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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01172012 - D.5Contra Costa County 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 Women in Civil Rights “The Unsung Heroines” Women in Civil Rights “The Unsung Heroines” 1 Contra Costa County 34 th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Featured on the front cover of the program, the MLK Memorial is located in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., southwest of the National Mall (but within the larger area commonly referred to as the “National Mall”). The memorial is America’s 395th national park. The MLK Memorial is located at the northwest corner of the Tidal Ba- sin near the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, on a sightline linking the Lincoln Memorial to the northwest and the Jefferson Memorial to the south- east. The official address of the monu- ment, 1964 Independence Avenue, S.W., commemorates the year that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law. Covering four acres, the memorial opened to the public on August 22, 2011, after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising and construc- tion. A ceremony dedicating the Me- morial was scheduled for Sunday, Au- gust 28, 2011. This date was the 48th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 but was postponed until October 16 (the 16th anniversary of the 1995 Million Man March on the National Mall) due to Hurricane Irene. Although this is not the first memorial to an African-American in Washing- ton, D.C., Dr. King is the first African- American honored with a memorial on or near the National Mall and only the fourth non-President to be memorial- ized in such a way. The King Memorial is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). The Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards 2 Septima Poinsetta Clarke (1898-1987) was an African-American educator and civil rights activist. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an im- portant role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans in the Ameri- can Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the free- dom movement”. Lorraine Hansberry (1944-1965) was an African-African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays. Her best known work, A Raisin in the Sun, was inspired by her family’s legal battle against racially segregated housing laws in the Washington Park Subdivision of the South Side of Chicago during her childhood. Dorothy Height (1912-2010) was an African-American administrator, edu- cator, and social activist. She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for forty years, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and the Congres- sional Gold Medal in 2004. Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) was an African-American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commit- tee (SNCC), and later became the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.Women on Cover Page 3 Contra Costa County 34 th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Daisey Bates (1914-1999) was an African-American civil rights activist, publisher and writer who played a leading role in the Little Rock integration crisis of 1957. Ella Baker (1903-1986) was an African-American civil rights and hu- man rights activist beginning in the 1930s. She was a behind-the-scenes activist whose career spanned over five decades. She worked alongside some of the most famous civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Bertha Gilbert (1942-Current) is an African-American civil rights activist who is famous for the photo depicting her being led away by police officers after she tried to enter a segregated lunch counter in Nashville, TN. Mammie Till Mobley (1921-2003) was the mother of Emmett Till, whose mur- der mobilized the civil rights movement. Her son Emmett Till was murdered on August 28, 1955, at the age of 14, after being accused of interacting in some way with a white wom- an (the exact nature of the interaction is under debate). Lillian Smith (1897-1966) was an American writer and social critic of the Southern United States, known best for her best-selling novel Strange Fruit (1944). A white woman who openly embraced contro- versial positions on matters of race and gen- der equality.Women on Cover Page Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards 4 Welcome & Introductions .......... Glenn E. Howell, MLK Committee Chair Mistress of Ceremonies .............................Mary N. Piepho, Board Chair Video Presentation .......................................................MLK Committee Introduction of Band ..................Glenn E. Howell, MLK Committee Chair Musical Selections ................................The Danny Armstrong Ensemble (featuring Faye Carol and Jules Broussard) Key Note Address: Aileen Clarke Hernandez - Human Rights Activist Presentation of Humanitarian Awards: 2011 Student Humanitarian Award ..Glenn E. Howell, MLK Committee Chair 2011 Humanitarian Award .........Glenn E. Howell, MLK Committee Chair Musical Selections ................................The Danny Armstrong Ensemble (featuring Faye Carol and Jules Broussard) Adjournment .............................................Mary N. Piepho, Board Chair Lunch Reception Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors: District 1: John M. Gioia District 2: Gayle B. Uilkema District 3: Mary N. Piepho District 4: Karen Mitchoff District 5: Federal D. Glover DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. 