Social Commentary
FROM VARIOUS THINKERS & WRITERS
Where is the Beloved Community?
WITH MINNIE MONROE
©2024. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Minnie Monroe is a native of Albany, Georgia, is the youngest of 6 children, mother of 6 and grandmother of 6. She was educated at Dougherty High School, Albany Technical College and Albany State University. She works in social service.
Grateful for Sweet Moments
Minnie Monroe is a powerful preacher-in-motion, pouring nation-building wisdom while transporting passengers through the universe in her Uber. By the time you get where you’re going, you’ve received both sweet moments and nation-building wisdom.
The following conversation happened when Ms. Minnie was my Uber driver on the way to work (car broke down) one May morning. I’ve listened to the audio several times, and each time I’m transported back to the moment I was listening to Ms. Minnie the first time. Our conversation opened around our appreciation of the beautiful morning. It was wonderful to share life-giving and nation-building time with someone as fresh and giving as the spring morning we celebrated together.
Enjoy and learn from her words, voice and spirit. Scroll and click to listen and read.
ALI:
Okay, what's your name?
MONROE:
Minnie Monroe.
ALI:
Minnie Monroe. You from Albany?
MONROE:
Born and raised.
ALI:
All right, me too. [Left for a while.] So, you were talking about Black people and community and how we—how we are handling that nowadays.
MONROE:
You don't see Black people … we want to come out and riot when someone's died, seemingly unrightfully; we want to come out and be a community when we're against the police, when we’re against someone in the political arena—that's when we want to come out. But we're not coming out to just get to know our neighbors, get to know who's in our neighborhood, get to know what we used to do. We don't do that. Like, as a little girl [turn in here], I watched my mama nem be in their little [turn in here … your mama did what?]
My mama was in her flower bed, when it got warm enough, almost every day, especially on a Saturday. Her, the neighbor women, our neighbor next door, two or three houses down. Oh, it was something to see them outside, talking about their flowers, talking about, “You know, girl, I went to the flea market, I got me some tomato plants,” and who they saw; and it wasn't, “Oh, I get tired of your chillum walking through my yard.” It wasn’t all that. It wasn’t all that. Because we respected one another’s space, even if it’s your house, you're not going to go—my mama did not allow us to go walk over Miss B’s yard. Oh, that was a no-no. Miss B didn't have to tell us that. Mama was, “Don't walk on Miss B’s flowers. Don't do that. We got that pathway on the outside. Walk there.” We knew that.
Now, the neighbors don't respect one another. The parents don't make the children respect the neighbors. So, the children don’t disrespect because Mama nem don’t respect. So, there's no community, there's no connection in the community. And the community is not the city, it’s the, it's the block you live on. That’s your community. How can you connect with somebody across town and you can’t connect with the person across the street, next door to you, two houses down? That’s community.
Because how can an elderly person die in their house? Be dead in their house for days, and the neighbors don't know about it? Because we don't … we don't … we don't connect with each other. We—how can an elderly person fall in their house and no one knows about it? No connection. Nobody's paying attention to each other, nobody's helping, nobody's being there.
And then you wonder why. “Girl, I ain't know she was dead … because they say she's been dead nine days.” You didn't connect with her; you didn't pay attention. You try to rush in and out your house because you trying to get to the telephone or the TV. “Oh, girl, I'm trying to be on the inside.” When we had Covid, we couldn't connect. We had to go to social media. We had to do all that. Now, Covid is gone. And we still don't connect. We're still—Covid has set in a standard: stay to yourself, stay your distance. But when somebody die, you want to be all in somebody's face. No. Connect with me before then; connect with me before then. So that I don't have to connect with you on the wrong page. We ain’t got to connect with each other through the police because your child walked through my yard or your child disrespected me. And now we got to connect because I had to call the police, or you had to call the police. Now, that's the only way we connect. It's a negative connection, but it's a connection.
Now, when the police leave, we're in the same community, same block or street, and we are still [disconnected. Instead of understanding what real respect is. Respect is, “Hey, how you doing?” Respecting who you are as an individual, but still, “Hey, how you doing?” Not, “Hey.” That tone of voice changes it.
Then we wonder why Albany State is like Albany State is. There's no community. There's no community. That's why Westover do Westover, Dougherty do Dougherty. Albany High—no more. But you got Monroe. And there's still no connection. There’s rivalry even on the same block or street.
When are we going to learn to connect with the people in our neighborhood? Do you know your next-door neighbor?
ALI:
I do, but I don't know my cross the street neighbor and the other cross the street neighbor, okay? My family been on that street for 42 years …
MONROE:
And you don't know your cross the street neighbor?
ALI:
I know—okay, some of them are new people.
MONROE:
Do you know them?
