DeKalb County Shows Unified Vision at Capitol, Elevates Students and Legislative Priorities

DeKalb County leaders united at the Georgia Capitol, advancing transportation, housing, and education priorities while elevating student voices and highlighting a powerful moment of shared leadership.

By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | March 27, 2026

DeKalb County leaders arrived at the Georgia State Capitol with a clear message: unity, coordination, and results.

At this year’s DeKalb Day at the Capitol, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson addressed lawmakers, community leaders, and more than 500 students, outlining a focused legislative agenda while emphasizing collaboration across all 12 cities.

“We are showing up as one DeKalb,” Cochran-Johnson said, reinforcing a theme that echoed throughout the event.

A Unified County Approach

This year marked the largest DeKalb Day turnout in the county’s history, with elected officials, mayors, commissioners, and state legislators aligned around shared priorities.

From the House and Senate delegations to the Board of Commissioners, leaders emphasized a coordinated strategy entering the legislative session, one designed to strengthen DeKalb’s voice under the Gold Dome.

Carla Drenner highlighted the county’s diversity and strength, noting that DeKalb represents more than 100 nationalities and over 140 languages.

“It takes a village to govern,” Drenner said. “We stand with each other because we are DeKalb strong.”

Transportation, Housing, and Economic Growth

At the top of the county’s agenda: transportation.

Officials pointed to a new transit master plan aimed at improving connectivity and expanding access across the region. Cochran-Johnson emphasized that mobility is central to DeKalb’s future.

Housing affordability also emerged as a critical issue. The county is backing rental registry legislation led in part by Mary Margaret Oliver to track investor-owned properties and improve housing conditions.

Cochran-Johnson noted that more than 50% of residential property sales south of Memorial Drive since 2020 have gone to investors rather than individuals.

Public Safety and Environmental Concerns

Illegal tire dumping—an issue that continues to impact DeKalb neighborhoods—was also front and center.

County leaders called for stronger penalties and highlighted cleanup efforts, including the removal of more than 30,000 tires through a county initiative.

Education and Student Voices Take Center Stage

A defining feature of the day was the presence of more than 500 students from DeKalb County schools, many of whom participated directly in the program.

Norman Sauce III outlined priorities including school funding reform, workforce development, and expanded mental health services.

And then something small—but powerful—happened. As Taliah McPherson walked up to speak, talking about mental health and what students are really dealing with, the CEO didn’t step aside. She stayed. Right there. Holding the microphone steady so the student’s voice could carry across the room. No announcement. No attention drawn to it. Just a quiet act that said: your voice matters enough for me to support it. And in that moment, the whole idea of “leadership” shifted. It wasn’t about position. It was about presence.

The students didn’t waste that moment.

They talked about stress. About pressure. About systems that don’t always work when they need help the most.

One student said it clearly: if leaders care about students, prove it.

Fund the support. Remove the barriers. Act.

McPherson called for greater awareness and access to mental health support for students, emphasizing the need to remove stigma and expand resources.

“Mental health should be something we can talk about openly,” she said.

High school senior Gavin Brown reinforced the urgency, pointing to barriers that prevent students from receiving timely care.

“The time for discussion has passed,” Brown said. “Now is the time for action.”

A Call to Civic Engagement

Throughout the program, leaders emphasized civic participation—especially for young people.

Cochran-Johnson encouraged students to see themselves as future leaders, reminding them that leadership begins with preparation and presence.

Moving Forward as “One DeKalb”

Closing remarks reinforced a shared commitment to collaboration, with leaders pledging continued focus on infrastructure, economic development, and education.

“As elected officials, our greatest strength is in working together,” said Chakira Johnson.

“Our partnerships are strong,” Cochran-Johnson said. “And our future is strong.”

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Bipartisan Bill Aims to Unlock Federal Research Dollars for HBCUs

By Milton Kirby | Washington, D.C. | March 26, 2026

A new bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate could reshape how Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) access federal research funding, addressing long-standing barriers that have limited their participation in major grant programs.

Senators Raphael Warnock and Katie Britt have introduced the HBCU Research Capacity Act, legislation designed to simplify and centralize access to federal grant opportunities for HBCUs.

At the core of the proposal is the creation of a federally coordinated online clearinghouse a single platform where HBCUs can identify, track, and apply for research and development funding opportunities, particularly in STEM fields. The bill would also require the U.S. Department of Education to provide guidance, best practices, and ongoing updates to institutions nationwide.

Addressing Structural Gaps in Research Funding

For decades, federal research dollars have been concentrated among a relatively small group of institutions, leaving many HBCUs despite their academic output and cultural impact at a disadvantage.

“HBCUs are incubators of diverse excellence,” Warnock said, noting that the legislation is intended to “make securing federal dollars… that much easier.”

Britt echoed that sentiment, describing the bill as a “commonsense” solution grounded in firsthand experience with the challenges HBCUs face.

The issue is not new, but the approach is notable. Rather than creating new funding streams, the legislation focuses on access recognizing that many institutions struggle not with eligibility, but with navigating a fragmented and complex federal grant system.

HBCU Leaders Push for Change

To support the bill’s introduction, the senators convened more than 30 HBCU presidents in Washington for a roundtable discussion. Leaders from institutions including Fort Valley State University and Albany State University participated, emphasizing the need for a more transparent and coordinated funding process.

Their message was consistent: opportunity exists, but access remains uneven.

Dr. Harry L. Williams, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, described the legislation as a “major step” toward expanding the nation’s research ecosystem by fully integrating HBCUs into it.

Similarly, the United Negro College Fund praised the bill while cautioning that broader reforms will still be needed to ensure equitable participation across all HBCUs including those that may never achieve top-tier research classifications but play a critical role in the academic pipeline.

A Broader Strategy for Research Equity

The proposed clearinghouse would be supported by dedicated personnel within the Department of Education and include regular reporting to Congress, along with updates to participating institutions.

The bill builds on earlier efforts led by Warnock, including legislation encouraging pathways for HBCUs to achieve “R1” status the highest classification for research activity in higher education. Notably, Howard University recently achieved that designation, signaling what advocates say is possible with sustained investment and support.

The legislation also aligns with broader federal initiatives, including funding streams established under the CHIPS and Science Act, which included provisions to support Minority Serving Institutions in accessing federal research dollars.

What Comes Next

If passed, the HBCU Research Capacity Act would amend Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965, formalizing the federal government’s role in coordinating research opportunities for HBCUs.

For institutions that have historically done more with less, the bill represents a potential shift not just in funding, but in how opportunity is structured.

As policymakers and educators continue to debate the future of higher education, one question remains central: how to ensure that talent wherever it is found  has a clear path to resources.

This legislation suggests one answer: make the system easier to see, and easier to access.

ARTIST PROFILE: Anton Cunningham

By Milton Kirby | Truth Seekers Journal | Artist Profiles Series

THE SON WHO BECAME THE STORYTELLER:

Preserving the Legacy of Lu Vason

When Anton sat down with Valeria Howard Cunningham, the widow of Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo (BPIR) founder Lu Vason, he didn’t just find a client he found a responsibility. Valeria had spent a decade trying to capture Lu’s lightning in a bottle, trying to honor the first love of her life and the cultural institution he built. She needed someone who could carry that weight with care.

She didn’t choose a historian, a journalist, or a seasoned biographer.
She chose Anton Cunningham, a man whose connection to the story was not academic, but spiritual. A man whose own life had been shaped by loss, reinvention, and the search for purpose. A man who understood, in his bones, what it means to carry a legacy forward.

Anton didn’t set out to become a writer. His journey began on basketball courts in Pasadena, California, where he grew up before earning a scholarship to Georgia Southwestern in Americus. What was supposed to be a practical decision, a scholarship his parents encouraged him to take, became the beginning of a new life. Georgia opened him up. Atlanta shaped him. The Atlanta University Center (AUC), the fraternity culture, the energy of Black excellence all around him – it showed him a different version of success, one rooted in community and ambition.

“Every one of our stories is somebody else’s medicine,” Anton says, reflecting on the process. “I was reading about Lu’s early days in Louisiana and his grandmother, and I thought, Man, that’s my grandma. I was reading about his struggles, and I was reading about myself.”

Before he ever touched a manuscript, Anton spent two decades in the fitness industry training clients, managing teams, and listening to people’s stories. “Sometimes those sessions were therapy,” he says. “People weren’t just trying to lose weight. They were trying to find strength, clarity, confidence.” Those conversations planted the seeds of something he didn’t yet recognize: a calling to help people tell their stories.

After twenty years, Anton stepped away from fitness and into entrepreneurship. He launched a marketing agency, learned digital advertising, and eventually founded KAJA Publishing – a company dedicated to helping people turn their lived experiences into books. “We’re all walking miracles,” he says. “But because it’s our story, we push it to the back.”

He began writing his first book, studying the craft by listening to Stephen King, James Patterson, and others talk about storytelling. “They all said the same thing,” Anton recalls. “Tell your story so people can understand it. Don’t worry about being perfect, be honest.”

Then came the conversation that changed everything.

Valeria told Anton she had been trying to write Lu’s story for nearly a decade. She had promised him she would preserve his legacy, but the emotional weight of the task had become overwhelming. Anton asked to see what she had written. He drafted the first chapter. Then the second. And as he reread his own words, he felt something he hadn’t expected: this feels right.

When Valeria read those early pages and told him she loved them, it gave him confidence. But the deeper confirmation came from the story itself. As he wrote, Anton came across a quote from Lu that stopped him cold:

“Everybody has a story — what’s yours?”

It was the same message Anton had already written on his own website before he ever touched the manuscript. “It was like God tapped me on the shoulder,” he says. “This is your assignment.”

Writing Under the Western Skies became more than a project.
It became a mirror.

