KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The Tullahoma Parks and Recreation Department hosted a Juneteenth Fellowship last week at C.D. Stamps Community Center.

This year’s speakers included Alderman Sernobia McGee, Eric Vanzant and keynote speaker Dr. Monty Burks.

Hosting the event was Tullahoma native Thomas Davis, the founder of the non-profit organization Focus And Follow Through, Inc. After a moment of prayer, Davis welcomed Coffee County Commissioner Jackie Duncan to the podium to read one of his poems. Duncan shared with attendees that C.D. Stamps used to be the Davison Academy School, which began in 1898, and that’s where he graduated from before the school closed.  Duncan said Stamps would be proud of his students as he always tried to encourage them, which is what he said they as a community need to do for children is encourage them.

“We need, as parents, to encourage them more,” Duncan said. “There are things that need to be passed down from generation to generation.”

He then recited his poem “Don’t Discourage Me” from his book “Living on Purpose: The Poetry of Life”, where, according to Duncan, he wrote it from a child’s point of view when a parent discouraged them.

Following Duncan, Davis returned to the podium to thank the Parks and Rec department for hosting the program again. Davis talked about his organization Focus And Follow Through, Inc., which serves the Middle Tennessee area with its mission being to assist young graduates with their transition into adulthood through mentorship programs, financial assistance and helping to create an overall positive environment so that they may reach their full potential. He said following the death of his best friend Kristopher Braston, who was killed in a shooting in 1995, he wanted to find a way to help young people in ways that wasn’t available to him or his friends.

“One of the things I’m very proud of about folks involved through our scholarship program where we award graduating seniors that plans to attend either college or trade school,” Davis said.

Davis then welcomed the first speaker to the podium: Alderman Sernobia McGee. Along with being the first African American woman to serve on the board, McGee also served as the first African American chaplain for the Tullahoma Police Department. She also founded the social media campaign “You’ve Been Crowned” to support, uplift and empower women.

She thanked the parks and rec department for inviting her to speak again, and said was both honored and nervous, as due to the current climate of the country, and her as a black woman, she was acutely aware of the Juneteenth’s significance and its role in African American history.

McGee said while she was deeply humbled by the opportunity, she felt the responsibility to do justice Juneteenth’s importance and represent those who look like her as they both celebrate the holiday and remember the struggles of those who came before them.

“Understanding the experiences of black Americans and their contributions to the American society is crucial,” she said. “For a complete understanding of our country’s past, present, and our future, particularly understanding the history of slavery in America and its ongoing struggles with race and inequality.”

She continued and said Juneteenth served as the time to not only reflect on the past and the injustices committed against African Americans, it was also a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions African Americans have made to the country in all fields. McGee said while progress has been made, there was still work that needed to be done.

“We’ve made it from the slave house to the White House, but now our focus should be from the White House to our house,” she said. “The Bible tells us that people perish for the lack of knowledge.  It is up to us to teach our children our history and to let them know that our past does not define who we are today, nor does it determine our future.”

Eric Vanzant, who is an ordained minister at Agape Ministries in Winchester, and serves as the director of the Campora Family Resource Center, was next to the podium. He said as they look at history and honor it, it was important to not be get stuck in history.

“We want to take that history and apply it to today to make a brighter future for the generations to come,” Vanzant said. “The reason a lot of times that our young people don’t know what to do because they don’t know who they are, so it is vastly important.”

Vanzant focused in on the importance of knowledge and how having knowledge is power, stating the reason that slaves weren’t allowed to read because it was knowledge. He continued and said while knowing history is important, he was more concerned about what they were doing now for the next generation. Because, unlike them, they have access to all the knowledge they could ever need at their fingertips.

“There’s no sense in us being where we are when we have knowledge at our fingertips,” he said. “We ought to be better and quit blaming everything on what happened 20,000 years ago. If the people that were going through it at the time learn how to navigate through it, guess what we have to do? We have learn how to navigate through.”

He concluded by stating that they have to teach their children who they are, the greatness that lives on inside them and to go get every opportunity.

The final speaker was Dr. Monty Burks, who serves as Deputy Director of The Governor’s Faith Based and Community Initiatives for the State of Tennessee. Burks talked about what he does in his role, which he helps to bring nonprofit organizations and faith-based communities together to better serve Tennesseans. He shared that 80% of children who are in state custody in the foster care system end up incarcerated or homeless as adults. He added that a significant portion of the 11,000 people who co9me out of the criminal justice system are children.

“Literacy is the number one enemy to America,” Burks said. “The ability to read and to write, as Vanzant said, where that knowledge is key.”

He talked about growing up in Church Town in Winchester, and how growing up in that community showed him the presence of the community of faith and how they drove information into people.

“I would’ve never went to the library if one of the deacons hadn’t have mentioned it to me in church,” Burks said.

He continued sharing anecdotes about his journey in education and career, often referencing scripture to drive home his points to help others and to bring the next generation with them.

“I was always reminded by my family, through scripture, that you’re going to be something great,” Burks said.

He also talked about teaching people to lead, and said to do so they need to be given the tools of understanding one’s faith, and who they are as an individual, and the ability to read. He said he loved seeing people get out and have a good story, but for every good story there needs a business model behind it.

“What I mean put a business model?” Burks said. “Read and write and articulate. Take it to the next generation so that we can have people in our homes to educate our children on where they come from.”

He closed his speech by stating that those children that sometimes get discounted have an anointed purpose, but they just don’t know it yet. He said that sometimes the community has to get behind them and give them a push to seize an opportunity.

“Take everything that you’ve been given along the way, because you never know where that young person’s going to be, and you could have been part of that anointed process to give them the opportunity to develop their gifts,” Burks said.

Concluding the fellowship, Davis encouraged everyone to show solidarity by learning more about Juneteenth, support local black owned businesses, donate to organizations that have a focus on racial justice, education and economic empowerment, to attend other local events, amplify black voices by sharing stories, music, books, podcasts and so on, and last, but not least, to reflect but don’t sin it.

About Juneteenth

According to the website for the National Museum of African American History and Culture at The Smithsonian, on June 19, 1865, nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, TX with news of freedom and the end of the war. More than 250,000 African Americans embraced freedom by executive decree in what became known as Juneteenth or Freedom Day. In 2021, Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday, opening it to symbolic and global interpretation and providing a better understanding of the evolution of our nation and its people. Juneteenth celebrations then, like now, recognize the ongoing fight for human rights and equality and are commemorated through family cookouts, faith services, musical performances, fellowships, and storytelling events.