Commentary

COMMENTARY: In Memoriam of My Favorite Person In the World

THE AFRO — Beatrice Portia Robinson Yoes was born April 23, 1917 in Chester, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. She came to Baltimore when she was a little girl with her mother Ada and her sister Elizabeth. Let me give you a sense of how long she lived and what she witnessed in the history of this country. In 1934, when she was 17 President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his official capacity as President of the United States, honored the last living Confederate veterans of the Civil War.

Published

5 years ago

April 7, 2019

Sean Yoes

By Sean Yoes

Last week in this column I wrote, “An Open Love Letter to Black Women.” The woman who filled my heart with more love than any other person on earth, my Beloved Grandmother Beatrice Yoes, transitioned back home to our Heavenly Father, March 31.

Indeed it was a life well lived (there are hundreds in this city that loved her immensely); in a few weeks she would have been 102 years old and simply stated, she was everything to me.

Beatrice Portia Robinson Yoes was born April 23, 1917 in Chester, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. She came to Baltimore when she was a little girl with her mother Ada and her sister Elizabeth.

Let me give you a sense of how long she lived and what she witnessed in the history of this country. In 1934, when she was 17 President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his official capacity as President of the United States, honored the last living Confederate veterans of the Civil War.

She lived through the end of World War I and all of America’s wars that followed. She lived through the Great Depression and Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement and the Baltimore Riots of 1968 and the Baltimore Uprising of 2015.

She worked for Baltimore City Public Schools for 40 years. She was a faithful servant of her church Ames Memorial United Methodist Church, on the corner of Baker and Carey in West Baltimore for at least 80 years.

And for exactly 53 years and eight months she poured her love into me unconditionally.

She introduced me to comic books when I was a little boy; every weekend I came to her house, she had the latest adventures of Spiderman, Daredevil, Captain America, Luke Cage Hero for Hire, The Avengers, The Black Panther (Marvel Jungle Action) and the rest of the Marvel Universe, waiting for me to devour. Those stories of superhuman adventurers fired my imagination and ignited my desire to be a storyteller. She sent me to the world-famous Peabody Conservatory of Music, which fueled my outsized love of and eclectic appreciation of music. Concurrently, she bought me an electric guitar, which I taught myself to play.

We loved to travel together; she would take me with her to the Methodist Convocation every year in the Pocono Mountains. We took the train from Baltimore to Orlando, Florida and Disney World in the early 1970s. I recently wrote the following about our favorite mode of travel, the train:

The Gateway

When I was a little boy, my Beloved Grandmother would take me with her almost every time she hit the road; traveling with her is one of my favorite memories of my time with my favorite person in the world. And our favorite mode of travel was the train. That’s why to this day when I pass Penn Station in Baltimore, one of America’s original grand old train stations, I often wax nostalgic. Historically, it was Baltimore’s gateway to the rest of the country. Today, I still prefer to travel to New York by train from Penn Station, which I’ve done dozens, maybe hundreds of times over the years. And it never gets old for me. Ultimately, for me Penn Station represents freedom and the promise of adventure. And it conjures beautiful memories of a simpler time and the love of my favorite person in the world.

Up until she was about 99, my Grandmother left the house just about everyday to join her friends at a couple of senior centers around the city. But, during the last couple of years, the Old Girl was finally getting tired and slowing down. I said to her last year that I wanted her to stick around because I had some things I wanted to show her. Thankfully, I was able to publish my book, which I dedicated to her and my mother. She seemed genuinely delighted.

But, ultimately it is an exercise in futility to try to fully capture what this woman meant to me; I cannot.

At the end of the day unconditional love is God’s greatest gift to us. The Creator offers it freely, but we often find ways to obscure it.

When I got here July 1, 1965 God had in place an earthly vessel for the transmission of his unconditional love from Him to me, through her.

I rejoice for her life, I’m encouraged by her spirit as she takes her rest from this earth.

Sean Yoes is the AFRO’s Baltimore editor and is the author of ‘Baltimore After Freddie Gray: Real Stories From One of America’s Great Imperiled Cities.’

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

Sean Yoes

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

20 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.