Amsterdam News honors Don Peebles alongside Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Congressman Charles Rangel.
November 30th, 2009
Monday night, the New York Amsterdam News celebrated one of its greatest milestones. At the dazzling Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, the paper and the Amsterdam News Educational Foundation celebrated 100 years of service and commitment to the Black community.
Friends, family members and a host of long-time supporters of the paper came together to salute some of the most important leaders of our time. They were the Honorable Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Ways and Means Chairman and son of Harlem, Congressman Charles B. Rangel; genius political strategist William "Bill" Lynch; environmental activist and lawyer Robert F. Kennedy; and developer R. Donahue Peebles.
This group of extraordinary individuals was selected for their long-term and unfailing support for communities of color, their ability to smash through barriers in their own lives, and their desire to make our country a better, safer and more humane place for all Americans to live and work. The evening was filled with discussion about the love and passion for New York and our communities. And for me, there were many bittersweet moments, as each in their own way paid tribute to the late Wilbert A. Tatum, who led the paper more than two decades and continued to be a guiding force to me once he turned over responsibility of running this paper to me more than a decade ago. My dad was looking forward to sharing this evening with everyone, but his sudden passing in February meant that he could only be with us in spirit.
He would have been proud.
The Rev. Al Sharpton gave the invocation, highlighting our mandate to give voice to our communities, which are so often marginalized by the larger society. New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson presented Peebles; Kenneth Cole presented Kennedy with his honor and Kennedy reminisced on how he and Bill Tatum worked together on environmental justice issues. President Clinton, who presented the award to Congressman Rangel, shared how when he was a young president, Congressman Rangel was instrumental in bringing the empowerment zone to Harlem, which meant jobs and economic development for our community, and when Mr. Clinton was a retiring president, it was Congressman Rangel who helped him establish his executive office in our Harlem community. In addition, Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn spoke of Hillary Clinton’s loyalty and friendship as she presented her with the award.
The governor of the State of New York closed out the evening’s program with his usual wit and charm. He lamented of how he proposed to his wife on WBLS with Wilbert Tatum and the 163 editorials Tatum wrote entitled "Koch Must Resign."
Each honoree had particular meaning to the Amsterdam News the community and this country as a whole. It was our honor to be able to highlight them and even more of an honor to call each of them friend. In addition, three of Wilbert Tatum’s four remaining siblings attended: Herbert Tatum, Lorraine Graves and Edna Swann, along with over a dozen other family members from as far away as Nigeria and Switzerland.
This cause of the Amsterdam News archives is one that is so closely linked to my father. His dream was not only for an archive that sat alone in a dark room, but for a living, breathing center where young and old could find out about their families, their communities, their country and the richness of the Black community, where scholars could study and gather information about the real history of our communities and where journalists that were not of our community could learn to write about our community. That is why we held this event: to honor him, the paper and to raise funds for this momentous task.
We are well on our way. Our goal for the evening was to raise $1 million. We are currently at $850,000—only $150,000 away from our goal. We hope that you will join us in making it to our mark. In closing, I just want to send out my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have helped and support the Amsterdam News over the last 100 years. May we have at least 100 more.