Introducing Obama gives Dean a leg up in life

In 2011, Christopher Dean shared the stage with President Obama, BTW's principal
Alisha Kiner and then-Memphis City Schools Supt. Kriner Cash. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

When you add favor, good fortune and opportunity, you get Christopher Dean, the Booker T. Washington High School (BTW) senior who was catapulted into the national spotlight in 2011 after his heartfelt introduction of President Barack Obama, who delivered the school’s commencement address at the Cook Convention Center.

Dean has since parlayed that opportunity into good fortune, which followed him to Lane College, a historically black college in Jackson, Tenn., and to the White House and The Commercial Appeal, Memphis’ daily newspaper, to work as an intern. 

What Dean leaned at the White House was kind of other-worldly compared to the rough and rugged streets in South Memphis, a community grappling with poverty, high teen pregnancy, escalating HIV/AIDS cases, and gang infestation. So he learned survival skills quickly

“I did my best anyway, and I competed to the highest level there is. There’s nothing that can take that away from me,” said Dean, 24, crediting BTW’s principal Alisha Kiner for steering him in the right direction and drawing out of him the true spirit of a “Warrior,” the school’s mascot.

He learned a lot working with White House staffers on “Ban the Box,” a bill that gives applicants convicted of a crime a fair shot at a job; “My Brother’s Keeper,” a White House initiative focusing on building bridges of opportunities for young people; and “Let Girls Learn,” also a White House “initiative, but aimed at helping adolescent girls attain a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential.”

Dean stood out among the 155 graduates that year at BTW – not only because of the chance encounter with Present Obama, but because he beat the odds. South Memphis is as rough as a community can get. His father was shot 20 times in a gang shootout when Dean was five, which left his mother with four children to tend to in the projects.   

Gangs were aplenty. Dean grew up among them and befriended Gangster Disciples and the Crips. “Growing up in South Memphis didn’t show me things that I wanted, it showed me things that I didn’t want,” he said. “Everybody around me was doing the same thing. I was determined to be different.”

Dean’s determination to be different was fueled long before meeting the president. “I knew the attention would fade. I wasn’t going to try to live off his name,” he said. “It’s a hunger in my stomach that’s not for food. It’s for success. It’s for surviving.”

If the president had not chosen BTW to visit, Dean said he still would have found a way to make it out of the ghetto unscathed. “I would’ve found a way to get out of here,” he said. “It wasn’t because I introduced the president and went to Lane (college), I was planning to go to Lane.”

Dean will never forget rubbing shoulders with the president of the United States. Neither would his family, friends, strangers, and those who wished him God-speed. “They call it 15 minutes of fame for a reason,” he said. “It’s not all shiny lights like people believe.”

It wasn’t all for naught, either. Now that Dean has graduated college – in April of this year – he’s back home creating documentaries, which he’d done as an intern for The Commercial Appeal. He also lives in a two-bedroom house and cuts his own grass.

“I lived in an apartment my entire life,” said Dean, whose ultimate goal is to create documentaries and spread happiness. “This is all I ask for. I don’t want to be famous. I want to do what I love to do and be happy doing it.”

U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton lll: Ensuring the safety of citizens in West Tennessee

       FedEx attorney Edward L. Stanton III has to pinch himself sometimes to make sure that his nomination by President Barack Obama on April 14, 2010, to be the next chief federal law enforcement officer for West Tennessee’s 22 counties is still real and not a dream. 

       “It was an unbelievable honor. It’s something I will always cherish and try to uphold…and I will honor this appointment in the appropriate way,” said Stanton, who was confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate on Aug. 5 of that year as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.

       Tennessee’s 9^th District Congressman Steve Cohen and 8^th District Congressman John Tanner, two senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the President’s party, recommended Stanton for the position.

       Memphis attorney Veronica Coleman-Davis was the last Democratic nominee and the first African-American to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. She received the nod from President Bill Clinton.

