By Maxim Elramsisy

California Black Media

Civil rights and media icon Xernona Clayton became the first woman to be enshrined with a statue in downtown Atlanta on March 8, 2023, International Women’s Day.

The eight-foot statue with its arms open, high on a pedestal, looks down on Xernona Clayton Plaza, making the petite icon a giant in the cradle city of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

World renowned sculptor Ed Dwight created the bronze statue despite challenges with his vision. With Dwight by her side, Clayton announced that it would be his final commissioned project. “As he was making this statue he lost vision in his good eye,” Clayton said at a private dinner before the unveiling. “But if he could do this without seeing, imagine what he could do if he had vision.”

More than 20 speakers, including representatives from the Bahamas and Ghana, praised Clayton at the unveiling ceremony, which was followed by “High Heels in High Places,” an event honoring distinguished women in business and journalism.

Among the “sheroes: honored at the dinner were California Black Media Executive Director Regina Brown Wilson and LA Focus Publisher Lisa Collins. Clayton also acknowledged the mothers of several local celebrities, including Silvia Dickens, mother of Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens, Trice Morgan, mother of rapper T.I., and Mary Tucker, mother of comedian Chris Tucker.

A few of the speakers at the event claimed to be Clayton’s boyfriends, including Mayor Andre Dickens, who began working on the project as a city councilman, and Clayton’s close friend and fellow civil rights icon, Ambassador Andrew Young. Former CNN President, Tom Johnson spoke on behalf of Ted Turner, who was ill, lauding Clayton’s outstanding achievements and attesting to her contributions to broadcast media. Clayton was also a consistent supporter of the Black press across the country.

Martin Luther King III reflected on his memories of Clayton growing up. “There is no greater honor than what is being done here today,” said King III.

At the unveiling, Clayton recalled arranging logistics for a meeting between Dr. King and supporters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the heart of Atlanta. “I pride myself in getting everything right before I start out, and I knew I had all my details in order for this special luncheon hosted by Dr. King, but everything went wrong,” Clayton said.

The motel which supposedly had an “open door policy,” expressly told Dr. King to leave. “I, Xernona Clayton was thrown out of a hotel. Now, you are standing backed by a street named Xernona Clayton Way.”

“The idea for a monument to Xernona Clayton was born from a 4 a.m. meeting with her in 2020. Our kids didn’t know who she was, and we felt that such an inspiring figure deserved recognition,” said Project Co-Founder Mariela Romero, a Latina journalist, originally from Venezuela, who co-presented the idea for the statue and has been one of the forces helping to make the monument a reality.

Romero said when she learned about Clayton’s contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and all her personal accomplishments, she was surprised that more Americans of all races did not know about her life story and legacy.

“Seeing the statue standing proudly in Xernona Clayton Plaza, facing downtown Atlanta, fills me with incredible pride and accomplishment,” Romero added.

“This project was important to us because Xernona Clayton has been a role model, she has dedicated her life to serving others and we have always admired her tenacity, grace, and vision.”

Romero partnered with philanthropist and Bank of America-Merrill executive Rick Baker to spearhead the campaign that made Clayton’s monument a reality.

Xernona Clayton (center) and Xernona Clayton Statue Project Co-Creators Mariana Romero (Left) and Rich Baker (right) cross Xernona Clayton Way in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia toward the unveiling of the Xernona Clayton statue on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Photo by Maxim Elramsisy, California Black Media.

Clayton became involved in the civil rights movement working for the National Urban League in Chicago. She went undercover to investigate employment discrimination against African Americans at Marshall Fields, a major Chicago department store.

She moved to Atlanta at the behest of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, where she organized events for SCLC and grew close with Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

Clayton was instrumental in the desegregation of Atlanta’s hospitals by organizing the city’s Black doctors. In 1967, Clayton became the first Black female in the southern U.S. to host a weekly prime time talk show. The show eventually came to be known as “The Xernona Clayton Show.”

In 1968, Clayton’s impact in the fight against bigotry became clear when Calvin Craig, a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, denounced the Klan, crediting Clayton’s influence in the decision.

In 1988, Clayton was named Corporate Vice President for Urban Affairs with Turner Broadcasting System. In her role she served as liaison between Turner Broadcasting and civil rights groups, both in Atlanta and across the country.

As a broadcast executive, Clayton founded the Trumpet Foundation and, with Turner Broadcasting, established the prestigious Trumpet Awards in 1993 to highlight the achievements and contributions of African Americans.

With the unveiling of the Xernona Clayton statue, an influential Black woman is finally immortalized in Atlanta, a city that still holds several confederate monuments and countless stories and memories of its history in the segregated south.

This California Black Media article was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library

c.2023, Dafina, $28.00, 256 pages

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

A good building starts with a substantial foundation.

