“This isn’t about ‘they’ or ‘them,’” Dr. Delores A. Jacobs said. “This is ‘us.’”
“Us” is the essence of the Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Honors, which will recognize Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber, Stan Lewis and Phyllis Jackson with Lifetime Achievement Awards. The event will take place Friday, Feb. 27 from 6-8 p.m. at The San Diego LGBT Community Center, 3909 Centre St.
A celebration of the contributions of noted civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, who was one of the visionary leaders in the African American civil rights movement and a gay man, this event “helps us recognize the long history and the contemporary reality of the struggle for equal rights – for the black community, for our LGBT community,” said Jacobs, chief executive officer of The Center. “It acknowledges, in a meaningful way, the true diversity of our communities.”
The event is sponsored by The Center’s Nicole Murray Ramirez Latino Services, the GLBT Historic Task Force, the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation and the Imperial Court de San Diego. The evening will feature a soul food buffet, with the $10 suggested donation benefitting the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Choir, the Bayard Rustin U.S. Postage Stamp Campaign and The Center. Local activists La Rue Fields, Christopher Wilson, Tanisha Conwright and John Gwynn will also be recognized for their contributions to civil rights.
Rustin was a longtime leader in the anti-war and civil rights movement, though much of his work was done behind the scenes, in part due to his early affiliation with the Communist Party USA and his 1953 arrest for “homosexual activity.” He was involved with the leading progressive organizations and activities of his time – the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), Freedom Rides, the War Resisters League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the AFL-CIO’s A. Philip Randolph Institute. He was instrumental in bringing the principles of non-violence to the civil rights movement, and was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Weeks before the march, Sen. Strom Thurmond derided Rustin as a “Communist, draft-dodger and homosexual,” as part of his efforts to disparage the mission of the march itself.
Because of this, Rustin rarely served as the public face of the movement, and his contributions have largely gone unheralded. This event aims to change that.
“We seem to be losing the knowledge of some of our heroes. This man put together the March on Washington, he mentored and was a top advisor to Martin Luther King. He is truly a hero for all people,” said Nicole Murray Ramirez, one of the founders of the Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Honors event. “Not until the movie (Milk) came out was Harvey Milk widely embraced as a hero. I believe our community is thirsty and hungry for true role models. Bayard Rustin, who is just as important, or more so, than Harvey Milk, and yet no one knows who he is. That troubles me.
“And with the encouragement and advice of Stampp Corbin, who has been a lifelong advocate for Bayard Rustin’s legacy and who was one of the honorees last year, I created this event because there was nothing about him in our community. This is an opportunity to educate people – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, ‘Oh, I never knew about him.’ This was our chance to change that,” Murray Ramirez said. “Bayard Rustin helped build the American civil rights movement, and that has been the model for so many others – Latinos, women, the LGBT community. We have to embrace that history and his legacy.”
Murray Ramirez and Carolina Alcoser Ramos are credited with launching this event, along with a committee of local activists. They have another goal as well. After a successful campaign to encourage the U.S. Postal Service to issue a Harvey Milk stamp, Murray Ramirez is now actively engaged in a similar effort to achieve a Bayard Rustin stamp, with support from the International Imperial Court System and The Task Force, among others.
Ramos, The Center’s director of training and chief diversity officer, agreed. “This will educate those who don’t know who he (Rustin) is, and don’t know what a big role he played in the civil rights movement. We need to honor his contributions and the accomplishments of black gay men and women in the civil rights movement. A lot of people helped make that history, but were put behind the scenes because of their sexual orientation,” Ramos said. “And it’s important for us to have these awards so we can honor our own San Diegans in the LGBT African American community.”
The Lifetime Achievement honorees come from all walks of life, but have each contributed to both the LGBT and African American communities.
“Dr. Shirley Weber has taken courageous stands for our community,” Murray Ramirez said. “She is a true role model in fighting for equality for all people. She’s an incredible ally, and believes that everyone should have equality, no matter your race or your sexual orientation. She has taken stands for us that cost her votes – that’s not a politician, that’s a true public servant.
“Stan (Lewis) and Phyllis (Jackson) have devoted decades to the struggle of our communities and it is important that we honor them and that others can learn their stories as well.”