The early chapters about Lu’s childhood in Louisiana reminded Anton of his own family roots in Albany, Georgia, the heat, the dirt roads, the sound of insects at night, the wisdom of grandparents who shaped entire generations. “I was reading about him,” Anton says, “but I was also reading about myself.”

The parallels deepened when Anton reached the parts of Lu’s life marked by loss and reinvention. Lu had endured heartbreak, the death of his mother, and moments of profound uncertainty before finding his purpose in the rodeo. Anton understood that journey intimately. A year and a half earlier, he had lost his own mother – the person whose love had anchored him since childhood. Soon after, a long‑term relationship ended. “I had to find who I was again,” he says. “I had to sit still, get quiet, and really understand myself.”

Writing Lu’s story became part of that healing.
It gave him structure.
It gave him purpose.
It gave him a way back to himself.

As Anton wrote, he also began to see the rodeo through new eyes. He traveled to BPIR events in Atlanta, Fort Worth, Baltimore, and D.C., watching the crowds, meeting the competitors, and witnessing the unique energy each city brought. He recognized faces from the manuscript, connected names to stories, and saw firsthand how the rodeo had become a cultural institution – a place where history, identity, and community converged.

“This was one man’s dream,” he says. “But look at how many lives it touches. Look at how many people it inspires. That’s legacy.”

That legacy came full circle when Anton’s father, Ronnie Cunningham, stepped into the room during our interview. Ronnie introduced himself with quiet pride:

“I’m Ronnie Cunningham. Anton is my second of four sons.”

He had read Anton’s book.
He loved it.
And then he said something that revealed just how far Anton had come:

“He’s my publisher. I’m working on my fourth book with him now.”

A father who once guided his son was now trusting that same son to guide his voice into the world.
A generational exchange.
A legacy expanding.

Anton’s gift as a storyteller isn’t limited to the page. It shows up in everyday life, in the way he listens, the way he observes, and the way he follows the threads of history that others overlook. During a recent trip to Charleston, he found himself surrounded by people carrying names with deep historical weight: Middleton. Ravenel. Names tied to plantations, to slavery, to centuries of intertwined Black and white lineage.

He asked questions. He listened. He connected dots. And suddenly, strangers at a bar were leaning in, drawn into a conversation about ancestry, identity, and the stories we inherit without even realizing it. “I’m a publisher,” he told them. “I write books. I’m fascinated by stories like this.”

That moment — spontaneous, unplanned, electric — captured exactly who Anton is.
A man who sees stories where others see silence.
A man who asks questions that bring people together.
A man who believes that truth, even when complicated, can be a bridge.

It’s the same instinct that guided him through Under the Western Skies.
The same instinct that fuels his publishing work.
The same instinct that makes him a cultural steward in his own right.

Because for Anton, stories aren’t just entertainment.
They are maps.
They are medicine.
They are the threads that connect us across generations, across histories, across the lines we didn’t draw but still carry.

And that is why Valeria Howard Cunningham chose him.

Not because he was the most experienced writer.
Not because he had the longest résumé.
But because he understood the assignment in his spirit.

He understood that preserving Lu Vason’s story wasn’t just about documenting the past.
It was about honoring a legacy, healing through purpose, and ensuring that the cultural institution Lu built — the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — continues to inspire future generations.

Anton Cunningham didn’t just write a book. He answered a calling. And in doing so, he became the storyteller his father, Valeria, and the BPIR community didn’t even know they were waiting for.

To get your copy           Under the Western Skies: Luv Vason: Dreamer to Visionary, Visionary to Pioneer

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SHADOW BALL: Learning More About Negro League History

A few weeks ago, I asked readers: What manager has been named to the Baseball Hall of Fame for Negro League performance? Nobody offered a guess, so I gave everybody credit because just like umpires, second baseman, right fielders, and true left fielders — there are no managers in the Hall for Negro League play. To be clear, 24 of the 37 Negro League Hall of Famers did manage but none of them are in for that role.

This begs the question – which Negro League managers do deserve – like John McGraw, Connie Mack, or Ned Hanlon – induction in Cooperstown.

My favorite Negro League Hall of Fame Managerial Candidates:

#5        Frank Duncan, jr – true baseball lifer … guided the Kansas City Monarchs to a World Series win as a rookie manager in 1942 … 86 games over .500 … captured another pennant after the war in ’46. Managed five Hall of Famers. Ranked 59th most eligible candidate in the 42 for ’21 poll.

#4        Frank Warfield         – a favorite of mine but not a first ballot candidate … among his strengths: his career record is 84 games over .500, with three pennants (with two different franchises) and a 1925 World Series title with the Hilldale Club. Manage 8 Hall of Famers. Ranked 56th in the 42 for ’21.

SLAM DUNKS:

#3        Dave Malarcher – perhaps a stronger candidate as a third baseman …  succeeded Rube Foster as American Giant manager during the ’26 season; stabilized the team capturing 2nd half flag, defeating the Monarchs in the playoff before winning the World Series over Atlantic City. Repeated in ’27 over those same Atlantic City Bacharach Giants. Won a 3rd pennant in ’32. Managed 4 Hall of Famers. 22nd in the 42 for ’21 poll.

#2        Candy Jim Taylor – 13th in the 42 for ’21 poll (although 3rd in his family behind Hall of Famer Ben Taylor and 11th place C.I. Taylor) … managed more games in Negro League play than all other managers … like Connie Mack, Candy Jim had a losing record but did capture two World Series and three pennants … managed 14 Hall of Famers

#1        Vic Harris has the best winning percentage of any Major League manager with more than 370 games in the dugout …  Only three managers (McGraw, Mack, McCarthy) during the Segregated Era have won more than his seven pennants. He is ranked 6th in the 42 for ’21 poll and has managed 15 Hall of Fame players.

All three of those Harris, Taylor and Malarcher should have been in the National Baseball Hall of Fame years ago.

Others deserving consideration: Quincey Trouppe, Felton Snow, Grant Johnson, C.I. Taylor, John Reese, Jose Maria Fernandez, Dizzy Dimukes, Piper Davis, and Winfield Welch. Many of these also should be considered as executives (Taylor) and/or players (Johnson, Trouppe, Davis). I guess my main point would be the Hall of Fame has some work to do in honoring Negro League players in general and Managers specifically.

The Shadowball Significa Question of the Week: Who was the first African American pitcher to toss a no hitter in Major League baseball? I will accept two answers for this question for reasons that will be obvious next column – dateline April 14th, 2nd Tuesday of the month. Send your answer and any comments on the Negro Leagues to shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com or Shadow Ball, 3904 N Druid Hills Rd, Ste 179, Decatur, GA 30033

Ted Knorr

Last week’s The Shadowball Significa Question of the Week: Who was Major League slugger Barry Bonds Godfather? No one offered a guess, but it was another five tool outfielder Willie Mays. I hope some more folks offer a guess to this week’s Significa question above.

Ted Knorr is a Negro League baseball historian, longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research’s Negro League Committee, and founder of the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference and several local Negro League Commemorative Nights in central Pennsylvania.

Why Optimization Without Context Feels Like Loss

By Florita Bell Griffin, Ph.D. | Houston, TX | March 24, 2026

Optimization is usually presented as improvement. Processes become faster. Costs are reduced. Outputs become more consistent. From a technical perspective, optimization appears neutral, even beneficial. It is framed as refinement rather than change.

Yet many people experience optimization differently. Instead of feeling helped, they feel diminished. Something familiar disappears. Interactions become thinner. Choice narrows. What was once flexible becomes rigid. Optimization begins to feel like loss. This reaction is often dismissed as sentimentality or resistance. In reality, it is a response to missing context.

Optimization works by isolating variables. It simplifies complexity so that systems can be measured, tuned, and controlled. In doing so, it necessarily strips away elements that are harder to quantify: judgment, nuance, exception, and local knowledge. These elements are not remembered unless they are explicitly preserved. When they disappear, people notice.

Consider a workplace that optimizes workflows to eliminate inefficiency. Tasks are standardized. Timelines tighten. Decision paths are clarified. Productivity increases. Yet employees feel less trusted. Their discretion shrinks. Work becomes predictable but less meaningful. What has been optimized is output. What has been lost is agency.

The same pattern appears in consumer systems. A service streamlines its interface to reduce steps. Defaults are chosen automatically. Recommendations replace exploration. The experience becomes easier, yet also narrower. Users reach outcomes more quickly, but they lose the sense of navigating on their own terms. Optimization has removed friction, but it has also removed participation.

Loss emerges when optimization forgets what the system once accommodated. Early versions of systems often include space for improvisation. Users adapt tools to fit their needs. Workarounds emerge. Informal practices develop. These are signals of human engagement, not inefficiency. When optimization erases them, it erases evidence of how people actually live with systems.

Context explains why this matters. Context carries meaning across time. It holds the reasons certain choices existed, why exceptions were allowed, and how people compensated for system limitations. When optimization proceeds without carrying this context forward, it creates discontinuity. The system may improve internally while becoming less inhabitable externally.

This is especially visible to people with experience. They remember what the system used to allow. They recognize when flexibility has been replaced by constraint. They understand that what appears cleaner on paper can feel harsher in practice. Their response is not nostalgia. It is pattern recognition.

Optimization also changes how systems treat difference. Variability is often treated as noise to be eliminated. Edge cases become burdens. Diversity of use becomes inefficiency. Over time, systems optimize toward the average while marginalizing those who fall outside it. The system performs well for many while quietly excluding some.

Consider an automated eligibility system designed to speed up approvals. Clear rules reduce processing time. Decisions become consistent. Yet applicants with non-standard circumstances struggle to fit. Appeals are difficult. Explanations are limited. The system optimizes for throughput while losing the ability to respond humanely to complexity. For those affected, optimization feels like erasure.

Context restores balance. Systems that retain context recognize why variation exists. They preserve space for exception. They document rationale alongside rules. They allow optimization to proceed without flattening lived reality. Context ensures that improvement does not require forgetting.