U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton lll

       Sworn into office on Aug. 16, Stanton is one of three U.S. Attorneys in Tennessee and 93 across the country. Atty. Gen. Eric L. Holder Jr. was in attendance for Stanton’s ceremonial investiture later on in December.

Stanton oversees a staff of nearly 100 people working out of two offices. The main office is located on the 8^th floor of the Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building in Memphis and the Jackson Branch Office is in Jackson, Tenn.

The staff includes 40 prosecutors, legal assistances, paralegals, support staff, and an administrative division that deals with everything from H.R. to budget, IT to investigations, and contracting. Over the past year, more than 20 million dollars in restitution, fines, and fees in civil and criminal matters were collected. 

U.S. Attorneys are responsible for the following: 1) the prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal Government; 2) the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party; and 3) the collection of debts owed to the Federal Government, which are administratively uncollectible.

The Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office handled nearly 400 matters over the past year, including indictments and information filed; and the Civil Division handled over 3,500 cases over the same period. He established a Civil Rights Unit in 2011.

       “What makes the news all the time are high criminal profile cases,” said Stanton, 42.

Three well-known cases come to mind prior to Stanton’s administration – Tennessee Waltz, which led to the arrest of seven Tennessee lawmakers and two others in 2005; Tarnished Blue, the roundup of “corrupted” Memphis police officers over a number of years; and Main Street Sweeper, where three high-profile Memphians were nabbed in 2007.

The aforementioned sting operations are indicative of the type of criminal cases that land squarely on the U.S. Attorney’s desk, and the type of cases where taskforces of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are deployed.

Indictments and arrests are often reported in the media, such as drug distribution conspiracies, sex trafficking, money laundering conspiracies, illegal prescription drug distribution rings, mail fraud, child pornography, and other crimes.

The apprehension and sentencing of Craig Petties and his drug trafficking organization for packaging and distributing cocaine in Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and elsewhere, is perhaps Stanton’s crowning achievement to date as a U.S. Attorney.

He said the wife of Mickey Wright Sr., who worked for the Shelby County Office of Construction Code Enforcement before he disappeared in 2001, sent him a card thanking his office for securing a life-sentence without parole in 2011 for Dale V. Mardis, who admitted killing Wright and dismembering and burning his remains in Mississippi.

“I told her that justice delayed is not justice denied,” said Stanton, a driven crime fighter focusing on ensuring the safety of the district’s 1.5 million citizens. “I give it 110 percent. The staff steps in and gives the same.”

‘We’re very vigilant…’

       There is an uptick in criminal activity in the district, notably prescription drug abuse, which often leads to heroin use and trafficking, Stanton said. “Quite frankly, we’ve seen a record number of heroin overdoses here, particularly of young teenagers and young adults.”

       Another area is sex trafficking, he pointed out.

       Crime reduction initiatives have been relatively successful in Shelby County primarily due to taskforces like Project Safe Neighborhoods, Project Safe Childhood and Safe Streets Task Force, Stanton said. Partners include local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The Multiagency Gang Unit is another taskforce being deployed. Its mission is to eradicate gang activity, Stanton said. It is comprised of the Memphis Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the FBI.

“Our goal is to dismantle gang organizations, beginning at the top. We’re very vigilant,” the U.S. Attorney said matter-of-factly.

While fighting crime is Stanton’s No. 1 goal, “what is equally important is to get out into the schools, neighborhood and communities,” he said. “There’s not a call that doesn’t get returned. There’s not a request that doesn’t get answered for someone to come out. The children need to see that.”

Stanton is a role model trying to steer youth in a positive direction. Supporters like his guidance counselor in school helped to nurture his aspirations – just like he’s trying to do for students at the schools he visits.

“I thought I wanted to be a pilot. That kind of went to the wayside,” said Stanton, whose foray into public service began in 5^th grade when he ran for student council president at Idlewild Elementary. “That was my first loss. I thought I was going to make a difference for the 5^th graders.”

