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HCAH’s Marjorie Joseph Honored as UNA Houston’s Global Citizen Recipient

HCAH's Marjorie Joseph Honored as UNA Houston's Global Citizen Recipient

The Houston Chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) hosted the city’s UN Day on Sunday October 24—the 76th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. We are very excited and humbled to share that the keynote speaker and UNA Global Citizen award honoree was Marjorie A. Joseph, Poet and Executive Director of Houston Coalition Against Hate. This recognition is a true testament to her dedication and the Coalition’s work to create a world of acceptance and belonging.

Every October, the United Nations Association and its national network of more than 200 chapters, including the Houston Chapter (a local 501(c)(3) non-profit, nonpartisan organization), honor UN Day—to commemorate the ratification of the United Nations Charter and to celebrate the varied and difficult work of the Organization. UNA-USA chapters are dedicated to educating, inspiring and mobilizing Americans to support the principles and programs of the United Nations. Chapters also are keen on promoting constructive United States leadership in the UN system.

This year’s theme was Creating a Blueprint for a Better Future. For more than seven decades, UNA-USA members have advocated on behalf of the UN and its agencies. Over the last year and a half, we’ve seen just how interconnected the world is and that a threat anywhere—from the COVID-19 pandemic to intensifying impacts of climate change—is a threat everywhere.

The U.S. should not—and cannot—tackle global challenges alone – creating a blueprint for a better future can only be achieved through working in tandem with the UN.

The program can be viewed through the following platforms:
Houston Coalition Against Hate
Facebook
YouTube

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Legacies Op-eds

Cicely Tyson Leaves a Legacy

“I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there’s nothing left for you to work towards. I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it.”
― Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson climbed her final mountain on Thursday, January 28th 2021. Ms. Tyson was an iconic Black actress that climbed many mountains during her career and planted the flag of equality.

Her passing is a loss; yet her memory is a legacy that every challenge has a solution and does not mean defeat. When I think of Ms Tyson, I remember her in the role of Ms. Jane Pitman, a fictional story of a woman who was born during slavery and bears witness to the racial injustice of the post-civil war through the civil rights movement. That scene where she slowly walks to drink from the “Whites only” fountain had my whole family sitting in my grandmother’s den cheering! It was a moment that said, yes I am human and I belong.

That is the legacy Ms. Tyson leaves behind. We as a nation still have many more mountains to climb; this is not a movie. This is our reality and the climb continues and yes even with a first woman and woman of color serving as Vice President. Keep climbing, keep climbing for every woman and girl that still remains afraid in their own homes, unable to provide for themselves and their children due to underpaid jobs, and all the barriers that still remain for women of color and women of all backgrounds.

About the Author

HCDVCC Training Director,
Thecia Jenkins