Dane County, or Wisconsin, for that matter, as one of the best places in the country to live, I want the Black community to say, “Yeah, you're right for everyone — including us.â€
And I want the broader community to understand Black excellence from our lens, and not a story that is somehow blackfaced.Â
RF: People might say, “OK, I get the idea of this space, but longer lifespan, healthier living?†Make that connection for us.
AG: A racial battle fatigue … causes a stress that makes us more prone to diseases, that causes the Black lifespan to be significantly less than our white counterparts with the same educational background, the same insurance, the same doctors, the same medicines and the same prognosis. We saw this during COVID. Why are Black and brown people dying more readily? It was because we entered COVID with way more stress and were way more prone to degenerative diseases. So, when COVID hit, it had a greater impact on us, but the root of that is the racial disparities and racial isolation.
When we have a place to be ourselves and to mitigate the stress that comes from being isolated, because you're no longer isolated, it helps us to be our best in this space in order to give our best to our communities, but also live better lives.
RF: Rev. Gee: There's been a political movement reaching into the White House, the Supreme Court, reacting against the idea of spaces focused on people of particular races — the idea that a center for Black people in this case reinforces racial divisions. If people are hearing this conversation and thinking along those lines, what would you say to them?
AG: When a country doesn't allow the beautiful melting pot of people to celebrate the flavor of the ingredient that they bring to the pot or to the stew, then they are creating a very bland pot that no one wants to drink from, no one wants to eat from and no one wants to enjoy. But I also would say that while departments of universities are being challenged, libraries and books are being challenged, it is even more important for grassroots community-rooted entities like ours to remind people that it is our background, our ethnic diversity that helped us to make this country great. … And we're going to continue to make America great in spite of steps to take us backwards.