He’s made a difference since graduating from Central High School, the University of Memphis in 1994, and U of M’s Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1997. He began his legal career at the law offices of Charles Carpenter. From there, he went to the assistant city attorney’s office, the law firm Armstrong Allen, and finally to the legal department of FedEx before his appointment as U.S. Attorney.

Setting an example…

       Stanton comes from a family of public servants. His father, Edward L. Stanton Jr., is the current General Sessions Court Clerk; and his mother, Ruth Johnson Stanton, is retired from Memphis City Schools.

He grew up with two sisters in Whitehaven. Arnetta Stanton Macklin is vice president of seniors at MIFA and Tameaka Stanton-Riley, his younger sister, is the administrative director for the Shelby County Property Assessor.

       “It’s a part of my DNA,” said Stanton, also noting that his maternal grandfather, a trailblazer in his own right, was one of the first African-American letter carriers in the North Memphis area. The examples set by the Stanton men, he added, helped to solidify his role as a husband and father.

       “I didn’t have to look anywhere else,” said Stanton, who is married to Mae Smith Stanton and has two children, a seven-year-old and a 10-year old. “I saw the example of being a father, husband, a provider. I saw men who stood up on principle as opposed to what was popular…and really instilling into me what character is, integrity, and how important your name is.”

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he said, “‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others.’ That drive’s me. Not how much money you’ve made, how many people know your name, how many titles you have, but what are you doing for others.” 

Memphis VA not immune from national scandal pushback

The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis

By Wiley Henry

Before the VA hospital scandal made its way to Washington, D.C., and landed squarely on the desk of President Barack Obama, the Memphis VA Medical Center was mired in its own scandal in 2012, the year three patients died in the emergency room. An investigation ensued and the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) Office of Healthcare Inspections concluded that the deaths resulted from inadequate care.

Widespread problems with the nation's hospitals for veterans – including recent reports of delayed treatments, preventable deaths, and efforts to falsify records – drew a strong rebuke from the president: "I will not stand for it," said Obama, who met with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki in the Oval Office last week prior to a news conference.

The VA facility in Phoenix particularly drew the ire of the president and prompted the OIG to investigate. The inspector general announced the department's findings on Wednesday (May 28th): At least 1,700 veterans at the medical center were not registered on the proper waiting lists to see the doctors, thereby causing veterans to be at risk of being forgotten or lost.

A number of reports were released by the OIG within the last few days in response to a number of allegations that were brought to light by confidential complainants and substantiated by the OIG after concluding its investigations.

The sweeping allegations of misconduct and questionable medical practices at the veteran facilities have drawn sharp criticism from Ninth Congressional District U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, who pledged his support to the nation's veterans. He has also invited Shinseki to come to Memphis to reassure the nearly 200,000 veterans served by the VA hospital here that their concerns are taken seriously.

On Tuesday (May 27th) afternoon, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway and State Rep. Karen Camper, a veteran herself, facilitated a town hall meeting for veterans at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. They took notes and recorded the veterans' testimonies in hopes of locating resources that may be available at the local, state and federal levels.

Following the investigation of the Memphis facility a year ago, the inspector general mandated corrective action. The call for corrective measures came after an anonymous complainant alleged that a patient with a drug allergy was given the wrong medication and died. A second patient died after being administered multiple sedating drugs and left unattended. And a third patient with very high blood pressure died after treatment was delayed.

Last week, Tennessee's U.S. senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, inquired about updates on changes made at the facility via a letter sent to Robert A. Petzel, the Department of Veterans Affairs' undersecretary for health.

Changes at the VA hospital...

According to the Memphis VA hospital, changes have already begun in the emergency department. The hospital will spend approximately $5 million to renovate and expand the Emergency Department (ED) to improve urgent care delivery and access for its patients. The work will be executed in three phases and take about 1.5 years to complete.