Loss is felt when people no longer recognize themselves in the system. When familiar ways of working vanish without explanation. When judgment is replaced by enforcement. When speed replaces consideration. These shifts accumulate quietly, creating distance between system and user.

Optimization without context accelerates this distance. It privileges internal coherence over external meaning. It improves metrics while weakening trust. Over time, systems become harder to live with even as they become easier to measure.

This does not mean optimization should stop. It means optimization should remember. Systems must carry forward the context that made earlier versions workable. They must treat human adaptation as information, not inefficiency. They must recognize that not everything valuable can be optimized away.

Context is what allows systems to evolve without hollowing out. It anchors improvement to purpose. It preserves continuity between what a system does and why it exists. Without it, optimization feels subtractive.

When optimization includes context, improvement feels supportive. Change remains intelligible. People stay oriented. Loss is avoided not by preserving the past unchanged, but by carrying forward what mattered.

In an era of accelerating automation and data-driven decision-making, this distinction becomes critical. Systems that optimize without context will continue to function while alienating those they serve. Systems that optimize with context retain legitimacy.

Optimization is powerful. Context makes it humane.

© 2026 Truth Seekers Journal. Published with permission from the author. All rights reserved.

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Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 3

Howard Johnson, BPIR head judge, shapes Soul Country by listening for authenticity, guiding emerging artists, and preserving Black musical and Western cultural traditions.

The Judge Who Hears What Others Miss: Howard Johnson and the Soul of Soul Country Music Star

By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | March 24, 2026

At the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, where heritage and innovation ride side by side, Howard Johnson is more than a judge – he is a careful listener, weighing not just sound, but story, spirit, and the deeper truth behind each performance.

Photo courtesy of BPIR

To most rodeo fans, he is the steady presence behind the judges’ table.
But Johnson’s story stretches far beyond the arena dirt.

Long before he was evaluating rising artists, Johnson was lending his voice to the soundtrack of Black cinema, performing three of the male singing voices in the iconic The Five Heartbeats.

“Three quarters of the building don’t know my other life besides being a cowboy,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve been blessed, truly.” Blessed and shaped by a lifetime of music, history, and a deep sense of responsibility to the next generation.

What Soul Country Really Means

When asked what he looks for in a Soul Country Music Star, Johnson’s answer is immediate.

“It’s right in the title – the soul and the country,” he said. “I don’t want anybody who sounds like Charley Pride or Vince Gill or Garth Brooks. I want someone who sounds like us.”

For Johnson, “us” is not a genre. It is a cultural fingerprint, an instinctive blend of gospel, blues, R&B, and lived Black experience.

He points to Ray Charles, Al Green, and the gospel quartets of his youth as examples of how closely soul and country have always lived alongside each other.

“Take an early Al Green song, remove the B3 organ, add a steel pedal, you’ve basically got country,” he said.

Hearing What Others Miss

Johnson doesn’t just judge talent; he listens for what others overlook.

Two artists, now winners of consecutive seasons, stand as proof of that instinct: Kirk Jay and Nathaniel Dansby.

Kirk Jay, the Season One (2024) winner, impressed Johnson with his writing and presence.
“He’s an incredible writer,” Johnson said. “He had the playing, the soul, and that youthful enthusiasm.”

Nathaniel Dansby, who would go on to win Season Two (2025), took a very different path.

In his first audition, other judges scored him low. Johnson was stunned.

“I asked them, ‘What are you listening for?’ Because I heard something special,” he said. “I had him in the 90s. Others had him under 50.”

Dansby nearly walked away from music after that moment.

When he returned the following year — frustrated but determined — Johnson pulled him aside.

“Don’t quit,” he told him. “Come back.”

He did — and delivered a performance that ultimately led to his Season Two victory.

“Your encouragement is what brought me back,” Dansby later told him.

Moments like that define Johnson’s approach.

“You’re dealing with people in the early stages of their talent,” he said. “Who am I to tear that down?”

He is not just judging talent; he is helping it find its footing.

A Childhood That Shaped a Judge

Johnson’s reluctance to crush a dream comes from a painful memory.

At nine years old, singing in a Miami church, he was told he was “too Black.”

He cried the entire ride home. His father, enraged, attempted to turn the car around with a gun in hand. His mother stopped him.

“That moment never left me,” Johnson said. “It shaped how I treat people who are just starting.”

It is why he refuses to judge with cruelty.
It is why he listens for possibility, not perfection.

Photo courtesy of BPIR – Howard Johnson

From Mailman Dreams to a No. 1 Hit

Johnson’s own career began by accident.

At 19, he had taken the civil service exam and planned to become a mailman. Singing was something he expected to do only in church.

But a dare from a friend changed everything.

In a Miami park, he hit a high note from Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Mighty Mighty” that he didn’t know he had.

Two weeks later, he was discovered. Six months later, he had a No. 1 pop hit – So Fine.

“I wasn’t supposed to be singing secular music,” he said. “But that moment changed my life.”

The Blueprint and the Power of the Audience

Johnson believes the music industry’s secrets are not secrets at all.

“The easiest thing to write is a hit song,” he said. “There are thousands of hit records before you. Look at the blueprint.”

Marketing, distribution, radio, and visibility the formulas already exist. But in Johnson’s view, the real power has always rested with the audience. “The people pick the hits,” he said.

For artists coming through Soul Country Music Star, that truth matters. It means success is not reserved for those with industry access alone, but for those who can connect.

The BPIR as Cultural Restoration

Johnson sees the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo as a place where Black Western history is actively carried forward.

He speaks of the origins of the word “cowboy,” born from white ranchers refusing to call Black cattle hands “men.” He speaks of language, history, and identity and how those stories shape the present.

“There are a lot of knowledgeable people around this rodeo,” he said. “It’s a family” he said.

Through the BPIR, Johnson found not just a platform, but a deeper connection to a history that continues to unfold.

AI, Creativity, and What Machines Can’t Touch

Johnson is clear-eyed about artificial intelligence. He uses it for business planning, but not for music.

“There’s an emotional element AI will always miss,” he said. “Some of the AI music is incredible, but the human part is missing.” He believes that for artists grounded in truth, songwriting will endure.

A Call for Investment in Black Institutions

Johnson’s critique of corporate America is direct.

Black consumers are among the top spenders in major industries, yet those same companies rarely invest in Black communities or institutions.

“Have you ever seen a Nike center in a Black community?” he asked. “Why hasn’t someone said, ‘Let’s invest in something like the Bill Pickett Foundation?’”

He points to the rodeo’s community work; hospital visits, youth programs, and cultural education as deserving of broader support.

No More Single Leaders, Only Collective Power

When asked whether Black America needs another singular leader, Johnson shook his head. “No, we don’t,” he said. “We need us.” He warns against movements built around one figure, pointing to history as a reminder of how fragile that model can be. But collective movement, he believes, is different. When people move together, the impact is lasting.

A Legacy That Cannot Be Contained

Johnson’s pride in Black innovation is boundless.

He speaks of breakthroughs in sports, science, and culture contributions often overlooked, yet foundational.

“They have a reason to be afraid,” he said. “Anything we touch sports, science, whatever, they have to change the rules.”

From Tiger Woods to Stephen Curry, he sees a pattern: excellence that reshapes the landscape.

The Conversation Ends, but the Work Continues

As the interview concluded, Johnson apologized for talking so much.

But his words were not digressions, they were direction.

“It shows what the umbrella could be,” he said. “What I bring to it. How I make the selections I make.”

In his voice, his history, and his convictions lies the heartbeat of Soul Country Music Star itself.

Country Roots, Diverse Beats: Celebrating the Rich Tapestry of Soul in Country Music.

Agricenter International Showplace Theater – 7777 Walnut Grove Rd, Memphis, TN

Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo

Music Competition – Friday, April 10, 2026 | 7:00 pm 8:00 pm Competition

 BPIR Rodeo – Saturday, April 11, 2026 | 1:30 pm or 7:30 pm

Event Tickets and additional information

Upcoming in the TSJ series – Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo

— Kirk Jay: The Sound of Country Soul at the Rodeo
— Nathaniel Dansby (Mr. Bowleggs) : The Sound of Country Soul at the Rodeo
— Expanding Its Legacy of Community Care Through a New Partnership with Guardant Health

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Inside the National Center for Civil and Human Rights: A Journey Through Truth, Memory, and Reckoning with America’s Past

Atlanta’s Civil and Human Rights Center offers a powerful journey through America’s past, confronting injustice, honoring resilience, and challenging visitors to reflect and act

By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | March 22, 2026

Two white women stood still, silent, and visibly shaken.

They had just stepped out of the “Broken Promises: Reconstruction” exhibit at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. What they had seen—lynchings, merciless beatings, and the systematic unraveling of freedom—had left them searching for words.

That moment captures the power of the Center—a place where history is not simply displayed, but felt.

“Does history remind those who would try to erase it of their sordid past?” the exhibit seems to ask. For many who walk through these doors, the answer is a sobering yes.

Broken Promises and the Legacy of Reconstruction

Inside, visitors encounter a sweeping narrative of American history—one that refuses to look away from its darkest chapters.

The “Broken Promises” gallery examines Reconstruction, a period when newly freed Black Americans briefly gained political and social ground before those freedoms were violently stripped away. The exhibit forces visitors to confront a recurring pattern in American history: progress followed by backlash. Progress followed by backlash… Progress followed by backlash…

Photo by Milton Kirby – Freedom Riders Mugshots

From walls lined with mugshots of jailed Freedom Riders to the intimate, handwritten sermons in A Committed Life: The Morehouse College Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection, the Center functions as both a treasure trove of artifacts and a mirror to the soul of a nation.

In “A Committed Life,” Dr. King emerges not just as an icon, but as a man navigating pressure, faith, and responsibility with unwavering conviction.

