County - The Metro Herald

CAPITAL COMMENTS/INSIGHTS & VIEWPOINTS
June 16, 2006
GOVERNOR KAINE
CELEBRATES VIRGINIA’S
THIRD GREAT AMERICAN
MAIN STREET AWARD
Governor Timothy M. Kaine
congratulated the City of
Lynchburg for being designated
one of four cities in the country
to receive this year’s prestigious Great
American Main Street Award. The National
Trust for Historic Preservation
presented the award to Lynchburg during
the National Main Streets Conference
in New Orleans, Louisiana, earlier
this week. The other honorees were
El Reno, Oklahoma; Natchitoches,
Louisiana; and Parsons, Kansas.
Lynchburg’s award marks the third
time that a Virginia community has won
a Great American Main Street Award.
Staunton and Manassas have also been
recognized for significant achievements
in downtown revitalization and received
this award in past years. All
three communities are part of the Virginia
Main Street program, which supports
effective downtown revitalization.
“I am proud to congratulate the
community leaders and citizens of
Lynchburg on their Great American
Main Street Award,” said Governor
Kaine. “The community has shown an
incredible commitment to restoring its
downtown area, and truly deserves this
national honor,” said Governor Kaine.
“The fact that we have had three winners
is a point of pride for Virginia, and
a testament to the success of our Virginia
Main Street program and our designated
Main Street communities, such
as Lynchburg.”
The Great American Main Street
Awards are presented by the National
Trust’s National Main Street Center to
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STAND TALL, STRONG MAN OF GOD
BY ERVIN MILTON
TEAM LEADER AND DIRECTOR, FRANKLINTON CENTER AT BRICKS
The third Sunday in June is
celebrated by many as Father’s
Day. It is a time to
recognize and appreciate the males
that have helped to influence your
life in a positive way.
My son went off on a trip once
and brought his mother, my wife a
shirt that had a little boy sitting on
some steps. The inscription stated:
“when momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody
happy.” I stated to my congregation
one Father’s Day: “when
daddy ain’t happy, nobody cares.”
I said that because too often,
men, and especially men of color are
not appreciated by those around
them.
I believe that we live in a society
that puts too much emphases on biological
parents. A REAL parent is
the one who is there for the child
with love, money and time. We have
too many parents who are there at
Christmas, birthdays and
Mother’s/Father’s day. A REAL parent
carries a child to church, is present
when the child receives an award
in school, and is present with children
at those rallies and other situations
that make life better for them.
recognize exceptional accomplishments
in revitalizing America’s historic
and older main street commercial
districts. Lynch’s Landing, Inc. and
the City of Lynchburg were awarded
for outstanding downtown revitalization
initiatives, including their impressive
streetscape improvements, numerous
new residential developments in
historic buildings, the restoration of
Monument Terrace, and hugely successful
special events like the popular
Friday Cheers concert series.
The Virginia Main Street program,
administered by the Department of
Housing and Community Development,
works to revitalize Virginia’s
historic downtowns. The program provides
training and technical support to
help Main Street communities improve
and beautify their downtowns and encourage
private investment, business
development, and tourism.
Since joining the Virginia Main
Street program in 2000, Lynchburg has
encouraged more than $32.7 million in
private investment and dedicated 45,740
hours of volunteer time to local downtown
revitalization efforts. The Virginia
These days, it is not unusual for
schools with students of color to
have 70% of the children without a
father in the home. Even if there is a
temporary “live in” male in the
home, he is sometimes not a father
figure. In a time of so many absentee
fathers, our communities need
men to stand up as fathers with and
for the children around them. Now,
as Father’s Day approaches, it is a
good time for strong men of God to
recommit themselves to the children
of their communities and the world.
Strong men must be seen and experienced
by these children. In a time
when reported cases of sexual misconduct
and abuse are on the rise,
men must be strong, careful and visible
in our homes, schools, churches
and communities.
I have seen good men-my father,
my Pastor—and so many others, as
they have lived their lives before me.
I saw them, so I knew what good
men looked like. I saw good men in
my home, my school and my church.
There are still many good men
around us.
I have four biological children. I
have a granddaughter who has
Main Street program
began in
1985. Since that
time the program
has encouraged
more than $364
million in private
investment, over
321,000 volunteer
hours, and helped to
create over 10,700
jobs in Main Street
communities.
DC LATINO PAC ENDORSES ADRIAN
FENTY FOR MAYOR
Tim Kaine (D)
Governor-Elect of
Virginia
“The Virginia Main Street program
has done an excellent job in making
Main Street communities more economically
viable places in which to
live and do business,” said Secretary of
Commerce and Trade Patrick O.
Gottschalk. “We are proud of Lynchburg’s
success and the efforts of all our
Virginia Main Street communities.”
For more information on the National
Main Street Center and the Great
American Main Street Awards go to
www.mainstreet.org/. Information regarding
the Virginia Main Street Program
can be found at www.dhcd.
virginia.gov or by calling 804-371-
7030.
DC Councilmember,
Ward 4 (D)
Adrian M. Fenty
The DC Latino PAC is endorsing Adrian Fenty as
candidate for Mayor of the District of Columbia.
Members of the PAC selected Mr. Fenty among
the candidates for endorsement.
