Historic Albany Foundation stands in support with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and with our community. Our country (and our city) has a complicated, difficult history when it comes to race, and it has broken our hearts to see the injustice and pain felt throughout our local communities and nationwide after the death of George Floyd and other violent acts.
We at Historic Albany Foundation have been deeply saddened by the rioting and looting we witnessed locally and across the country over the past weekend. It is deeply troubling in a City where there are so many already vacant buildings were forced to board up many storefronts in the Historic South End, Pearl Street and Central Avenue’s business districts. The Central Avenue business district is just a block away from our home on Lexington Avenue in the West Hill Neighborhood. Many of these businesses that are boarded up have already endured a world-wide pandemic. How many of these small businesses will be forced to close down for good? How many more livelihoods and buildings will be affected by these vacancies and closures?
Preservation as a field has a long history of inequality - HAF included. It is up to us as an organization to work with other agencies in our community to continue to take steps that move toward inclusion, equality, and justice. Our job is not only to save buildings, but to save and tell the stories of EVERY community.
Over the past decade HAF has been committed to advocating for and focusing much of our technical service efforts toward working with the Rapp Road community and the residents of Arbor Hill and the South End. Just this past year we featured programming that partnered with Rapp Road and Wilborn Temple, and held our Restoration Faire in the South End to promote homes that could be rehabilitated and re-occupied. We as an organization want to make sure our programming continues to seek to celebrate, assist, and recognize black communities in our city and beyond.
We do not condone Racism. We proudly stand with our community. We hear you.