A Modern Expansion for Ancient Truths

Following a $58 million renovation completed in late 2025, the Center expanded by 24,000 square feet, adding two new wings and six galleries including the Norfolk Southern-sponsored “Freedom Room.”

The goal is clear: engage a new generation through immersive, interactive learning.

But while the building is new, the stories remain raw. The expansion deepens the exploration of the “machinery of Jim Crow” and the resilience of those who dismantled it.

Mary Turner: A Story the Nation Tried to Forget

Perhaps no exhibit is more gut-wrenching than the memorial to Mary Turner.

In 1918, a white mob in Brooks County, Georgia, murdered 21-year-old Turner, a Black woman eight months pregnant after she threatened to seek justice following the lynching of her husband.

The brutality is difficult to comprehend. Turner was hung by her ankles, set on fire, mutilated, and shot hundreds of times. Her unborn baby was cut from her body and killed. Her killers were never punished.

While the Equal Justice Initiative records at least 4,075 Black Americans lynched in the South between 1877 and 1950, Turner’s death remains a singular wound.

Her death became a national flashpoint. It helped galvanize anti-lynching activism and build support for federal legislation. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 29, 2022. This historic legislation officially made lynching a federal hate crime in the United States, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. It passed the House on February 28, 2022, and the Senate on March 7, 2022 more than 100 years after Mary Turner’s gruesome death.

Even today, the tension remains. A memorial plaque erected in 2010 was riddled with bullets within a year. A simple steel cross now stands in its place—a quiet testament to a broken promise.

Confronting the Legacy

The Center’s impact is often measured in silence.

One visitor, a woman in her thirties who asked to remain anonymous, described feeling “mortified” when reflecting on the actions of her ancestors. She said the experience has changed how she moves through the world—choosing to step away from conversations where racism surfaces.

The Center does not assign guilt. But it does demand reflection.

Reclaiming History Through Art

In Reclaiming History, the Center highlights Black Southern artists from the 1980s who carried the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement into a new era.

Through paint, sculpture, and mixed media, they confronted police brutality, voter suppression, and the lingering weight of Jim Crow.

Some works speak plainly. Others whisper through abstraction. All are rooted in resilience.

The message is clear: art is not just witness, it is catalyst.

Beyond the Museum Walls

The Center is not static. It is a living institution.

Programs like Truth on the Rocks, Cup of Truth, and Reel Truth transform the space into a forum for dialogue, culture, and community:

  • Truth on the Rocks blends nightlife with history through music, cocktails, and after-hours access
  • Cup of Truth creates intimate conversations with artists and community leaders
  • Reel Truth uses film to explore overlooked stories and spark discussion
Photo by Milton Kirby – Center for Civil and Human Rights

A New Era of Partnership and Access

In 2025, Norfolk Southern pledged $500,000 to support the Center’s expansion, reinforcing its role as a national hub for civil and human rights education.

To expand access, the Center is also participating in Bank of America’s Museums on Us program, offering free admission on the first full weekend of each month to eligible cardholders.

A Space for Reflection—and Accountability

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is more than a museum.

It is a mirror.
It is a memory.
It is a movement.
It is where history refuses to be erased.
It is where truth lives.

Why It Matters Now

At a time when debates over how history is taught continue to intensify, the Center stands as a counterpoint.

It insists that history cannot be erased without consequence.

It reminds visitors that the past is not distant—it is embedded in the present.

And it challenges each person who walks through its doors to leave not just informed—but transformed.

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Clayton County Charts Growth, Safety Gains, and Housing Push in 2026 State of the County Address

Clayton County reports crime reductions, housing investments, and economic growth as Chairwoman Alieka Anderson-Henry outlines priorities during the 2026 State of the County address.

By Milton Kirby | College Park, GA | March 19, 2026

Clayton County leaders laid out a vision of growth, stability, and continued investment Wednesday as Chairwoman Dr. Alieka Anderson-Henry delivered her second State of the County address before a sold-out crowd of more than 450 attendees.

The event, hosted by the Council for Quality Growth at the Georgia International Convention Center, brought together business leaders, elected officials, and residents to hear updates on public safety, economic development, housing, and infrastructure.

Anderson-Henry framed Clayton County as a rising hub in metro Atlanta, calling it both a “global gateway” and a place of expanding opportunity.

“Clayton County is not just where planes land,” she said. “It is where possibility lands.”

Public Safety Improvements Highlighted

Among the most notable updates were gains in public safety. The county reported a 17% reduction in overall crime and a 30% drop in vehicular fatalities over the past year.

Officials also highlighted the launch of a Whole Blood Program through Clayton County Fire & Emergency Services, allowing first responders to administer blood transfusions in the field—an initiative still rare nationwide.

In addition, the Police Department expanded its Co-Responder Mental Health Initiative, pairing officers with mental health professionals to respond to crisis calls.

Economic Development and Small Business Support

Clayton County’s economic strategy centered on both large-scale investment and grassroots support.

The county distributed $5 million in federal ARPA funding to more than 300 small businesses and nonprofits, while also securing a $224 million expansion from TOTO USA in Morrow.

Leaders also pointed to regional recognition, including the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Visionary Planning Award for the Tara Boulevard Livable Centers Initiative, a project aimed at transforming a key commercial corridor.

Housing, Infrastructure, and Smart Growth

Housing emerged as a central priority moving forward. Anderson-Henry announced a new Clayton County Housing Plan and a multi-department Housing Task Force focused on expanding attainable housing and homeownership.

The county has already deployed more than $6.2 million in HUD funding to support housing stability and has begun a comprehensive zoning rewrite to guide future development.

Infrastructure investments included resurfacing nearly 19 miles of roadway, expanding parks and trail systems, and advancing sustainability projects such as solar installations and electric vehicle infrastructure.

Resilience efforts, including the Flint River Flood Mitigation Project, were also highlighted as part of long-term planning.

Workforce and Governance Initiatives

County leaders emphasized workforce development through partnerships with Clayton State University, expanded GED and vocational training programs, and workforce events that attracted more than 1,000 participants.

On the governance side, Anderson-Henry stressed transparency and fiscal discipline, noting efforts to modernize procurement, improve budget communication, and strengthen oversight.

Voter-approved initiatives—including the 2027 SPLOST expected to generate more than $412 million—are expected to fund future capital improvements.

A County Still in Motion

Despite the progress, Anderson-Henry made clear the work is ongoing.

“We are proud—but we are not finished,” she said, pointing to continued priorities in housing, economic development, and community investment.

She closed by emphasizing Clayton County’s evolving identity—not just as a transportation hub anchored by Hartsfield-Jackson, but as a place of long-term opportunity and growth.

“Clayton County is not just a place you pass through,” she said. “It is a place you build in, grow in, and live in.”

Related articles

Robb Pitts Delivers 2026 State of the County: “We’ve Got It All”

Douglas County to Showcase Progress and Plans at 2025 State of the County Address

Chairman Jeff Turner Delivers 2024 State of the County Address

Robb Pitts to Deliver 2026 State of Fulton County Address Feb. 24

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Women’s History Month: Women, Golf, and Global Strategy Take Center Stage

By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | March 18, 2026

Atlanta’s West Midtown will once again serve as a hub for connection, conversation, and celebration as Tee It Up for Women hosts its 3rd Annual Tee Up Meet Up on Thursday, March 26.

The event, scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Back Nine Golf, blends golf, networking, and Women’s History Month recognition into a single evening designed to bring professionals and enthusiasts together.

Organizers say the annual gathering has grown into more than a social event. It has become a platform where corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, and community members meet, exchange ideas, and build relationships in a relaxed but intentional setting.

“This is about creating access and opportunity in spaces where relationships matter,” organizers noted in the event release. “Golf has long been a place where business gets done — this event ensures women are fully part of that conversation.”

A Featured Voice Behind Atlanta’s Global Stage

This year’s featured guest speaker, Bev Carey, brings a global perspective rooted in decades of high-level event strategy and execution.

Currently serving as Atlanta’s FIFA World Cup Host City Director, Carey plays a central role in preparing the city for one of the largest sporting events in the world. Her work spans operational readiness, logistics coordination, and stakeholder integration all critical to ensuring Atlanta delivers on the global stage.

Through her firm, Carey Communications, she has spent more than 20 years managing complex projects across sports, entertainment, nonprofit, and technology sectors. Her experience includes Olympic and Paralympic planning, large-scale live event production, and crisis management strategy.

Her recent appearance as a lead panelist at Mercedes-Benz Stadium underscores her leadership in shaping Atlanta’s preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

At Tee Up Meet Up, attendees will hear firsthand how those experiences translate into leadership, innovation, and opportunity particularly for women navigating traditionally male-dominated industries.

Networking, Play, and a Unique Atlanta Twist

The evening includes a mix of structured and casual engagement. Attendees will enjoy golf bay play, a putting challenge, appetizers, and drinks while connecting with fellow professionals and sponsors.

But the experience doesn’t end when the golf clubs are put away.

Participants are invited to continue the evening just steps away at American Axes, where a one-hour bonus axe-throwing session will extend the networking experience.

The event’s design reflects a broader trend in Atlanta’s professional scene — blending business development with experiential environments that encourage authentic interaction.

How to Attend

For registration details, sponsorship opportunities, or additional information, readers are encouraged to contact the event organizer directly:

Sabrina Jenkins
📧 sabrina@sjl-26eventproductions.com
📞 404-824-4292
🔗 https://sjl26eventproductions.com/2026teeupmeetup

Event Location: The Back Nine Golf – 212 Chattahoochee Row NW – Atlanta, GA 30318

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Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 2

Bill Pickett Rodeo leader Margo Wade-LaDrew launches Soul Country Music Stars, creating national opportunities for Black country artists and reshaping the genre’s cultural narrative.

