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Is it possible to create an impactful center for healing from a former site of White supremacy?
For a non-profit based in Fort Worth, Texas, the answer is yes.
Founded in 2019, Transform 1012 N. Main Street is attempting to perform a bit of alchemy: Instead of razing a former Ku Klux Klan hall, the organization is converting it into a cultural hub and arts center. The new structure will direct resources toward groups previously targeted by the Klan, including Black, Hispanic, Jewish, Catholic and LGBTQ communities.
Almost a century ago, the site was an edifice dedicated to hate. In the next couple years, it’ll provide services for underserved young adults and exhibit spaces centered on civil rights, among other things.
Or think of it like this: The reimagined area will offer a necessary and joyous haven for those US society has long kept on the fringes, and will be named after Fred Rouse, a Black man who in 1921 was lynched nearby following a union dispute.
“I don’t think that there could be another project that would be more meaningful,” 95-year-old Dr. Opal Lee, a founding member of the Transform 1012 board, told CNN.
Lee’s work with the non-profit harmonizes with her lifelong commitment to racial justice. The activist spent decades campaigning for Juneteenth to become a federally recognized holiday. Her efforts paid off in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day.
“The climate is right,” Lee added. “People are willing to be a part of doing something about our past — learning from it instead of letting it overwhelm them, and making sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
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