The Gallery...

RICHARD ARNOLD ROUNDTREE

July 9, 1942 - October 24, 2023

"A bad mother...shut yo mouth!" to the very end

In 2022, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Becomes the First Black Woman to Ascend to the Role of Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

After More Than 100 Years, the Capital City of the Confederacy Dismounts America's Largest Statue Honoring the Rebel General Robert E. Lee

RICHMOND, Virginia (September 8, 2021) — A crowd erupted in cheers and song Wednesday as work crews hoisted an enormous statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee off the giant pedestal where it had towered over Virginia’s capital city for more than a century.

One of America’s largest monuments to the Confederacy, the equestrian statue was lifted down to the ground just before 9 a.m., after a construction worker who strapped harnesses around Lee and his horse lifted his arms in the air and counted down, “Three, two, one!” to jubilant shouts from a crowd of hundreds.  A work crew then began cutting it into pieces.

“This was a long time coming, part of the healing process so Virginia can move forward and be a welcoming state with inclusiveness and diversity,” said Governor Ralph Northam, who was there to witness the event.  The Democrat said it represents “more than 400 years of history that we should not be proud of,” and congratulated Virginians for supporting its removal.

Sharon Jennings, an African American born and raised in Richmond, said the statue had to go, but she still had mixed feelings seeing it come down.

“It’s a good day, and it’s a sad day at the same time,” Jennings, 58, said.  “It doesn’t matter what color you are, if you really like history, and you understand what this street has been your whole life and you’ve grown up this way, you’re thinking, ‘Oh, my God.’ But when you get older you understand that it does need to come down.”

Some chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” and sang, “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye.”  There was a brief commotion when a man with a Black Lives Matter flag ran into the fenced-off work area.  He was quickly detained by police and escorted out, where he began arguing with others in the crowd.

Northam ordered the statue taken down last summer, citing the pain felt across the country over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck.  But his plans were tied up in litigation until the Supreme Court of Virginia cleared the way last week.

The job was overseen by Team Henry Enterprises, led by Devon Henry, a Black executive who faced death threats after his company’s role in removing Richmond’s other Confederate statues was made public last year.  He said the Lee statue posed their most complex challenge.

The 21-foot (6-meter) high bronze sculpture sat atop a granite pedestal nearly twice that tall, towering above Monument Avenue since 1890 in this former capital of the Confederacy.

The deconstruction crew was surrounded by a heavy police presence as they strapped the statue to a crane.  State, capitol and city police officers closed streets for blocks around the state-owned traffic circle in Richmond, using heavy equipment and crowd-control barriers to keep crowds away.  The Federal Aviation Administration granted the state’s request to ban drone flights during the event, which were livestreamed through the governor’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“This is a historic moment for the city of Richmond.  The city, the community at large is saying that we’re not going to stand for these symbols of hate in our city anymore,” said Rachel Smucker, 28, a Richmond resident who was at the viewing site early Wednesday with her sister.

Smucker, who is white, said she moved to Richmond around three years ago.  It was her first time living in the South, and she found Monument Avenue “jarring.

“I’ve always found it to be offensive, as a symbol of protecting slavery and the racism that people of color still face today,” Smucker said.

The one-of-a-kind piece, valued for its artistic quality, stood among four other massive Confederate statues on the avenue, but the city removed the others last summer.

“We put things on pedestals when we want people to look up,” Northam said in June 2020 when he announced the removal plan.  “Think about the message that this sends to people coming from around the world to visit the capital city of one of the largest states in our country.  Or to young children.”

The statue was being cut into at least two pieces so that it could be hauled to an undisclosed state-owned facility until a decision is made about its final disposition.  The pedestal is to remain for the time being, although workers are expected to remove decorative plaques and extricate a time capsule on Thursday.

After Floyd’s death, the area around the statute became a hub for protests and occasional clashes between police and demonstrators.  The pedestal has been covered by constantly evolving, colorful graffiti, with many of the hand-painted messages denouncing police and demanding an end to systemic racism and inequality.

The decisions by the governor and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to remove the Confederate tributes marked a major victory for civil rights activists, whose previous calls over the decades to remove the statues had been steadfastly rebuked by city and state officials alike.

