2021 was a year of tumults and triumphs. The coronavirus raged on as many countries around the world and states in America struggled to find normalcy amid the pandemic. Beyond the rising cases and death toll from COVID-19 and a range of natural disasters, 2021 was a history-making year for Blacks in America – despite an insurrection in Washington, wildfires in Colorado, Arizona, and California, and another earthquake in Haiti. Looking back at 2021, here’s a look at some of The New York Christian Times’ top news stories.
Zaila Avant-Garde | Spelling Bee Super Champion
Fourteen-year-old Zaila Avant-Garde captured the attention of the world when she became the first Black student in the United States to win the National Spelling Bee championship. At 12 years of age, Jamaican Jody-Ann Maxwell, now a lawyer in Illinois, was the first Black student to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1998.
Not only is Avant-garde a champion speller who correctly spelled the word “myrraya” to walk away with the top prize and the yearlong championship, but she is also a juggler, a unicyclist, and a basketball player who can multi-task skillfully by spelling, juggling, and cycling all at the same time. Zaila‘s win came with $50,000 in cash and prizes, and according to this brilliant eighth-grader, spelling is like a “side hustle”. She is the holder of three basketball Guinness World Records and co-holder of a fourth. “Basketball, I’m not just playing it … I am trying to go somewhere with this. Basketball is what I do,” she explained. “Spelling is really a side thing. It’s like a little hors d’eouvre. Basketball is the main dish.”
There is more … Avant-Garde is a medalist and the 2020 champion in the Juniors Division with the International Juggler’s Association. She is also an elite unicyclist.
Her spelling bee coach Cole Shafer-Ray said of Zaila, “Most spellers look at words simply as a sequence of letters to memorize. Zaila looks at each word as a story. Not only did she know each word’s spelling, she also knows its entire backstory, its historical context, what roots it came from, and the precise orthographical logic of why every letter of every word had to e exactly what it is.”
Noteworthy is the fact that a 13-year-old Black girl named MacNolia Cox from Akron, Ohio, came close to winning the 12th National Spelling Bee in 1936. Traveling to the contest, MacNolia and her mother had to move to the Blacks-only car once the train crossed into Maryland and they were not allowed to stay at Willard Hotel with the other spellers. They were also placed at a separate table by themselves at the contestants’ banquet. With only 5 competitors remaining, the judges asked MacNolia to spell “nemesis”. At the time, “Nemesis,” the name of the goddess of revenge, was capitalized in the dictionary, and capitalized words were barred from the competition. Miss Cox misspelled the word and was knocked out of the competition. It is the belief that Cox was intentionally given an unapproved word because of her race.
George Floyd’s killer convicted and sentenced
Former cop Derek Chauvin was convicted in April 2021 on all counts in the death of George Floyd. In June, he was sentenced to 22½ years in prison. In his sentencing, Judge Peter Cahill said that Chauvin’s sentence surpassed the state’s guidelines of 12½ years because Chauvin greatly abused his power and his position of trust and authority, and displayed particular cruelty towards Floyd.
The murder of George Floyd was a huge spark that highlighted the kind of injustices that Blacks face in America and the world, and fueled a nationwide and global outrage that brought hundreds of millions of people to the streets across America and around the world.
Violent insurrection at the Capitol by Trumpsters – 5 Dead
Five people died as a result of the violent protests at the US Capitol by then President Donald Trump supporters. One woman was shot inside the Capitol and four others died after suffering a series of different medical emergencies. Among them was Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who suffered two strokes a day after confronting rioters at the January 6 insurrection, motivated by Trump and his gang of riotous supporters.
After a rally with fiery speeches by Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and others, the mob stormed the Capitol in their attempt to block the certification of the election and to overturn the results. Trump, a narcissist who resents losing, had sown seeds of election fraud long before the election in efforts to disguise his defeat and to claim fraud after the election. At the January 6 “Save America rally, he repeated these claims of a rigged election and said to the thousands of supporters gathered in the nation’s capital, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
All 3 convicted in Ahmaud Arbery’s killing
Three white men were convicted in November 2021 – and on January 7, 2022, sentenced – in the killing of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery. Ahmaud was jogging when he was confronted and shot in the back by these three men, father, and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, and their friend and neighbor William Bryan. Gregory McMichael is a retired law enforcement officer. His son fired the fatal shot, and it was his neighbor Bryan who captured this horrific event on his cell phone. The video image was leaded despite the attempted cover-up by the local Glynn County prosecutors.
