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Graduation is a common denominator

I must confess, one of the main reasons I took on the thankless task of publishing a newspaper-- that would dare to report all of the news without fear or favor--is because I realized that far too many of the things that were of the utmost importance to African Americans were-not worth a second thought to other races who had their own problems, that they erroneous considered had nothing to do with “OUR” problems. Nevertheless, I was somewhat puzzled why such a momentous event such as Houston Community College’s Commencement, that was held at Reliant Stadium, on May 8, 2004, didn’t rate at least a blip on TV news.

In fact, I made it my business to intensely analyze the mainstream media, for over a week, to see if the event was going to go unreported, although Mayor Bill White was the commencement’s keynote speaker. If there were any reports I missed them, and certainly will offer America’s fourth largest city’s primary sources of information an apology. Meanwhile, African American News & Issues did what we do best, which is covering all news without fear or favor. However, I must admit, that I enjoyed the whirlwind of activities during a span of two weeks. At the behest of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, I was part of a delegation that represented Houston at the 2nd Annual African America Leadership Summit in Washington, D. C., on April 27-28, 2004.
HCC trustee, Bruce Austin also selected me to receive an Honorary Associate in Arts Bachelor of Arts Degree, during the school system’s May 8, 2004 commencement exercises. Not to mention, being surprised by a proclamation and gift from City Councilman Ronald Green, when he spoke at the Acres Home Citizen Chamber of Commerce’s May 6. 2004 Network/Luncheon. And I’m certainly not going to forget that my wife, Shirley Ann and I were honored by Booker T. Washington High School on May 16, 2004. Dr. Franklin Wesley, the Studewood school’s Principal, anointed me an Honorary Eagle. Shirley Ann, a 1955 BTW grad and former cheerleader, received the J. V. Cain Achievement Award.

The award was named in honor of the Eagle’s former star athlete who died while preparing for another All-Pro season with the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals. Needless to say that I appreciated the fact that I was appreciated, but if you noticed I used the big word, “Momentous,” when I mentioned the HCC commencement. And I used that big word, because momentous was just what it was to see the large and diverse group of older citizens being honored for graduating from HCC’s G. E. D. program. I couldn’t have said it better than Bruce Leslie, the progressive thinking chancellor of HCC (who insisted on including the G. E.D. grads), when he saluted them. He told them that they should be just as proud of their accomplishments as the younger students were.
I agree, because it really touched me to see the mothers and fathers, or even grand parents, who had dropped out of school in their youth (often for reasons beyond their control), proudly receive their G. E. D. certificates, while their family, friends and neighbors shouted out their names, as if they were graduating cum laude with a PhD from Harvard. Translation: Graduations are common denominator. With that in mind, I would like to congratulate my fellow honorary degree recipients: Carmen Villarreal Orta, Andres Ortiz, Peter B. Plotts, II, and Bessie Swindle, who were also recognized for their service to their respective communities, the same as I was.
But I also want to give a special salute some to the G. E. D. grads, although there is only enough space to accommodate the A-B-C surnames, which included: Munzer Abushanab, Francisco Acuna, Iialna Adan, Anthony Adebayo, Sophia Adjei, Rebecca Adkins, Bibianna Aguilar, Mario Aguilar, Monica Aguilar, Soila Aguilar, Isaac Agyei, Vasudeva Aithala, Akintola Ajagbe, Kolawole Alade, Cruz Alanis, Juana Alanis, Claudia Alas, Norma Alba, Juan Alcoscer, Antonio Alejandre, Yesenia Aleman, Veronica Ali, Olga Almaguer, Soad Alnasser, Delmy Atamirano, Lourdes Alvarado, Ada Alvarez, Eugenio Alvarez, Jorge Alvarez, Martha Alvarez, Nancy Alvarez, Chidi Amadi, Lucy Amani, Petra Amaya, Michelle Anderson, Taurean Anderson and Ruth Andrews.
David Apodaca, Oscar Aragon, Lidia Araiza, Maria Arambula, Juan Aranda, John Arango, Jorge Arellano, Aurora Arias, Ana Armenta, Leonor Arreozola, Leopoldo Arroyo, Nancy Arteaga, Colett Asombang, Ikenna Asonye, Jacob Atchison, Izuchukwu, Ilse Avila, Consuelo Ayure, Araceli Azua, Joshua Badgley, Blanca Badillo, Kanisha Bailey, Tajudeen Bakare, Robert Baker, Victor Balbian, Sharon Balli, Bertha Banda, Rosa Banda, Estefania Barboza, Dinah Barcenas, Patrick Barlow, Barry Barrentine, Emilio Barrera, Diana Barron , Forrest Batson, Lonnie Battist, Dulce Bautista, Courtney Benford, Dante Bennings, Alexis Bermudez, Maria Bernal, Damianna Bertagnolli, Nurul Beshara and Claudia Betancourt. Mario Betancourt, and Matthew Bird.
Shanerica Blackshire, Michael Blank, Shirley Blaze, Diana Bocanegra, Timmie Bodison, Dashonda Boniaby, Karla Bonilla, Maria Botello, Charlene Bradley, Adam Breed, Jason Brooks, Ollie Brooks, Jamie Brown, Laura Brown, Rita Bueno, Thomas Burling, Clarence Burton, George Bush, James Bushek, Alejandra Bustamante, Alexander Cabrera, Patricia Cabrera, Roberto Cabrera, Celia Cain, Armando Calderon, Gabriel Calderon, Antonia Caldwell, Eric Caldwell, Alain Calvillo, Valentin Camano, Edgar Campa, Danny Campos, Rafael Campos, Hector Cantu, Irma Cantu, Jerry Cantu, Martha Cantu, Roy Cantu, Mellisa Cardenas, Rosario Cardenas, Yadira Cardenas, Maria Cardona, Perla Cardoza, Pedro Carmona and Maria Carrizales.
Dominique Cartee, John Carter, Latise Carter, Lekeisha Carter, Claudia Carvajal, Jeanpierre Casaubon, Martin Castaneda, Lina Castellanos, Juan Castellanos-Smith, Alex Castille, Dany Castillo, Joel Castillo Nancy Nancy Castillo, Sara Castillo, Maribel Castrejon, Claudia Castro, Eduardo Castro, Pete Cavazos, Irma Ceja, Hector Cerda, Ishmael Ceron, Elizabeth Cervantes, Jeffery Chabera, Joseph Chakis, Kevin Chandler, Georgia Charles, Noelia Charo, Celia Chavarria, Santino Chavey, Diana Chavez, Dorothy Chayut, Francis Cherry, Jennifer Chevalier, Cameron Clark, Ernest Clark, Tiana Clark, Charles Coleman, Rhonda Collins, Enrique Contreras, Andrea Cooper, Chrissa Cooper, Logan Cornwell, Roberto Corona and Daisy Cortez.
Karla Cortez, Monica Cortez, Viridiana Cortez, Jennifer Cribb, Nakeisha Crosby, Agustin Cruz, Americo Cruz, Antonio Cruz, Jose Cruz, Lucia Cruz, Lucy Cruz, Maribel Cruz, Rocio Cruz, Ruben Cuellar, Ruben Cuevas, David Christopher and Dahaira Curiela. With apologies to the 449 grads we weren’t able to list, we offer our sincere congratulations to the G.E. D. recipients who had the courage to take a giant step-- from where they were-- to where they want to go.