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We Are Siren

The Spartanburg Initiative for Racial Equity Now (SIREN) is a collective of parents, artists, journalists, neighborhood nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, activists, and scholars. It was founded in June 2020 to help create a more equitable future through policy research, advocacy, journalism, and direct action.

“Americans have long been trained to see the deficiencies of people rather than policy. It's a pretty easy mistake to make: People are in our faces. Policies are distant. We are particularly poor at seeing the policies lurking behind the struggles of people.”

Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist

Ongoing advocacy for fair and just outcomes in our community.

Have a thought to add? Want to push back? Let us hear from you.

What Is SIREN?

The Spartanburg Initiative for Racial Equity Now (SIREN) is a collective that works to embody and create a thriving community.

SIREN exists, in part, to help amplify the voices that are often excluded from the conversations that shape this city, county, and state. Members come from all walks of life. We pride ourselves on our racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, and generational diversity.

SIREN began meeting informally in June 2020. We began operating as a 501c4 in April 2022.

What does our work look like?

It’s a cycle. Enter anywhere, engage anywhere that speaks to you. At the center, and part of every endeavor, is the purpose that binds us: thriving in the community.

Here’s one way the work in that circle might flow for an issue that’s an urgent topic in Spartanburg (and around the world): access to housing in neighborhoods that foster individual and community thriving.

Vision & Mission

SIREN exists, in part, to help amplify the voices that are often excluded from the conversations that shape this city, county and state.

Members come from all walks of life. We pride ourselves on our racial, ethnic, cultural, gender and generational diversity.

Mission

We will achieve this by challenging the racial and ethnic makeup of institutional leadership, advocating for policy changes that counteract decades of white affirmative action, and amplifying the voices of people and communities who have traditionally been underrepresented in the broader decision-making process that shapes our community.

Our Commitment

We will act as a resource for BIPOC communities that are working to build their economic power and equitable access to and representation in leadership institutions.

We will take direct action to accomplish this through:

Policy research

Storytelling/journalism

Community outreach (building an agenda and grassroots support for it)

Advocating for change

Holding institutions, elected officials and others in leadership positions accountable if they fail to adapt.

Why Now?

Spartanburg, and the people in it, have elevated equity and racial awareness as a priority — the city, the primary funding institutions, some of our colleges and universities, and a long list of community and neighborhood leaders and residents.

Changing systems is hard — even more so when the actors trying to change these systems are a part of them. We believe our role, in part, is to elevate the grassroots in these efforts and push back against incremental, cosmetic or performative change.

In some ways, our city is leading the region and state in equity work. But this work will always require us to push ourselves and others. We will be part of that push.

And there is still a long way to go: Too many of the institutions that lead this city have not made enough headway in putting diverse people in leadership positions. Too often, equity is still an afterthought. Some even see it as a bad word — a “dangerous” word.

In 2020, the first year of COVID no less, Spartanburg City Council members said they saw more engagement from residents and people who have an interest in seeing our city thrive than in the past decade.

We will keep engaging. And when they don’t listen, we will engage a little louder.

With so much development happening in Spartanburg, now is the time to be vigilant against gentrification. With populations of traditionally minoritized communities steadily increasing, now is the time to make sure all voices are included — on the front end of a project or initiative, rather than after a deal is done.

In September 2020, the Spartanburg City Council passed “Healing, Reconciling and Unity: A Pathway to a More Equitable Spartanburg,” apologizing to people of color for the city’s past role in racist policies and programs.

We want to make sure the city stays on that pathway. Join us.