[nFBMI-Talk] Looking For Persons To Honor For Black History Month

[christine Boone]

Hi Kane,
What a wonderful idea. I believe you should honor John Scott. John served as president of our Detroit chapter in the NFB of Michigan for many years- and on our state board. John earned his living as a city attorney in Detroit for many years as well. Since his retirement he has continued to work tirelessly as a lawyer helping persons who need his most excellent services. 

These details are sketchy and I apologize for that. O yes John also served as a Commissioner for the Michigan agency serving the blind before that agency was tragically down-graded by out-going Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, in spite of tireless work by members of the Michigan affiliate, including John himself  to preserve the agency.

John is an honorable attorney, a great Federationist and I am privileged to call him my friend!

With warmest regards,
Christine
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> Kane Brolin via NFBMI-Talk
> Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2018 11:57 AM
> To: NFB History Support List <nfb-history at nfbnet.org>; NFB of Michigan
> Internet Mailing List <NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org>; NFB Chapter Presidents
> discussion list <chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Kane Brolin <kbrolin65 at gmail.com>; Gary Wunder <gwunder at nfb.org>;
> Gary Van Dorn <garyvdrn at msn.com>
> Subject: [nFBMI-Talk] Looking For Persons To Honor For Black History Month
> 
> Greetings.
> 
> On behalf of my NFB Chapter, covering North-Central Indiana, I have kicked
> off a special series of Facebook posts and tweets meant to honor persons of
> color--possibly expanding the scope of those who take part in my chapter or,
> or at least letting digitally-connected African-American young persons know
> that blind people from their ethnicity have contributed to the welfare of the
> blind and to our movement in diverse ways.  My goal is to make one entry
> for each day in the month of February.  So far, I have honored Harriet
> Tubman (who was visually impaired); Dr. JW Smith, past president of our
> Ohio affiliate; Anil Lewis of the NFB Jernigan Institute; Darnell Booker, leader
> of the two-time defending beep baseball world champion Indy Thunder; Ever
> Lee Harriston, current president of the NFB's California affiliate; Lee Martin,
> who has spearheaded the Indiana affiliate's NFB-NEWSLINE® efforts; Ron
> Brown; and Stevie Wonder (for his work with Ray Kurzweil to develop and
> promote scanning technology). .  Wherever possible, I am linking to the
> individual's Twitter feed, or to a Website, podcast, etc., that tells more about
> him or her.
> 
> But I need help: more names and a few facts about the life associated with
> the name, since it is my goal to fill the whole month of February but don't
> want to add non-blind individuals just as "filler."  An individual that goes up
> on our chapter's social networks for Black History Month should be African
> or African-American, as well as legally blind, as well as an exemplar of
> Federation values.  I don't just want to honor celebrities that seem familiar to
> the public at large just because they are blind and have thus become
> stereotypes: e.g., Ray Charles.  Don't get me wrong, I love Ray Charles' music;
> he had soul and had a great feel for the blues.  But as far as I know, he was
> not in sympathy with the Federation; and I'm not even sure he read or
> promoted the use of Braille.  I'd rather locate some activists or scientists or
> academicians whom most haven't heard of.  I have profiled Stevie Wonder,
> since he did help to develop scanning technology.
> 
> It has been suggested that I mention Paul Howard, and I have thought too
> about Dr. Carolyn Peters and Rich Payne of Ohio.  But I don't know any of
> those three individuals well enough to understand what about their lives
> stands out the most.
> 
> What I am doing--I'm sure you have figured this out--is to help younger,
> digitally connected people to identify largely unheralded individuals of color
> who have contributed to the history and effectiveness of the organized blind
> movement somewhere.  It doesn't have to be confined to the United States.
> So these individuals don't necessarily have to be American.  Perhaps I should
> contact the RNIB, as persons of color contribute mightily to the culture of the
> British Commonwealth, too, and I'm sure there have been some awesome
> blind men and women in Great Britain or other places who are mostly
> unfamiliar to us but who might still have had an unperceived impact on us.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Kane Brolin, President
> Michiana Chapter, National Federation of the Blind
> 
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