A previous wave of resistance to the statues came in 2017 when a rally of white supremacists in the city of Charlottesville erupted into violence.  Other Confederate monuments started falling around the country.

But in Virginia, local governments were hamstrung by a state law that protected memorials to war veterans.  That law was amended in 2020 by the new Democratic majority at the statehouse and signed by Northam.  With the changes that took effect on July 1, 2020, localities could decide the monuments’ fate.

Stoney then moved swiftly, citing the continuing demonstrations and concerns that protesters could get hurt if they tried to bring down the enormous statues themselves.

Work crews removed statues of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate naval officer Matthew Maury and General J.E.B. Stuart from the thoroughfare.  Before Stoney’s decree, protesters toppled a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Although the figures themselves are gone, their pedestals remain.

Northam’s plans to remove the Lee statue stalled until the Supreme Court of Virginia cleared the way last week in unanimous rulings against two lawsuits, saying that in a democracy, “values change and public policy changes too.”

The changes have remade the prestigious avenue, which is lined with mansions and tony apartments and is partly preserved as a National Historic Landmark district. Richmond officials are advancing plans to remove the pedestals and other remnants of the statuary and at least temporarily pave over or re-landscape the sites.  Northam has tapped the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to lead a community-driven redesign for the whole avenue, a process that is expected to be drawn-out and has yet to make substantial progress.

A statue of Black tennis hero and Richmond native Arthur Ashe that was erected on the avenue in 1996 is expected to remain.

As for the Lee statue, Northam has said his administration will seek public input on what should happen to it next.

COUNTY CAVAN, Ulster (Ireland) - September 8, 2021 — A Black woman has won the title of Miss Ireland. 

Pamela Uba, a 26-year-old medical scientist, is making history as she has become the first black woman to be crowned Miss Ireland in the country since the pageant began in 1947. 

“It means so much to me,” a delighted Uba says.  “I am so grateful I can show girls that colour is not something that holds you back and it doesn’t matter where you come from, the world is your oyster,” she told IrishTimes.

Uba is a part-time model and healthcare worker.  She worked on the frontlines during the pandemic, working at the Galway University Hospital monitoring the inflammatory process in patients who contracted Covid-19.

Uba moved to Ireland as an asylum seeker from Johannesburg, in South Africa  when she was seven.

“I remember thinking it was strange that I couldn’t hear gunshots when I arrived,” she says.

The eldest of six siblings, she grew up in the direct-provision system and is now a “very proud” Irish citizen. “I cried when I got my Irish passport.”

While she says she is proud to be Irish, she remains critical about failed systems in place throughout the country and racism.

Back in March 2020 when Uba was crowned Miss Galway she was subjected to racist trolls on social media.

“I’ve experienced racism, and it’s horrible to hear people telling me to go back to my country when I’ve worked so hard to make Ireland my home,” she says.  It was Uba who sent letters to politicians and filled out forms during their family’s drawn-out asylum-seeking process.  “We are all human, and we all deserve the same love and respect.”

According to BBC, Black people make up about 1.4 percent of the Ireland population.

Uba completed her medical-science degree in Galway and is awaiting the results of her master’s in clinical chemistry from Trinity College Dublin.

In December, Uba will represent Ireland at the 70th Miss World festival, in Puerto Rico.

“I can’t even describe how excited I am to represent my country on such a huge platform.  I can’t wait.

Uba says she hopes to use her Miss Ireland title to represent the diversity of Ireland.

    Another One...Meet BU's 2021-22 Student President

Q&A

WITH NYAH JORDAN

What got you interested in student government in the first place?  I have been a part of student government since I was in seventh grade, so at this point in college, I feel like it’s something that’s ingrained in me.  From high school I’ve seen how it can force people to grow as a leader, as a public speaker, and it also forces you to speak up for yourself and for other people.  So coming to college and being able to play that out on a larger scale has always been really exciting to me, because I did have trouble speaking up in my teenage years, even though I’m only 20 now.  And I think it’s also really important for me as a Black woman to be there for representation.  I think I bring diversity, but also diversity in thought.  And student government has directly helped me with building that confidence in myself to know that I am enough to lead, I’m enough to be in this or that position, and now here I am as president. 

