Lillie A. Estes was co-founder of RePHRAME (Residents of Public Housing in Richmond Against Mass Evictions), a former mayoral candidate, creator of the Community Justice Film Series and a Virginia Poverty Law Center board member. (Photo courtesy the Community Justice Film Series)
Editor’s note: After learning of Lillie A. Estes’ death on Thursday, Jan. 31, Richmond magazine invited Iman Shabazz, who worked alongside Estes to build a more just community, to share a remembrance.
It is impossible to sleep without hearing an amalgamation of her words ringing in my head, as if she carried her bullhorn into the land of the Ancestors: “Eee-mon, I’m just calling to remind you I need your presence at this meeting. …” Anyone else, I would have politely corrected their pronunciation of my name, but the Queen Mother had the right to call me by any name she so chose. She’d often soften me up for the critique she would undoubtedly give regarding my public statements with the words, “Thank you for piercing our consciousness.” The intention and impact of her “un-sugarcoated” words was always felt immediately. They either hugged your ears with love or lovingly dealt a blow upside your head in order to get you to see an error or think more critically.
During her decades of commitment and perseverance in the face of injustice, it would have been impossible for me never to have heard her authoritative voice admonishing those in power in regard to education, whole-body well-being, public safety, housing, transportation or wealth building. I honestly can’t remember our first time meeting. There is rarely a time I can recall when the need arose to stand, speak and fight on behalf of Richmond’s marginalized citizens that Lillie wasn’t there making sure we all fully digested the truth — no matter how bitter the taste that remained.
It’s easy to echo how much the loss of her earthly presence means to the Richmond community. Yet her work has left an unequivocal footprint in this city, the gravity of which has rippled across a national stage. Lillie A. Estes pulled no punches with city leaders or other community activists whose actions did not appear to be in the best interests of those who have for generations been the victims of abject poverty and disenfranchisement. She had a desire to see her community transformed into a model for community engagement and empowerment.
As she would say, "We are in the process now of going to the next level of community work, which is holding our existing organizations and governing structures accountable to effective community work.”
Lillie A. Estes (Photo by Glen McClure courtesy Virginia Poverty Law Center)
She incessantly reminded us that we cannot “redevelop” a community without members of that community at the table alongside city leaders, creating a shared vision for bringing appropriate resources and creating opportunities for community members to thrive. While Lillie was committed to the advancement of all Richmond’s citizens, she held a special place in her heart for the neighborhood within which she resided, the Charles S. Gilpin Community (also known as Gilpin Court). She took the opportunity to transform young and old minds by simply invoking the spirit of this great historical figure. Gilpin, an accomplished African-American actor in the 1920s, could be someone for young people to emulate rather than fall victim to the denigrating stereotypes and disturbing conditions of the public housing community bearing his name today.
Often, we spend a lifetime loving, remembering, uplifting and sometimes debating the work of the great national and international heroes and heroines who have fought tirelessly for the rights of a people. It is not often we lift up their work when they are in our midst. It is even less often that we are able to share in their humanity — to know what makes them laugh, to feel when they are angry, to be touched by their love and humbled by their wisdom, to be greeted by their smiling eyes or shot a fierce look of disapproval, to be inspired by their fearlessness, to be placed in check by their authority and validated by their camaraderie.
It is rarer still that we have literally fought alongside those who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of justice and alleviating the suffering of a people who seem to be, as author Frantz Fanon once deemed, “the wretched of the earth.” My imagination has not yet accepted that the Richmond community will be without one of its true generals, who built strategies to CREATE AND DEVELOP INNOVATIVE ALLIANCES as Lillie would type in messages sprinkled with words in all-capital letters. One who has left an indelibly ingrained legacy of fighting for justice, whether she stood with community support or as a team of one, her pursuit for equity, justice and the empowerment of African-Americans and other marginalized peoples did not cease.
Inspired by her emphatic spirit, I want to shout this message for all to hear:
LILLIE A. ESTES, we will work diligently to carry your work forward! With undying LOVE, we will not stop SPEAKING TRUTH, LEADING WITH INTEGRITY, DEMANDING JUSTICE, LOVING OUR PEOPLE AND TEACHING OTHERS TO DO ALL OF THE ABOVE.
In many traditions of African culture, it is the woman who sounds the call to demand justice! It is the woman who organizes others in the community to fight! We must remember these Warrior Queens among us. Saying their names ensures that they remain with us as they are welcomed into eternity. Their words guide our thoughts. Their blueprints are engraved on our actions, and their legacy stands as a worthy monument for generations to come!
A memorial service for Lillie A. Estes is planned for Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 11 a.m. at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, with the Rev. Tyrone Nelson officiating. A fundraising effort is underway to assist Estes’ family with funeral and burial costs.
