Legislature Observes Black History Month With Speaker and My Brother’s Keeper
Legislature Observes Black History Month
With Speaker and My Brother’s Keeper
Monticello, NY – Sullivan County legislators started their regular monthly meeting in February with an hourlong recognition of Black History Month.
“As Sullivan County’s first African-American legislator, I feel strongly that we should acknowledge and celebrate our history in the County, and inspire the next generation to strive to make a difference here – because they certainly can!” District 8 Legislator Amanda Ward stated, hoping in particular that the Monticello High School seniors and juniors in the room – members of the nonprofit My Brother’s Keeper – would be inspired by the day’s events.
To that end, Town of Thompson Historian Al Dumas shared the story of Monticello native Roland Paramore, who served on Air Force One under Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama.
“His service in the U.S. Air Force took him all over the world,” Dumas related of the decorated airman. “He became the superintendent of the Presidential flight attendants and President Obama’s chief attendant.”
“We have very good people here, people who have paid it forward and continue to bring us notoriety,” he added.
“I think it’s not just important to commemorate Black History Month, but anytime the Legislature takes a moment to commemorate our history, that’s important,” said the next speaker, Sullivan County Historian John Conway, who noted that even though the County’s early population featured few African-Americans, “almost from the beginning, those few have played a role in important events.”
African-Americans participated in the 1779 Battle of Minisink near Barryville, he said. A local African-American lost his leg in the Civil War and returned to make a career as a stonemason. Over the years, the population grew, until the famed Borscht Belt hotel industry brought a wave of migration from the South.
“The contributions of those African-Americans are too many to chronicle here,” Conway acknowledged.
There was also a Narrowsburg development that was marketed to African-Americans during the segregated decades of the mid-20th century.
“Lucky Lake targeted middle-class African-Americans from NYC,” he said. “And they reached out to celebrities in the city, like a young center-fielder for the NY [baseball] Giants by the name of Willie Mays, who became a homeowner and a spokesperson for Lucky Lake.”
Conway recently researched and wrote about another one of Lucky Lake’s residents: Noble Sissle, a composer and lyricist who is credited with ushering in the Harlem Renaissance, which revitalized and mainstreamed African-American music, culture and art across the nation.
It was an apt tie-in with the theme of the guest speaker at the meeting.
“Have you ever stopped to think about your impact?” asked John Johnson, a Brooklyn-based motivational speaker who recently presented at Sullivan 180’s MLK Day Summit. “Is your power being used to build or to break?”
Johnson related the story of a woman who grew up in Trinidad & Tobago but moved to the U.S. to pursue new opportunities.
“She became a mother with two children, expecting a third,” he said, “but she was devastated to learn the baby she was carrying for four months had no heartbeat. Yet that baby lived. It is a distinct honor and privilege to share with you that that baby … was me.”
He subsequently introduced his mother, who was in the audience, and added that he shared this story to help others find their own inner strength. The two keys? Education and empathy.
“To me, education without empathy is not healthy,” Johnson explained. “I needed people to show me empathy with their power, to show opportunity. Power + education + empathy = purpose.”
He ended with this challenge to listeners: “How will you use your power to make a lasting, positive difference in your community?”
Members of My Brother’s Keeper are already headed down that road, and one of them – Anthony Ortiz – explained how they’ve focused on the problem of parent engagement at sporting events, even garnering a grant to promote such.
The entire video – including a poem presented by members of My Brother’s Keeper – can be viewed at https://sullivancountyny.granicus.com/player/clip/1855?view_id=1&redirect=true. To learn more about MBK, visit https://www.monticelloschools.net/about-us/my-brothers-keeper.
Anthony Ortiz spoke to the Legislature about My Brother’s Keeper initiatives.
