Three local leaders in Thurston County joined the Board of County Commissioners for its proclamation of February as Black History Month Tuesday, Feb. 18, to tell stories highlighting the impact of Black people in shaping United States history.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) of Thurston County President Larry Jefferson, author and founding member of the Black Alliance of Thurston County Dr. Thelma Jackson, and author Merritt Long shared personal anecdotes and gratitude for the commissioners for their proclamation.
Jefferson has served as a public defense attorney in Thurston County for more than 16 years and is the director of the Washington State Office of Public Defense. He described the board room, including the county commissioners, as a “group of heroes” to begin his presentation.
“This is a historic moment. It’s a historic time. There are lots of things that are going wrong. We have had a long history, and this history is tied to the foundation of this country,” Jefferson said. “What I see here is a group of heroes and folks who want to stand up against injustice, a group of people who want to make sure that everyone is included, no matter what your gender identity or your skin color is.”
Jefferson said Thurston County has risen to the occasion in terms of helping Black people feel at home.
“What I see happening in Thurston County is that we are rising to the occasion that in Thurston County, we believe in home for everyone,” he said. “We are rising together. I’m really proud to live in a community where, as a black man, I can feel comfortable knowing that the county commissioners and the citizens here believe that this is for all of us.”
Jackson, a community leader and advocate with a career spanning over 50 years in education, equity and diversity, served on the North Thurston school board for two decades and is a former president of The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees. She also owned Foresight Consultants, a firm specializing in educational issues, equity, diversity, policymaking, strategic planning and executive coaching.
Jackson currently serves as the administrator of the Northwest Institute for Leadership and Change and authored the book “Blacks in Thurston County, Washington 1950 to 1975: A Community Album.” She is also the treasurer and board member for NAACP of Thurston County. Jackson praised the county commissioners for their acknowledgement of Black History Month, as well as honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January and committing to diversity, equity and inclusion.
“It’s to your credit as a county, as county commissioners, that you took the bold position that you did, reinforcing your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said. “As we see the public outcry happening all over this country, every day there’s a new headline to react to before we can even absorb yesterday’s headline, and there are many more days to come.”
Jackson expressed that Black History Month is every day for Black people in America, not just one month out of the year. She encouraged people to learn about the contributions and successes of Black people in helping America become “the most industrialized, successful nation in the world.”
““As we talk about African American history, we are talking about American history. It’s not a separate history,” she said. “As we look at the kind of turmoil we are embroiled in now as a nation where anyone other than a heterosexual white male is wanted in America, there is an effort underway to eradicate America of anyone other than whites. We’re almost living through another period of reconstruction where everything is attempted to be flipped.”
Long shared tales of his interactions with Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali from his book “My View From the Back of the Bus.” He created a roar of laughter from the crowd as he reminisced about nearly correcting Ali’s 1967 grammatical error while asking Long, a junior at Morehouse College at the time, for directions.
“I was leaving the campus of our sister school Spelman College when I noticed an immaculate, white, four-door Cadillac making a left turn entering the Spelman College campus. The Cadillac screeched to a halt. To my surprise, the black-tinted window on the backseat passenger side rolled down. To my surprise, it was Muhammad Ali,” Long said. “He poked his head out of the window and said, ‘Do you know where Spelman College is at?’ I flashed back to my ninth grade teacher, who would say, ‘You never end a sentence with a preposition.’”
At the end of the presentation, Commissioner Carolina Mejia read the proclamation, which said that, “Black history is past, present and future” and that, “Black history is not just something of the past; it is living and alive and is being made every single day.”
