Images tagged "dawn"

My being a former retired postal employee, I’m totally disappointed and outraged that these little nuggets of blatant disregard and neglect towards equity and inclusion keep resurfacing it’s ugly little head and becoming more prevalant than they were in the turbulent 60’s and 70’s.
You hate to play the race card and cry discrimination, but come on man, enough is enough. Not taking anything away from the beloved and charismatic Betty White, but she don’t get to be awarded a postal stamp before John Shippen. The first born golf professional and African American to play in the U.S. Open Golf Championship in 1896.
I understand that John Shippen hasn’t been a household name in the minds and way that Betty White has, but that’s to no fault of his. As a matter of fact it’s been a fault that Americahas to own up to, due to it’s own racist politics.
John Shippen has been like so many other pioneers of color, overlooked and made invisible.
We’ve seen this movie before, thousands of times, in spite of great strides and progress, in race relations here in this country. We still find ourselves on the short end of the stick. To borrow a quote from the late Malcolm X, “if someone sticks a knife in you six inches and pulls it out two, is that progress”?
I for one have had the privilege to have been the Head Coach of the John Shippen Youth Golf Academy, under the leadership of Thurman and Ruby Simmons, at the Scotch Hills Golf Club, in Scotch Plains, N.J. for eleven years, so I have a personal interest in this matter. The former and historic Shady Rest Golf & Country Club. That in itself is a significant story for another day perhaps.
Under the tutelage and influence of Thurman & Ruby Simmons, I was introduced to the rich history and legacy of John Shippen and the Shady Rest. I have memories of Thurman giving me a VHS video tape about John Shippen and the Shady Rest, which I personally hand carried down to the World Golf Hall of Fame during one of my many trips to Orlando. I was flying into Jacksonville on that occasion, so I-95 to Orlando goes right by the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fl. I handed it over to the authorities there, even though they said that they had never heard of him. The rest is history, Go figure.
I have another memory of Thurman & Ruby submitting a request around 2012 or 2013, to honor John Shippen for selection and confirmation for a comemorative stamp consideration to the proper authorities at La’Flant Plaza, in Washington, D.C. which was eventually denied. Myself and many others signed a petition drawn up by Thurman & Ruby. Seven years later, around 2020, COVID ERA, the legendary Arnold Palmer was awarded a comemorative stamp and well deserved, got no problem with that one, but Betty White’s induction can come a little further down the road.
Not taking anything away from Betty White, loved her chemistry and personality. From her antics with her late husband Allan London, to her lovable character on the hit Sit-Con The Golden Girls, including my all time favorite, Lake Placid, where she naively feeds the little baby crocodiles.
Great body of work, no doubt, but John Shippen’s groundbreaking, legendary, accomplishments stands at the pantheons of immortality and American History. I’m talking Mount Rushmore stuff.
I’m just saying.

John Perry
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