The popular Bernard Community Center in Mason, Tennessee, where locals gather to celebrate important life events, has closed its doors after 20 years and residents are calling on the county mayor to reopen it.
At a rally on August 7, community members and stakeholders from near and far gathered outside the now-shuttered community center to voice their displeasure over the closure.
Among the groups participating in the rally was the Blue Oval Good Neighbors Coalition, which is part of the advocacy group Tennessee For All and advocates for “all of us, not just big corporations and a rich few.”
While owned by Fayette County, the center was scheduled to close in December 2023.
Community members, such as the center’s director, Lue Hall, specifically reached out to Fayette County Mayor Rhea “Skip” Taylor, pleading with him to reopen the Bernard Community Center.
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Hall said she was concerned about the displacement of the historically black community center.
“All we ask is that you give us back our freedom in this facility. That’s not difficult because we have spent many hours here maintaining this center,” Hall said.
“We have maintained this center with the utmost care, we have mowed the lawns and all the people from the community have worked tirelessly just so that we have something in our community, because we had nothing, no amenities in our community, not a thing.”
Hall says the closure is unfair.
“We’ve done our part and that’s why it’s so unfair of him to shut the community out because this is our beacon in this community. So all we’re asking is: give us our center back,” she said.
Why was the Bernard Community Center closed?
The 2,500-square-foot building has served as a polling place since it opened in 2004 and is a permanent part of many families’ memories. It was almost entirely self-sufficient, charging admission for private events, with revenue going directly to maintaining the center while the county footed the bill.
Taylor pointed out, however, that the decision to no longer use the center as a polling station was made several years ago by a committee appointed by the state.
According to Fayette County Commission documents, a proposed lease agreement was presented to the Bernard Community Association in May as a “starting point.” The agreement would have given the center sole responsibility for covering operating costs, and the rent would have offset the costs.
The minutes reflected a consensus among county commissioners that “no facility should be leased without the county receiving the rent.” The county development committee withdrew the lease offer and transferred oversight of the facility to the mayor’s office.
“The facility was located in a part of the county that did not have an education and vocational training site. During the past Christmas period, financial irregularities were discovered and the center was closed until appropriate oversight could be put in place,” Taylor said.
Taylor’s closure order advertised that there would be no charge for use of the facility and would allow public events to continue, while private events such as birthdays and anniversaries would not be allowed to take place.
On June 25, the County Commission unanimously approved the rules of use for the Bernard Community Center.
State Route 194 in Mason leads to BlueOval City
Meanwhile, a major road construction project is planned for streets that will run through Mason near the community center and connect to the neighboring Ford Motors BlueOval City megasite.
Led by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, State Route 194 (Project Blue Oval) includes road improvements in Fayette, Haywood and Tipton counties.
Ford’s Blue Oval City, announced in 2021 and representing a $5.6 billion investment, is located almost exactly halfway between Memphis and Nashville in Stanton. The mega-site is expected to create nearly 6,000 jobs manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles and T3 electric trucks.
In the center of the “project environment” radius for the State Route 194 plans is the Bernard Community Center, just off I-40 at Exit 42.
The proposed changes include new alignments of existing intersections and new interchanges, ultimately aiming to improve both traffic efficiency and connections to BlueOval City.
Taylor’s role as chairman of the West Tennessee branch of the Rural Planning Organization, TDOT’s local rural transportation organization, is being questioned.
Because the Bernard Community Center is only five miles from the megasite, residents have raised concerns about the possibility of the land being redeveloped as part of the construction of State Route 194.
“The West Tennessee Rural Planning Organization, which I chair, represents the interests of the community as TDOT plans transportation in our tri-county area,” Taylor said in response to his role in the RPO. “And I encourage all residents to weigh in on any issues the county may need to decide during this period of growth.”
“Reminiscent of Jim Crow”
In western Tennessee, Fayette County has a population of over 43,000, according to census data, while Mason in the northwest part of the county has a population of about 1,300.
The racial implications of closing an important community gathering place – especially in a city where historically nearly 70% of the population is black – led speakers like Pastor Keith Caldwell to say the measure was “reminiscent of Jim Crow.”
Caldwell, a pastor at Centenary United Methodist Church in Memphis, traveled to the Mason rally as an advocate for all of West Tennessee.
“Jim Crow is a second-class citizen law, if there is such a thing. It’s about dehumanization and economic exploitation. These black farmers who came out of slavery and were given this land during Reconstruction have 100-year-old farms to prove it, and now as soon as economic commerce comes to the land, they want to take it away,” Caldwell said.
“Memphis is part of West Tennessee and is an African-American community. So I’m not an outside agitator, because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I am them and they are me.”
Interest groups join the cause
Another point of contention is Taylor’s seat on Ford Motor’s Equitable Growth Advisory Council, a committee made up of local leaders from the surrounding region whose job it is to share insights and examine potential barriers that could limit a community’s ability to participate in BlueOval City’s projected economic growth.
“The black farmers in this area and some board members of the Bernard Community Center are fighting to keep their land as TDOT and Ford’s Blue Oval City project move in,” said Van Turner, Shelby County Commissioner for District 12.
“Ford and the Equitable Growth Advisory Council, which includes County Mayor Taylor, have promised economic growth to everyone in this community, and here in Mason, Tennessee, two miles from the plant, blacks are still being left behind while the wealthy few continue to reap the benefits.”
In addition to advocating for a strong public education system and economic security, TN4ALL’s grassroots initiatives with Blue Oval City called for a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with Ford in June.
The proposed agreement included demands such as union jobs, environmental protections and the promotion of racial and economic equality. A petition for a collective bargaining agreement with Ford has more than 600 signatures.
“County Mayor Taylor has a chance to make it right by opening the doors of the Bernard Community Center. Ford has a chance to make it right by coming to the bargaining table and negotiating a community benefits agreement. It’s time to make it right and put this community center back in the hands of the community,” Turner said.
Sarah Best is a reporter for The Jackson Sun. To support local journalism, subscribe to the Daily Briefing Here.
