On June 16, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs will present Bruce Kahn ’63 its Alfred McKenzie Award. The award, established in 1994, is named for Alfred McKenzie a long-time Washington figure. During World War II, McKenzie left his entry-level position in the Government Printing Office (GPO) to join the Army Air Corps where he served with distinction as one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Returning to the GPO in 1946, McKenzie was assigned to the same low-level position he had held before his military service. He began to see fellow employees who were white and with less service time receive promotions. The discrimination was obvious. At that point he then began a career-long struggle to win fair employment treatment for all African American GPO employees. Past recipients of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee McKenzie Award include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, Washington Urban League and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). The presentation will take place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Metro Center in downtown DC. The event is called the Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon. Wiley A. Branton was a famous civil rights attorney who represented the Little Rock Nine when then Governor Faubus blocked them from entering Central High School in 1957. Wiley Branton’s life was devoted to such cases. This year’s recipients of the Branton Award are Kim Keenan, General Counsel of the NAACP and a founding board member of the Equal Rights Center; and George Ruttinger, senior partner at Crowell and Moring, the immediate past co-chair of the Lawyers’ Committee Board of Directors, and for 15 years the General Counsel of the Equal Rights Center. To say the least, receiving the McKenzie Award is very humbling and most gratifying. Those feelings are greatly intensified by the privilege of sharing the day with Kim and George. Tiffany Turpin was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. She attended Baltimore City College High School, a college preparatory school. Reading was a requirement for graduation, but at that time in Turpin’s life, reading was not something she liked to do. Once she graduated from high school, and reading was no longer a requirement, she began to enjoy the places that books allowed her to visit. Turpin began to reread all of the books that were required in high school, but now for fun and without requiring a ten paged report. That’s when she fell in love with reading and has been an avid reader ever since. After high school Turpin attended Morgan State University on an academic scholarship in which she majored in accounting. Turpin has always loved math and science and figured accounting was a career that would allow her to further explore that love of math. Tiffany graduated from Morgan State University in May of 2002 with a BS degree in Accounting and began her career in the accounting field. But, Turpin never gave up on her love for reading. One day during one of the winter blizzards that Baltimore, MD is known for having, Turpin made a decision. She had read every book in her home, and there were several, some that she had read more than once. Turpin decided to take her passion for reading and transform it into a story of her own. So she wrote a book based on things that she has seen in her years on this earth. And “I Wish I Was Her” was created. “I Wish I Was Her” is a story of how four women’s lives are changed forever after meeting one man with a secret that proves to be fatal. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, there’s another twist to keep you wanting more. This is the author’s first published novel and she is currently working on her second. About the Book Have you ever wished you had someone’s life solely based on appearances? From the outside looking in Amaria seems to have the perfect life, but she’s unhappy. Meanwhile her best friends Samone and Renae are smiling in her face to conceal their resentment. Trying to hide the fact that, they want her life! Chantell is determined to take from Amaria what matters most to her, her man. But Amaria is not giving him up without a fight. Then there’s Andre a handsome stranger that turns their world upside down. Andre is HIV positive, angry, and determined to spread the virus to as many people he can. I Wish I Was Her is a story of how four women’s lives are changed forever after meeting one man with a secret that proves to be fatal. Just when you think you’ve figured it out there’s another twist to keep you wanting more. Maryland Public TV is rebroadcasting HALLOWED GROUNDS at 10 PM on Memorial Day, May 31. Hallowed Grounds features a meeting between fellow alum, Glenn Marcus BCC ’65 and Marcel Millet BCC’54, who is the Superintendent’s Special Representative of a U.S. Military Cemetery in France, when they discover they’re both City alums.
To read more on the documentary, please visit, www.pbs.org |
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