How does your education in COM work with and complement your role in student government?  As a journalism major I think it very much coincides because I’m learning a lot about how media affects people and how polarization extremely affects people.  How do we address that and create an environment where people do feel welcome enough to come talk to you?  While also creating enough of a democratic process to where, at the end of the day, you come out with an initiative or decision of some sort.  So I’m bringing what I’m learning about hard news and non-partisan journalism and applying that to conversations and student government, especially when we have tense situations or when students come with a lot of different opinions.  COM has absolutely helped me out in every way with how to handle student politics. 

What are your priorities and goals for the coming year in COM and also as president?  For COM, I definitely want to utilize my resources way more than I have, since there’s so many amazing professors and just BU connections in general.  I don’t think a lot of students realize half the things that we have access to, and whether that’s a subscription to the New York Times, or just talking with a professor about their journalism career.  Touching on the BUnited platform, we have Uniting Health, Uniting Justice, Uniting Community.  So creating healthy spaces for students, big communal spaces. Because after COVID, after students have been home for over a year, or freshman who haven’t even seen a lively campus, I think creating community, and creating spaces and events for that is going to be extremely important.  But at the same time it’s also supporting students and initiatives that are already happening.  I will make it a priority to listen to what students want to see us do. 

What are your plans after you graduate?  I do want to go into journalism after I graduate or at least the field of communication. That’s always been important to me.  I’m still deciding whether I want to do some type of graduate program.  But I do know that later in life, I want to go into more nonprofit work, into advocacy.  I feel like student government is teaching me baby steps of advocacy now, being a representative for students.  I want to create more educational programs for people of color, particularly in the south.  I’m from Mississippi and I think there’s a lot to work on in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana. I want to give back to the community that gave me so much. I want to use my journalism abilities to tell different stories, to put women, other gender minorities, people of color, and people of different religions on the forefront.  I want to put those perspectives on the front page.  But I also want to tell an extremely fair story and promote nonpartisan journalism when it comes to politics, just because of how polarized our country is right now.  I think there’s a lot to be done through media, through communication, through journalism.  I remember when I was about 12-13 years old and seeing what happened to Trayvon Martin in the news. And how he was presented in the media, and for me to be so young and to recognize that, was pretty much a wake up call for me.  Which kind of led into my major, to my interest in political science, and how our government works and how the media works.  So I definitely want to use that passion for as much good as I can.  I would love to start my own company that promotes a lot of communication and education.  I think the sky’s the limit as to what I can do, but we’ll see, I guess, is all I can say right now. 

Favorite food?  This is not on campus, but I love Jefe’s so much, and I only get a burrito when I go there.  *chef’s kiss* amazing. There’s just something heartwarming about it. 

East versus West campus?  West is best, hands down. I am biased. I did live on West campus my freshman year. 

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (July 8, 2021) — Zaila Avant-garde breezes to the championship of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Zaila knew she would be the first African American winner of the bee.  She knew Black kids around the country were watching Thursday night’s ESPN2 telecast, waiting to be inspired and hoping to follow in the footsteps of someone who looked like them. She even thought of MacNolia Cox, who in 1936 became the first Black finalist at the bee and wasn’t allowed to stay in the same hotel as the rest of the spellers.

But she never let the moment become too big for her, and when she heard what turned out to be her winning word — “Murraya,” a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees — she beamed with confidence.  It was over.

Declared the champion, Zaila jumped and twirled with joy, only flinching in surprise when confetti was shot onto the stage.

The only previous Black champion was also the only international winner: Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998.  The bee, however, has still been a showcase for spellers of color over the past two decades, with kids of South Asian descent dominating the competition.  Zaila’s win breaks a streak of at least one Indian-American champion every year since 2008.

Zaila is also a basketball prodigy who hopes to play in the WNBA.  She holds three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously.

BU Student Government’s First Black Woman President

The first African American woman to serve as president of Boston University's Student Government: Hafzat Akanni’s political résumé starts with that distinction. But there’s more: she and Empower BU, the slate she led in the April 2019 Student Government Executive Board election, won by a landslide (1,396-628).