THE ARCHITECT OF SOUL COUNTRY MUSIC STAR

How Margo Wade‑LaDrew Helped Reimagine the Black West

By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA| March 17, 2026

When cable technician Shannon Whitaker stepped into Margo Wade‑LaDrew’s living room in Baldwin Hills, California he didn’t pause for the television or the equipment he’d come to repair. His eyes locked onto a jacket draped across a chair, unmistakably embroidered with the crest of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo.

“I went when I was nine,” he said, suddenly grinning like a child. He was forty‑eight now. The memory had lived inside him for nearly four decades.

Moments like this follow Margo everywhere. They are reminders — unplanned, unscripted of the impact she has helped shape. For nearly thirty years, she has been one of the quiet architects behind the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo (BPIR), the nation’s only touring Black rodeo association and the spiritual home of Black Western culture. And in recent years, she has become the visionary behind its newest cultural branch: Soul Country Music Star, a platform designed to restore Black presence in a genre Black people helped create.

To understand how she arrived at the intersection of rodeo, music, fashion, and philanthropy, you have to start long before the arena lights, long before the crowds, long before the sound of a banjo or the thunder of hooves.

You have to start in Richmond, Virginia.

Photo courtesy BPIR – Margo Wade-LeDrew

A Childhood of Work and Responsibility

Born in 1961, Margo Wade grew up in a household shaped by both love and hardship. When she was twelve, her mother began cycling in and out of hospitals with schizophrenia. The responsibility of raising two younger brothers fell to Margo and her sister while their father worked long hours to keep the family afloat.

“I’ve worked all my life,” she says, not as complaint but as fact.

By fourteen, she had a job in a Richmond hospital. By ten, she had already been knocking on doors selling flower seeds and Christmas cards. She didn’t know it then, but she was learning the skills that would define her adult life: how to connect with people, how to read a room, how to sell, and how to build trust.

Her first dream was to become a flight attendant. But life had other plans — plans that would take her into the heart of Black beauty culture, Black media, and eventually, Black Western history.

The Black Institutions That Formed Her

In her twenties, Margo entered the beauty industry, modeling in Richmond before moving to Chicago then the epicenter of Black haircare. She worked temp jobs until she landed at Johnson Publishing Company, the powerhouse behind Ebony and Jet. There, she became a merchandiser, then a sales rep, then a national sales manager.

Johnson Publishing didn’t outsource creativity. They held internal think tanks where Black professionals brainstormed campaigns, promotions, and strategies. It was a training ground in cultural authorship – a place where Black people shaped how Black people were seen.

From there, she moved through World of Curls, Dark & Lovely, Magic Shave, Bronner Brothers — a constellation of Black-owned companies that defined Black aesthetics for generations. She learned event planning, sponsorships, branding, and community outreach. She learned how to build programs from scratch.

And then she stepped into the NAACP Image Awards, where she wrote her first bid for services without ever having written one before and won. For six years, she helped produce one of the most important cultural events in Black America.

She didn’t know it yet, but all of this was preparing her for the moment she would walk into the Burbank Equestrian Center in 1996 and see something that would change her life.

The Revelation: Discovering Black Cowboys

She had gone to volunteer for a friend. She expected a community event. She did not expect to see Black cowboys and cowgirls — not in California, not in the 1990s, not in a world where Westerns had erased them.

“I had never seen Black cowboys before,” she says. “I didn’t even know there was a traveling rodeo this.”

The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo was celebrating its tenth anniversary that year. Founded by promoter Lou Vason in 1984, it was the first and only touring Black rodeo in the country. It had been built from scratch, city by city, without internet, without mainstream support, without recognition.

Margo was stunned. She was also hooked.

When her friend left for a job at BET, she asked Margo and another colleague to take over her role. They didn’t know rodeo culture. They didn’t know sponsorship strategy for Western sports. They didn’t know the logistics of animals, arenas, or ticketing.

But they learned. And Margo stayed.

For the next twenty years, she worked alongside Lou Vason, traveling from city to city, counting tickets in hotel rooms until 3 a.m., building relationships with cowboys, cowgirls, families, and communities. She watched the rodeo grow from a grassroots operation into a cultural institution.

And she watched Lou a legendary Black music promoter tie entertainment to the rodeo because he understood something essential: Black people would come for the culture, not just the competition.

That insight would later become the seed of Soul Country Music Star.

Sidebar – What Is Soul Country Music?

Soul Country Music, as envisioned through the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo’s Soul Country Music Star competition, blends the storytelling structure of country music with the emotional force, vocal texture, and lived experience long rooted in Black musical traditions. The concept pushes back against the narrow way country music has often been marketed and remembered. It creates room for artists who may sound country, soul, gospel, blues, or genre-crossing, but who still carry the themes of struggle, family, faith, place, love, and resilience that define country storytelling. For Margo Wade-LaDrew, the idea is not about inventing something new from scratch. It is about naming, elevating, and investing in a tradition that has always existed.

The Leadership Era: Black Women Take the Reins

When Lou Vason became ill in the early 2010s, his wife, Valeria Howard Vason, began traveling more, learning the books, the logistics, the operations. When Lou passed in 2015, she stepped fully into leadership becoming the first Black woman to run a national rodeo.

Margo became her right hand.

Together, they modernized the organization:

  • Expanded the tour
  • Secured major sponsors
  • Built the BPIR Foundation
  • Created grant programs
  • Partnered with Crown Royal, Toyota
  • Brought BPIR to television for the first time in 2021
  • Returned to Fort Worth’s historic Cowtown Coliseum
  • Grew the Fort Worth stop to ten sold‑out performances
  • Became Hollywood’s go‑to rodeo for authenticity

They did all this with a tiny staff. No salaries for leadership. No corporate infrastructure. Just commitment, cross‑training, and a belief that the rodeo mattered.

And then came the idea Margo had been carrying for a decade.

The Birth of Soul Country Music Star

For years, Margo had watched Black country artists show up at BPIR with guitars in hand, hoping for a chance to perform. They had no platform. No industry support. No place to belong.

She and her husband, Lawrence LeDrew, talked often about creating something for them — a showcase, a competition, a cultural home.

After Lou’s passing, she kept bringing it up.

Finally, Valeria said, “Stop talking about it and just do it.”

And she did.

In June 2024, during BPIR’s 40th anniversary, Soul Country Music Star launched. It was a tribute to Lou Vason’s entertainment legacy, to Valeria’s belief in the idea, and to the artists who had been waiting for a door to open.

The program quickly grew:

  • 60–70 artists have come through
  • six finalists per city
  • two winners so far
  • $10,000 prize
  • winners travel with the rodeo
  • artists perform halftime and pre‑show
  • BPIR promotes their music
  • artists sell merch at the rodeo
  • mentorship in branding, booking, and performance

Suddenly, the world was paying attention to Black country music. Soul Country Music Star was no longer a niche idea it was part of a national cultural moment.

Photo courtesy BPIR – Soul Country Music Star

The Cultural Lineage: Restoring What Was Always Ours

Margo is clear about the history:

  • The banjo is African.
  • The harmonica was central to early Black country and blues.
  • DeFord Bailey was the first Black star of the Grand Ole Opry — and they hid his race.
  • Linda Martell was the first commercially successful Black female country artist — and the industry pushed her out.
  • Charley Pride broke barriers but was treated as an exception.
  • Ray Charles reshaped country music by adding soul.

“Country music is ours,” she says.

Soul Country Music Stars is not a novelty. It is a restoration.

The Rodeo as a Cultural Homeplace

Ask Margo why BPIR matters, and she won’t talk about prize money or logistics. She’ll talk about:

  • the seven‑year‑old boy who whispered, “I see Black cowboys”
  • the woman who begged for tickets with a childhood photo
  • the families who plan reunions around the rodeo
  • the fourth and fifth generation children growing up in the stands
  • the music, the clowns, the announcers, the rope tricks
  • Howard Johnson singing Lift Every Voice in the dirt
  • the Black flag flying beside the American flag

BPIR is a place where people reconnect with history, community, and each other.

The Legacy She Wants to Leave

When asked what she wants future generations to remember, Margo doesn’t hesitate.

“That the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo cared,” she says. “That we opened doors. That we loved our community enough to keep going.”

She wants BPIR in museums. She wants the traveling museum to become permanent. She wants the documentary finished. She wants the nighttime drama about a Black family running a rodeo to be televised.

And she wants The Greatest Show on Dirt — the story of BPIR — on the big screen.

She has already begun the work.

A Cultural Architect for the Next Generation

Margo Wade‑LaDrew’s life is a blueprint of Black cultural stewardship:

  • a childhood of responsibility
  • a career in Black-owned institutions
  • two decades shaping the rodeo under Lou Vason
  • a leadership era defined by Black women
  • a foundation built on grants, scholarships, and community
  • a music platform restoring Black country’s rightful place
  • a commitment to legacy, memory, and cultural truth

She is not simply preserving history. She is expanding it.

And somewhere in Greater Los Angeles, California, cable technician Shannon Whitaker is telling someone about the day he walked into a house, saw a jacket, and remembered the first time he saw a Black cowboy. That is the legacy she continues to build – one memory at a time.

Country Roots, Diverse Beats: Celebrating the Rich Tapestry of Soul in Country Music.