“I am really, really honored to be receiving the Bayard Rustin Award, especially alongside honorees Stan Lewis and Phyllis Jackson,” Assemblywoman Weber said. “We’ve been fighting these battles together for a long time.
“It’s been part of my life’s work on issues affecting the African American community to take stock of who our allies are,” Weber said. “The men and women of the LGBT community turn out to be among our strongest allies in the fight against injustice. They get it. The folks who chase gay folks down the street are the same folks who chased my daddy down the street. To me, injustice is injustice is injustice.”
The Honorees
Dr. Shirley Weber
Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber was elected in 2012 to represent California’s 79th Assembly District, which includes Chula Vista, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, National City and San Diego.
Weber chairs the Assembly Committee on Budget, Assembly Select Committee on Higher Education in San Diego County; and the Assembly Select Committee on Campus Climate. She also serves on the Assembly Committees on Education, Higher Education and Appropriations.
Born to sharecroppers from Hope, Ark., she has lived in California since the age of three. Her parents, in particular her father, valued education and supported their daughter’s academic aspirations. She attended UCLA, where she received her BA, MA and Ph.D. by the age of 26. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she became a professor at San Diego State University at the age of 23. Dr. Weber also taught at California State University at Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College before coming to San Diego State University.
Weber has lived in the 79th Assembly District for over 30 years. Deeply committed to community service, she served on the boards of the NAACP, the YWCA, the YMCA Scholarship Committee, Battered Women Services, United Way and the San Diego Consortium. She eventually made a successful run for a seat on the board of the San Diego Unified School District. As a trustee and subsequent school board president, she became known for her advocacy for closing the achievement gap and setting a higher standard of excellence for all children.
Her Select Committee on Campus Climate has been exploring some of the racial incidents on state university campuses, the responses from university officials and possible policy changes to make the campuses safer and more welcoming for all students.
Assemblywoman Weber is the mother of a daughter and son, and has two grandchildren. She is the widow of the late Honorable Daniel Weber, a California state judge.
Stan Lewis
Stan Lewis, who arrived in San Diego in 1979, has a long and diverse history of public service. He currently serves as a trustee of the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts, and is a former co-chair of the San Diego Pride board of directors. Lewis also previously served as vice president of the San Diego Democratic Club, president of Dignity/San Diego and as a member of the Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board to the San Diego chief of police.
A governmental relations and health care consultant, he has served as a member of the Alliance Healthcare Foundation’s program committee, and is a former gubernatorial appointee to the California State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and was the governmental affairs representative for the largest city employees union.
Lewis was previously chief of staff to former San Diego City Councilmember Valerie Stallings and a consultant to the City of San Diego Public Facility and Recreation Committee, and has worked in HIV/AIDS services as well.
Lewis completed his bachelor’s degree in accounting and economics from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and received his master’s degree in international business from Bernard Baruch College, City University of New York. He is the father of two grown daughters, and lives with his spouse, Mossie, in Encanto.
Phyllis Jackson
Phyllis Jackson moved to San Diego in 1977 for love, but when the relationship ended, she stayed to work with the community. Currently, the residential services coordinator with The Association for Community Housing Solutions (TACHS), Jackson has spent more than 25 years working in the fields of substance abuse and HIV/AIDS services.
“There were a lot of people dying [in the early years],” Jackson said. “I was doing HIV 101 in the institutions and the jails and within the drug treatment programs and then so many people were dying. I wanted to get out of HIV because it was just so overwhelming and just focus on recovery and substance abuse. And then in recovery and substance abuse there were so many people dying from HIV. So I couldn’t get away from it.”
Initially her HIV/AIDS work focused on prevention, but as she watched the African American community increasingly devastated by substance abuse and HIV, she began to focus on the African American and LGBT communities.
“It was just painful,” she said. “Every time I would go to a conference I’d hear statistics about African Americans in prison, substance abuse, HIV, and I wanted to do my part. The focus was white, gay men even though African Americans were dying. I had a cousin who died of HIV back in 1980 and a lot of people that I know passed away from HIV so it has been my mission to work particularly with African Americans and inside the LGBT community. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”
Jackson has served on the Mayor’s LGBT Advisory Board, the San Diego City Manager’s Clean Syringe Task Force, the AIDS Walk board of directors, the HIV & AIDS Women’s Conference board of directors, and on the board of directors of CRASH, Inc., among many others.
