Queens Borough President Donovan Richards speaks at the Black History Month Celebration at Queens Borough Hall.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and the African American Heritage Month Committee closed out Black History Month with the annual Black History Month Celebration at Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
The event celebrated Queens’ rich African American heritage and recognized outstanding Black community leaders. Thirteen exceptional Queens high school students received a $1,000 scholarship through the Borough President’s African American Heritage Committee.
Musical and artistic highlights were Patricia McLaughlin, who opened the event with renditions of the National Anthem and the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a dance performance by Justin Johnson to the theme song of the movie Selma, “Glory” by Commons and John Legend. Dancers and drummers with the Devore Dance Center concluded the celebration.
Richards, the first male Black Queens borough president, acknowledged that representing the 2.4 million residents of the World’s Boro came with great responsibility.
“We do the work we do to leave this place better than we found it to improve the lives of each and everyone right here,” Richards said.
The Queens Beep had recently traveled to Nigeria, Africa, and also visited the Point of No Return, a former major slave port on Gberefu Island, through which thousands of Africans were forced onto slave ships.
“You think of how powerful it is that our ancestors were forced here and how we can stand here in Borough Hall tonight,” Richards said. “I’ve literally sat on the beach that we were enslaved on.”
At a time when states are banning books about Black History, Richards called on everyone to pass down the history of African Americans.
“People out here talking about slavery never existed. I mean, come on,” Richards said….
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