Aswad’s Recap
Hot takes on the moments that shaped 2023
At the Defender, we know community is foundational. Also foundational are those individuals, organizations, educational institutions, businesses and faith centers that make our communities what they are.
That’s why the Defender offers our website visitors (www.DefenderNetwork.com) an entire channel to keep up with all the happenings in Black communities in Greater Houston, including Independence Heights, Kashmere Gardens, Settegast, Mo. City, Pearland, Third Ward, Sunnyside, South Park, Hiram Clarke, Pleasantville, Freedmen’s Town, North Forest and beyond.
Here are some of the many articles we shared in 2023, spotlighting our communities and the change agents that fight to keep them strong.
Pleasantville: Houston’s under-appreciated historic community
Pleasantville is a Houston-area Black community of national significance, yet many of the city’s brothers and sisters are unaware of the community and/or its place in Bayou City and U.S. history. And even though it’s not Houston’s oldest Black community, it’s not far-fetched to say that there is no Black Houston history without Pleasantville. Yes, it’s had that kind of pull and impact.
Delta Gems serve community via food giveaway
Organizations are a huge part of what makes our communities so vibrant and energized, especially those organizations that approach community service as a way of life because it’s just what they do. Houston’s Divine 9 members, whether those on-campus chapters or those alumni chapters, are always representing. Take for instance members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Houston Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter coordinating the Delta GEMS, their group of high school-aged ladies, volunteering during a food giveaway event.
Sunnyside’s Fresh Houwse Grocery fights food desert
Food deserts are far too common in many of our communities. And more often than not, folk suffering from that lack of access to fresh food moan and complain about this reality (which should really be called “food apartheid” because it is a purposefully planned injustice), but simply grit their teeth while driving to Timbuktu to get groceries. But Jeremy Peaches and Ivy Walls took a different approach: they opened Fresh Houwse Grocery that sells food grown and made by Black farmers, thus, empowering Blackfolk at every level of the “food chain.”
The Eldorado Ballroom: History in the remaking
If the legendary Jay-Z’s classic line “Let me re-introduce myself” was an institution, it would be the historic Eldorado Ballroom that burst back onto the scene in 2023 as a totally renovated spot that has immediately reclaimed its role as the community-serving place to be.
‘Walk to Save Black Men’s Lives’ pics and testimonials
If health really is wealth, our communities are made poor and destitute by the litany of health issues that find Black men at the wrong end of every statistic. The “Walk to Save Black Men’s Lives,” held on April 15 at Texas Southern University, and sponsored by the African American Male Wellness Agency Houston, came on the scene with an enormous supporting cast of service providers and caregivers to help place our brothers on the path to healthier (and wealthier) lives.
Can historic preservation and wealth building co-exist?
With gentrification robbing us of some of our historic communities and purposeful underdevelopment / under-investment depleting others, the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy in partnership with the Emancipation Park Conservancy hosted a critically important community conversation, “Historic Preservation vs. Wealth Building: Is Equity Possible?”
YMSS mentors Black boys via stepping and more
Michael Jackson “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” Jackson, a K-12 educator started a step team, Young Men Successfully Steppin’ (YMSS) that has inspired and empowered its members to be better students and better human beings.
HSPVA Black alums’ Wiz Emerald City fundraiser
HSPVA has a history of producing some of the biggest game-changers in the arts and other fields. Recognizing this, the school’s Black alums invest heavily in supporting current students on their journey, as they did via their Wiz Emerald City fundraiser held during the school’s powerful production of “The Wiz.”
Rudy and Juanita Rasmus: Onto ministry’s next phase
On one level, it felt like the end of an era when Dr. Rudy and Juanita Rasmus, founding pastors of the incomparable St. John’s Downtown, stepped down from their leadership roles. But in reality, the dynamic duo was simply moving onto their next phase of game-changing ministry.
With new Neighborhood Center District F the future
For many, the “F” in District F stood for “Fail” or stay “far” away. Not anymore. With their powerhouse City Councilmember Tiffany Thomas, the “F” now stands for “The future is now!” Examples aplenty exist of District F’s “come-up.” But probably the most telling tell of the area’s resurrection is its new Alief Neighborhood Center. The two-decades-old dream finally became a reality under Thomas’ leadership, and the community now has a multi-purpose hub to facilitate residents in their journeys to become their best selves.
