Memphis raises $50K+ after state pulls funding — now what?

Two days after Memphis lost $250,000 in proposed state funding because of its removal of Confederate monuments, defiant donors to a GoFundMe effort had already raised 20 percent of that amount in replacement funds.

The city wasn't aware of the proposed state funding — earmarked for its bicentennial celebration next year — until state lawmakers took it away, so the move was more of a snub than a punishment.

But the donations must be spent on the bicentennial as promised when the account was established and per GoFundMe rules.

The question now: Who should get the money — and how should it be spent?

Brittney Block, the local digital advertising professional who started the ongoing fundraising campaign, hopes to answer that question after meeting with Mayor Jim Strickland on Friday and separately with various community activists and leaders. Ideas Block has heard on how to use the money include paying to place statues of civil rights leaders where the Confederate statues once stood, adding a mural on the Memphis Convention Center and funding a city program to give youth jobs during next summer's bicentennial.

"At the end of the day, everyone's trying to do right by this," she said.

Block launched her fundraising campaign on Tuesday after the state House of Representatives voted to strip the funding for the city from the state budget. Several representatives from other parts of the state clearly stated the action was in retaliation for removal of the statues of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and President Jefferson Davis by a nonprofit that bought the two parks from the city.

Even though Block now knows the city wasn't counting on the money, she said the campaign accomplished its main purpose - showing that Memphis wasn't cowed by lawmakers.

"Regardless of where you stand, punishing us for doing something right, in our community, isn't just," she said.

Memphis City Council member Kemp Conrad said he donated $250 to support Block for standing up for the city and to thank Chef Kelly English for jumpstarting the conversation with a challenge on social media. Council member Edmund Ford Jr. also gave $250.

"That’s what I love about our town," Conrad said. "Never give up, never give in, grit and grind. I’m a hopeless optimist, and I am confident that a process will be determined to best use these funds in a positive way."

Still, the campaign has drawn some criticism. Wendi Thomas, a journalist, and one of the local activists Block said she's reached out to, said on Twitter that she understands the spirit of the fundraiser — but would rather see the money given to black progressive groups than to the city.

"It’s funny — funny sad, not haha — that folks are falling over themselves to help the city PLAN a birthday party when 52 percent of black children here are poor," she wrote.

Tami Sawyer, a leader of the grassroots #TakeEmDown901 movement that pushed for the removal of Confederate monuments last year, said she's not against celebrating the city's 200th anniversary — as long as the city provides a fair picture of everyone's status over its history.

"I hope it's an honest representation of what being 200 years in Memphis means," she said.

To that end, the donated funds could be used for truth and reconciliation during the bicentennial, or on literacy and education initiatives to raise people out of poverty, she said.

Political consultant Steven Reid, who ran Strickland's campaign in 2015, said he donated $100 to Block's GoFundMe to show his support for Memphis.

"The point was everyday people coming together to support our people and our town," he said.

Although he gave up control of the money when he made the donation, Reid said, he expects that the money will be spent on the bicentennial with input from city leaders.

Block, who said she reached out to but hasn't spoken with Sawyer, said she's not planning to make decisions about the donations lightly or unilaterally.

The city's attorneys are currently researching whether the city can legally accept the money from Block, city spokeswoman Ursula Madden said. The City Council routinely accepts donations for various purposes, although not usually via GoFundMe.

Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.