Agricenter International Showplace Theater – 7777 Walnut Grove Rd, Memphis, TN

Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo

Music Competition – Friday, April 10, 2026 | 7:00 pm 8:00 pm Competition

 BPIR Rodeo – Saturday, April 11, 2026 | 1:30 pm or 7:30 pm

Event Tickets and additional information

Upcoming in the TSJ series – Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo

Part 3 — Kirk Jay: The Sound of Country Soul at the Rodeo
Part 4 — Nathaniel Dansby (Mr. Bowleggs) : The Sound of Country Soul at the Rodeo
Part 5 — Rodeo for Kids’ Sake and the Next Generation

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Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 6

Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 5

Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 4

Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 3

Inside the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — Part 1

Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo Names 2025 Champions After a Year of Grow and New Partnerships and a Powerful Legacy

Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo National Finals Nominated for USA TODAY’s Best Rodeo Award

Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo Celebrates 40 Years of Tradition and Excellence

Martin Luther King, Jr. African-American Rodeo of Champions Thrills Denver Audience

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Donald Trump’s America: Why Over 77 Million Americans Chose a Draft-Dodging, Racist, Misogynist, Convicted Felon, Conman, and Old Orange Demented Pimp to Become Their President

By Lola Renegade | March 17, 2026

“We have a system of justice in this country that treats you much better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.”

Bryan Stevenson, Esq. (Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and Legacy Museum in Montgomery, AL)

In this quote, attorney Bryan Stevenson should have included that white skin privilege also shapes outcomes. If life were fair and American democracy real for every citizen, PFC Robert Scott, and the sixty-two other soldiers who were killed in Vietnam on September 11, 1968, would be somewhere enjoying their families and racist, insurrectionist, misogynist, bully, conman, vote-stealing felon Donald Trump would be on his way either to prison or the pimps Players Ball Convention. He would not be residing in the White House! Perhaps that’s a major problem, calling it the White House and not the Peoples’ House. 

In the picture next to the caricature of Trump in his grifting family is the picture of the gravestone of 19-Year-Old African American PFC Robert Lee Scott from Redwood, Mississippi. Robert began his tour of duty on August 28, 1968. Just fifteen days later, on September 11th, one day before his twentieth birthday – he was killed in Quang Tin Province, 9,133 miles from the Ballground Plantation in Redwood where he had grown up. Meanwhile, five-times draft-dodging Donald “Bone Spurs” Trump decades later ascends to the presidency – not once, but TWICE!

After fifty-eight years, I can still remember my daddy coming into the dilapidated shack we called home in Redwood, Mississippi, and delivering the heartbreaking news to Mama:

“Darlin’, Pat and Minnie’s boy got killed in ’Nam.”

I wrote another article about Robert in The Truth Seekers Journal on September 24, 2024, the link is below:

White Wealth and Privilege Unveiled: 19-Year-Old African American PFC Robert Lee Scott Was Killed in Vietnam While Draft-Dodging Donald “Bone Spurs” Trump Ascended to the U.S. Presidency

Former Georgia State Senator and Senate Majority Leader Charles W. Walker Sr. once stood as one of the most powerful Black political figures in Georgia. He was a trailblazer who rose from rural Georgia’s poverty and relocated to Augusta to become the first African American Senate Majority Leader since Reconstruction. He built influence not only in politics, but as a businessman and publisher of the Augusta Focus, a free newspaper serving the Black community.

Then came his orchestrated fall.

In 2005, Walker was indicted on federal charges including mail fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy. Prosecutors claimed he inflated circulation numbers in his FREE newspaper to increase advertising revenue. How can a guestimate of how many people read a free newspaper be criminal? Though notably, he was not convicted on the scholarship-related charges.

Charles Walker served eight years of a ten-year sentence in prison while the nation’s homemade virus, Donald Trump, is serving his second term as president of the United States of Ameri-KKK.

But even before the verdict of Walker, questions of justice were already hanging in the air.

During jury selection, Walker’s defense raised a challenge under Batson v. Kentucky, arguing that prosecutors were systematically striking Black jurors. In a case involving a high-profile Black leader in the Deep South, the racial makeup of the jury was no small matter. It was everything. The prosecution offered so-called “race-neutral” explanations, and the court allowed the jury to stand. But the deeper question lingered: was justice being administered or engineered?

The contradictions only deepen from there.

Richard S. Thompson – the republican U.S. Attorney who led aggressive investigations targeting Walker and other Democratic leaders  was later convicted himself. He went to prison for stalking a former girlfriend and repeatedly violating restraining orders. The prosecutor became the criminal. Surprisingly, and unlike Trump and many of his government appointees, he did not get away with his abuse of women.

And then there is John Jay Fitzgerald Johnson, known as Grandmaster Jay. He was in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020 as part of nationwide protests following the unlawful police killing of Breonna Taylor. Leading members of the Not Fucking Around Coalition (NFAC), he stood in armed protest exercising the same Second Amendment rights so often celebrated in other contexts. Yet, during a nighttime demonstration, he was accused of pointing a rifle toward federal agents. No shots were fired. No one was injured. Still, he was prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison for seven years.

His case underscores a troubling reality: protest in America is not experienced equally. When Black leadership shows up organized, armed, and unapologetic, the response is swift, severe, and unforgiving – raising profound questions about who is protected by the Constitution and who is punished under it.

Now place these realities alongside Donald J. Trump.

Trump – a twice-impeached president and convicted felon who faced multiple cases tied to his efforts of an insurrection to overturn the 2020 election. Yet case after case has been delayed, weakened, or dropped – including the case in Fulton County, Georgia, where evidence showed he pressured officials to “find votes” in an attempt to overturn the will of the people. Now, in a stunning display of audacity, he is seeking to have Fulton County reimburse him for his legal fees, despite the overwhelming evidence surrounding his conduct.

This is not just irony. It is the history of Ameri-KKK.

Walker was imprisoned for financial misconduct. Thompson, who prosecuted him, was later imprisoned for his own crimes. Grandmaster Jay was imprisoned in a case where no physical harm occurred. Yet Trump and the January 6th insurrectionists, whose actions struck at the very foundation of American democracy, have evaded accountability and received pardons for their illegal actions. And, in Trump’s case, returned to power as president.

What emerges is not coincidence. It is a pattern. It is a pattern of who is pursued and who is punished and protected. And even before the verdicts are handed down and oftentimes before the trial even begins, the question is already in the room: Who gets to sit on the jury, who gets prosecuted, and who gets away even though there is a preponderance of evidence of their guilt?  Because in today’s America, it is not just justice that is on trial – it is democracy itself. And the most dangerous force of all is not just the man at the center of it, but the legion of supporters who excuse it, defend it, and enable it.

Instead, a kakistocracy has emerged – led by a shameless, criminal “old orange demented pimp” and his dangerous sycophants, sustained by a movement that has become an infectious, exhaustive, and deadly virus on American democracy. If life were fair – it’s not – and justice truly applied to all – again, not – Trump would be in prison, sitting on the lap of P. Diddy, getting his hair braided by R. Kelly, and a pedicure from Ghislaine Maxwell.

In the words of famed artist, Kendrick Lamar, “They Not Like Us!”

SHADOW BALL: Learning More About Negro League History


This column exists for only one purpose and that is to answer your questions on Negro League baseball history. To that end, I need your help … if you are reading this column and enjoy it and want it to continue and you don’t already know everything about Negro League history … then please submit a question on any aspect of Negro League history. Your questions are the lifeblood of Shadow Ball—they shape where we go next.

 – players, teams, events, and more – and, in so doing, you will direct where this column goes moving forward. Your participation is important and appreciated. The very existence of this column depends on you. Submit your questions to shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com.

Last week’s Shadow Ball Significa question:  Last week’s Shadowball Significa Question of the Week: What manager has been named to the Baseball Hall of Fame for Negro League performance?

Since no one submitted the correct answer, everyone gets credit for being correct since there, in the 55 years since the Baseball Hall of Fame began inducting Negro Leaguers no Negro Leaguer has been inducted as a manager. Hence, this week’s topic. Last week I opined that there should be between 58 (i.e., 30 additional) and 80 (or 52 more than at present) Negro League players in the Hall. This week, as a follow up I thought I should suggest who a few of those players – and others – should be. Below I list two candidates (and their overall rank in the 42 for ’21 poll) for each category:

                                    First Team                               Second Team

Executive                    Gus Greenlee (5)                     C.I. Taylor (11)                                   

Pioneer                        John Donaldson (3)                 Fleet Walker (20)

Manager                      Vic Harris (6)                          Candy Jim Taylor (13)

Umpire                        Bob Motley (42)                     Bert Gholsten (115)

LH Pitcher                  George Stovey (20)                 Nip Winters (30)

RH Pitcher                  Dick Redding (2)                    Chet Brewer (11)

Catcher                        Quincy Trouppe (16)               Double Duty Radcliffe (23)

1st Baseman                 Bill Pettus (44)                        Edgar Wesley (59)

2nd Baseman                Newt Allen      (9)                    George Scales (14)

3rd Baseman                 John Beckwith (4)                   Oliver Marcelle (18)

Shortstop                     Dick Lundy (7)                       Home Run Johnson (8)

Outfielder                   Rap Dixon (1)                         Wild Bill Wright (23)

The Shadowball Significa Question of the Week: What Negro League player was Barry Bonds Godfather? Send your answer and any comments on Negro League topics to  shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com or Shadow Ball, 3904 N Druid Hills Rd, Ste 179, Decatur, GA 30033

Ted Knorr

Ted Knorr is a Negro League baseball historian, longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research’s Negro League Committee, and founder of the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference and several local Negro League Commemorative Nights in central Pennsylvania. You can send questions for Knorr on Negro League topics as well as your answers to the week’s Significa question to  shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com or Shadow Ball, 3904 N Druid Hills Rd, Ste 179, Decatur, GA 30033

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Why Control Feels Safer Than It Actually Is

By Florita Bell Griffin, Ph.D. | Houston, TX | March 17, 2026

Control is often mistaken for stability. When systems behave predictably, when rules are clear, and when outcomes can be enforced, it feels as though risk has been reduced. Control offers reassurance. It creates the impression that uncertainty has been managed. Yet control and stability are not the same thing.

Control narrows possibility. Stability absorbs variation. Systems that rely heavily on control may appear orderly, but they often become brittle. They perform well under expected conditions while struggling when reality deviates. Over time, what felt safe begins to feel fragile.

