Anti-racist struggle saves community center

Ten months of determined struggle by members and allies of the Black community have won an important victory here as the administration of the citywide Boys & Girls Club network was forced to reopen the South Side Boys & Girls Club.

Community celebrates victory for south Providence youth. Photo: Lisa Reels/Peoples Assembly

Last July, the administration, without warning, had locked the doors and erected a fence around the club. Stunned parents and alumni immediately tried to find out what was going on.

Rather than meeting and working with the parents and community, the administration and board of directors issued vague and half-hearted explanations for the closing: “The club experienced a flood.” “The club is not up to fire code in several areas.”

No plan of action, schedule for repairs or reopening date was given. Outraged parents, alumni and former staff formed Saving Our Club Kids (SOCK), but were not allowed into the building to evaluate the situation.

The SOCK coalition organized community forums that drew hundreds. The administrators were asked to come, give an explanation and work with the community, but they refused to show up time and time again. When SOCK members went to the Boys & Girls Club administration seeking a meeting, the executive director hid in his office.

The South Side Club constituents are 98 percent working class youth of color, while the executive director and the president of the board are rich, white men. The executive director draws a salary of $125,000 a year and the board president is a high-paid lawyer in a major Rhode Island firm. The other board members are mostly white. The 10-person staff administering the citywide network sucks up $650,000 yearly in salaries.

Veteran activists were stunned by the level of arrogance and heartlessness and the degree of disconnect from the community. Many said they felt that without the struggle, these racists would have sold the building, pocketed the money and gone about their business with one less club in the network, assuming that the poor people of the South Side were incapable of doing anything about it.

But they were in for a surprise. The club, built in 1959 in the heart of the Providence Black community, had become a sacred place for generations—something very dear and important in the lives of thousands of families. The closing struck a nerve and a firestorm of grass-roots resistance spread quickly. People viewed this very literally as a matter of life and death for children of the South Side. Without its support, their children were in danger of being sentenced to prison or even losing their lives.

The SOCK coalition worked tirelessly, meeting every week, holding forums, marches, demonstrations, informational picket lines and fundraisers. It truly followed the path that Dr. Martin Luther King called the key to peoples’ victory: “Persistent agitation, persistent protest, persistent organization.”

The level of organization and the depth of commitment shown by SOCK blew holes in the wall of silence and indifference erected by the Boys & Girls Club administration. The props they stood on were knocked down one by one. First to go was the issue of money for “repairs” when the mayor of Providence pledged $600,000. Then the president of the board came out of the woodwork and allowed a SOCK delegation in the building and began talks. Then the coalition forced a hearing with the Fire Safety Review Board, gaining an extension on the issue of sprinklers.

The South Side Boys & Girls Club will reopen by the time the schools close for the summer. The SOCK coalition will become an alumni association that will permanently monitor the Boys & Girls Club administration to ensure that the community’s needs are being met relative to the composition of staff and board, quality of programming and community/parental involvement.

SOCK will celebrate its victory at a block party/open house on Sunday, June 10.