Black leaders in Phoenix said they want to capitalize on their community’s power this election season.
The Arizona Republic partnered with Capital B, a news outlet focused on serving Black people and communities, to host a three-part panel discussion on Thursday as part of Capital B’s Black Political Power Tour .
“How do we stay connected and extend the tributaries of Blackness into one mighty Black river that we can all live from, eat from, drink the water from, and grow from?” said panelist Brian Watson, a politically involved newcomer to Phoenix.
Phoenix’s Black community is growing but dispersed
Since 2010, Arizona’s Black population has grown roughly 40%, with 70,000 Black people moving to the Phoenix metro area in the past decade, according to Capital B journalist and moderator Adam Mahoney.
But unlike major cities like Chicago, where many Black people have moved from, Phoenix does not have communities where Black people are strongly concentrated.
That has presented a challenge in staying connected, but it also presents an opportunity, said Rashad Shabazz, a professor of African American studies and geography at Arizona State University.