“No More ‘Corner Patches,’ It’s Time for an ‘Overhaul’" – Lessons from an Interview with Reverend Mae Etta Moore by Paris Mercier
Well we know that we lose our young adults both men and women because of the inequity in our systems...we just … we can't just keep doing a little corner patch, we've got to start fresh. We’ve got to acknowledge that it is what it is. Now of course those that are the victims know that it is what is it. But there are others that just think that it is wonderful, and it is what is our problem. So, we have to be able to be willing to find new ways and be willing to accept new ways rather than just a band aid on the old way. And we have got to start early, we have to start in the preschools, we’ve got to start in the teacher training and go from there. And we really don’t have folks that were convinced in proper places... I don’t find a lot of folks that are convinced that we have anything wrong... but we really.... we have got to do an overhaul.
To learn from Reverend Mae Etta Moore was to gaze into the eyes of your grandmother who told you stories as you snuggled into her lap on the porch. Her memory and attention to detail allowed those, under the sound of her voice, to imagine themselves on the streets where she protested.
On May 8, 2020, Rev. Moore walked my oral history team through her life as a young adult – a young woman who understood how to transform herself while mobilizing the community around her. Throughout her life, she unsparingly fought for equality and justice for African American men and women in the United States. From feeding “knuckle sandwiches” to those who called her racist names on the playground, to demanding Black Studies courses in the curriculum, to inspiring congregation after congregation on her journey from Brooklyn to Kent County, Maryland. Rev. Moore has dedicated her life to the service of those beside her as well as those who will be around long after her.
As we concluded our interview, Rev. Moore shared with us her approach to activism past and present. Her words spilled wisdom from her heart that will resonate for generations to come.
“We can't just keep doing a little corner patch,” she told us just two weeks before George Floyd was murdered. “We've got to start fresh. We’ve got to acknowledge that it is what it is.” We’ve got to convince “folks…in proper places” that there’s something seriously “wrong.”
In a 2020 world, where there is a nation mourning the loss of too many George Floyds and Breonna Taylors who are murdered by the criminal justice system, the words of Rev. Moore sat on my chest a little heavier. As a recent college graduate with a deep passion for advocacy and activism, Rev. Moore serves as a powerful model for how I can use my own life to make the lives around me – and our broken nation – a little more whole. She dedicated her life to making the quality of life better for those she served. Even if that meant handing out knuckle sandwiches after school as a child, studying late into the evening, joining protests, or praying over the lives of her congregation. Rev. Moore stood up when she saw injustice. Not only did she find new ways to talk about the issues at large, but she was a woman of integrity and grit who showed up to march, lead, and create the change she desired to see in the world. Her life is a roadmap to a better world. As Rev. Moore says, no more “little corner patches,” it’s time for “an overhaul.”