34 th Annual Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards Special thanks to our sponsors: Martinez Police Department Human Resources Department Contra Costa Television (CCTV) Clerk of the Board of Supervisors General Services Department Animal Services Department Employment & Human Services Department (Community Service Head Start Central Kitchen) 5 Contra Costa County 34 th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Aileen Clarke Hernandez Human Rights ActivistA ileen Clarke Hernandez is a life- long civil rights and women’s rights activist, an urban consultant, writer, teacher, lecturer, and so much more. Through her firm, Aileen C. Hernan- dez Associates, founded in 1967, she has worked with major American companies, governmental agencies, educational institutions, foundations and community groups in the areas of human relations, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, management skills, organization devel- opment, meeting facilitation, transpor- tation planning, fair housing, program evaluation, public relations and events planning. A native of Brooklyn, New York, born in 1926, Aileen migrated to Califor- nia to become an organizer and the Education and Public Relations Direc- tor for the Pacific Coast Region of the International Ladies’ Garment Work- ers’ Union. She became the Assistant Chief of the California Division of Fair Employment Practices in 1962 and, in 1965, she was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the only woman member of the first United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was also a newspaper columnist in Washington, D.C., a Research Assis- tant in the Department of Government at Howard University and has taught courses at the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State Uni- versity. Aileen earned her Bachelor’s Degree, magna cum laude, in Sociology and Political Science from Howard Univer- sity in 1947 and a Master’s Degree in Government, with highest honors, from California State University at Los Ange- les in 1961. She has done additional graduate work in public administration at the University of Oslo, Norway, and at New York University, and in adult and nursery school education at UCLA and the University of Southern Cali- fornia. In 1979, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters by Southern Vermont College. She was the 1993 Regents Scholar in Residence at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the 1993 Tish Sommers Lecturer at the Institute for Health and Aging of the University of California, San Francisco. Aileen appeared frequently on televi- sion, radio and the lecture circuit dis- cussing race and gender relations, hu- man rights and civic activism. She won national and local recognition for her work in the civil rights and women’s Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards 6 rights movements. She was the sec- ond national President of the Nation- al Organization for Women (NOW) and Chair of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on the Rights and Respon- sibilities of Women. Aileen founded several Black women’s organizations locally and nationally, including Bay Area-based Black Women Stirring the Waters. She is also a founding member, board member, and/or consultant and advisor to many organizations dedi- cated to social and economic justice. These include the California Council for the Humanities, National Wom- en’s Political Caucus, Black Women Organized for Action, Bay Area Black Women United, the National Hook-up of Black Women, National Institute for Women of Color, Center for Women Policy Studies, National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, and the Equal Opportunity Committee of the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), to name just a few. Ms. Hernandez has been the recipient of numerous awards and tributes for her community service. She was cho- sen Woman of the Year by the Com- munity Relations Conference of South- ern California in 1961; one of the Ten Most Distinguished Women in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1969 by The San Francisco Examiner; and one of the Ten Women Who Make A Difference by the San Francisco League of Wom- en Voters in 1985. She was honored by her alma mater, Howard University, for Distinguished Postgraduate Achieve- ment in the Fields of Labor and Public Service in 1968; and by the National Urban Coalition in 1985. In 1989, The Northern California American Civil Liberties Union Foundation presented her with the Earl Warren Civil Liber- ties Award and the Center for Women Policy Studies named her a Jessie Ber- nard Wise Woman. Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women honored her in 1984, Glide Memorial United Methodist Church cited her for humanitarian services in 1986, and she received Awards of Ap- preciation from the Negro Political Ac- tion Association of California (1965), the National Institute for Women of Color (1987), and The Western District Conference of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (1988). The San Fran- cisco Black Chamber of Commerce presented her with its Parren J. Mitchell Award in 1985 and she was the recipi- ent of the Praisesinger Award presented by the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural society in 1991. She was named a Fabulous Feminist by the San Francisco Chapter of the National Organization for Women in 1992 and, in 1995, received the Silver Spur Award of the San Francisco Plan- ning and Urban Research Association. In June of 1996, she was given the El- eanor Roosevelt Woman of the Year award by the San Francisco Democratic Women’s Forum, and in July of 1996 was honored by