ALI:
The new people? No.
MONROE:
When I moved in my neighborhood, my next door neighbor, Miss X—she made sure I knew her name within 42 hours. My across the street neighbor, Mr. XX and his wife and his sons. They made sure I knew who they were and they knew who I were. My directly across the street neighbor, XXX, he knows who I am. He knows my children's truck. I know different cars that come to his house; the 4Xs, right next door to me, Miss 5X and her family, the 6X family up the road. When I moved in, they made sure to introduce themselves. It wasn't the homeowner’s association. It was, “Hey, how you doing? My name is … we live at this address; we're going to ask you this.”
ALI:
Let me ask you this. What do you think is proper when you first move into a neighborhood? I mean you know, like, is it correct, does it build community well to go and introduce yourself to the neighbors?
MONROE:
I think so, because where I lived before, I barely knew my neighbors. So if something happened, [Right.] it was, “Oh my God.” Whereas where I live now, if—like, I came home yesterday evening, Miss 3X said, “Hey Baby, the FedEx guy came. I told him to put your package on your back porch.” And that's what he did.
But Miss 3X knows, because she and I were talking the other day and I said, “Yeah, I ordered a grill; FedEx should be bringing it in a few days.”
Miss 3X was in her yard going to the mailbox. “Take it to the back, Baby.” So I didn't have to drag it from the front to the back
ALI:
Beautiful.
MONROE:
But because she knew me, I knew her. 4X heard it. “Hey, you got your grill?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’ll be over there. Just leave it on the back. I’ll get over there with my tools and put it together.”
ALI:
Wow. That's beautiful.
MONROE:
We blow at each other. We don't even have to—even—and, it’s not about when we're at home. “Hey, Miss D, I’m finni go up here to Walmart. You need anything? Mr. Earl, I’m going up here toward town.” Even though everybody over there got a car.
ALI:
Wow.
MONROE:
Everybody knows everybody's routine.
ALI:
Well, I'm with you because that van over there. Couple (cars) down—battery broke. You know, I mean it wouldn't start yesterday when I got in it. And so, you know, I'm like, who imma call? Not my neighbors.
MONROE:
I know if something happens to my car, I can call 4X, 3X, I can call even the girl four houses down when you first turn on my street. I call her. She gonna tell her husband to come check on it.
ALI:
See, this is so beautiful.
MONROE:
Whereas before I moved over there, “Oh shoot, let me call my brother,” and he gotta come from Worth County. Let me call my nephew. He gotta come from Camilla.
ALI:
Well, see who I called? I called UBER!
MONROE:
We just planned our block party for this summer.
ALI:
Y'all the truth.
MONROE:
We gon’ have spade tables.
ALI:
Y’all the truth.
MONROE:
We've already said it. Miss X told Mr. 3X, y'all gon’ have to get the barricades, find somehow to barricade the front of the road.
ALI:
I'm coming over y'all party.
MONROE:
Oh, we live right over here. All right.
ALI:
Okay, all righty. Thank you. I'm gonna do all of what’s necessary for me to publish your voice and your words. And thank you [super much.
MONROE:
And, ah, get Facilities, and see if they got a battery charger?
ALI:
I started—I was like the police can’t do this. Because I was thinking of calling the ASU APD, but they can't. Facilities would be better; you're right. Thank you.
MONROE:
See if one of the guys at Facilities/Maintenance—they’ve got a battery charger down there. See if one of them.
ALI:
And the reason—I know what happened. I gotta drive it super slow and I put on my hazards and when I came out and I forgot to turn them off.
MONROE:
It sounds like your alternator pulling.
ALI:
You think? Even—oh… Why? Because I was driving it so slow?
MONROE:
Uh-huh, you’re not giving it enough charge, and it’s probably the alternator going bad.
ALI:
Oh, okay, but it's only been a couple of days that I've been doing that because when I go faster, it makes noise so …
MONROE:
Once you get it charged take it up there to Auto Zone and ask them to check it, and they'll charge your battery.
ALI:
Check the alternator.
MONROE:
They can check the alternator and the battery, and they can tell you why it’s doing that.
ALI:
Anything else they’ll check for free?
MONROE:
I think they’ll check just about everything. They’ll put it on the system checker. Ask them to check the system and see what’s going on.
ALI:
See how many blessings you are?
MONROE:
I try. I’m a single female, and my favorite brother has gone to rest with the Lord, and he made sure I knew how to do certain stuff.
ALI:
Wow, you da truth. Thank you.
MONROE:
Yes, ma'am. Have a great day.
ALI:
You too. I will have a better day because of you.
MONROE:
I hope so.
ALI:
It's true.
MONROE:
And I’ll have a better day because of you.
ALI:
Take care.