| Patrice Funderberg just started a petition to YMCA of Greater Charlotte C.E.O. Todd Tibbits in North Carolina to : Rename the Keith Family YMCA to Honor Ramona Brant
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A YMCA serving Black families in Charlotte should be named for a powerful Black woman and prisoner rights advocate, Ramona Brant — not the greedy prison-profiteers like the Keiths.  I need your help taking down the Keith Family name — notorious prison profiteers and conservative “pay-to-play” cronies — off of a Charlotte YMCA branch. I was at Mecklenburg County Jail North mentoring women and girls when I noticed the “Keith Corporation” logo on prison staff uniforms; the same “Keith” on the YMCA where I worked as a fitness instructor. Yup, that’s right. The Keith Family YMCA in Charlotte is named for prison profiteers. I believe the name of a powerful Black woman and Charlotte prisoner rights activist, Ramona Brant, belongs on the YMCA branch that serves the Black community in Charlotte — not the greedy prison-profiteering Keiths. Help me rename the Keith Family YMCA to honor my friend Ramona Brant, a tireless voice for the formerly incarcerated, who died recently. Ramona Brant. Remember Her Name. Ramona Brant — not the Keiths — is the embodiment of the YMCA’s stated mission of transformative social change and a commitment to families and communities. Ramona, after former President Obama commuted her life sentence, only knew two years of freedom after surviving two decades behind bars. In 1995, federal prosecutors unjustly sentenced Ramona to a life sentence without parole because her abusive partner at the time was someone who dealt drugs.1 In the end, white supremacy and the prison industrial complex took a toll on her life. But, Ramona spent those two years as a powerful voice for change in Charlotte — fighting for housing, living wages, jobs, and inclusion for those like her reentering society after incarceration. Black women, like Ramona Brant, are too often discarded and disrespected. It’s time Ramona gets some respect on her name. Give Ramona the love and recognition she deserves as a true community leader. But the YMCA has stood strong with the greedy prison-profiteering Keith family — despite 4,000 Color Of Change members like you standing together to demand they rename the YMCA. President & C.E.O. of YMCA-Charlotte, Todd Tibbits doesn’t get why the YMCA, a place where our children play, shouldn't stand for the devastation inflicted by the prison industry, and prison profit-buddies like the Keith Family. The Keiths, since 1999, have aggressively pursued private maintenance contracts in North Carolina state prisons where Black people represent 22% of the population yet make up 55% of state prison population.2 As of 2016 in Mecklenburg County where The Keith Corporation is headquartered, Black people represented 31.2% of the county population3 yet make up 67% of the Mecklenburg County jail population.4 The Keith Family has also been embroiled in controversy for political cronyism that sparked a federal investigation. Tell C.E.O. Todd: “The YMCA should not be uplifting people who built their wealth on Black pain, and needs to remove their affiliation with the grossly unjust prison industry.” Too often the experiences of Black women being targeted and swept up by the prison industrial complex — fueled by the profit-greed of people like the Keiths — are erased. Ramona Brant’s name on a community institution that serves Black families in Charlotte does justice to her legacy and is a powerful reminder of the unwavering strength of Black women in opposing oppression. It’s time to take the Keith Family name down. Until justice is real, Patrice Funderburg via OrganizeFor
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