Featured photo: Poet Nikki Giovanni, one of the world’s most well-known Black poets, with area vocalist Gwen Pennyman-Hemphill
Photos by L.M. Land
Written by Tanya Terry with L.M. Land
During the Genesee District Library’s recent Black History Month Brunch, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II said we are all capable of making history and we can do so by being the first to do what we do. According to Gilchrist, we can all make history “by being our best selves.”
He asked those present to also ask themselves what we need to put in the past to make sure it never happens again.
“We need to make history the experience of poverty,” Gilchrist said. “We need to make history the experience of not having a stable home. We need to make history of not having full access to literacy at the primary, secondary and higher level. We need to make history of broken relationship between our community and law enforcement. We need to make history the low expectations of our civic participation. We need to make history the inequitable investments in our community that have put people in desperate situations.”
Gilchrist said everyone has the tools, resources and opportunity to do something to help turn these negative experiences into history.
Many of those who attended the brunch said they were inspired by Gilchrist’s words.
Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II
The Genesee District Library celebrated some of the many individuals and organizations who have already been making a positive difference in Flint and Genesee County. During the event, held Feb. 4 at the Genesys Conference & Banquet Center, three Awards of Excellence were given. Noman R. Bryant, Dr. Shane Jackson and Sgt. Tanya Meeks received these awards.
As founder, Bryant was the first president of the Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame, serving a 10-year term from 1983-1993.
“I’m a visionary for the future trying to make Flint and Genesee County a better place without being a prisoner of the past,” said Bryant.
Norman R. Bryant
Dr. Jackson talked about sharing her passion for living a healthy lifestyle.
“I’ve always been a spiritual person,” she said. “I believe when God gives you gifts you’re supposed to gift them to the world, and in return, you get 10 more different gifts for you to regift again.”
Dr. Shane Jackson
Meeks has been part of the Flint Police Department since 1998, with most of her time on the force having been spent community policing. She has also worked with residents, volunteer programs, block programs and crime watch groups. In 2013 she was promoted to sergeant in the Youth Services Division. Three years later, she joined the department’s Detective Bureau, where she investigates child abuse and child sex crimes.
Sgt. Tanya Meeks
Another leader in the community, the Flint Odyssey House, received the Partner in Progress Award. The Odyssey House was founded by Dr. Judianne Densen Gerber, a resident psychiatrist working at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City who was dissatisfied with the practice of using drug replacement medications such as methadone as the primary therapeutic intervention. Gerber started the program with 17 addicts in the basement of a hospital.
Jacqueline Blair, residential program director at Flint Odyssey House accepted the Partner in Progress Award on behalf of CEO Ronald Brown.
“He wanted me to make sure I let the people know it’s not him; it’s the Odyssey House,” said Blair.
Blair was there with the Flint Odyssey House Board of Directors, executive staff, graduates of the program and senior level representatives.
“We wanted to encourage people that treatment works,” Blair stated. “People get better. If you have a loved one struggling with addiction, don’t give up on them.
Representatives from the Flint Odyssey House with Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II
Gwen Pennyman-Hemphill led the attendees in singing the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“Everybody knows me as love because that’s what I am, and when I come out, I come out to give it,” said Pennyman-Hemphill.
Pennyman-Hemphill stated it doesn’t matter if she gets back all the love she puts out, but she appreciates any love she gets in return. She said love is much needed.
“Love covers a multitude of things,” she added.
Gwen Pennyman-Hemphill
Kuungana African Drum and Dance Company also blessed the attendees with a performance.
Poet Nikki Giovanni, one of the world’s most well-known Black poets, addressed the attendees of the brunch.
“My generation broke down segregation; this generation is going to have to break down racism,” she said.
Giovanni talked about how tragic it was that five Black policemen beat another Black man, Tyre Nichols, to death.
Giovanni said as a Black woman, she was very proud to see a policewoman, Sgt. Tanya Meeks, receive an Award of Excellence.
During her presentation, Giovanni told the attendees that for 35 years she has been writing a man who reached out to her from prison. The man, who killed eight people, is now in maximum security prison and is in his late 70s. After the presentation, Giovanni told the Courier the man, who she referred to as her friend Daryl, was a young man in a gang before being imprisoned. She stated there was no undoing what he had done, but it didn’t hurt her to write him.
“Getting a letter is meaningful,” Giovanni said. “It also allows you to see what you did.”
Giovanni pointed out that from the diaries people wrote years ago, we can find out today how people felt about a variety of subjects, including segregation.
In her presentation, from which many brunch attendees came to the conclusion Giovanni is very down to earth, Giovanni also said reading is one of the most important things a person can do.
Giovanni’s latest book is called “A Library.” It is a picture book for children and described as a “love letter to libraries” by Kirkus Reviews.
Flint Resident Yashica Ellis was attending the Black History Month Brunch for her second time. She was excited about making connections with others she did not know who sat at her table. She also learned at the brunch this year that Black History Month wasn’t official until 1986.
According to the Library of Congress, in 1975, President Gerald Ford issued a message on the observance of Black History Week, urging all Americans to “recognize the important contribution made to our nation’s life and culture by Black citizens.”
In 1976, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) expanded this commemoration of Black history in the United States from a week-long observance to Black History Month. In the same year and in subsequent years, presidents continued to issue messages honoring Black History Month.
However, it wasn’t until 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244, which designated February 1986 as “National Black (Afro-American) History Month.”
Ladel Lewis, vice president of the Flint City Council, attended her first Genesee District Library Black History Brunch this year. She came expecting a “great time of fellowship.” What she said she experienced was “a touch of African American greatness,” right in Genesee County.
“We also got a chance to meet people that we haven’t met before and see people that we haven’t seen since COVID,” Lewis said. “I received hope in knowing that we are Black history. So, we’re not only celebrating the past, but we’re celebrating Black history’s future. I was encouraged by hearing Lt. Governor Gilchrist say, ‘We are living Black history.’”
