As soon as, there was a pair of brothers. They grew up poor, raised within the Outhwaite Houses housing tasks in Cleveland, Ohio, by their widowed mom. When the older brother joined the Military, the youthful dropped out of faculty and went to work at a manufacturing unit making plane elements to assist battle World Struggle II and put meals on the desk for a 12 months till he was sufficiently old to comply with his brother into the service.
They by no means had a lot of something. However they labored arduous, they by no means gave up and so they by no means stopped believing in what was attainable for themselves, their neighborhood and our nation.
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That religion sustained them via the conflict, faculty and legislation faculty. It drove them to serve each probability that they had, to assist guarantee that those that got here behind them had the sorts of alternatives they by no means dreamt of. It drove the oldest brother to battle Ohio’s “Cease and Frisk” legislation in the US Supreme Court docket and, on November 7, 1967, it drove the youthful brother, Carl Stokes, to develop into the first Black Mayor of Cleveland and the primary Black Mayor of any main metropolis in America.
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Two years later, Louis Stokes would comply with his youthful brother into the political highlight when he was elected to Congress the place, amongst different issues, he was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“The thrust of our elections was that many black individuals round America who had previously been unrepresented, now felt that the 9 black members of the Home owed them the duty of additionally affording them illustration within the Home,” Rep. Stokes stated in 1971. “Along with representing our particular person districts, we needed to assume the onerous burden of appearing as congressman-at-large for unrepresented individuals round America.”
Now, there are loads of causes to recollect Carl and Louis Stokes from their lengthy public service to the examples of management they each left behind. Personally, I really feel a particular kinship as a result of, as fellow members of Kappa Alpha Psi, the Stokes brothers are fraternity brothers of mine.
However at present, as we glance in direction of Martin Luther King Day, I bear in mind the Stokes brothers for his or her unshakable religion and unflinching dedication not simply to who we’re…however who we might be.
You see, like most of us, the Stokes brothers had loads of causes to surrender. As Black youngsters born poor within the mid-Nineteen Twenties, they already had a tough row to hoe. Then their father died stealing away the household’s chief breadwinner proper earlier than the good despair. Each time it appeared like all-time low, some new hardship blew the ground from beneath them and new obstacles rose to make it even more durable.
So that they had loads of causes to cease believing. However, for some motive, they by no means did. They by no means turned to righteous anger or violence towards a system that didn’t care. They by no means turned their again on their household, their neighborhood or one another though it may need made issues slightly simpler. They by no means went for the simple cash or the floor satisfaction that hid a deeper hardship. They stored pushing it doesn’t matter what.
They stored the religion, not in a system that disregarded them at each flip when it wasn’t actively abusing them and suppressing their rights as People, however within the precept that claims we stand strongest once we stand collectively.
As Dr. King stated, “All males are caught in an inescapable community of mutuality, tied in a single garment of future. No matter impacts one straight, impacts all not directly. I can by no means be what I should be till you’re what you should be, and you’ll by no means be what you should be till I’m what I should be.”
So now it’s as much as us to be taught from the examples of Louis and Carl Stokes and, on this MLK Day, rededicate ourselves to weaving that garment of future.
As Black males, we want extra brothers just like the Brothers Stokes whether or not we’re volunteering as mentors and neighborhood activists, activating our fraternities like my beloved Kappa Alpha Psi to rebuild our communities or just partaking one another to verify our voices are heard loud and clear on the poll field on Election Day.
Let me be clear, I understand how powerful it’s. From most cancers charges to the earnings hole, Black males are going through critical challenges, lots of which we’ve been combating for the reason that Stokes brothers’ day.
Black males in the US have the lowest life expectancy and undergo worse well being than another racial group in America. Black college students are almost 4 instances as seemingly to be suspended from faculty as white college students for a similar habits and, whereas Black boys make up solely 18% of male preschool enrollment, they obtain 41% of male preschool suspensions.
The identical “Cease and Frisk” Louis Stokes fought on the Supreme Court docket is making a comeback at present. Mayor Stokes made headlines by opening Metropolis Corridor jobs to ladies and minorities with the form of DEI initiative MAGA disciples are preventing to close down throughout America.
Black People are 5 instances extra prone to be incarcerated than whites and one in each three Black boys born at present can anticipate to spend at the very least a part of their lives in jail. That’s the identical form of disparity Mayor Stokes was preventing when he tried to reform Cleveland police again within the 60s. So let’s not fake these are new issues.
The reality is that it was downright lethal to be a Black man in America again then simply as it’s at present. But it surely doesn’t should be that approach. There’s a legacy of sturdy Black males like Dr. King and the Stokes Brothers all throughout America and, if we would like change, then we now have to embrace that legacy and rise to this second.
Dr. King used to say that “Life’s most persistent and pressing query is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”
It’s as much as us to reply that query.
As soon as, there was a pair of brothers and, collectively, they not solely rewrote a future that appeared set in stone however taught us to rewrite our personal.
They taught us what brotherhood was all about and confirmed us that if we consider in one another, if we stand collectively and we by no means cease pushing ahead, the sky isn’t the restrict…it’s just the start.
Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Technique LLC and a senior visiting fellow at Third Approach. Comply with him on X, previously often known as Twitter @antjuansea.
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