Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1495454
A s statues tumble, songs get canceled, and books are banned from school libraries, the question of memory's role in history repeating itself cannot be ignored. How should we talk about beastly instances of social injustice? How do we heal from our past? How must we prevent reoccurrences? A Texas-based coalition of nine local arts, grassroots, and service organizations believes transformation holds power over obliteration. Like most Southern cities, Fort Worth's past is riddled with racism and violence. A former Ku Klux Klan auditorium, built in 1924, still stands only a mile away from the site where Fred Rouse, a Black butcher, was lynched by a white mob a century ago. But rather than demolish the auditorium and erase its significance, the nonprofit coalition Transform 1012 N. Main Street is repurposing the structure's 73,000-square- foot space for good, while honoring Rouse's memory in the process. Currently in the midst of a capital campaign and preparing a design plan, Transform 1012 aims to open The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing — the building's new moniker — in 2025. As a cultural center, it will welcome the groups once targeted by its former inhabitants to educate, create, A Fort Worth site that once evoked feelings of grief, inaction, and fear will soon signify rebirth, mobilization, and safety. At the helm is the nonprofit organization Transform 1012 N. Main Street and its inaugural executive director, Carlos Gonzalez-Jaime. Read on for PaperCity's exclusive Q&A with Gonzalez-Jaime. BREATHING NEW LIFE: FROM TERROR TO TOGETHERNESS By Dani Grande. Portrait Jacob Carroll. Transform 1012 N. Main Street, set to become The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing (Continued) 80