Tybee Island has 'made some progress' since passage of justice and equality resolution

Since the resolution's passage at the July 9, 2020, council meeting, projects that commemorate Black history and promote racial equity have been set in motion. Markers commemorating civil rights-era activities in the island have been installed, and the city government has initiated training programs, updated its recruiting processes and launched an initiative to analyze arrest and sentencing data.

The resolution and the changes it has produced were sparked by last summer's national racial reckoning following the death of George Floyd. Tybee Councilwoman Nancy DeVetter proposed the legislation, which was debated, revised and passed.

Tybee Island Race Equity Resolution by savannahnow.com on Scribd

The final version focused on broad concepts of equality and was titled the Resolution Promoting Justice and Equality.

"This race equity resolution doesn’t just drop out of the air, it comes from years of working towards a fair and just society," said Pearce, acknowledging that each step in the right direction is hard-won.

First steps

Tybee City Manager Shawn Gillen said city employees from all departments went through a seven-month long race-bias training during the pandemic and that the training would be revamped every year.

"This isn't just going to be a one-off thing, it's going to be an annual series of trainings that we do," said Gillen.

Gillen also said that diverse and inclusive hiring has been standard procedure for Tybee and that the diversity of their department has "gotten a lot better in the last five years."

"What we're doing is broadening our scope in the recruiting aspect," said Gillen, "So we go to the colleges and universities and try to recruit people into that line of work from all backgrounds."

The city is partnering with Savannah State University to analyze arrest and sentencing data from the Tybee Island Police Department that was "manually spliced out" this past year. Gillen said the next crucial step is to figure out what the right questions to ask of the data.

"We really wanted someone outside of the city to do the independent review, which is part of the race equity resolution," said DeVetter.

A section on justice and equality has also been added to Tybee's city website. The resolution also called for making Juneteenth a city holiday.

Commemorating Black history on Tybee

Tybee MLK and Tybee Island Historical Society are working jointly to put the island on Georgia's Civil Rights Trail, which consists of historical markers stationed throughout the state at sites significant to the fight for civil rights. Savannah civil rights activists staged wade-ins at Tybee's whites-only beaches in the early 1960s.

Currently, Chatham County is home to only one Civil Rights Trail marker, located at what is now the SCAD Jen Library on Broughton Street. The marker commemorates the many lunch counter sit-ins conducted on Broughton.

An application for a marker commemorating Tybee's wade-ins has been submitted to the Georgia Historical Society, said Allen Lewis, vice president of the Tybee Island Historical Society. Lewis said the review period is in August.

If accepted, the marker will be installed by the Walter Parker Pier and Pavilion at Tybee's South Beach.

Panels that document the protests were unveiled earlier this year in front of the Tybee Island Lighthouse Museum and Fort Screven.

Another marker is planned for Lazaretto Creek, TybeeMLK's Pearce said. The sign will tell the story of enslaved Africans brought to a quarantine station located nearby and replace one currently on the site that presents what Lewis describes as a "sanitized" version of the history.

A more comprehensive Black history project is also in the works, according to Pearce. The plan calls for a driving or walking tour of Tybee Island that takes visitors to different locations that commemorate Black life.

"There was a whole separate society where Black people were out there living and working during Jim Crow," said Pearce.

She mentions the sole church that Black residents on Tybee would attend, Black-owned small businesses and a train where entertainers would go to rest after performing to segregated audiences on the pier.

"They would retreat to their quarters on the train and the Black community would join them, and that's where the real entertainment would take place — out of the eye of the white gaze," said Pearce.

Tybee MLK and the island's historical society are conducting research for this project with Walter Brown Jr., who was a resident on the island in the 1940s and 1950s.

"You come to Tybee now and there's very few (Black people) that live here, but at one time there was a community," said Lewis.

Pearce, who interviewed Brown, describes his story of a fair on Tybee's 16th Street.

"A carousel. ... He was talking about this thing, and I said to him, 'Were you allowed to ride on those things?,' and he said, 'No...but it was still nice to have in your city,'" she recounted. "It really is a separate life."

Pearce looks at the present and considers what still needs to be done for the future. Although the Civil Rights Act legally ended segregation in 1964, separation still exists, she said.

While Savannah's population is a little over 50% Black; Tybee is at 2.4%.

"Being the beach of Savannah, we should be a reflection of it," said Pearce.

Tybee has taken initial steps toward that goal over the past year, Councilwoman DeVetter acknowledges. But like Pearce, she says many more challenges related to racial equity remain, such as access, representation and affordable housing.

"They're connected," Pearce said, "all those things are connected."

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee Island has 'made some progress' since passage of justice and equality resolution