The Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition
Keeping Black Asheville focused on what matters most.
By Sekou Coleman –
Don’t fall for the banana in the tailpipe.
In the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy plays Detroit detective Axel Foley, a man who can spot an angle fast and move even faster. One of the most remembered moments is a small, ridiculous distraction with a big point: Foley sticks a banana in a police car’s exhaust, the car stalls, and he keeps it moving.
The next day, a different pair of officers shows up and the racial dynamic is different. The officers who got embarrassed the first time were white. The officer who shows up the next day and says, in effect, “We are not falling for that banana in the tailpipe,” is Black.
The line lands like a nod to something Black people know in our bones: when you have lived through the tricks, you develop a sharper sense for the setup. You recognize the distraction, you track what is happening behind it, and you show up ready.
That is the energy we need to bring into 2026.
What Does Our Community Need in 2026?
It is election season now. Headlines will fly. Rumors will fly. “Gotcha” narratives will fly. If we let the noise drive our attention, decisions that shape our neighborhoods will keep moving in the background.
Our goal is to keep Black Asheville focused on what matters most: who is working to protect our communities, who is willing to listen when we speak, and who is willing to use their power to help us stay rooted.
We are the Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition (LNC)
We are leaders from Burton Street, East End, Shiloh, Southside, and Emma. We came together because our neighborhoods have been carrying the weight of change for a long time, and we have learned what happens when communities fight in isolation. We decided to move together.
Our mission is to protect historic communities most impacted by displacement, honor the legacy and culture of historically under-resourced residents, and build collective power that strengthens community voices, expands civic participation, and stewards opportunities where future generations can thrive.
Displacement shows up in more than one way. People experience it in housing, when costs rise and families get pushed out. People experience it socially, when neighbors scatter and the informal support system breaks. People experience it culturally, when landmarks, businesses, institutions, and traditions that hold memory get replaced, renamed, or erased. That is why our work has required patience, persistence, and a willingness to do the detailed efforts most people never see.
Engagement Demands Knowledge
This past year, we have been in the trenches of the city planning process. We have been studying the rules, showing up in public meetings, tracking zoning changes, and pressing for protections that match the reality on the ground in legacy neighborhoods. We have had to learn the language of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and land use policy because those pages decide what can happen on our blocks long before a bulldozer shows up.
We have pushed for “carve-outs” and other safeguards where broad zoning changes could land hardest on communities already carrying generations of disruption from “urban removal” and before. We have been building a stronger, more consistent relationship with city staff and city leadership so our neighborhoods are not treated like an afterthought once decisions are already made.
That work has been strengthened by the support of Vice Mayor Antanette Mosley and Council Member Sheneika Smith. Their support has mattered because they bring something rare to that dais: roots. As daughters of Black Asheville’s legacy, they carry a lived understanding of what it means to fight for home, not as an abstract concept, but as a family and community reality.
When leaders stand with legacy neighborhoods in the unglamorous, procedural fights, it changes what is possible. And it also attracts attention.
The Banana in the Tailpipe
We are not new to the pattern where Black women who are capable, successful, and effective get scrutinized harder when their work starts to disrupt somebody else’s comfort or somebody else’s plans. We have seen it nationally. We have seen it historically. We have seen it locally.
We are naming it here without building an entire story around it, because the point is not to chase every headline. The point is to recognize when the spotlight is being used to shift focus away from policy, away from displacement, and away from the everyday people who live in these neighborhoods.
Some people may be curious why Emma is part of our coalition. Emma stands with us for two reasons that fit directly inside our mission. First, Emma holds deep ties to Black Asheville history, including the legacy of James Vester Miller and his connection to the community. Second, Emma holds a shared memory of solidarity between Black and brown communities.
Latine musicians Las Cafeteras remind us “the Underground Railroad also ran south” in their song “It’s Movement Time,” which explores how freedom struggles have always crossed lines that others try to harden.
Our coalition reflects that truth. When we move as five neighborhoods with shared purpose, we build the kind of collective power that makes it harder to divide us, isolate us, and displace us one by one.
This is what we want Black Asheville to keep in mind as the election season ramps up.
We want people to know what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we are doing it. We want people to recognize who has been willing to stand with us in the hard work. We want people to measure candidates by the issues that shape home, stability, and belonging, not by the loudest storyline of the week.
Call for Volunteers & Partners
We want more people involved in this work. We need organizers, storytellers, outreach folks, meeting helpers, researchers, policy readers, and neighbors who can simply show up and stay consistent. We need elders who carry the long memory and young folks who can carry the baton. Many hands make light work, and right now the work is heavy.
As the noise rises, we are choosing focus. We are choosing preparation. We are choosing vigilance. And we’re not gonna fall for a banana in the tailpipe, either.
About the Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition
Sekou Coleman serves as Coordinator for the Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition (LNC), which consists of leadership from neighborhood associations in the Burton Street, East End/Valley Street, Emma, Shiloh, and Southside communities.
Convened in 2019, Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition’s mission is to protect historic communities most impacted by displacement, honor the legacy and culture of historically under-resourced residents, and build collective power that strengthens community voices, expands civic participation, and stewards opportunities where future generations can thrive.
Contact the neighborhood associations that you identify with the most to learn more about how to engage with LNC or visit AshevilleLegacyNeighborhoods.org.
