An era comes to an end in Broward County on February 28th., 2022. On that day Bertha Watson Henry, who was officially appointed County Administrator in 2008, will exit the stage after a combined total of 24 years with the County, and gleefully embrace retirement.
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They Went to prison as kids, NOW THEY’RE ON DEATH ROW
Many viewed that the discussion – and subsequent momentous pledges – occurred in Queens counts as significant, particularly for Erica Ford, founder of Life Camp, the nonprofit whose goals and methods center on ending gun violence in underserved communities.
There are some extraordinary stories in American Black history. Many of which have been buried beneath the tides of time. Lake Martin in Alabama is home to one of those stories.
On that day, which has become known nationally and worldwide as the Orangeburg Massacre, members of the South Carolina National Guard and South Carolina Highway patrolmen opened fire on student advocates. The group had gathered on the campus in protest after three nights of escalating racial tension over efforts to desegregate All Star Bowling Lanes, which was located in downtown Orangeburg. Students Samuel Hammond Jr., Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith were murdered while 28 others were wounded.
I was privileged as a family member to attend the spectacular retirement sendoff for Mrs. Bertha Watson Henry, whose highly successful tenure as Broward County Administrator began in 2008 and comes to a glorious conclusion later this month, February, which obviously is Black History month, so apropos because she has assuredly left an indelible imprint on Broward County and its citizenry.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force announced it was investigating the dozens of bomb threats received by HBCUs nationwide on February 1 as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes.”
The two Black women, Brenda Lee Rawls, 53, and Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, died on the same day: Dec. 12, 2021, in separate incidents. The Chief Medical Examiner in Bridgeport has not determined a cause of death for Rawls. Rawls was close to her family by text and by phone and informed them she was to visit a male acquaintance. When she was non-responsive two days later the family became concerned.
Online donations were pouring in after it was revealed that the victim of a fatal shooting this week in Florida was a beloved graduate student at an HBCU.
Coincidentally, Cathleen Dean, an award-winning producer, is also the Director of Art and Theatre at the L.A. Lee YMCA/Mizell Community Center. On the heels of her Best Documentary Short Award for the short film ‘BEING’ at the Roxbury International Film Festival last year, Cathleen partnered with Diversity in Aquatics, and their collaboration produced her latest film, Wade in the Water: Drowning in Racism.