“Derute emerged from our attempt to forge a community of abundance and affirmation, and remains ongoing. We are still creating our Black space, grounding in our values, ideas, language, beliefs and dreams.”
I climbed the scuffed stairs to the second floor of Trails Café, heading into my weekly writing session with Decoteau. He arrived early and nabbed the corner. He pulled two small tables together to make a bigger one. And he saved me a chair with four stable legs. We were there again, spending our Black dollars in an establishment that wasn’t our own. Our candid conversations about race and racism depended on who sat at the table next to us. This day we were in our corner. We checked in with each other as usual. But, for some reason, we started griping about how frustrating it was to spend $4.50 each for Moroccan Mint teas to send a white family’s white children to college. Tea, sandwich, soups. Tuition. All the while, we were in the corner to escape white ears. We needed our own space. We had discussed Decoteau’s experiences starting a consulting business before, but not in detail. “Think about the books we all have. What if we had our own cafe and reading room. Such and such makes tea blends. Such and such could provide and sell art in the space. Such and such could set up the space. Such and such could curate performances.” The more I listened, the more I was convinced. So I said “Let’s do it.”
“We were there again, spending our Black dollars in an establishment that wasn’t our own....We needed our own space.”
Three months later, we were in my Milwaukee home. We invited 15 really dope Black families to a vision session. While invited guests feasted on a potluck style dinner laid out on our dining room table, we described a district, North of Downtown Milwaukee, where we would cluster Black cooperative owned businesses of all types. Artists cooperatives, professional services cooperatives, food cooperatives, would all be located in a well-defined geographic region of the city. “Nodomi will be a space for Black economic and social development that leverages the every-day assets we know are in our communities,” we said. “We have to start with one space and build from there. We think the people who can build that space are in this room.” We painted broad strokes and then asked people for feedback: “What do you think? Are we crazy?” If we were, the people we invited were crazy right alongside us.
“We said yes to everything. Wellness and retreat center. Yeeesss. Micro-hotel. Yeeesss. Farm and food-to-table restaurant. Yeeesss.”
For the next two hours, we imagined. We shared. And we affirmed one another. We sat in a circle imagining and stretching the Nodomi idea into a more expansive yet refined possibility that would benefit the children who bounced between the living room and basement. Nodomi would serve the community where we gathered that evening. We said yes to everything. Wellness and retreat center. Yeeesss. Micro-hotel. Yeeesss. Farm and food-to-table restaurant. Yeeesss. Where the news media saw high unemployment, high crime statistics, high poverty rates, large food deserts and abandoned buildings, we saw potential. When we drove down streets in the north side of Milwaukee like North Avenue or Lisbon Avenue or MLK Drive, Decoteau said things like, “That building is perfect. Look at the cream brick! This whole block is great.”
In my home, we all named buildings, described land, and imagined ourselves cultivating, thriving, building, and connecting within these imagined places. Decades of disinvestment and neglect dimmed our imaginations. The available resources were hard to see. We needed to make them visible. And we needed to document all these dope dreams. We needed the resistance in our circle of people to persist. So after the potluck meeting, we invited everyone who attended to participate in a “Commitment Query” meeting.
We are thankful to have your interest in Nodomi Cooperative for Creative Exchange. We are currently scheduling meetings for our "Commitment Query." These one-on-one meetings are a critical next step that will help us determine what we collectively have at our disposal to make Nodomi a reality as well as help us get an accurate sense of what needs remain. The conversation will focus on three questions: What can you offer the coop? How do you wish to personally benefit from joining? What concerns do you have about moving forward?
We visited each person who agreed. The conversations allowed us to see how each individual's aspirations, ideas, and dreams fit into a larger whole. We listened and probed: Say more about that idea? Talk us through what that would look like? What would you need, concretely, to make your Wellness Spa work? How big do you imagine the performance space would be? Now, what do you need? A space. Marketing. Digital design support. A stronger sense of community. What are you willing to share or pool within the collective in exchange for having those needs met?
“I am finishing my training to become a Yoga instructor.”
“I can contribute $50 per week.”
“I used to live in a housing cooperative. So I understand consensus-based decision making.”
“I have experience in natural healing and herbal medicines.”
“I have three laptops that I don’t use much … oh and a printer too.”
“I paint.”
“I make music.”
“I knit.”
“I sit on the board of my neighborhood business association and they know how to identify resources to purchase city land and buildings with delinquent taxes.”
Decoteau and I feverishly took notes as each family described their dreams, discussed their needs, and committed their vast resources. By the third conversation, we started calling them dream aloud sessions.
“There were so many ideas. So many dreams. So many needs that could be met. The collective was far better resourced than any one individual. ”
We pooled the ideas, resources, and needs and presented them back to the collective. There were so many ideas. So many dreams. So many needs that could be met. The collective was far better resourced than any one individual. Whereas, one person could contribute $50 per week to start, collectively, we could contribute $11,000. Definitely more than a bank would loan a startup Black business! Collectively, we possessed resources in many areas including, marketing, copy editing, research, website design, fundraising, event planning, e-commerce, equipment and time. We collectively agreed to make our first priority a multi-purpose space that would include an African restaurant, a retail space to sell products from the African Diaspora, a health and wellness center, and an education consulting hub focused on racial justice oriented workshops. To start-up, we formed exploration committees that allowed each person to contribute their knowledge and skills to the collective. We went to work. But soon after, our dream of North of Downtown Milwaukee Cooperative for Creative Exchange dissipated. What we envisioned never materialized. But within Nodomi, a small group never lost sight of the experience and the lessons we could learn from them. We wanted a better table.
Derute Consulting Cooperative is the educational consulting group we identified through the dream aloud inventory process. Derute emerged from our attempt to forge a community of abundance and affirmation, and remains ongoing. We are still creating our Black space, grounding in our values, ideas, language, beliefs and dreams. Decoteau and I continue to write together. But our table is no longer tucked away in a coffee shop or cafe. My table is in our Derute Milwaukee headquarters. Decoteau’s is at the Derute Chicago Creator’s Lab. Our tables are bigger. Big enough for Dominique, Laura, Cindy, and other Derute members to sit and write with us. Big enough for all of us to dream aloud. If we didn’t have our different tables, we wouldn’t have shouted and laughed aloud when it dawned on us, “We ain’t trying to do no White papers. A white paper?? Nah, we need to write Black papers!” The journey hasn’t been without its challenges. There is no day spa. There is no farm. We don’t own the buildings where our offices are housed.
But we ain’t at Trails Café.