All three of these armed men were convicted of murder and other charges, resulting in mandatory life sentences. The McMichaels will spend the rest of their natural lives in person, and Bryan must serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole (he’ll be 83 years old then).
In handing down his sentence, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley called Arbery’s killing callous and noted that the three convicts wanted a confrontation.
Pulitzer Awards Citizen-Journalist Citation to “George Floyd” videographer
Darnella Frazier, the then 16-year-old girl who courageously filmed the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and then posted the video on Facebook, was awarded a special citation by Pulitzer, the journalism awards organization.
A junior in high school at the time of the filming, the gutsy teenager captured the entire incident on her cell phone and would later testify at the trial that led to the conviction of Derek Chauvin. The video shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck until he lost consciousness, and records Floyd’s distressed comments that covered many painful words like “I can’t breathe”, “my neck hurts”, “my stomach hurts”, “Mama”, and “don’t kill me”.
Frazier has also received a PEN America Award and was named the DailyDot Internet Person of the Year. Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, noted that “the taking of that video is maybe the only reason why Derek Chauvin will go to prison.”
Rev. Raphael Warnock, first Black US Senator from Georgia
In a hard-fought election and a runoff on January 5, 2021, Rev. Raphael Warnock prevailed and made history when he assumed office on January 20th becoming the first Black US Senator from the state of Georgia.
Warnock is a minister of the gospel and serves as the senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, once pastored by Dr. Martin Luther King as well as King’s father and grandfather.
Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, who is the wife of multimillionaire Jeffrey Sprecher, the CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. Warnock rose to prominence in Georgia politics leading campaigns to expand Medicaid and was a strong advocate for the Affordable Care Act.
The Rev. Senator Warnock served as youth pastor and assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem New York and subsequently pastored in Baltimore, Maryland before his appointment at Ebenezer.
Josephine Baker Reinterred: First Black woman buried at Pantheon
American-born dancer, singer, and civil rights activist who moved to France early in her career ad became a member of the French Resistance received a rare honor. In November of 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a ceremony for the reinterment of Baker at the Pantheon Monument in Paris, making her the first Black woman to get the country’s highest honor.
The biblically historic monument also houses the remains of scientist Marie Curie, the French philosopher Voltaire, writer Victor Hugo, and other French luminaries.
Baker is regarded as a World War II heroine in France, and after her death in 1975, she was interred in Monaco, dressed in the French military uniform with the medals she earned for her role in WWII. She is the fifth woman and first entertainer to be honored with a Pantheon burial.
Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a megastar in the 1930s. She moved to France in 1925 to flee racism and segregation in the United States.
First Black Composer at The Metropolitan Opera
In 2021, The Metropolitan Opera House announced its first opera by an African American composer in the organization’s almost 138-year history. The production is named after a biblical theme and the novel by Charles Blow, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”. A part of the 2021-2022 season, the opera was written by Black American trumpeter and composer Terrence Blanchard, who has 13 Grammy nominations under his belt and 5 of those treasured awards sitting on his shelves.
Blanchard’s first opera premiered at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis back in 2015 and “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” had its premiere at that theatre as well.
With an active cry for more diversity at major museums and entertainment houses like The Met, this was a landmark move for The Metropolitan Opera. The production starred young bass-baritone singer Ryan Green and an African American woman, Denyce Graves, played the title character.
Blanchard credits The Met’s management with putting more people of color on stage doing classical opera and playing other “non-traditional” roles.
HBCU’s cancel student debts
2021 was also a year that brought signs of relief to thousands of students who attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the US. More than 20 HBCU’s are canceling student debts, thanks to funding and relief made available through the Higher Education Emergency Relief federal pandemic funds.
While different institutions of higher learning are choosing to spend the more than $2.6 billion in relief money differently, these HBCU’s, including Howard University, South Carolina State, Wilberforce University, Clark Atlanta, and Philander Smith College, are on a debt forgiveness path, relieving struggling parents and these students of burdensome student debt.
