Black History and Chaz Stevens

Well, Chaz Stevens is at it again, but now he is not just attacking Commissioner Sylvia Poitier or recently vindicated former commissioner Gloria Battle, but he is attacking the black community as a whole.

 

I have recently been trying to get a project started to record oral testimonies of members of the black community in Deerfield Beach.  I am doing this in attempt to preserve our rich heritage and fill in the blanks in our City’s history because for the most part “our” history has been omitted (intentionally or un-intentionally). 

Now, I originally had this idea back on March 8, 2011 (some of you may remember this day because you went out and voted), while I was out at the polling places communing with the older generation.  I was inundated with stories of Deerfield Beach that I had never heard before.  I will not tell them here, but I will say that blacks have a great story to tell about our city.  Last week, I became really motivated to get this project up and running when a local pastor got up at the commission meeting and reminded the commissioners that Deerfield Beach does not have an accurate accounting of legacies and histories of the black community that comprise this city.  So, I have contacted the churches in the black community and reached out to the Deerfield Beach Historical Society, who originally started this project but never completed it, notifying them that we were gearing up to start this project again and reiterating to them the importance of collecting our information and preserving it for future generations.  

My team and I have yet to contact any individual, company, or the City for financial assistance on this project.  The only entity that has been contacted is the Deerfield Beach Historical Society, as they would be the ones who would and did handle this project.  Now, if they went to the City because this project was originally started by the City and would benefit the City for funding then why is Chaz Stevens concerned about it.  Is capturing and recording our history within this city not important enough to warrant the City’s financial assistance.  In a time, when the black community is already feeling left out, abandoned, and bamboozled by the City of Deerfield Beach.  This would be a major step toward unity within our City.  But with or without the City’s help this project will be completed, it would be nice to have the assistance of the City.

The black history of Deerfield Beach is a history that has yet to be revealed to the public, but if I have my way it will soon be available for all to read in black and white, for Blacks Whites and everything in between.