Carrie Thomas: Lifelong Leader for Justice

In honor of the upcoming Mother's Day, UUSC is sharing the story of Carrie Thomas, a mother of six, grandmother of twelve, and a local community leader in southwest Georgia who is the leading force of the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Cooperative, a UUSC partner. The following piece was written by Daa'iyah N. Salaam, the business development specialist for the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education.

Carrie Thomas thinks of herself as an ordinary woman born and raised in the small town of Smithville, Georgia. But Thomas is no ordinary person — or maybe she is just one of the countless ordinary, hard-working people who, because of their circumstances, have chosen to do extraordinary things in the midst of intolerable conditions. Working against injustice throughout her life, she currently is creating change as the general manager of the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Cooperative (SAAC), the only African-American-owned cooperative of its kind in the area.  

Beyond humble, Thomas is a true leader and has been since she was a child. Carrie's fiery disposition emerged early when she tested the waters, literally, at a public pool that was enforced as "whites only." This experience lit a fire for justice and fairness in her that burns today. That fire sustained her as she endured personal challenges of chronic poverty and domestic violence. It sustained her as she witnessed Ku Klux Klan attacks on the residents of Smithville and the mistreatment and unjust sentencing of African Americans — and it moved her to action.  

For years, she and a group of dedicated, fed-up residents of Smithville would go "court watching" to ensure that justice prevailed for the African Americans in the community. In 1999, Thomas joined the Prison & Jail Project Freedom Walk, a walk through communities to bring awareness to discrimination. "I wanted to be a part of it because of the injustices I had seen," Thomas said. During the walk, a Smithville police officer stopped them and demanded a parade permit. Thomas recounted, "I rejected his threats and told him I was a resident of Smithville and had the right to walk. He arrested us." Later, they were released, but Carrie believes the incident only fueled her determination to seek justice. She and others began to meet each week to discuss issues within the community.

The challenges mounted — but so did the efforts of Thomas and her fellow community activists. They encouraged African Americans to run for public office, and pushed to see that officers were disciplined for discriminatory actions. They coordinated voter-registration drives throughout the area as well food drives for people with incarcerated family members and for the elderly. To address the discrimination against African-American children in the education system, Thomas acquired grant funding to offer those children supplementary after-school lessons.

In 2004, Thomas and three other women were offered the opportunity to run an agricultural cooperative in the neighboring town of Leslie. Thomas knew that the task was enormous but saw the good it could do, especially economically, for the community. So Thomas accepted the charge and has served as SAAC's general manager for the past five years. SAAC has created employment opportunities that were previously nonexistent for residents of Leslie and Smithville. The co-op has provided the community with skills, living wages, and the means for better living standards. The cooperative also supports struggling African-American farmers. As Thomas says, SAAC is a true investment in the community and "a legacy we can leave our children."

While Thomas and her fellow activists have had great success, the recent economic downturn and a host of other recent challenges have made the going extremely hard. The after-school program has struggled due to lack of funding and its building is going through foreclosure. In 2009, SAAC experienced its worst year to date, and its women leaders have been volunteering their efforts, at a time when jobs for the community are most needed. Thomas's children have had to help cover her bills — and on top of that, a large tree destroyed her home last summer during a thunderstorm. After living with her daughter for nearly a year, she was finally able to move back to her own house, though there have been problems with the insurance company paying for the repairs.

While it seems that everything that Thomas has worked hard for is on shaky grounds, she still finds the strength to persevere. "I have always worked," she said, "and tried to see that things were better for all of us here. It is hard me to feel so helpless but God did not bring me here to abandon me now. That I do believe."

Want to support the Southern Alternatives Agriculture Cooperative this Mother's Day? Check out their pecan-candy promotion!