The DC Latino PAC held a Mayoral Forum in March,
where all five candidates participated. Nearly five hundred
people attended the forum aimed at educating the
Latino community about the various candidates’ positions
on issues affecting the community.
“We are pleased to endorse Adrian Fenty because he
embraces the goals of the DC Latino PAC, including providing
the Latino community with equal access to housing, healthcare, education,
and employment opportunities,” said Oralia Puente, President of the
DC Latino PAC.
“Adrian Fenty has reached out to the Latino community and demonstrated
his support on the Language Access Act, by encouraging Latinos in
decision making positions in government, and by promoting voting rights”
added Ted Loza, the DC Latino PAC’s Political Director.
agreed that I would be her father and
grandfather. I have another six to
eight children who call me “daddy.”
I have had an influencing hand with
another 100 children as they have
grown up into fine young men and
women. I have had a loving family
who has supported me in my role as
a good, strong man of God. I challenge
my brothers to be men who
offer justice, kindness, peace, love
and honor to the women and children
around them. It does not matter
whether or not you have biologically
fathered a child. Be a father. BE A
REAL FATHER, A REAL MAN!
• • •
The United Church of Christ has
more than 5,700 churches throughout
the United States and Puerto
Rico. Rooted in the Christian traditions
of congregational governance
and covenantal relationships, each
UCC setting speaks only for itself
and not on behalf of every UCC congregation.
UCC members and
churches are free to differ on important
social issues, even as the UCC
remains principally committed to
unity in the midst of our diversity.
VIRGINIA ELECTION RESULTS
U.S. SENATE:
Democrats: James Webb—51%
Harris Miller—49%
U.S. HOUSE: District 8—Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church
Republicans: Tom O’Donoghue—71%
Mark Ellmore—29%
DISTRICT 11: Fairfax, Fairfax City, Prince William
Democrats: Andrew Hurst—55%
Ken Longmyer—45%
SENATORS REMEMBER LAST KNOWN
LYNCHING SURVIVOR
United States Senators Mary L. Landrieu, D-La.,
and George Allen, R-Va., recently reflected on the
life of James Cameron, the last known lynching
survivor in America, as they marked the one-year anniversary
of the Senate’s historic passing of an apology
for failing to pass anti-lynching legislation. They were
also joined by lynching victims’ descendants, who
thanked the senators for championing the apology.
In a joint statement submitted to the Congressional
Record, the senators described Cameron as “the type of
Sen. George Allen
(R-VA)
man that we should all strive to be. He not only escaped a lynching, but also
the hatred he could have felt towards mankind. James Cameron spent the majority
of his life retelling his story and promoting a legacy of tolerance, love
and non violence.”
Cameron, 92, passed away Sunday—nearly 76 years after narrowly surviving
a lynching in Marion, Ind. On August 7, 1930, he and two friends were arrested
and taken to the local jail, and were soon drug out by an angry mob. The
two friends, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, were hanged in the public square,
and another rope was thrown over Cameron’s head. As the noose was tightened
in front of a crowd of 2,000, a voice shouted out that Cameron was innocent.
Miraculously, Cameron was cut down and carried back to the jail to face
charges of robbery.
“They closed in on me and started beating me,” Cameron told the Marion
Chronicle-Tribune in 2003. “They beat me outside of my cellblock downstairs
to the first floor and out of the jail, out into the street and when the street
crowd saw me, they hollered ‘We got him, we got him, we got him.’”
Cameron says a mysterious voice, which came from heaven, told the
crowd to let him go. “Slowly, painfully, I started limping back toward the jail,
dragging myself as best I could,” he said. “Each step was a prayer and each
prayer was a ‘Thank you, Jesus!’”
Cameron spent the rest of his life educating the country on lynchings and
civil rights issues. He raised five children and earned a living in a variety of
jobs before founding America’s Black Holocaust Museum in 1988 in Milwaukee,
Wis. He was pardoned in 1993 by then-Governor, now Senator,
Evan Bayh, D-Ind.
“He has inspired both of us to stand for what is right and to remember that
forgiveness is an important virtue to live by,” Sens. Landrieu and Allen said
today. “We look forward to continuing James Cameron’s legacy and would
like to offer our sincere condolences to his family.”
On June 13th of last year, Cameron joined Sens. Landrieu and Allen for the
passage of S. Res. 39, a resolution that apologized for the Senate’s failure to
pass federal anti-lynching legislation in the first part of the 20th century. From
1890 to 1960, 4,742 Americans were documented as having been lynched, with
actual numbers believed to be much higher. Nearly 200 anti-lynching bills
were introduced in the United States Congress during that time, with three passing
the United States House of Representatives. But every effort failed on the
floor of the Senate, despite the lobbying of seven U.S. Presidents.
Sens. Landrieu and Allen were motivated to act after reading the book
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America and hearing the true
stories of lynching victims such as Andrew Crawford, a wealthy African-
American farmer, businessman and community leader in Abbeville, S.C., who
was lynched by a crowd of about 300 citizens and local government officials
in 1916.
Crawford’s great-granddaughter, Doria Dee Johnson, was also present for
the passage of the apology last year and today joined Sens. Landrieu and
Allen to present them with an award for their efforts.
8 THE METRO HERALD