Professionals Against Bullying

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Black History Celebration to remember...


I had an amazing night last night and wanted to share with all of you! I was honored to be amongst some amazing people at a Black History Celebration for VIP's yesterday. The event was called Voices of Communication: Shaping The Story of Black America. The featured panelists included: Angela Burt-Murray of Essence Magazine, Soledad O'Brien of CNN, Tom Joyner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, David A. Wilson of Grio.com.
I was able to meet Angela Burt-Murray personally and she is just like she is in the magazine! Her spirit is kind and filled with warmth. She and I talked about my book and how their is a continued need for more books for kids that cover issues on diversity-especially for boys.
I was able to tell her that I appreciated her campaign to unify women and I let her know how Essence Magazine allowed me to see positive images of people like me all of my life. Our chat ended with a sincere hug and I felt as though I just talked to a girlfriend. I was so enamored by her authenticity and down to earth demeanor.
I was also able to meet Soledad personally. It was a pleasure. She also was full of warmth and encouragement and was delighted to receive a copy of "Who I Am Not What I Am".
The panel was excellently moderated by Soledad O'Brien and the honesty and candor from the featured guests was both inspiring and compelling. Tom Joyner spoke on the need to support HBCU's and to superserve the community. David Wilson talked about his partnership with MSNBC and how he is able to make a difference as the founder of Grio.com. Jonathan Rodgers also shared great insight in regards to the media and his contribution on portraying positive images of African Americans through TV One. I also thought the program was a celebration of local hometown heroes Rhonda Walker of local 4 news and Senator Martha Scott. In a nutshell this was a great event to have to commemorate a special month of history.
I walked away from the event realizing that the hard work is not done but I was inspired to know that many are making amazing strides to continue the progress.
-Read something great!

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