An Interview with Mahkia Greene

By Jonathan Thomas

Jonathan Thomas: The downtown area of Columbia has been revitalized, but for some reason all the public benches have been removed. But imagine you were sitting on a public bench having lunch on Main Street and a person sits down next to you. After a few minutes you strike up a friendly conversation and in the course of it you explain that you’re currently participating in a project called “Two Cities.” How would you describe the project?

Mahkia Greene: Two Cities brings together a cohort of fellows who are each developing individual projects. The aim is to tackle racial issues in Columbia, as well as the economic gap. The “two cities” in this specific project refers to the main part of Columbia and the North Columbia area. As you drive up Main Street from downtown, the North Columbia area past Elmwood, past Sunset, you can see visually how the wealth begins to shift. We’re going to tackle that in our art projects. What does that mean? Why is it like that? Why doesn’t there seem to be any sort of change?

JT: So Two Cities is addressing the experience of living in a city that is divided in terms of race and class, but focusing specifically on the experience here in Columbia?

MG: Yes, in Columbia, as in other cities, the neighborhoods are divided. There are neighborhoods like Shandon or Forest Acres, which are wealthy areas with nice brick homes that are well maintained. And then there are places like “the colonies,” a section 8 public housing community in North Columbia that’s home to a lot of gun violence and gang violence. So Two Cities means two different experiences. There are two different Columbia experiences that are happening simultaneously, and are very different depending on where you live. It’s also bigger than just Columbia. Two Cities speaks to a gap in broader terms — in the U.S. there is a massive gap between rich and poor; and more broadly there are people in other countries that don’t have the privileges that we have here. So Two Cities can be seen on a micro level, and on a macro level.

JT: What are some of the questions that you are asking as a participant in Two Cities?

MG: What I’m wondering is: How do I tackle this problem with my project? What I’m doing is going around and making a collection of mini-documentaries or video portraits of people in the North Columbia area. But also one of the biggest questions I’m asking myself is, by doing this, am I, are we, contributing to the problem? As you drive up North Main you can see gentrification slowly happening.

JT: What do you mean by gentrification in this case?

MG: The way I understand it and see it happening is when shops and businesses come into neighborhoods and displace people who already live here. Or they pop up in order to bring a different community here, even though the community that is already here needs help. So the businesses that are popping up aren’t here to help the community that is currently here — they aren’t for the community that is currently here.

JT: For example?

MG: A coffee shop pops up and it’s $5 a cup. People live in this community already and a place like that is not for them. So you slowly see this creeping up Main Street and of course people will say that it’s to make the community better, to beautify it, to make it more welcoming to people.

JT: So it becomes a question of whether the businesses reflect the concerns and needs and desires of the community. A moment ago you said you were making video portraits and I wanted to ask: What brings you to the video portrait as a genre? What does it represent for you?

MG: When we had a community forum, a lot of people made the point that North Columbia has a bad reputation with outsiders, with people who don’t live in the North Columbia area. I know from my personal interactions with the youth I work with in North Columbia at the C.A. Johnson High School that a lot of them are fighting to get out of North Columbia. There’s a distinct difference here from your average high-schooler who just wants to get away from home. A lot of them want to get away from the violence that surrounds their homes. They want to get away from the reputation that is attached to this area. So what I wanted to do was highlight the beauty that already exists in this area by highlighting prominent figures — not in the traditional sense of politicians or public figures, but people like the waving man who sits on Monticello Road and has been there for years. He’s a fixture of the community. He just waves at cars as they go by. And then there’s a crossing guard near the Public Library who apparently is just the sweetest man you will ever meet. Parents love him. So I just want to highlight these important figures, even though they are not people we would traditionally regard as prominent. One of the most important questions I am asking myself repeatedly is, Am I doing the community justice? A lot of things can start with good intentions, just like a lot of bad things can start with good intentions, and I want to make sure that I’m not being part of the problem and trying to speak for this community. I’m trying to allow the community to speak for itself — by interviewing them and asking them who I should interview next, by letting them guide me through the process, as opposed to me picking my favorite person to talk to, you know?