63rd Anniversary Gala of San Diego Voice & Viewpoint is a Triumph

The big banquet room was packed. So was the parking lot. The 2023 Gala of San Diego Voice & Viewpoint sold out days before the big night, Feb. 17, at the Jacobs Center, San Diego.

An accomplished, glamorous roster of guests was there, replete with sequins, major hairdos, tuxedoes and a bevy of gorgeous Miss Black San Diego winners, who aided the program.

The emcees were none other than Dr. John Warren, long-time publisher of San Diego Voice & Viewpoint (now in its 63rd year) and resplendent in a tux, and his daughter, LaTanya West, the paper’s brilliant editor, resplendent in a stunning, platinum-toned sequined gown.

An elegant dinner was served on artfully decorated tables by attentive waiters. This team was backed by a phalanx of media wizards, M.A.N.D.A.T.E Records president and CEO, Dt. Leonard Thompson and Chida Rebecca Warren-Darby of Rebecca & Company, who delivered the video montage that dominated the stage and emphasized the importance of a free press and the Black Press (“Soldiers Without Swords”). Well done!

From James Weldon Johnson’s Black National Anthem (“Lift every voice and sing”), to the Buffalo Soldiers Color Guard, to Carmelia Bell, who brought down the house with one song, to Dr. Warren’s moving prepared remarks, to the roll call of noble gala sponsors, to the adroit, insightful and touching comments of Mayor Todd Gloria, San Diego’s 37th and youngest mayor, to the who’s who roster of award winners, to Christa Nicole, the cutest saxophone player ever; the audience was riveted from start to finish.

The paper's in-house photographer, Mike Norris, tore all over the room capturing image after image (see the results in the paper's Feb. 23 edition).

The gala is always held in February, Black History Month, which, as West points out in the complimentary Feb. 16 edition of the paper on every table, began in 1926 as Negro History Week thanks to the great historian, Carter G. Woodson.

If you missed the above, well, there’s always next year. The stakes are high given the gala’s annual theme and the paper’s motto: A people without a voice cannot be heard. The story of America’s black press is nothing if not plucky, gutsy, perceptive, rooted in the story of our nation and rife with writing and editing talent. Take West’s and Warren’s commemorative January issue about Martin Luther King, Jr.—it deserves a Pulitzer Prize, it’s that good, that wrenching, that historical; one for the ages.

Every year, the paper gives particular awards to those who light the way for the whole commu-nity. This year, the Unsung Hero Award went to Chuck Ambers, college teacher, art history expert and founder/curator of the African Museum Casa del Rey Moro, now 15, in Old Town. This special man has brought to the public the significant contributions of Africans to history. He thinks long term: “I’m looking for the next generation to move the museum forward so that the museum will not die with me.”

Professor Ambers has a big fan in the Lemon Grove Historical Society, which knows a thing or two about saving what really matters. LGHS president, Laura Hook, former long-time chair of Hospitality, Audrey Hamm, and board historian, Helen Ofield, were all there.

The Judicial Excellence Award went to the admirable Judge Roderick Shelton, impassioned about justice, youthful, and the first African American to be appointed to the California Superior Court. He thanked his wife of 25 years for her support.

The Publisher’s Award went to Regina Wilson, a former New York firefighter (the only woman in a class of 300) and major player in the Ground Zero nightmare cleanup. Today, she is executive director of California Black Media, Sacramento, dedicated to furthering the Black Press and communication in Black communities.

A trio of remarkable pastors received the Good Shepherd Award: Pastor Roland Slade, Meridian Baptist Church; Pastor J. Linzie Whitmill, Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church; Pastor Nate Stewart, the youngest and now leading Greater Life Baptist Church on Glebe Road in ,Lemon Grove.

Side note: That church is the second daughter church (built 1963) of Lemon Grove’s first church, (built 1897) and now in adaptive reuse as the Parsonage Museum of Lemon Grove, 3185 Olive, Treganza Heritage Park, home of its savior, the Lemon Grove Historical Society. Pastor Stewart, welcome to you and your family! You have inherited a beautiful building with fine acoustics and a roof that evokes the robes of the 12 apostles.

The Gerri Warren Humanitarian Award went to Gordon Brown for his decades of training countless children in the detailed sport of golf, wherein they gain skills like concentration, coordination, goal-setting, patience and joy in the doing.

A new award, Organizational Excellence, went to the San Diego Community Foundation, Mark Stuart, executive director, for its speedy, sensitive response to people’s needs county-wide, especially in the Age of Covid.

Along the way, Dr. Warren praised his three pastors for their leadership, hailed Nick Macchione, Director of San Diego County Health and Human Services; praised US Bank and Union Bank (now merged) for their attention to a) building generational wealth; b) community banks; and, c) home ownership; praised the Port of San Diego for making possible holding the MLK Parades on Sunday; and introduced his historian wife, Dolores Warren, whose biracial heritage led to her major contributions to the story of the Underground Railroad in New Jersey, including a stunning monument and recognition by the National Park Service.

You can see why nobody wanted to go home.