Author: Carma Henry

     Though an extraordinary moment in the history of race in this country, the trailblazing Pierce preferred to let others tell the story. The historic moment was remembered at Friday’s football game, celebrating its 75th anniversary with an on-field recognition of Pierce’s daughter, a tribute video and commemorative T-shirts distributed to 500 fans. Yulander Wells, a deputy director of athletics, spoke of its significance.

     That’s the goal as the Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC), the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), Rainbow Push, the Hip Hop Caucus, and others set out on a bus tour across the nation to blunt voter suppression and misinformation ahead of the all-important midterm elections.

 During the St. Jude Spirit of the Dream event, guests heard about the strides made by St. Jude on racial equity since its founding in 1962 as the South’s first fully integrated children’s hospital. As part of this commitment to racial equity, St. Jude launched a sickle cell program in 1968 to study this disease, which disproportionately affects African American people. That program has grown to become one of the largest in the U.S.

Founded by mother-daughter duo, Melissa and Esi Orijin, Orijin Bees’ Baby Bee Doll collection is now being featured in Amazon’s newly-released Holiday Kids Gift Book and recognized in their “Toys We Love” List for 2022. The collection is available in an array of skin tones and curl patterns representing features of Black and brown children.

      When it comes to Serving the People, Voting for Candidates and Engaging in Politics, consider ascribing to this notion:  We cannot lead, where we don’t go—and cannot tell, what we don’t know! To challenge ourselves to do more, we must put in the work. Our actions really speak louder than our words. Educating and informing ourselves as voters is paramount! As responsible individuals, organizations, and institutions, we must hold ourselves accountable to learn of legislative policies, amendments and charter questions impacting our personal lives and community.

    Several statewide candidates on the Democratic ticket came to explain their reasons for running and answer questions. Anita Kelly, candidate for Place 5 on the Alabama Supreme Court said,” I have had 18 years’ experience as a judge in Montgomery and my Republican opponent has none. He was the lawyer for the Republican Party in Birmingham and was a delegate to the RNC for Trump in 2016 and 2020.” Kelly urged voters to go to her website and that of her opponent and see who had the best record for Alabama.

“We know that barely 2 to 3 percent of all women have gross revenues of a million dollars, but if you break it out by ethnicity, we are a fraction of a fraction of a fraction,” said Betty Hines, founder and CEO and founder of W.E.W. “Having worked with multi-million and multi-billion-dollar companies for over 17 years, I wanted to take my skills and bring them to that underappreciated market of women and give them the tools that they needed to help them scale.”

Bringing History Back Home

     As I write this, I’ve just gotten back from meeting with Black ministers who are working nonstop to get out the vote across the state. And with good reason, because there’s just no other way to say it — Georgia is ground zero for the future of our democracy in this midterm election. 

     Delta continued to elevate the conversation on equity by convening a panel of our partners during the recent 51st Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. in Washington, D.C. The first time Delta has participated in this esteemed gathering of policy experts, community leaders and Members of Congress, the panel featured leaders from Goal Setter, OneTen, Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) and the Organization of Black Aviation Professionals (OBAP).