Citizen of the Month for March 2011

The Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce (CTAACC) named Link Mia Moody-Ramirez Citizen of the Month for March 2011. This is an honor for me. I have lived in Waco for more than 20 years. During that time, I have seen some progress in many areas. I am glad that CTAACC has a program that recognizes citizens for their works. The will make a special presentation at their membership meeting on Thursday, March 17th. 

Their Blurb:
The Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce named Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez Citizen of the Month for March 2011. Moody-Ramirez is a professor of Journalism and Media Arts at Baylor University. She teaches courses in public relations campaigns, minorities and women in the media and reporting and writing. She also instructs a digital media workshop for the Baylor University for Young People, an annual program for gifted and talented students.

Moody is well published. She is the author of Black and Mainstream Press’ Framing of Racial Profiling: a Historical Perspective, published by University Press of America in 2009. Her other works focus on misogynistic messages in rap music, negativity in the 2008 presidential primaries and media framing of women and minorities. She has been featured on KRLD Talk Radio, Dallas, The Ron Insana Show, and in numerous national and international publications. She also serves as faculty researcher for the Church Swap initiative sponsored by Baylor’s Academy for Leader Development and Civic Engagement and Waco’s Community Race Relations Coalition.”

Moody-Ramirez is also active in the community. Her involvements include The Waco Chapter of The Links, Inc., Jack and Jill, Inc., The National Association of Black Journalists and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Moody-Ramirez earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas, two master's degrees from Baylor University and a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University. The Bryan native served as a staff writer and columnist for the lifestyle section of the Waco Tribune-Herald from 1990 to 1997,

Church Swap - Civil Rights Tour - Tulsa Riot

Waco's Church Swap group, led by Link Ramona Curtis, went on a Civil Right's Tour this past weekend, which featured visits to Memphis, Tenn.; Little Rock, Ark. and Tulsa, Okla. I joined the group in Oklahoma. We visited The Department of Special Collections and University Archives of the McFarlin Library at The University of Tulsa. It was there that I learned for the first time of the Tulsa Riots.

The event seems almost impossible to believe. During the course of18 hours, more than 1,000 homes in "Black Wall Street" were burned to the ground. Practically overnight, entire neighborhoods were suddenly reduced to ashes. In less than 24 hours, nearly all of Tulsa's African American residential district -- some 40-square- blocks in all -- had been laid to waste, leaving nearly nine-thousand people homeless. The area featured two theatres, several grocery stores, hotels, skating rinks, schools, churches, etc.

The riots began after black men, who were WWI vets, tried to protect a 19-year-old black man accused of "bothering" a white women. Sometime around or after 4 p.m. Dick Rowland, a nineteen-year old black shoeshiner employed at a Main Street shine parlor, entered the elevator at the rear of the nearby Drexel Building at 319 South Main Street en route to the 'colored' washroom on the top floor. Upon entering the elevator, he encountered Sarah Page, the seventeen-year old white elevator operator who was on duty at the time. It has never been determined with any certainty whether the two young people were acquainted. A clerk at Renberg's, a clothing store located on the first floor of the Drexel, heard what sounded like a woman's scream and observed a young black man hurriedly leaving the building. Upon rushing to the elevator, the clerk found Page in what he perceived to be a distraught state. The clerk reached the conclusion that the young woman had been assualted and subsequently summoned the authorities. She later admitted he was innocent.

Many of the members of the Church Swap group became emotional as they learned of the lost potential of the thriving black settlement, which was called "Black Wall Street" because of the many successful African-Americans who lived there, including attorneys, teachers and the a top surgeon.

Tulsa African-Americans received a formal apology for the riots a few years ago. They were also promised reparations. However, they have not collected them. The city also funded scholarships and a multi-purpose center in the area.

Church swap discussion at Fred Batts Leadership Luncheon - Monday

Fred Batts Leadership Luncheon – December 20, 2010

I will join Ramona Curtis, Director for Leader Development & Civic Engagement at Baylor University, and Jo Welter, Immediate Past President of the Community Race Relations Coalition, as keynote speakers at the Fred Batts Leadership Luncheon. We will discuss, “A Grassroots Effort to Dismantle the Most Segregated Hour in America" at noon on Monday, December 20, at the Bledsoe Miller Recreation Center, 300 Martin Luther King Blvd.


Curtis hopes to help dismantle what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “America’s most segregated hour” -- the 11 a.m. hour on Sunday morning when people go to church.


“Our world is growing more and more diverse,” Curtis said, “I’ve never understood why we are so segregated during that 11:00 hour on Sunday morning.”


Church Swap participants will document their journeys via video interviews, a personal blog and Facebook posts. They will also read Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America and United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation As an Answer to the Problem of Race.


After two months, they will return to their home church where they will spend another two months writing about what they have learned. Using this information, project managers will produce a research paper, a Web site, a video documentary and a research paper detailing their experiences.


Curtis who grew up in a predominantly black church made the switch several years ago, and she is glad she did.


“I have grown tremendously as person because of my open-mindedness,” she said, “I am challenged to be able to be comfortable and see people as people and not the color of their skin.”


A $10,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation’s Racial Healing Initiative allowed Curtis and the Community Race Relations Coalition to challenge the segregation stronghold.  Jo Welter, owner of the community Race Coalition, helped secure funding for the project.

 Lunch (optional) will be available for $5.00.The weekly event aims to help Waco residents stay familiar with and abreast of the people and issues that affect  communities.

The Waco Chapter of The Links, Inc. Holds Successful Santa’s Workshop

The Waco Chapter of The Links, Inc. Holds Successful Santa’s Workshop

The Waco Chapter of The Links, Inc. held its annual Santa’s workshop Dec. 4 at the Phoenix Ballroom. The event was even more successful this year than ever before with more than 150 participants, including children of all ages and their parents.

Links leaders decided to offer the workshop as an outreach project.

“We did not charge an admission fee this year because we wanted every child in the community to participate,” said Links President Josette Ayres. “Previously we’ve charged more than $25. I thought it was well worth the sacrifice.”

The workshop included refreshments, pictures with Santa, storytelling and crafts. It was funded through generous donations from Wal-Mart, Waco Art Center, Oakbrook Farms, and Mars Chocolate.

“We would not have been able to provide such an elaborate event free to the community without our generous sponsors,” said Sonya Todd, this year’s chair. “Activities included a wonderfully, elaborate gingerbread house, Christmas card making and cup cake decorating.”

The event organizers believe children from all walks of life benefited from the festive occasion.

“It really touched my heart to see the excitement in their faces when they saw rows and rows of gingerbread houses and cupcakes,” said Vashon Sutherland, Waco Links PR chair. “Many said they had never had the opportunity to see a real gingerbread house before. It almost makes you want to cry.”

The Links, Inc. founded in 1946, is one of the oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.  The Waco Chapter of the Links, Inc, was founded in 1974 and is proud to be a contributing member of the Central Texas community.