Millions More Movement Hosts Beacon of Light Awards

Troy Young, Tina Hicks, Leroy Thomas,
Elder Ben Ridley, & Darryl Muhammad
(Some of the Recipients of the Beacon of Light Award)

By Clarence Thomas

As a show of its appreciation for the sacrifice and devoted service of thirty-four distinguished community servants, the Middle Georgia Local Organizing Committee of the Millions More Movement hosted its first Beacon of Light Awards Program on September 30. The event was facilitated by Macedonia Baptist Church.

After a fitting welcome and opening prayer by LOC Co-Chair and emcee Kenneth Muhammad, in which he referred to awardees as “well deserving”, the lively and attentive crowd engrossed themselves with an excerpt of the Millions More Movement rally keynote address delivered by Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan during the October 16, 2005 event at the foot of the Capital Building in Washington D.C.

The Millions More Movement is the tenth anniversary commemoration of the historic Million Man March that took place on October 16, 1995 in the nation’s capital. Nearly two million Black men from across the country and world converged on Washington as an expression of their commitment to change within themselves, their families and communities. Unity, Spiritual Values, Education, Economic Development, Political Power, Reparations, Prison Industrial Complex, Health, Artistic/Cultural Development and Peace is the ten-point platform of the Millions More Movement.

Participants were next treated to an impressive guitar performance by a music student of Kenneth Muhammad, before hearing from the event’s main speaker Minister Darryl Muhammad of Macon’s Nation of Islam Mosque #93 – who commended the award recipients for the courage and commitment that they have unselfishly exhibited through service throughout the mid state over the years. Muhammad was also honored with an award following his address: Refocusing on the Millions More Movement.

Beacon of Light recipients were well pleased and impressed with both the event and the selections. “The event was really wonderful. I accept this award on behalf of all the children of Progressive Christian Academy,” said the school’s founder and principal Dr. Betty Tolbert following the ceremony. “Everybody needs to become a light right where they are. Young people especially need that light and I want to continue being one.”

Veteran television anchor and reporter of Channel 13 fame Tina Hicks was overwhelmed. “I’m so elated that somebody remembered,” she excitedly expressed. “This program was well done and very inclusive. I’m very grateful for the Local Organizing Committee choosing unsung heroes that go above and beyond the call of duty. The right things that we do in secret will eventually be rewarded openly by God and I’m grateful for that!”

Joining Tolbert and Hicks were Reverend Lonzy Edwards of Mount Moriah Baptist Church and the Georgia Informer's very own founder and publisher Herbert Dennard. Both have made tremendous sacrifices in their fields of endeavor and as community activists. "This award is an honor but it goes way beyond me," Edwards reflected. "Our community has to figure out how to do better than we are doing. Hopefully these designations will inspire us and others to redouble our efforts and try even harder to improve conditions throughout all Macon." Dennard expressed his gratitude for the award and reminded himself and others of what service should be about. "When people do things, they should not do it for the honor but because it's the right thing to do. I'm grateful to be honored while I'm living."

The 2006 Millions More Movement Beacon of Light recipients are as follows:

ART & CULTURE
Wini McQueen, Fabric Artist
Wilfred Stroud, Painter & Illustrator
Baba Raa El & Aima Bey, Story Tellers/Performing Artists
Chi Ezekwueche, Cultural Innovator and Visual Artist
Kirklyn Hodges, Owner/Creator of Homeland Village
BUSINESS
D.T. Walton, Jr., Walton Dentistry
Alex C. Habersham, Entrepreneur, Middle GA Black Pages
Fred Jones, Jones Brother Eastlawn Memorial Chapel
Saleem’s Fish Supreme
Troy Young Realty

COMMUNICATIONS
Leroy Thomas, Veteran Journalist/Activist
Tina Hicks, former television Anchor/Reporter
Shirley Ellis, Radio Announcer & FVSU Educator
Herbert Dennard; Publisher, Georgia Informer

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Loretto Grier Cudjoe Smith NAACP & Community Activist
Herbert Tuggle; former Librarian, Washington Library
Tina Dennard, Adopt-A-Role Model & Middle GA Black Pages
Howard Scott; Director, Booker T. Washington Center

EDUCATION
Betty Tolbert; Founder/Principal, Progressive Christian Academy
Lillie Ruth Gantt; Founder/Principal, M.A. Evans Gantt School
Leontine Espy; Lifetime Educator, Teacher, Principal, Deputy Superintendent
Oscar Jackson, Music Educator, Bandleader

ENTERTAINMENT
Eddie Kirkland, Blues Pioneer
Basil Dixon, Percussion Pioneer
Tony Dorsey & Mary Holmes, Legendary Bone, Holmes & Friends

POLITICS
Mayor C. Jack Ellis, Macon’s First Black Mayor
Lonnie & Ronnie Miley, Renown Twin Political Servants & Activists
State Representative David Lucas
Macon City Council President Anita Ponder

RELIGION
Rev. Jacob Parker; Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church
Elder Benjamin Ridley, Middle GA Regional AME Leader
Rev. Eddie Smith; Lead Servant, Macedonia Baptist Church
Rev. Lonzy Edwards; Pastor, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church
Min. Darryl Muhammad, Nation of Islam Mosque #93