This distinction becomes visible after people have lived through enough disruptions to recognize patterns. They have seen tightly controlled systems fail suddenly. They have watched rules multiply as exceptions increase. They understand that control does not eliminate uncertainty. It merely postpones its appearance.

Early in a system’s life, control can be effective. Scope is limited. Conditions are known. Decisions are centralized. As systems grow, however, complexity increases. Dependencies multiply. External forces exert pressure. Control mechanisms that once worked begin to strain. More rules are added. More monitoring is introduced. More enforcement is required. The system becomes harder to manage precisely because it is being managed too tightly.

Consider an organization that responds to inconsistency by adding layers of approval. Processes become standardized. Authority is clarified. Deviations are reduced. Initially, performance improves. Errors decline. Yet over time, decision-making slows. People stop exercising judgment. When unexpected situations arise, the organization struggles to respond because adaptation has been trained out of the system. Control has replaced learning.

The same pattern appears in technology. Systems designed to minimize error often rely on rigid constraints. Inputs are tightly validated. Outputs are strictly governed. Behavior is limited to predefined pathways. Under normal conditions, the system performs reliably. Under novel conditions, it fails abruptly. Control has reduced variability, but it has also reduced resilience.

People with experience recognize this tension instinctively. They have learned that safety does not come from eliminating uncertainty, but from being able to respond to it. They understand that systems must be able to bend without breaking. Control that prevents deviation may look strong, but it often hides weakness.

Control also changes how responsibility is distributed. In highly controlled systems, accountability shifts upward. Decisions are made by those who design the rules rather than those closest to the situation. Over time, this disconnect grows. People stop feeling responsible for outcomes because they no longer feel empowered to influence them. Compliance replaces ownership.

This dynamic creates a false sense of security. Metrics improve. Variance decreases. Reports look clean. Yet the system’s capacity to absorb surprise diminishes. When disruption arrives, it overwhelms structures that have been optimized for predictability rather than adaptability.

Consider a public system that enforces strict eligibility criteria to ensure fairness. Rules are clear. Decisions are consistent. Processing is efficient. Yet individuals with complex circumstances fall through gaps. Exceptions are difficult to accommodate. Appeals are slow. The system appears fair, but it struggles to respond humanely to reality. Control has simplified administration while complicating lived experience.

Control feels safer because it creates clarity. It reduces ambiguity. It promises order. What it cannot do is prepare a system for conditions it has never encountered. Stability requires something different. It requires the ability to integrate new information, revise assumptions, and respond proportionally to change.

Systems that achieve stability do so by maintaining internal coherence rather than external enforcement. They preserve context. They allow for judgment. They recognize that variation carries information. Instead of suppressing deviation, they learn from it. Stability emerges from alignment, not constraint.

This distinction matters as systems become increasingly automated. Automated control scales easily. Rules can be enforced instantly and uniformly. Yet automation also amplifies brittleness. When systems operate at speed without interpretive capacity, errors propagate quickly. Control becomes amplification rather than protection.

People who sense this are often labeled cautious or resistant. In reality, they are responding to experience. They have seen control mechanisms fail quietly before collapsing dramatically. They understand that systems designed only to prevent deviation eventually lose the ability to respond intelligently.

Stability requires continuity across change. It depends on the system’s ability to remember why rules exist, not just enforce them. It relies on preserving relationships between intent, action, and outcome. Control alone cannot do this.

When systems mistake control for safety, they optimize for the wrong condition. They reduce visible risk while increasing hidden vulnerability. They feel secure until they are tested. When they are tested, they fail in ways that surprise those who trusted them most.

True safety comes from systems that remain intelligible as they evolve. Systems that can explain their own behavior. Systems that can adapt without losing coherence. These systems may appear less controlled on the surface, but they endure because they remain aligned with reality.

Control will always have a role. It defines boundaries. It establishes norms. It protects against known threats. Stability, however, emerges from something deeper. It arises when systems are designed to carry meaning forward as conditions change.

When control is mistaken for safety, systems grow rigid. When stability is designed intentionally, systems remain alive.

© 2026 Truth Seekers Journal. Published with permission from the author. All rights reserved.

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Runoff Set to Decide Who Replaces Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District

Northwest Georgia voters will decide April 7 between Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris in a runoff to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

By Milton Kirby | Rome, GA | March 16, 2026

Voters in northwest Georgia will return to the polls on April 7 to decide who will replace former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after a crowded special election failed to produce a majority winner.

The race has narrowed to two candidates: Democrat Shawn Harris and Republican Clay Fuller, who finished first and second respectively in the March 10 special election.

Harris led the field with 37.3% of the vote (43,241), while Fuller secured 34.9% (40,388), setting up a runoff after neither candidate crossed the 50% threshold required under Georgia law. The winner will serve the remainder of Greene’s congressional term, which runs through December 31, 2027.

A Seat Opened by Political Fallout

The special election was triggered after Greene resigned earlier this year following a highly public split with Donald Trump.

Greene had once been one of Trump’s most visible allies, frequently appearing at rallies and promoting his claims of election interference. But tensions grew after the two clashed over issues including health care costs, U.S. policy toward Israel’s war in Gaza, and the release of files tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Her departure opened a rare vacancy in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, one of the most reliably Republican districts in the state. Trump carried the district by 37 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, underscoring the steep challenge Democrats typically face there.

Photo courtesy of Harris campaign – Shawn Harris

Harris Builds an Unusual Coalition

Harris, a Polk County cattle farmer and retired brigadier general, entered the race emphasizing coalition politics in a district dominated by conservative voters.

During a campaign rally in Rome attended by Pete Buttigieg, Harris urged supporters to look beyond party labels.

“The way we’re going to win is simple,” Harris told the crowd. “More excited Democrats knocking on doors, independents flipping our way, and Republicans that the Republican Party has left behind voting for me.”

Harris has framed his campaign as a moderate alternative capable of representing the entire district. He has also placed a strong focus on veterans, noting that roughly 40,000 veterans live in the district.

“This Democrat is a moderate and I will represent everyone in the district,” Harris said.

He has argued that the economy remains the top concern among voters, adding that tensions related to the ongoing conflict with Iran have intensified economic anxieties.

Harris previously ran against Greene in 2024. Although he lost that race, he received more votes than any Democratic candidate in the district in more than a decade.

Fuller Leans on Trump’s Endorsement

Fuller, the district attorney for northwest Georgia’s Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, has leaned heavily on his endorsement from Trump as he heads into the runoff.

Speaking after the first-round results were announced, Fuller described the outcome as an encouraging sign for Republicans.

“We know that the endorsement from President Trump made a difference in this race, and we’re going to go and win it,” Fuller said. “It’s time that the Republican vote unites and gets a representative to Capitol Hill as soon as possible.”

Fuller serves as the top prosecutor for a four-county judicial circuit in northwest Georgia, where he has tried cases involving murder, rape, and armed robbery, securing life sentences in several jury trials. He has also argued criminal appeals before the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Georgia Court of Appeals.

In addition to his legal career, Fuller is a lieutenant colonel and deputy staff judge advocate in the Air National Guard. In 2024 he deployed to operations centers in South Carolina and Qatar supporting U.S. Central Command missions in the Middle East.

Fuller also served as a White House Fellow from 2018 to 2019, working in the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Defense on issues including opioid policy and support for POW/MIA families.

Raised in the North Georgia mountains, Fuller attended Emory University before earning a master’s degree in public administration from Cornell University and a law degree from Southern Methodist University.

A Test of Political Strength in Northwest Georgia

The runoff now presents a political contrast between a Trump-aligned Republican prosecutor and a retired Army general attempting to assemble a cross-party coalition in one of Georgia’s most conservative regions.

Although the district’s voting history favors Republicans, Harris argues that voter frustration with national politics has created an opening. “Yes, it’s ruby red,” Harris said after the initial results. “It won’t turn blue, but it’ll definitely turn pink.”

For Republicans, the contest is also a test of Trump’s continued influence inside the party after the dramatic political split that led to Greene’s resignation.

For voters in the mountains and rural counties of northwest Georgia, the April runoff will determine who represents them in Washington for the next year and a half — and whether the district continues its deep-red tradition or edges toward a more competitive political future.

Sidebar: Why Georgia Requires a 50% Majority in Elections

Georgia election law requires a candidate to receive more than 50 percent of the vote to win most statewide and federal elections outright. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the top twovote-getters advance to a runoff election.

The rule was adopted in the 1960s as part of broader election reforms intended to ensure that winning candidates have majority support rather than simply finishing first in a crowded field.

Runoffs are especially common in special elections, where many candidates from both parties often appear on the same ballot. In these contests, voters choose among all candidates at once rather than through separate party primaries.

If no candidate reaches the majority threshold in the first round, the runoff typically held several weeks later gives voters a final choice between the top two finishers.

Georgia is one of the few states that still regularly uses runoff elections. The system has produced several nationally watched contests in recent years, including the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs that ultimately shifted control of the Senate in Washington.

In Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, the April 7 runoff between Shawn Harris and Clay Fuller will determine who completes the remainder of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s term in Congress.

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DeKalb Opens Arts DeKalb, Marking a New Era for Culture, Community, and Creativity

DeKalb County officially launched Arts DeKalb, unveiling a new Briarcliff arts campus and a countywide push to make culture more visible and accessible.

By Milton Kirby | Decatur, GA | March 15, 2026

The evening started with the melodic voices of the DeKalb School of the Arts. Up second was the amazing guitar and vocals of Eugene Owens. Then there was dinner, anchored by gumbo and clam chowder for the palate. The twelve cities located in the county were not left out. Each received a fiberglass bull or heifer. Last, but certainly not least, came the magical violin of Brooke Alford.