One of the primary changes includes relocating the admissions area to the first floor of the Bed Tower. Structural changes also include closing some entrances and opening others to accommodate the flow of patient, employee and visitor traffic.
Only patients with "true" emergencies, or life-threatening issues, will be permitted to enter through the emergency room.

Other changes have already begun to take place, hospital officials said Wednesday in response to an inquiry from The New Tri-State Defender. A new nurse manager with ED experience, for example, has been hired along with 14 additional nurses. Training for the nursing staff also will be expanded to ensure they are competent and certified.

A Patient Care Assistant desk has been established that navigates 25 percent of patients with minor complaints to an appropriate provider instead of directly to the ED. And to expedite dispositions, patient flow coordinators have been established in the ED to communicate the status of patient tests with providers.

Additional administrative staff has been hired as well and an Admissions Office has been designated to coordinate admissions and transfers. Still other changes are being made as well to improve medical care for its veterans, according to the written response for the Memphis VA.

Reiterating his support...

Cohen said three congressional staffers at his Memphis office work daily on veteran affairs and that much of their constituent service is centered on veterans.

"With more and more of our nation's veterans returning from combat suffering from PTSD and serious injuries, I will continue supporting the president's efforts to make sure they are treated with the utmost respect and receive timely, high-quality care at the Memphis VAMC or any other VAMC," Cohen said.

Some of the problems with veteran hospitals could be solved if Congress appropriates more funding for more doctors and health care professionals, said Cohen.

There was a proposal to increase funding for the nation's veterans hospitals, he said, "but the Republicans refused to fund it. They stopped it in the Senate. Some of the problems are a lack of funding and the Republicans refuse to fund it."

Having their say...

The veterans who came out to the town hall meeting on Tuesday afternoon had much to say about the VA fiasco that is triggering calls for reform. Several were quite vocal about their own personal experiences regarding health care and other veteran issues.

Some of them talked about the city providing homes for struggling veterans and homeless people and using vacant school buildings, if they could be repurposed as transitional homes or facilities. One veteran spoke about his dissatisfaction with the VA hospital.

More than 70 veterans and their families attended the meeting.

"The goal was to get information directly from the veterans through their testimonies," said Hardaway.

Randy Wade, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam, advocated for veterans in his former job as district director for Cohen. At Tuesday's hearing he polled the veterans to ascertain the number who were dissatisfied with the treatment they've received from the VA hospital.

"About 99 percent are unhappy," said Wade, who expressed his dissatisfaction with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the local VA hospital. Wade's former co-worker, Willie Henry Jr., Cohen's deputy director, was present and spoke briefly.

Hardaway said hospitals such as Regional One Health (formerly the Regional Medical Center) could stand in the gap for the VA hospital in terms of immediacy of services.

"We want to look to see what we can do to bring in the MED, Methodist, the University of Tennessee – whatever local medical services we have – to complement the services that the VA hospital isn't delivering."

The VA hospital, Hardaway said, should be held accountable for the job that it is charged to do to ensure accessibility and provide affordable care to veterans. He said the veterans' testimonies would be shared with some of the state agencies and made available to Sen. Alexander's office as well.

Hardaway's deceased brother was a Vietnam-era Marine and his father, also deceased, was a World War II Army veteran.

"It's personal to me," he said.

(TSD freelance reporter Ashley Grandberry contributed to this story.)

