This year's Day of Atonement focuses on honoring, protecting the legacy of Black women

LORAIN — Several dozen people gathered Saturday at a church in the city to hear lessons about "honoring and protecting the legacy of Black women" and their contributions to society. It was all part of the 29th annual Holy Day of Atonement, commemorating the 1995 Million Man March on Washington D.C. by hundreds of thousands of Black men for unity and family. Organizer Imam Paul Hasan and multiple other speakers addressed group of approximately 30 who gathered Saturday afternoon at God's Kingdom Church on Washington Avenue for the annual event. They were there to hear the message and to recognizing the role of Black women in advancing African American culture and community. Hasan said his mother "had to be the mother and the father of seven children" while battling chronic illness. "But she made a point of being the best we could be" and stressing the importance of education. Hasan said he owes her much for her sacrifice. Tonya Birney, dissemination and implementation director for the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County, said her mother originally moved to Ohio from Alabama so her father could find work. Her mother, who sought a job as a math teacher, faced employment discrimination in Stark County because she was a Black woman. She eventually found a job teaching in Cleveland Schools and retired from there, Birney said. "We deseve the ability to have a seat at the table," she said. "I won't give up mine." Birney said education, mental health care including medication, and reducing stigmas in the community surrounding all three are important. "We are the caretakers of our community," she said.Carolyn White, a former Lorain city councilwoman and Sheffield village councilwoman, said her mother moved to Ohio because there were jobs at Ford. At least once, White participated in a sit-in at Admiral King High School in Lorain and recalled her mother's worries about what that might do to her job prospects. When White got into public service, "it wasn't easy," she said. But "I didn't think it couldn't be done. I thought 'It needs to be done,'" she said, recalling the struggles of Harriet Tubman, of Rosa Parks, and the many years women and Black Americans spent fighting for the right to vote. "So get out there and elect someone who will lead this country to wholeness," White said, making her personal pitch for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee facing Republican Donald Trump on Nov. 5. The fears of dangers young Black men face when walking out the door "live like shrapnel" in their mothers' DNA, said educational leadership consultant Cynthia Jackson-Howard, a Ph.D. She encouraged those present to "use your gifts to improve the lives of everyone" and work on their happiness in partnership with whatever "creator" they believe in. Black women have a long history of being thought of as having low standing in society. Ebony Clark said that's due both to their gender and race, the latter of which white women don't have to worry about due to their privilege, said Ebony Clark. She said to be both Black and a woman is to be thought of only as a sex symbols, as maids, servants or mistresses. To suffer emotional, sexual, and physical stereotyping and exploitation starting at birth. So "you can call me a lot of things, but put some respect on it," said Clark, who has a Ph.D., "You can call me 'Doctor.'" It's vitally important to speak up, she said: "'If you are silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it,'" Clark said, quoting famed 20th century African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. "If we're serious about honoring and respecting Black women, we need to dispel these harmful myths," Clark said. "if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have power, you need to empower someone else." There's no way to make up for all the sins of the past, she said, but there are ways to atone for those sins: Voting. Righting past wrongs. Honoring the legacy of living sisters and deceased ancestors. Saturday's commemoration fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism as well as a day of atonement in that faith. Mark Jaffee, religious director of Agudath B'nai Israel Synagogue in Lorain, sent a recorded video message to share the stories of three Black Jewish women who made history in the United States. Hasan said the Million Man March was "a call to Black men to be better men. We had to be better human beings, and we did that." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.