That was how DeKalb County chose to introduce Arts DeKalb on Thursday, March 12, 2026 — not with a dry government announcement, but with music, symbolism, and a clear message that the arts are being placed closer to the center of county life.

The evening also spoke to the visual senses. County officials placed original works by local artists on each table as centerpieces, while additional artwork lined the walls throughout the venue. The result was a room that did not just talk about art it surrounded guests with it.

Led by CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson and the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, the county officially launched the reconstituted DeKalb Council for the Arts and unveiled its permanent home, a 23,000-square-foot arts campus on Briarcliff Road.

For county leaders, the evening was about more than opening a building. It was about announcing a new cultural direction.

A New Home for Creativity

The new Arts DeKalb headquarters sits in the former Metro City Church property, now repurposed as a county hub for arts programming, public art, and cultural development.

The property was acquired for $7.5 million. DeKalb County contributed $4.5 million, while Callanwolde Fine Arts Center provided the remaining $3 million through a larger $9.5 million capital campaign. The arrangement doubles Callanwolde’s usable space and extends its partnership with the county through 2064.

Photo by Milton Kirby – Unidentified arts lovers watch the performance.

“This is a formal, strategic framework to elevate creativity, expand opportunity, and ensure that arts and culture remain central to reimagining DeKalb,” Cochran-Johnson said.

That phrase — reimagining DeKalb — has appeared often in county policy language. On Thursday night, officials tried to give it a physical form.

A Mission With Countywide Reach

Arts DeKalb launches under the theme, “Celebrating Creativity. Elevating Culture. Connecting DeKalb.”

Its mission is broad but clear: build thriving communities through the arts, support artists and arts organizations, advocate for arts education and funding, and promote cultural vitality across all 12 cities in DeKalb County.

That countywide reach was underscored during the event when each city received a fiberglass bull or heifer as part of the county’s expanding public art initiative.

The symbolism was hard to miss. The county was not presenting arts investment as something reserved for galleries, elites, or one side of town. It was presenting it as a shared civic project.

New Leadership for a New Chapter

The county also introduced Stephanie Raines as the new Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Raines was selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants. She comes to DeKalb from Athens-Clarke County, where she oversaw visual, performing, and public art programming tied to the Lyndon House Arts Center, the Morton Theatre, Athens Creative Theatre, the East Athens Educational Dance Center, and the county’s public art program.

She brings both academic training and practical experience, with degrees in photography and art history and a master’s degree in arts administration.

Her hiring signals that DeKalb wants experienced leadership, not just ceremonial energy, as Arts DeKalb begins its work.

Oversight, Funding, and Accountability

County officials also introduced the Arts DeKalb oversight board, which will help guide the initiative and manage the rollout of its first $500,000 in funding under the county’s DeKalb Reimagined initiative.

The board includes:

Charlene Fang, District 1, Appointee…………………………………………..Lauren Kiefer, Super District 6, Appointee
Kyle Williams, District 2, Appointee…………………………………………….Delores Burgess, Super District 7, Appointee Kamille Gilmore, District 3, Appointee……………………………………….Jan Selman, CEO’s Appointee
Melanie Hammet, District 4, Appointee…………………………………….Gale Walldorff, CEO’s Appointee
Rahn Mayo, District 5, Appointee    

Their work will include overseeing public art installations, strategic grants for artists and nonprofits, and efforts to maintain transparency and equity as the initiative expands.

Andrew Keenan, Executive Director, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, summed up the economic case for the investment in simple terms. “When arts move into an area, the area starts to grow and flourish,” Keenan said.

Photo by Milton Kirby Brook Alford The Artist of the Violin

A Strong Night for Local Talent

The launch also served as a showcase for the kind of local and regional talent Arts DeKalb says it wants to support. The DeKalb School of the Arts Chorale opened the evening with a polished performance that reminded the audience why the school remains one of the county’s strongest artistic pipelines. The ensemble is nationally recognized and recently earned the Gold Mickey at Festival Disney in Orlando, the top choir award across divisions.

Students are now preparing for the GHSA State Literary Championships on March 14 and March 21.

Eugene Owens followed with a soulful performance that matched the evening’s celebratory tone. Owens is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, writer, composer, and producer whose work centers on themes of self-belief and personal growth.

Then came Brooke Alford, known professionally as “The Artist of the Violin,” whose smooth contemporary jazz style gave the night one of its most memorable moments. Her performance filled the room with the kind of emotion that official speeches often try to describe but cannot create on their own.

Programs Already Taking Shape

County leaders also announced several new cultural programs tied to Arts DeKalb’s rollout.

Among them are Art Stroll, a quarterly series featuring galleries, artist studios, and murals across the county; the DeKalb Arts Pavilion at the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park; DeKalb Jazz Fest, a countywide concert series planned for October; FACE 2: The DeKalb Experience, which DeKalb will host in 2026 in partnership with Fulton County; and FUR + Ball: The Bridgerton Experience, a themed fundraiser blending fashion, philanthropy, and pet-friendly runway moments.

Taken together, the programs suggest that Arts DeKalb is being built not just as an office or agency, but as a public-facing brand with events that can draw residents into a broader county arts identity.

A Cultural Turning Point

What began as a proposal in October 2025 has now become a real institution with a building, leadership, funding, a governing board, and a calendar of programs.

In a message shared during the event, Cochran-Johnson said the arts help shape vibrant communities by inspiring creativity, bringing people together, and reflecting the stories and cultures that make a place unique.

Photo by Milton Kirby Heifer for the cities

That may sound like familiar civic language. But on Thursday night, DeKalb leaders backed it with land, money, planning, and public ceremony.

For artists, musicians, students, and cultural organizations across the county, the message was clear.

The arts are no longer being treated as decoration.

They are being treated as part of DeKalb’s future.

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Obama Presidential Center to Open June 19 with Four-Day Celebration on Chicago’s South Side

The Obama Presidential Center will open June 19, 2026 in Chicago with four days of celebrations, public events, and a civic campus designed to inspire future changemakers.

By Milton Kirby | Chicago, IL | March 11, 2026

The long-awaited Obama Presidential Center will officially open to the public in June with four days of celebrations designed to highlight civic engagement, culture, and community on Chicago’s South Side.

The Obama Foundation announced that the grand opening festivities will run June 18 through June 21, 2026, beginning with a global dedication ceremony and continuing with public celebrations, performances, and family-friendly activities across the new 19.3-acre campus.

The opening marks a historic milestone for the presidential center created to preserve the legacy of Barack Obama while also serving as a living civic campus focused on leadership, community engagement, and democratic participation.

“This is not a monument to the past,” Obama said in a video announcing the opening. “It is a living destination for people who refuse to accept the status quo.”

Four Days of Celebration

The opening events begin Thursday, June 18, with a dedication ceremony at John Lewis Plaza, named for the late civil rights leader and longtime congressman John Lewis. The ceremony will be livestreamed globally and will include performances by international artists and remarks from prominent leaders.

The campus will then open fully to the public on Friday, June 19, allowing visitors to explore the museum and public spaces for the first time.

Community celebrations will continue on June 20 and June 21, featuring live music, art, food vendors, storytelling, and activities across the campus grounds in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park.

The opening weekend will also include special gatherings for volunteers, supporters, alumni of Obama-era programs, and young leaders connected to the Foundation’s initiatives.

A Campus Built Around Public Access

Unlike many presidential libraries, the Obama Presidential Center was designed as an open civic campus rather than a traditional archive-focused facility.

Most of the campus will be free and open to the public, including outdoor spaces and several community-oriented facilities.

Visitors will be able to explore:

  • The Forum, a building dedicated to public programming and events
  • A new branch of the Chicago Public Library
  • An accessible playground for children
  • Public art installations across the campus
  • Landscaped park spaces and walking paths connecting to nearby lagoons and the Museum of Science and Industry

Additional features include the Women’s Garden, Great Lawn, Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden, picnic areas, and a wetland walking trail.

Visitors will also be able to dine at a café and restaurant on campus and shop at the center’s retail store.

Museum Tickets Coming This Spring

While most of the campus will be free, admission to the Obama Presidential Center Museum will require a timed entry ticket.

Tickets will go on sale in spring 2026, with prices expected to align with other major Chicago cultural institutions. The Foundation says the museum will include discounts and designated free days for Illinois residents.

A Symbol of “Hope and Change”

The announcement of the opening date was made on March 7, the anniversary of the historic Selma voting rights marches that helped shape the modern civil rights movement.

During the 50th anniversary commemoration of those marches, Obama delivered one of his most widely remembered speeches, calling on Americans to continue what he described as the “glorious task” of improving the nation.

Those words now appear engraved on the exterior of the museum building.

Valerie Jarrett said the center is intended to inspire visitors to take that mission into their own communities.

“We have always believed in the power of ordinary people to come together to make extraordinary change,” Jarrett said. “The opening of the Obama Presidential Center will be a beacon of hope to the world.”

More Than a Presidential Library

Unlike traditional presidential libraries managed by the National Archives and Records Administration, the Obama Presidential Center will be operated by the Obama Foundation as a community-focused civic institution.

Foundation leaders say the center will host year-round programs, leadership initiatives, and public discussions aimed at strengthening democracy and empowering the next generation of changemakers.

“The Obama Presidential Center is about the everyday people who make our democracy work,” Jarrett said.

For many supporters, the June opening represents more than the unveiling of a new cultural destination. It is the culmination of more than a decade of planning and construction tied to the legacy of the nation’s first Black president and the community that helped shape his rise.

A National Destination with Local Roots

When the gates open in June, the center is expected to draw visitors from around the world to Chicago’s South Side — a neighborhood that played a defining role in Obama’s early career as a community organizer.

The Foundation says the campus is designed to reflect that history while looking toward the future.

As Obama said in announcing the opening:

“If you feel that something better awaits and you’re willing to work for it, this is your invitation to join us.”

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