Smiley: Poverty tour not an anti-Obama rally

Tavis Smiley delivers startling statistics about the nation's poorest Americans. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

    Seeing poverty upclose and personal was the impetus that talk show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton University professor Cornel West needed to sound an alert that the nation's middle-class is finding it difficult to hold on to the American Dream: a job, home, automobile, and savings.
    On the last leg of "The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience," a nine-state, 18-city bus tour that began on the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian reservation in Wisconsin and ended at St. Andrews AME Church in Memphis (Aug. 12), Smiley and West painted what they believe to be realistic and futuristic pictures of the dire circumstances gripping the nation's "newest poor": the middle class, the majority of them African Americans.
    "This is a life-altering experience to see poverty upclose and personal," said Smiley, who, along with West, spent the night before with a poor white family in Mississippi on public assistance with "nine kids, a dog, and two kittens." The two had embedded themselves in the muck of poverty in homes or on the streets before each town hall.
    The poor comes in all colors, said Smiley, who echoed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s sentiments about the nation's poor and downtrodden and the Memphis sanitation workers, for which King had championed before an assassin's bullet fell the revered civil rights icon.
    "We closed in Memphis because Dr. King gave his life fighting for the rights of poor and working people," said Smiley before asking the audience of more than one thousand packed in the church's sanctuary, "Are we gonna side with the weak or the strong?" The strong, he referred to, would be the policy wonks in Washington -- whether they're Republican or Democrat -- who make career and life-altering decisions that impact the majority of Americans.
    Smiley began in earnest the conversation with an explanation for the tour and cited some grim statistics that caused many in the audience to cringe and shake their heads in utter disbelief, or nod their approval, as Smiley delivered a message laden with inescapable consequences if America doesn't redress its problems.

Princeton professor Cornel West points to the problem with America.

    "We're here to put a spotlight on poverty in America," he explained to the predominantly African American audience. The few whites sprinkled throughout grabbed hold of the message as well and internalized its impact on America's future.
    Afterward, the talk show host cited some statistics to buttress his compelling argument: "Forty-two percent of young black men are unemployed in New York; one percent of people in America control more wealth than 90 percent of other Americans; the top 400 riches Americans own and control more wealth than 150 million Americans."
    As Smiley expounded on poverty levels and disseminated information like a college professor, West, the controversial go-to college professor himself, waited quietly for the second half of the two-hour town hall to wow the audience with more straight-laced, in-your-face, no-holds-barred commentary and criticism that elevated the statue of both men over the years.
    West is an author, critic, philosopher, actor and civil rights activist who teaches African American Studies and religion at Princeton. He also is a prominent member of the Democratic Socialist of America, an organization seeking "a more free, democratic and humane society."
    Aside from his talk show duties, Smiley is an author, liberal political commentator, philanthropist, entrepreneur and advocate. He said the poverty tour, his brainchild, was mapped out at West's mother's house in California where he and West brainstormed to bring poverty to the forefront of America's conscience.
    "During three presidential debates, poverty and poor didn't come up at any time during the 90-minute debates," said Smiley, aiming his criticism at President Barack Obama. "This is not an anti-Obama rally. If he's going to be a great president, not a garden variety, you got to push him."
    The duo's push apparently prompted comedian Steve Harvey on his syndicated morning show in weeks past to cast Smiley and West as "Uncle Toms" for vehemently criticizing President Obama's handling of the sputtering economy and his alleged inattentiveness to African Americans.
    The feud between Smiley, West and Harvey, host of the television game show "The Family Feud," has reverberated across the Internet, pitting the popular comedian against two reputed activists with a penchant for critical thinking and asking tough questions.
    Besides Harvey, radio personality Tom Joyner and the Rev. Al Sharpton have taken potshots at Smiley and West.
    "Barack Obama ain't Jesus. He doesn't walk on water. He is a public servant," said Smiley, looking straight-face and unflinchingly into the audience and making it a point to quell the rumor mill that he has an ax to grind with President Obama.
    "I've never called the President a name or demonized him," he said. In fact, "I have nothing but 'Respect' for the President. I will 'Protect' him, but then I will 'Correct' him if he's wrong. Right now he's off course. We got to get him back on course."
    West recently called the President a "black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs" and again on Friday evening as he paced in front of the pulpit pointing and gesturing to make his point, this time with Smiley sitting quietly and approvingly in the background.
    West admitted unabashedly that he's an angry black man. "When they put me in the grave," he began, "I'm gonna have the same righteous indignation that brothers Martin and Malcolm and Medgar Evers had, because too many folks are suffering, not just black people, but white people and red people and yellow people and brown people."
    However, West said too many black people love everybody but other black people. He encouraged white people in the audience and any other ethnic group to love themselves as well. "I love my black momma, because that's where I came from. You better love your momma," he said.
    He talked about the outsourcing of jobs overseas and Washington spending an exorbitant amount of money on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq rather than on education. "You find money for jails," he said. "You find money for prisons... where are the jobs?"
    Poverty, he said matter-of-factly, has been downplayed in the last 30 years.
    Consider more startling statistics for the poor posted on The Poverty Tour web site: www.povertytour.smileyandwest.com:
    • There were 43.6 million poor people in 2009 compared to 39.8 million in 2008.
    • The nation's official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008.
    • The poverty rate in 2009 was the highest since 1994, but 8.1 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in 1959, the first year for which poverty rates were available.
    • 19 million Americans (6.3 percent) live in extreme poverty, meaning their family's cash income is less than half of the poverty line, or less than about $11,000 a year for a family of four.
    • The poverty rate for blacks increased from 24.7 percent to 25.8 percent between 2008 and 2009.
    "You talk about the power of poor people, you are confronting the most powerful force ... but they'll crush you like insects if they can get away with it," said West, railing against the powerful in Washington and elsewhere.
    "We're at a critical junction at our nation's history," said Smiley. "Either we eradicate poverty or poverty will eradicate us. This is our last best chance to get it right."
    Although Smiley and West drew inspiration from Dr. King for the poverty tour, "a lot of folks don't want to see poverty," said Smiley, telling the story that a white woman in one city where the tour bus made a stop refused to acknowledge that poverty is just as rampant in that city.      

