Mr. Harry Flipping, was one of the originators of “Black Pride Incorporated,” a vibrant Des Moines group in the 70s and 80s: “As we were growing up, there was a lack of things for teenagers and young adults. They called it Dead Moines. The people closest to me said: ‘Why don’t we pool our money and organize events around the neighborhood parks?’
They formed ‘”Black Pride Incorporated,”’ hosting popular events around Des Moines, even filling the 1000 seats at Adventureland Palace on a Wednesday night! When asked to host non-partisan political events: “We set up a special stage and people from the state legislature came to talk. We found out that we had the largest voter registration of people of color in Polk County in history!”
All their events were non-violent. Flipping spoke about a large event in Good park: “The crowd got so big, at dark a couple of police officers came up to me and asked: ‘Don’t you think you should shut this down? If something happens, it will be a riot!’ I said: ‘You don’t have to worry officer.’ They said, ‘Why, do you have guns?’ I said ‘No. We have grandmas.’”
Flipping summed up what was so marvelous about the group. “Our events had people aged two to 83. They gave me an extraordinary feeling for our community – you have to be responsible, and you have to treat everyone like a member of your family. We didn’t discriminate back then: I had as many White friends as I did Black friends, and Jewish friends, and Asian friends, and African friends. The beauty of it was to be out with your whole family and have fun. Everyone was welcome and it was a fabulous time. That was the key to success, and we were very proud to be that.”