No matter where you go from there, that base is an opening action, an announcement, a public sign of things to come. Whether it’s a new home for humans, hoopties, heirlooms, or the future site of industry or ideas, the foundation is the start of something exciting. In a new business and as in the new book, “Black Founder” by Stacy Spikes, it needs to be solid.

With high school graduation on the horizon, Stacy Spikes was itching to move.

His hometown of Houston, Texas, had become “too small” to hold his dreams. Education was important in his family, but college held no interest to him either. Instead, he was going to Los Angeles to chase a career in music and movies.

He broke the news to his parents and, with $300 in his pocket, he drove northwest.

Once in California, Spikes quickly understood that he didn’t need a job, he needed several of them. Before he could get settled, though, he fell in with a bad crowd and was hospitalized to help him kick drugs and alcohol abuse.

He returned to a job he had working with a two-in-one company in Encino, making and packaging videos. The men he worked with mentored him; it was there that he learned the need to “go to extra lengths to meet [someone] in their field.”

Spikes took acting classes and absorbed as much as he could about old-time Black comedians. He built a recording studio in his home and learned to make album covers, which led him to a job at Motown, where he went into sales and learned how to make an impression. The “Black Godfather” taught him that it was possible to talk with anyone, Black or white, with honesty. And before he founded Urbanworld Film Festival and MoviePass, Motown helped him see that to succeed, “You didn’t need an army, just a small group of like-minded souls set on making a difference.”

Readers looking for a good business biography are in for a nice surprise when they read “Black Founder.” They’ll also get some entrepreneurial advice. It’s not bold-face or bulleted; you’ll have to look for it, but it’s in there.

“Transparency” is what author Stacy Spikes learned early, and it’s what he applies inside this book, which is refreshing. This isn’t a book about a meteoric rise; Spikes instead writes about setbacks, both personal and professional, and times of struggle. Readers can imagine a Parkour-like hustle that Spikes describes as he overcame seemingly catastrophic events and still landed with both feet; such tales serve to instruct as much as does the actual instruction.

Though it may seem to lag a bit — especially for older readers, or those who are unfamiliar with the businesses Spikes founded — “Black Founder” is entertaining enough to read for fun, with a side dish of instruction. Whether you’re ready to act now or you’re just finding your inner entrepreneur, to launch your idea, it’s a good base.

Here’s a rags-to-riches story for you: “Never Far from Home” by Bruce Jackson (Atria, $28) is the story of Jackson’s life. He was born in Brooklyn and lived his early life in public housing. At age ten, he was arrested for robbery (which he didn’t do) and he caught the attention of drug dealers. Knowing then that that wasn’t the kind of life he wanted, Jackson worked hard to overcome his background. His story is inspiring and awe-striking.

By cityofvallejo

THE VALLEJO ARTS FUNDING MICROGRANT APPLICATION PERIOD IS OPEN!

Applications Due February 28, 2023, 3:00 pm

The Vallejo Arts Fund (VAF) emerged from listening sessions and convenings with Vallejoans and is grounded in the belief that the city’s art is urgent and that resources need to be prioritized for communities that have historically been excluded from these types of funding opportunities.

The Vallejo Arts Fund (VAF) will distribute $500,000 to support arts & culture in Vallejo by beginning to address structural inequities that have impacted BIPOC artists, culture bearers, arts organizers, and their communities. The Fund seeks to support artistic and cultural work within the performing, visual, digital, and media arts, as well as traditional folk art and oral/written storytelling. VAF deeply values the healing aspects of all art for artists and their communities.

INDIVIDUAL ARTIST MICROGRANT APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!

• Due Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 3:00 pm

Application and more information here.

PROGRAM GRANTS SUPPORTING YOUTH ARTS GRANTS, BIPOC-CENTERED ARTS AND CULTURAL PRACTICE GRANTS, ARTS CULTURAL SPACE GRANTS, AND NEXT LEVEL ARTIST GRANTS

• Due Saturday, March 18, 2023, at 3:00 pm.

Application and more information here.

Every Friday until March 17, 2023, 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm, a Vallejo Arts Fund team member will be available at LaDell’s Shoes to answer your questions in person.

The VAF ambassadors will also be holding events and oneon-one sessions to support Vallejo artists and culture bearers in submitting their applications for grant funding.

GOT QUESTIONS?

Email the VAF team members @ alison@3palmsgroup.com sermarinluna@3palmsgroup.com vafoutreachkerby@gmail.com vafoutreachmeja@gmail.com

Plant roots in Vallejo

This Saturday!

This is the best time of year to put native plants in the ground! Join the Vallejo Watershed Alliance on FEBRUARY 18 FROM 9-12, at Glen Cove Waterfront Park, along with the Solano Resource Conservation District, GVRD, and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, to plant native grass and other plugs in the soft ground.

To RSVP, please email Info@ VallejoWatershedAlliance.org