Student loan debt impacts young Blacks far more than their White counterparts and deepens wealth disparity and economic inequality. The debt cancellation effort by these institutions has gone over well with students, especially in alleviating housing and food costs for thousands of students, and is a precursor to President Biden’s plans to cancel billion in student loans.
Black woman now at the top of World Female Wrestling
Last year at the Tokyo Olympics, an Africa American woman made history when she captured gold in freestyle wrestling, becoming the first Black woman to accomplish this feat. She is also only the second American woman ever to win the women’s wrestling Olympic championship.
The woman of whom we speak is Tamyra Mensah-Stock and hers is an incredible wrestling story. In Tokyo, she defeated Sara Dosho, the 2016 Olympic champion, and 2017 world champion; she beat China’s Zhou Feng, who defeated her in 2020; she crushed Ukraine’s Alla Cherkasova, the 2018 world champion; and she outwrestled Blessing Oborududu, the Nigerian who would have gained the gold, outpowering her other opponents.
During high school, the Houston, Texas suburb Mensah-Stock was a track and field athlete until her twin sister and her sister’s coach encouraged her to pursue wrestling, which she did. Her dad was very supportive and encouraging of her pursuits, and on his way home from one of her wrestling matches, he was killed in a car crash. She blamed wrestling and developed a short-lived dislike for the sport. “She hated it and then she grew to love it and became very good at it,” noted her coach.
Tuesday, August 3 inside Makuhari Hall was a great day of triumph for the Wayland Baptist University graduate who holds a Bachelor’s in Exercise and Sports Science. Holding up the American flag and circling the wrestling mat with tears flowing, the history-making wrestler jumped with exuberance and ebullience and then wrapped herself in the flag.
“I kept trying not to cry but the tears kept coming. This is the moment I have dreamed about, waited for and worked to achieve,” Mensah-Stock attested.
Black political leadership rises
2021 saw the election of Eric Adams, who is now the second Black American to become the mayor of America’s largest city. Adams soundly defeated Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, and on January 1, 2022, he was inaugurated as the 110th Mayor of New York City.
The 2021 mayoral election once again shows the strength and power of the Black vote, and for the first time in the history of New York, the city has a Black Mayor, a Black Speaker of the City Council, a Black Public Advocate, and New York County also elected its first Black District Attorney. New York State also has 4 key Black leaders in the 6 top spots, which include Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Assembly Speaker, and the leader of the Senate.
During the Democratic primary in the 2021 mayoral race, Adams gained over 288,000 votes in the first round, followed by another Black candidate, Maya Wiley, with about 200,000 votes. The two top White male candidates only received about 75,000 votes combined. While the top four Black candidates garnered about 540,000 votes, the top three White candidates, including Kathryn Garcia, had about 260,000 votes. In the general election, Adams walked away with some 70% (753,800) of the votes and Sliwa garnered about 27%.
1st Woman, 1st Black and 1st Asian Vice President of the USA
The January 20th inauguration of Kamala Harris was a defining moment in American history. With her husband holding two bibles, Harris was a triple history maker as she was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the very first woman, the first Black and the first Asian American United States vice president.
Harris used two bibles in the ceremony – one belonging to family friend Regina Shelton who is like a surrogate mother and the second one previously owned by the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was not only a lifelong role model to Vice President Kamala Harris but was also the first Black member of the august body of justices.
Harris was one of many Democratic candidates in the 2020 primary and despite her frequent criticism of fellow contender of Biden, he chose her as his running mate after clinching the Democratic nomination.
With the final tally, Biden-Harris garnered over 81 million popular votes to Trump-Pence’s 74 million, and the Democrats received 306 electoral votes to 232 for the Trump-Pence Republican ticket.
Harris’s father is from Jamaica, West Indies, and her mother is from India. A native Californian, she served as that state’s attorney general and as a US Senator.
In her speeches, Harris would often quote her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, repeating this popular phrase: “You will often be the first to do many things, but make sure to not be the last.” Now Harris thinks of her mother looking down from heaven and feels a sense of responsibility to think of others and to lead by example.
At the start of the inaugural ceremony, one of Harris’s colleagues and presidential contender Amy Klobuchar said of Harris, “As she takes this oath of office, little girls and boys across the world will know that anything and everything is possible. And in the end, this is truly this America.”