Privatizing trash pickup dishonors sanitation workers

    Honor had been 43 years past due, but President Barack Obama made it a point on April 29 to show eight surviving members of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike what they meant to the nation and to him personally.
    After their White House visit and induction into the U.S. Department of Labor Hall of Fame, the University of Memphis followed Washington's lead and hosted a local induction ceremony on June 4 in the Michael D. Rose Theatre for the city's original 1,300 sanitation workers, both living and deceased.
    Three days earlier, Memphis City Council member Kemp Conrad, a Republican representing Super District 9, Position 1, took the sanitation workers back to 1968 when he introduced a lame proposal in council chambers to privatize the city's trash pickup.
     Conrad said he is trying to save the city $20 million to help close a budget gap of $60 million. But the idea didn't bode well for sanitation workers, nor members of AFSCME, Local 1733, the union that fought "tooth and nail" for better wages and better working conditions for sanitation workers.
    The bitter struggle, they recalled, brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he'd seen "the Promised Land." His death ushered an end to the strike and forced the city to meet the sanitation workers' demands.
    Now the city is looking for savings to balance the budget. New revenue sources should be sought to pare down the deficit, but Conrad's proposal would, in large part, dishonor the sanitation workers and ignite a powder keg similar to the 1968 strike.
    
Kemp Conrad's proposal...

    While Conrad seeks to prop up a limping government on one end of the spectrum, his plan, while laborious in research, could cause the other end of the spectrum to fall in terms of collateral damage: jobs would be loss.
    A private contractor would make 950 stops a day versus 450 for Memphis, the councilman figured. There are approximately 500 permanent employees in solid waste, but if a private contractor gets the job to dispose of the city's waste, 300 sanitation workers would be tossed aside and laden with economic instability.
   The councilman's plan also includes a $7-8 million fund to buy-out 107 employees with 35 or more years of service. Nine have been with the department since the 1968 strike. Those employees would be paid to retire if they choose not to work for the new contractor.
    Conrad hopes to implement his plan in an effort to curtail spending. Revenue streams may be drying up in some cases, but the councilman's bold initiative, though clearly thought out, is thoughtless to those who could be whacked by the budget ax.
   "We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem," Conrad wrote in a June 2 email addressed to a "fellow Memphian." Bold leadership and a durable plan is needed, he wrote, "not one more year of kick the can."
    While I agree with Conrad that bold leadership is needed and that a durable plan should be implemented, I cringe at the thought that the employees who would be affected by the councilman's plan would be essentially kicked to the curb after forcing the city to meet their demands in 1968.