BOSTON — Ayanna Pressley upended the Massachusetts political order on Tuesday, September 4, 2018, scoring a stunning upset over 10-term Representative Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary, positioning herself to become the first African-American woman to represent the state in Congress.  Pressley, the first black woman to be elected to the Boston City Council, graduated from Boston University's Metropolitan College.  The 7th district seat she is vying to assume was formerly held by House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

 BU50 Alum Takes Charge of the Nation's Oldest Civil Rights Organization

Proudly, in his 54th year, Cornell Williams Brooks, the HEAD START kid, a 1987 masters degree recipient from Boston University's School of Theology, was back on campus to receive an honorary degree at Marsh Chapel in 2015.  In 2014, Brooks was elected president and CEO of the NAACP by the organization's executive board.

 America's 12th Triple Crown Winner belongs to an Egyptian BU50 Alum

52-year-old Ahmed Zayat, who earned a masters degree from Boston University's School of Public Health in 1986 (and met his wife, who was attending Sargent College), hoists the trophy after American Pharoah's win at the Preakness Stakes in May 2015.  American Pharoah went on to win the 3rd leg of the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes in New York in June.

 LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES 

2014

13-year-old pitching sensation Mo'ne Davis became the first Little Leaguer to grace the cover of "Sports Illustrated" in the 60-year history of the magazine

Davis, who hurled for Philadelphia's Taney Dragons, also made history when she became the first girl to throw a shutout in the Little League World Series

 AND SHE CAN HIT, TOO...

 Saturday Night Live offers a look at how some fans view Beyonce's new attitude:

Saturday Night Live offers a look at "12 Years a Slave" auditions:

NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA

July 18, 1918 - December 5, 2013

"It always seems impossible until it is done."

LONDON 2012

RODNEY GLEN KING

April 2, 1965 - June 17, 2012

The victimized face of police brutality who eventually became the voice of reconciliation amidst chaos and destruction.  His simple, heartfelt query still begs a reply to this day, "...can we all get along?"

To My Old Master

In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdan Anderson, and requested that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdan — who, since being emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found paid work, and was now supporting his family — responded spectacularly by way of the letter seen below (a letter which, according to newspapers at the time, he dictated).

Rather than quote the numerous highlights in this letter, I'll simply leave you to enjoy it. Do make sure you read to the end.

(Source: The Freedmen's Book; Image: A group of escaped slaves in Virginia in 1862, courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.

Sabrina's World... 

MOTHER'S DAY-Now the only one shorter than mom is the dog.  Well done, Sabrina.

 OCTOBER 9, 2014

JUNE 23, 2014

JUNE 23, 2014

JUNE 23, 2014

JUNE 23, 2014

JUNE 23, 2014

JUNE 23, 2014

 MARCH 21, 2014

JANUARY 26, 2014

I am in the car (riding) with my 16-year-old "student driver" who is an expert driver (a legend in his own mind)...my 10-year-old asked Torod: "Did you have your permit when you were 16 or had cars been invented yet?"  I really couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

AUGUST 23, 2012

Jake sends up a quick prayer!

MARCH 8, 2012

So it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and if you know my boys - you know they think it's "shorts weather" already. But if you know me, you know I'm old school and believe they need to wait for the summer gear. So today they both left for school w/sweat pants on and they think I'm clueless that they have shorts on underneath. One real clue though was that one of them left the sweatpants under a tree on the way to the bus stop!

JANUARY 16, 2012

So my 12 year old and I were talking about a recent math test that was particularly challenging for him. He commented that if he had his tutor again, he'd be "motivated" to do better (she gave him prizes for good grades). I reminded that he should want to do well because "Jesus did everything well". His retort was: "Jesus didn't have to take math tests!" Well that's probably true...

DECEMBER 7, 2011

So my 7 year old asked me: "do you have a job?" Of course I answered with a resounding "yes, I'm your mother". He then said, "I don't think that's a job because you don't get income..." Ohhh I had to bite my tongue on this one!

 From the Desk of Wanda Jackson: 

A post for my daughters and for the dads of daughters everywhere!