For the record: I will not spend my time defending why my organization is called Empower Black Families. I believe in treating people as individuals while also recognizing the challenges that exist within Black communities. Both things can be true at the same time. 

My focus isn’t on arguing about the name. My focus is on the work. 

So, on that note… 

I’ve been labeled as “hostile”, an “angry individual”, and “antagonistic.’ Calling me angry, hostile, and antagonistic, is an outdated tactic that no longer works. Reporting me to the former chief deputy and city attorney hasn’t stopped me from speaking out as well.  

As the founder of Empower Black Families, my priority is ensuring that our communities are never left in the dark.  

Historically, speaking in Pensacola has come with immense challenges, and our communities know that speaking out sometimes comes at a cost. I was born and raised here. My family and I personally knew the late Escambia County Commissioner Willie Junior.  

While the state closed the case as a suicide, those of us who knew the late Willie Junior personally know that the official story has never added up. The official narrative has never sat right with the people of Pensacola, and I refuse to pretend it does. 

We remember civil rights icon; the late Rev. H.K. Matthews who was wrongfully jailed on false pretenses, blacklisted, and sadly, abandoned by some in our own communities out of fear of retaliation. He was then forced to leave Pensacola, the very city he fought to improve.  

We remember frontline civil rights leader, the late Rev. B.J. Brooks Sr., who was arrested alongside Rev. Matthews, and banned from participating in any public demonstrations in Florida, as a requirement of his probation.  

We look to leaders like the late Rev. R.N. Gooden, who served as the State Field Director for the Florida Conference of NAACP Branches. Rev. Gooden was also instrumental in Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee being pardoned. This case happened in Port St Joe Florida; which is where my grandparents settled in the 1940’s, after moving from Alabama. My grandfather worked on the railroad. I will make a separate post regarding Port St Joe. 

There will be an upcoming post focusing on the Black women that helped shape Pensacola. 

Tactics of violence and retaliation were designed to make our people afraid to stand up. But I am not afraid. When you demand transparency, those who prefer to operate in the dark will always find the environment uncomfortable when you bring issues to light and demand accountability. 

The days of gatekeeping information are over. I will continue to ask hard questions and speak out. I sincerely hope that I will not be standing alone.