 

BTW grads embrace President Obama's message

President Barack Obama delivers a rousing message to Booker T. Washington graduates at the Memphis Cook Convention Center while their principal,  Alisha Kiner, looks on. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

   It was Christopher Dean's proudest moment. The Booker T. Washington graduate got the opportunity of a lifetime when he introduced the President of the United States of America to the graduating Class of 2011 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center.
    He stood bold and confident on the same stage with the most powerful leader of the "free world" and announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the Booker T. Washington High School Class of 2011 Commencement Exercise, the President of the United States: President Barack Obama."
    Still cameras flashed and TV cameras rolled to capture that moment on May 16, before a capacity crowd of 3,000, when President Obama embraced the young man whose anguish was reflected in the winning video that he'd selected in the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge.

Christopher Dean introduces the President of the USA. 

    This time Christopher was smiling and proud to be a "warrior" -- BTW's mascot -- so were 149 other graduating seniors who beat the odds despite having to live and attend school in an area of South Memphis that is often beset by poverty and crime.
    President Obama understood their struggle and celebrated their triumph, saying, "If success can happen here at Booker T. Washington, it can happen anywhere in Memphis. And if it can happen in Memphis, it can happen anywhere in Tennessee. And if it can happen anywhere in Tennessee, it can happen all across America."
    Some of the graduates were arrayed in green caps and gowns, others in yellow. They understood what the President was conveying. They listened intently, wept with joy, and focused their attention on the first black president who came to Memphis to give them the presidential seal of approval for their hard-fought success.
    "We are here today because every one of you stood tall and said, 'Yes, we can. Yes, we can learn. Yes, we can succeed,'" he told the ecstatic graduates. "You decided you would not be defined by where you come from but by where you want to go, by what you want to achieve, by the dreams you hope to fulfill."
     Christopher hopes to fulfill his dreams and vowed they would not be deferred just because he's from South Memphis. The President's message was the catapult that he and the others needed to get them to the next phase in life.
    "Yes, you’re from South Memphis," the President said. "Yes, you’ve always been underdogs. Nobody has handed you a thing. But that also means that whatever you accomplish in your life, you will have earned it. Whatever rewards and joys you reap, you’ll appreciate them that much more because they will have come through your own sweat and tears, products of your own effort and your own talents."
    Ashley Woodard liked what she heard -- and especially seeing President Obama up close and personal. "I liked the stuff he was saying in his speech," the 18-year-old said. She is planning to attend Tennessee State University.
     The day for Ricky Roberts, also 18, will no doubt last a lifetime. "I was happy," he said. His father, just as eager to see the President himself, understood why his son was beaming as bright as sunlight in a galaxy containing the biggest star.
    "I was already proud that he's graduating," Ricky Roberts I said about his son. "But I was more proud that the President was here."
    It was a moving and emotional experience for the entire family, said Roberts, a BTW graduate himself. "My son's aunts, uncle and sister graduated from Booker T. Washington as well," he said.
    Courtney Taylor, Ricky's 22-year-old sister, graduated from BTW in 2007. The commencement speaker for her class was not as famous as the President, didn't arrive in Air Force One, and didn't need Secret Service protection.
    It would have been a grand experience, she said, if President Obama had been the commencement speaker for the Class of 2007. Nevertheless, she's happy for her brother.
    "It was a long time coming," said Courtney. "We should have had him from the jump. We needed him to tell us to go to school instead of roaming the streets. You see, it's possible."