Racine Women for Racial Justice

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Photo via Mary Pucci and Kelly Scroggins-Powell

Within the past year, the mobilization against institutional racism and police brutality has grown across the nation with groups such as Cleveland’s Movement for Black Lives and Minneapolis’ Reclaim the Block. There has also been a passionate movement in Racine with many groups interested in racial justice such as artist Scott Terry (Mahogany Gallery) and now, Racine Women for Racial Justice.

Since Mary Pucci started the Facebook group in 2019, the group’s two leaders, Mary Pucci and Kelly Scroggins-Powell, have been very active. They organized Courageous Conversation events  in February 2020 to address racial injustice in Racine, led a march and peaceful protests in June against the murder of George Floyd and a voter registration initiative in November. They also advocated for a better anti-racial harassment policy in the Burlington School District. With over 1,00 members in their Facebook group, Scroggin-Powell and Pucci transitioned the group into a fully functioning organization in August 2019 and look forward to having another productive year. I met with Kelly Scroggins and Mary Pucci over Zoom to discuss the organization’s plans for 2021.

What led you to form this organization?

Mary Pucci: Prior to the formal organization, we started as a Facebook Group in September of 2019. That was on the heels that no charges would be filed for the killing of a young black man named Tyrese West. The group itself was formed very organically and as a result of an emotional response I had to that announcement. I thought “If I’m a white woman in this community, having such a strong reaction, I bet there are other women who are sharing in that emotion”. It was really just a simple Facebook post on my personal page that talked about how I was feeling and invited people to join me to talk about it further. I committed to creating a private group for us to discuss issues around police brutality, equity, and other related issues. It grew very quickly and that’s where Kelly Scroggins entered the picture.

How has your previous experience in non-profit work and in life helped you with leading this organization?

Kelly Scroggins:  With the Facebook Group, we knew  that there were many concerned and interested women who wanted to do something about the racial justice issues they saw  in Racine. From that, we knew that in order for us to be effective, we had to become an organization. I have been in non-profit management for 30 years. Most of my work has been with inner city socially or economically disadvantaged individuals from various different areas. I also have great experience in developing non-profit organizations so when we recognized that this was the direction we wanted to go, I think my background helped.

What are the benefits and challenges of organizing online?

Mary Pucci: I feel that we were fortunate to organize online prior to Covid. When I created that Facebook group, the enthusiasm was immediate and the numbers were large so it was expanding rapidly. We were getting a lot of “white interest” and I wasn’t sure if that was new for our community, but it was interesting to see the circle that was developing. We were also getting many women of color joining so it was interesting to be in a space where we had both. It speaks to the power of social media and its reach because I had not been in a lot of circles with people of color discussing racial justice issues. It was poignant and exemplified the importance of what we were discussing.

Kelly Scroggins: The unfortunate current events of our times really provoked people to be involved. As Mary said, white women were recognizing they had power and privilege for the first time and wanted to learn more about it. They were sending requests to join our page and it seemed as though at one point, every few days, we were growing by the hundreds.

How do you translate discussions into action?

Kelly Scroggins: Through discussion, we identify issues and plan strategically. Discussions like our “Woman 2 Woman Courageous Conversations” and those on our FB page have helped us to identify areas of greatest need and of greatest interest to Racine women. Once we identify area(s) of interest we develop a plan of action which always begins with amplifying the voices of women of color, providing opportunities for them to lead the work.

What is one accomplishment in the past year that you are proud of?

Mary Pucci: We’re proud of a lot of accomplishments because we’ve put a lot of hard work and passion in creating the infrastructure. What makes me the most proud is the transition we made from a thriving Facebook group to an actual non-profit organization. We achieved our non-profit status in August of 2020 and since then, we’ve been focused on building  capacity and developing our strategic plan. We’ve built a diverse and skilled board of directors that is helping us realize our vision and mission statement. We have put committees into place that are helping us work on actions that we want to make a priority in the next year. Everything we do, we want to do with integrity, transparency, and toward our mission  being  realized.

Kelly Scroggins: I share the sentiment towards our accomplishments. I think for us to transition to a non-profit organization in a small amount of time was amazing. 

Mary Pucci: I think what also speaks to our success is that Kelly and I have done everything hand in hand as cofounders. We have started and developed this organization as a white woman and a woman of color. Frankly, we could not have done this without Kelly’s immense work experience in the non-profit field. My talent lies in community relationships and outreach, but Kelly really brings the essential skills that we needed to get our organization off the ground.

Kelly Scroggins: From the onset, we recognized the value of unity. I think that’s one of the things that is going to allow our organization to have continued success.  We do everything in a partnership model so we have  a cofounder and a copresident; one woman of color and one white woman. Even in our committee work, we want to show up in a way that says we value the voices of women of color and also value white women all who have skill sets with a desire to be allies. We really want to send a message of unity.

What message would you like to send as you move forward in 2021?

Kelly Scroggins: That women are powerful. We’ve seen it demonstrated in Georgia with Stacey Abrams, it’s demonstrated with our vice president and with all the other women in politics. We want women to know that they are powerful and when we come together and have  a shared interest, we have the ability to impact change in terms of justice, we have the ability to promote healing. Together, we are powerful and we can accomplish much.

Mary Pucci: We’ve been challenged on why our group is only a woman’s group, but we want to stay steadfast in that. Women, collectively, can do anything. We have learned  that quickly in the development of this organization; the talent, the passion, the intelligence and empathy that women bring to the table is without measure. We’re going to keep it all women for the time being as we try to bring equity and racial justice to the forefront of what’s important, especially here in Racine, Wisconsin.