28.12.10

Heart and Soul Magazine

HEART AND SOUL MAGAZINE

Mayor Shirley Gibson Revives Miami Community with Music



Some leaders are trained, while others are born. Similar to Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Fannie Lou Hammer, Shirley Gibson responded to a call to lead her Miami Gardens community from crime-ridden neighborhoods to a booming business center and home of this year’s Super Bowl.
Gibson moved from PTA president of her children’s school to a police officer, before becoming the first mayor of the City of Miami Gardens, Florida’s largest black city. She developed the Jazz in the Gardens music festival six years ago to help boost economic growth. Fans from around the world have traveled to see performers such as Mary J. Blige, Nancy Wilson, Common, Lauryn Hill and John Legend.
Mayor Gibson shares with Heart & Soul the importance of Jazz in the Gardens and the power of women in politics.
Heart & Soul: You have led the complete turn around of the City of Miami Gardens, as its first and only mayor. What sparked your interest in politics?
Shirley Gibson:
A lot of women got started through involvement with their children’s PTA. I was the PTA president many years ago, also a girl-scout troop leader. I was able to look at issues and find solutions through those positions. I then became a police officer in the mid ’70s in Miami Dade County at the height of blacks having to go into federal court to get county people and cities to hire us. I got very involved with the black police officers in Metro Dade County. All of those experiences fostered a desire to bring about change. I was active with the community and it evolved into an opportunity to run for public office.

H & S: Jazz in the Gardens is the city’s biggest event of the year. How did the music festival begin and what has been the impact? 

Gibson:
Not many cultural events were taking place that would allow people to come to our community outside of Miami. I wanted us to have a national focus. I looked around and saw no one really doing anything like Jazz in the Gardens. Now Jazz in the Gardens has grown tremendously and people fly all over to be apart of the festival. We had a chance to fill a void and make the festival a national event. We also highlight local talent every year in front of a very large audience and it’s an opportunity for local vendors to participate. The festival has provided work for many local people.

What’s been a favorite memory from the event for you? 

Gibson:
A few years ago I met the legendary Nancy Wilson backstage. Nancy is such a woman of grace.That was an aha moment for me. She told me she was happy to be apart of Jazz in the Gardens. Also I had a chance to meet Common before he went on stage. The positive young people in that dressing room impressed me. A young sister on Common’s team was in there laying down prayers. On another note, last year I did a circus act with the UniverSoul Circus. They had a huge white tiger and I was in the cage! (laughs) Life is to be lived. I never feel that I am so above the people that I can’t relate.

The black community and the rest of society is conditioned to men in power. How has the experience been as an African-American woman in leadership? 

Gibson:
This is a male dominated culture. I’ve been able to overcome by being really prepared. If I’m going to a meeting, I try to make sure that I have the answer of what I’m looking to accomplish. It’s also about not being afraid to search out and ask other professional experts in their field for information I need. I’m consulting with people all the time because I realize I don’t know everything. If you’re going to be in a leadership capacity, you have got to be able to follow and you must be able to hear some things that you don’t want to hear.

As the first mayor of Miami gardens, what has been your greatest success? 

Gibson:
To have this city be highlighted as a model around the country. To interact with people in the community and they say I’m doing a great job. I’m proud to live in this city. I can never hear that enough because when people love where they live, they will take care of where they live. Most heavily populated African-American communities have a very adversarial role with law enforcement. That’s not the case in Miami Gardens. People have a very good relationship with our police. We work together.

And what advice would you share with other women looking to get involved on the political scene? 

Gibson:
Try to get into politics early. There are so many levels. You have community, city, county, state and federal and you might have to spend six to eight years or more in each. You need to have the time to build a coalition so you can be successful in the political arena. There might be some challenges because women are still multi-tasking, we are often mothers and wives. The responsibilities cause many of us to not pursue certain career paths. Men need to be willing to support us as we support them when they pursue their careers. Women should get involved because we have sensitivity about politics that men don’t have.

http://www.heartandsoul.com/2011/04/mayor-shirley-gibson-revives-miami-community-with-music/