the San Francisco His- panic Chamber of Commerce for her work in support of minority-owned and women-owned businesses. In August of 1996, she received the Mary Lep- per Award from the Women’s Caucus of The American Political Science As- sociation. In May of 1997, Aileen was 7 Contra Costa County 34 th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. named a WAVE honoree (Woman of Achievement, Vision and Excellence) by Alumnae Resources in San Francisco. Black Women Organized for Political Action presented her with its Ella Hill Hutch Award in 1997 and she was one of the Portraits of success recognized by the African American Community Entrustment in December of 1997. Ai- leen was one of the honorees of the National Women’s History Project in 2006. Her travels throughout the world have given her a global perspective on equity issues. In 1960, as an Ameri- can specialist in labor education, she toured six Latin American countries for the U.S. Department of State, lecturing in English and Spanish on American trade union, minorities in the United States, the U.S. political system and the status of American women. In 1975, the U.S. State Department and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation spon- sored her involvement in an interna- tional conference in Bonn, Germany on Minorities and the Metropolis. She toured the People’s Republic of China in 1978 with an American women’s rights group and currently chairs the California Women’s Agenda, a net- work of 500 organizations in the state dedicated to implementing the plan of action adopted by 189 countries at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. As a mem- ber of a foundation-funded national Commission, she traveled in South Africa and its neighboring countries to gather information for a major study on that nation’s apartheid system and its relationship to American policy making in 1981. Ms. Hernandez has been and is an ac- tive volunteer in many organizations at the national and local levels. She is Vice-Chair of the National Urban Coalition, Vice-Chair of the National Advisory Council of the American Civil Liberties Union, coordinator of the San Francisco African American Agenda Council, serves on the Citizens’ Com- mission on Civil Rights, treasurer of the Eleanor R. Spikes Memorial Fund, chair and founding member of Coalition for Economic Equity, and a founder of the Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Institute in San Francisco. She is a life member of the National Association for the Advance- ment of Colored People and the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society, a Life Trustee of The Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. and is on the Board of Advisors of Continuum, an AIDS counseling and service group. She was recently named to the Board of Overseers of the Wellesley Centers for Research on Women, and to the San Francisco In- dependent Task Force on Affirmative Action in Public Contracting. Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards 8 Ms. Corrine Sain 2012 Humanitarian of The Year M s. Corrine Sain, Program Di- rector of the Multicultural Senior and Family Center, a division of Neighbor- hood House located in Richmond, Cal- ifornia, has been dedicated to serving others for over 42 years. Corrine has raised social consciousness in North Richmond by showing the community that each one of us has the power to make a difference. Despite the many obstacles that face those who live and work in North Richmond, Corrine chose to stay and work in the Richmond community where she was also raised. She works diligently to make life better for everyone who seeks assistance, and Corrine’s years of experience and thor- ough understanding of the community residents have given her remarkable insight to anticipate need. Since 1969, Corrine diligently de- signed and implemented programs and campaigns to reach specialized target groups in North Richmond. Cor- rine also developed and instigated pol- icies and procedures that continue to be practiced by the Multicultural Center today. As Program Director, Ms. Sain, along with staff and volunteers, plan and arrange social, cultural and rec- reational activities for various groups. She created and facilitated a Multigen- erational Arts & Crafts activity program, supervises the Nutrition Program, His- panic Outreach, and the Federal Emer- gency Management Agency (FEMA) as- sistance, networks with Social Services Season of Sharing, implemented an aspiration program for youth, assists with pre-case management for proba- tion officers, and provides tutor/home- work assistance. Neighborhood House is nationally recognized for its program collaboration and contributions for the North Richmond Community and be- yond. Corrine was a key factor in the collaboration between the Center and Contra Costa Community College to make it possible for satellite courses to be held at the Center. Corrine has also been instrumental in the establishment of direct services such as the Well Baby Clinic, the Ju- nior Leadership Career Exploration for North Richmond Residents, and Teenage Family Living and Educa- tion. She has organized the Neighbor- hood Youth Corps, the Senior Citizen Program, the Youth Tutorial Program, Residents Against Crime and serves as Community Forum Facilitator. Corrine has mentored many youth who return to the Center to thank her personally for her positive influence in helping them turn their lives around. 