From the Editor

“The Essence of Big”

We celebrate women’s history this month as I write this column, I am making final preparations to travel to Atlanta to celebrate with one of my mentors, civil rights legend Xernona Clayton, in the unveiling of a statue of her likeness in downtown Atlanta.

I fortunate enough to have developed a bond with this remarkable woman as a little girl while she and my Dad were the best of friends. Clayton worked alongside my Dad to raise millions to help fund the civil rights movement in the sixties, organizing glitzy fundraisers at the homes of the likes of Charlton Heston and Gregory Peck. We called her “Big”, even though nothing about her physical stature was big. As I remember the nickname was given to her because she came into this world a few minutes earlier than her twin sister, who was nicknamed “Little”, which would have been the more appropriate physical description of them both.

But as life would have it, “Big” was the perfect description for Xernona Clayton. She thought big. She accomplished big things and when she walked into a room, her presence loomed large. As a little girl, there was nothing I wanted more than to be like her or in a room with her. And she was absolutely fearless–always living out her greater self with a laser beam focus on her goals.

My brothers and I were heartbroken when my father announced that Big was moving to Atlanta after he had recommended her to Dr. King as the perfect person to accompany his wife Coretta Scott King on a concert tour.

It came as little surprise that she became as indispensable to Dr. King and his family, as she had been to my Dad and us. It was “Big” who drove Dr. King to the airport for that fateful trip to Memphis and it was “Big” who was entrusted to prepare his body in the casket.

My favorite “Big” story was that of her meeting with KKK Grand Dragon Calvin Craig as they were both serving on a Model Cities program. On the night of their first meeting, Clayton noticed that he did not fully shake her hand. In a subsequent conversation about a dinner being held at her house, he was astounded that Whites were attending, telling her, “I could never eat at your house”. Her reply: “Well, Mr. Craig, I haven’t invited you to my home. But before this project is over, I’ll not only have you eating at my house, I’ll have you eating out of my hand.”

She would go on to make history as the first African American from the South to host a daily prime time talk show before being hired by Ted Turner as corporate vice president for urban affairs at TBS, before establishing the Trumpet Awards in 1993.

When I think about the role women of faith play in the life of little girls, I think of Xernona Clayton who set that bar really high and how much I treasure the times I got to follow her around as a little girl.

But to be sure, Black women have made a great many contributions not just to our rich Black history, but to this nation. I take pride in knowing that the fruits of those who labored, sacrificed and died for us to have all we have today resulted in a rich harvest of talents that have powered our progression and bred a new generation of dreamers and achievers.

When people wonder why I am not so easily impressed, it is because I was privileged to have been raised in the shadow of women like Xernona Clayton and like my stepmother, Evelyn Boyd Granville, the second African American woman to receive a Ph.D in

DR. LENORE TATE Guest Columnist

have simply not kept up with the demand for services.

California was the first state in the country to propose housing as a human right under Assembly Constitutional Amendment 10 (ACA-10) (Bonta 2020). This amendment would ensure shelter for the unhoused and recognize housing as a human right. However, after more than 70 years, housing still appears to be treated as a commodity rather than a human right. From prevention and early intervention to strategically providing housing and chronic care -- we need to do more in the Golden State.

Medical professionals need to be provided cultural sensitivity training and more needs to be done to destigmatize mental health care in the Black community. Social support systems must be strengthened, and more resources need to be committed to outreach and research so that both care and information can be targeted to serve the needs of Black Californians.

Committing to funding, decreasing hurdles in zoning, working collaboratively with public and private sectors, and creating space for ingenuity would be steps towards solving these crises. Recognizing that Black and Brown communities, children, families and seniors are unhoused as well as those that carry the weight of mental illness, leads us to act and consider prioritizing vulnerable populations of unhoused.

We must utilize all our available resources so that every Californian will be afforded the right to have housing and a ‘home’ and adequate mental health care, allowing for security, safety, and comfort.

Lenore A. Tate, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Sacramento who has previously worked as Principal Consultant to the California Assembly and Senate Health Committees as well as the Senate Office of Research. She specializes in neuropsychology, geriatrics and behavioral health. California Black Media’s coverage of mental health in Black communities is made possible with the support of the California Health Care Foundation.

LISA COLLINS Publisher

mathematics in the nation (the first from Yale University). She went on to work on orbit computations for NASA’s space program, ultimately becoming one of their “hidden fig ures.”

This year, as part of Xernona’s signature Atlanta event, “High Heels in High Places”, she is shining a light on me as one of the honorees and I couldn’t be more pleased that she felt me worthy of the honor.

Yet, for all the talk about women, I want to close my column this month with the words of civil rights attorney Ben Crump who was honored with the NAACP’s Social Justice Impact Award last month.

To a standing and cheering ovation, Crump concluded his acceptance speech with these words: “We are prepared to fight for Black history in and outside of the courtrooms just as hard as we will continue to fight for the George Floyds of the world, for the Breonna Taylors of the world, for the Ahmaud Arberys of the world, for the Trayvon Martins of the world and now for the Tyre Nichols of the world, because we have to stand up for our children’s future. Because if we don’t fight for our children’s future, we can’t expect anybody else to fight for our children’s future.

“We have to be ready to fight for our children’s future until hell freezes over and then we have to be ready to fight on the ice.”

Keep the faith.