Category: TX

San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor: Epitome of Black Progress in America

On By thewriterfredIn Black Culture, Black History, San Antonio, TX5 Comments

In July 2014, the San Antonio City Council selected Councilwoman Ivy Taylor to fill the last year of Mayor Julian Castro’s term of office, when he accepted a political appointment to head up Housing and Urban Development in the President’s administration.  The significance of this selection is that Ivy Taylor becomes the first African American Mayor in this city’s long history of racial relations, which has always been more progressive than the rest of the south.

D2Taylor2011Mayor Taylor also becomes only the second African American woman to become leader of a major city since Shirley Clarke Franklin was mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. What is even more impressive is that the black population in San Antonio is less than 10%. That is the lowest black percentage of a city over 30,000 that has or had a Black woman as its mayor. The other city was Asheville, North Carolina in 2011, and its percentage was 17.6.

However, let’s not restrict these impressive statistics from an African American perspective only. The larger picture is just as important in terms of the progress that women have made in the political arena. As of January 2014, of the 1,351 mayors of United States cities with populations over 30,000, 249 or 18.4% were women. Given that women are the majority population in this country, these figures are encouraging but not nearly as high as they should be.

Andrea Dew Steele, founder of Emerge America, a non-profit devoted to training more women for elective office, rationalized the reason for such a low figure in an article in the Philadelphia Tribune back on December 22, 2011. She told Marc Morial President and CEO of the National Urban League that, “We don’t feel as qualified as men; we’re not recruited in the same number; we feel turned off by the mechanics; we have persistent family barriers, and we don’t have the same networks as men.”

If Steele had followed Ivy Taylor’s career, she would know her excuses are nonsense. Ms. Taylor has won two impressive victories for the council seat in the Second District of the city. She did not win twice by feeling inferior in her ability to compete on the same level as a man. Her family is quite supportive, and her daughter is often seen with her at events. Her husband is a strong partner, not intimidated by his wife’s success, which is often a problem for a progressive and successful Black woman in this country.

One of the residuals that accrue to the black community with her elevation to the highest office in the city is that it can serve as a source of inspiration for young black girls, who are too often exposed to negative images to admire. Her success is a symbol for what can be accomplished by all young people if they have the will to achieve. Mayor Taylor did it the right way; she earned it through hard work and dedication.

Striking a Blow Against Illiteracy

On By thewriterfredIn Black Literature, San Antonio, TX5 Comments

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Last Saturday evening, one hundred men and women struck a blow against illiteracy when they gathered at the Club at Sonterra in San Antonio, Texas for a tribute dinner to our local authors and to the memory of the late Dr. David Floyd. School teachers, college professors, corporate executives, business men and women and elected officials came together and offered their support for the establishment of the Dr. David Floyd Writing Project, a proposed 501 c3 foundation dedicated to teaching young men and women the craft of writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screen writing and autobiographies.

sbai5Our guest speaker for the event was Mrs. Aaronetta Pierce, one of the leading cultural giants in our community. She spoke eloquently on the value of one’s heritage and the importance of cultural sustainability as we reach the halfway point of the second decade of the twenty-first century. Mrs. Pierce, a very close friend of the late and great Dr. Maya Angelou, shared some of her cherished memories of that icon with us. Mrs. Pierce reminded us of just how fortunate we were to have a grand lady like Dr. Angelou as a contributor to the grace and beauty of our culture. She also read excerpts from her soon-to-be published, “Letters to My Grandchildren,” which traces her ancestry back to Tennessee and elaborates on her family’s many accomplishments, despite the extreme obstacles they faced in the racist South during their lifetime. Her message was with the love of family and with sheer determination one can realize their dreams despite obstacles. Her reflections on Dr. Angelou as well as her “Letter to My Grandchildren,” will be two of the key essays in the anthology, Black is the Color of Strength, to be released in April 2015 by Prosperity Publications.

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Mrs. Pierce’s remarks segued right into my brief words on Dr. David Floyd. David was a man who graduated from high school reading at the second grade level but despite extreme obstacles, attained a PhD in Accounting in January 2014.  Unfortunately, we lost David to cancer in October 2014. Before he passed away and at the point he knew he would die, he asked me to write his eulogy because I had helped him write his life story. In my remarks, I described a system that failed David when it passed him from grade to grade knowing he could not read. I spoke about a system that had a cell waiting for David in one of its many prisons. About a system that had a gun waiting for David, so that he could take the life of another young man just like him.  About a system that had plenty of drugs waiting for David and a system that had death waiting for David, so that his life would end without any accomplishments at all. But this system did not know David Floyd. He defied all these odds and became an example for other young boys who face the identical pathological conditions in their lives.

sbai3David is no longer here to present to young adults what is possible if you are willing to try. He is a symbol of success against overwhelming obstacles. And that is why the one hundred guests at our dinner, along with our distinguished speaker and many thousands more have made a commitment to create the Dr. David Floyd Writing Project, as a vehicle to spread his story and assist others in their goals to become just as successful as him. Last Saturday evening was our first blow, but stay tuned because there are many more blows yet to come.

You will have the opportunity to read more about David’s fantastic accomplishments in his revised autobiography, Through My Mother’s Tears, to be released in May 2015 by Prosperity Publications. Once you read his story, you will know exactly why we plan to establish our writing project in his name.

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