9 Contra Costa County 34 th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corrine is recognized for her keen abil- ity to plan, organize, coordinate, and direct successful fund raising programs for Neighborhood House. These pro- grams benefit families in need in the North Richmond community and they help to provide food at Thanksgiving and also food and toys during Christ- mas. As soon as one fundraiser ends, Corrine is back in action soliciting com- munity support to begin the next one. Corrine has established an outstanding rapport with various local, state, and federal agencies and has been widely recognized for her many accomplish- ments. Some of the accolades Cor- rine has received include The National Andrew Gonzales 2012 Student Humanitarian of The Year Andrew Gonzales , a senior at Pi- nole Valley High School (PVHS), is de- scribed by PVHS Principal, Sue Kahn, as “bold and selfless” with “outstanding” leadership skills. Principal Kahn ob- served that Andrew has shown a consis- tent “commitment and integrity in all of his endeavors.” Andrew joined the PVHS Water Polo Team as a freshman and as a result of this decision received criticism from many of his African American peers who pressured him to join a school sports team with greater African Ameri- can representation. Andrew chose to hold firm in his decision to remain on the water polo team. As a result of his commitment, Andrew advanced “to the varsity level by his sophomore year and continued to play for the team through his senior year.” Although criticism is often intended to weaken one’s resolve, the critical comments from Andrew’s peers actually served to strengthen his fortitude. In addition to Andrew’s four Council of Negro Women, Inc. Award, the award for Social Consciousness, the Self-Help and Resource Exchange (SHARE) award, the Banner Fellowship Program award, and recognition from the Contra Costa County Women’s Hall of Fame. Corrine is beyond committed to help- ing others. She continues to work past retirement eligibility age to ensure that those who are in need of help actu- ally receive it. It is clear from Corrine’s commitment to and passion for others, and from the accolades that she has re- ceived, that she continually transforms lives of people of every age, ethnicity, and circumstance. Commemoration & Humanitarian of the Year Awards 10 years of commitment to the team he also managed to persuade several Af- rican American and Latino peers to join which increased the ethnic and cultural diversity of the team as well. Andrew is also a four-year participant of the Speech and Debate (Forensics) Team and, for equally as long, has been a member of the African Ameri- can Student Union (AASU). As Andrew demonstrated his commitment to in- crease the traditionally, underrepre- sented populations on the water polo team, during his four-year tenure he also strived to increase the diversity of participants in Forensics and AASU. Al- though Andrew acknowledged the pos- sibility of more taunting from his peers, he remained focused and persevered by convincing several of his football teammates to join the Forensics team. In November of 2011, two of Andrew’s recruits, an African American and a Latino student, took trophies in Novice Debate. With the benefit of Andrew’s coaching, the group is now experienc- ing academic success. Andrew studied Philosophy during a summer course at Cornell University and later commented, “I studied every- thing from Plato to Martin Luther King, Jr.” Andrew’s in-depth investigation of great philosophers combined with his own spiritual background has strength- ened his belief that the answer to peace, justice, and non-violence is in everyone doing their part to the best of their ability and in using their talents to help others. Andrew administers youth programs at his church and appreci- ates the opportunity to tutor others. Currently, Andrew mentors a freshman PVHS student who once failed Math and is now earning A’s and B’s. Andrew takes a leadership role in the PVHS Annual Day of Peace and Re- membrance by gathering students and staff on campus for twenty minutes of silence during the lunch break to high- light the need for nonviolent solutions to thwart conflict and to honor those we have lost to violence. Andrew Gonza- les embodies the spirit of humanitari- anism by giving 100 percent of himself to all tasks he receives and to every person he encounters. Andrew ele- vates the communities in which he is a member through his commitment and integrity as an exemplary student, son, friend, athlete, public speaker, brother, mentor and citizen. 2012 Humanitarian of the Year Ms. Corrine Sain Past Recipients of the Humanitarian of the Year Award Mary Perez and Neil and Carol Wilson, 1998 Orin Allen, 1999 Eddie Menosse, 2000 Troy Greer Grove, 2001 Robin Poindexter, 2002 Reverend Phillip Lawson, 2003 Mr. Walter Ruelig, 2004 Bishop Curtis Timmons, 2005 Jerrold L. Hatchett, 2006 Veronica Pope, 2007 Charles D. Tinsley, Dr., 2008 Larry Lewis, 2009 Della Randolph, 2010 Laura Johnson, 2011 2012 Student Humanitarian of the Year Andrew Gonzales Past Recipients of the Student Humanitarian of the Year Award Henna Danawala, 2006 Edgardo Cervano-Soto, 2007 Jessa Mabellin, 2008 Brittany Watson, 2009 Shae Hughes, 2010 Mario Alvarado, 2011 2012 Committee Members Glenn E. Howell – Chair Maceo Trotter Madlin King Tiffany Lennear Denise August Derrick West Nancy Zandonella Gertrude M. Williams, 1983 Guillermo “Bill” Muniz, 1984 Donald Fibush, 1985 Charles Spears, 1986 John “JJ” Johnson, 1987 Rev. Malcolm & Jo Lee, 1988 Lonnie R. Bristow, M.D., 1989 Yoshiye Togasaki, M.D., 1990 January Fredenburg, 1991 Lucy Donly, 1992 Bessanderson McNeil, 1993 Lloyd Madden, 1994 Perfecto Villarreal, 1995 Charles Wilson, 1996 Helen Troxel and Rollie Mullen, 1997