IBSA
March 13th, 2008, 07:59 AM
A sold out audience benefitting the Sandra Lassiter group's effort to renovate Sumner Academy, heard some rousing reasons why they should support the project. BET Political Analyst and motival speaker Jeff Johnson told the audience they're not only helping restore a building (if they're really getting involved..) but also restoring the legacy of Topeka's rich education history.
Johnson began by criticizing the states that "spend more on incarceration than on education.." and that our young people should not walk outside wondering "how good their dreadlocks look" but being empowered to envision their future with a post-collegiate education and a vision on how they can change the world. Johnson also defined differences between "old people" and "elders" saying elders are the ones who share that rich Topeka history with the younger generation so they can appreciate its impact. His many messages to the cheering audience included restoring the "self esteem of a younger generation struggling to understand who they are."
Lassiter said the Sumner Restoration Project is attempting to raise $3.6 million dollars to rebuild the school as a charter school of diversity in Topeka.
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======Topeka Capital-Journal======
BET personality helps raise money for Sumner
By Barbara Hollingsworth
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, March 13, 2008
There was no talk of a rejected charter school bid. No mention of the acrimony that followed.
The message Wednesday night — delivered like a Sunday sermon from the pulpit — was one of responsibility for turning a boarded-up eyesore into a community jewel. Sumner Elementary School, about 250 people gathered in downtown Topeka were told, needs their enthusiasm and their money.
"The project, this vision is more than about restoring a building. It's about restoring a legacy that education is important," said Jeff Johnson, who also is known as "Cousin Jeff" and has appeared on such BET programs as "Rap City" and worked as a correspondent for the network.
Days are ticking away until the May 31 deadline by which Sandra Lassiter and Community First must put together funding for restoring Sumner. The school — a National Historic Landmark — has fallen into disrepair since being abandoned as an elementary school more than a decade ago as part of desegregation efforts in Topeka Unified School District 501.
But Sumner's legacy makes it a continuing source of interest. Named for an anti-slavery leader, Sumner was an all-white school when Oliver Brown — the lead plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education — was turned away when attempting to enroll his daughter, Linda Brown. The all-black school Linda Brown attended, Monroe Elementary, since has been turned into a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service.
Lassiter is still quiet about exactly what it will take to put the building back together and turn it into a multiservice community hub and school. But fliers handed out Wednesday night say a $3.6 million campaign is being mounted. A bank already has pledged to buy historic tax credits for the work, which would increase dollars available for the restoration.
Wednesday's event served as a kickoff and energy booster to local fundraising efforts. Even with setbacks, Lassiter has been difficult to deter and on Wednesday described the efforts as "a God assignment."
"We are going to restore the historic Sumner school," Lassiter definitively told the crowd.
Betty Horton, a friend of Lassiter's and outspoken supporter as a school board member in Topeka Unified School District 501, said she remains optimistic that Lassiter can get off the ground plans for a preschool and school serving children in kindergarten through third grade. Horton had lashed out angrily when school board members late last year rejected a charter school plan calling for the use of Sumner.
But on Wednesday, Horton spoke of hopes that the district could work with Lassiter.
"What we may be looking at is just some sort of partnership with the district," she said.
Avondale East Elementary principal Duke Palmer said using a different strategy to reach children could mean new opportunities.
"The concept is great," he said Wednesday night.
Johnson challenged the crowd to not only open their pocketbooks but to become soldiers in seeing through her vision. Restoring the building, he said, is about turning the tide in a struggling area. It is about recognizing the important legacy of education in the black community.
"This is more than about restoring a building," he said. "It's about restoring the self esteem of a generation of young people who have yet to understand who they are."
Barbara Hollingsworth can be reached at (785) 295-1285 or barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com (barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com)
http://cjonline.com/stories/031308/loc_256554932.shtml (http://cjonline.com/stories/031308/loc_256554932.shtml)
Johnson began by criticizing the states that "spend more on incarceration than on education.." and that our young people should not walk outside wondering "how good their dreadlocks look" but being empowered to envision their future with a post-collegiate education and a vision on how they can change the world. Johnson also defined differences between "old people" and "elders" saying elders are the ones who share that rich Topeka history with the younger generation so they can appreciate its impact. His many messages to the cheering audience included restoring the "self esteem of a younger generation struggling to understand who they are."
Lassiter said the Sumner Restoration Project is attempting to raise $3.6 million dollars to rebuild the school as a charter school of diversity in Topeka.
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/16632141.html (http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/16632141.html) http://media.graytvinc.com/designimages/wrdw-video-included.gif (http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/16632141.html#)
======Topeka Capital-Journal======
BET personality helps raise money for Sumner
By Barbara Hollingsworth
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, March 13, 2008
There was no talk of a rejected charter school bid. No mention of the acrimony that followed.
The message Wednesday night — delivered like a Sunday sermon from the pulpit — was one of responsibility for turning a boarded-up eyesore into a community jewel. Sumner Elementary School, about 250 people gathered in downtown Topeka were told, needs their enthusiasm and their money.
"The project, this vision is more than about restoring a building. It's about restoring a legacy that education is important," said Jeff Johnson, who also is known as "Cousin Jeff" and has appeared on such BET programs as "Rap City" and worked as a correspondent for the network.
Days are ticking away until the May 31 deadline by which Sandra Lassiter and Community First must put together funding for restoring Sumner. The school — a National Historic Landmark — has fallen into disrepair since being abandoned as an elementary school more than a decade ago as part of desegregation efforts in Topeka Unified School District 501.
But Sumner's legacy makes it a continuing source of interest. Named for an anti-slavery leader, Sumner was an all-white school when Oliver Brown — the lead plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education — was turned away when attempting to enroll his daughter, Linda Brown. The all-black school Linda Brown attended, Monroe Elementary, since has been turned into a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service.
Lassiter is still quiet about exactly what it will take to put the building back together and turn it into a multiservice community hub and school. But fliers handed out Wednesday night say a $3.6 million campaign is being mounted. A bank already has pledged to buy historic tax credits for the work, which would increase dollars available for the restoration.
Wednesday's event served as a kickoff and energy booster to local fundraising efforts. Even with setbacks, Lassiter has been difficult to deter and on Wednesday described the efforts as "a God assignment."
"We are going to restore the historic Sumner school," Lassiter definitively told the crowd.
Betty Horton, a friend of Lassiter's and outspoken supporter as a school board member in Topeka Unified School District 501, said she remains optimistic that Lassiter can get off the ground plans for a preschool and school serving children in kindergarten through third grade. Horton had lashed out angrily when school board members late last year rejected a charter school plan calling for the use of Sumner.
But on Wednesday, Horton spoke of hopes that the district could work with Lassiter.
"What we may be looking at is just some sort of partnership with the district," she said.
Avondale East Elementary principal Duke Palmer said using a different strategy to reach children could mean new opportunities.
"The concept is great," he said Wednesday night.
Johnson challenged the crowd to not only open their pocketbooks but to become soldiers in seeing through her vision. Restoring the building, he said, is about turning the tide in a struggling area. It is about recognizing the important legacy of education in the black community.
"This is more than about restoring a building," he said. "It's about restoring the self esteem of a generation of young people who have yet to understand who they are."
Barbara Hollingsworth can be reached at (785) 295-1285 or barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com (barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com)
http://cjonline.com/stories/031308/loc_256554932.shtml (http://cjonline.com/stories/031308/loc_256554932.shtml)