By KEITH GRANT
One outcrop of the Civil Rights era is rarely found documented to any great degree. That is the migration of many black Civil Rights' leaders to the North, where, in the shadow of a more veiled segregated society, they helped build communities in urban and suburban areas, including Long Beach. These were educated people, some educated in school and all educated in life. They became teachers, activists, and leaders of new, modern communities.
Such an education is likely to be among the many lessons Patrick Graham would eagerly share with listeners. Mr. Graham was, himself, schooled in the South, only to return to his Long Beach roots at a time when his active work could not have been more needed. As his all-too brief tenure as Executive Director of Long Beach's Martin Luther King Jr. Center comes to an end, the Herald is proud to honor Mr. Graham as Long Beach's 2000 Person of the Year for his tireless, unselfish work towards the betterment of his community.
Mr. Graham took the reigns of the MLK Center three years ago as the center was reeling from internal strife, financial problems, and a loss of faith from the community. As he heads back to North Carolina with his wife and daughter Jasmine, Mr. Graham leaves behind an agency that appears to have a true role not only in North Park, but within the entire Long Beach community, which was one of his primary goals.
Raised in Long Beach, Mr. Graham was a three-sport varsity athlete before graduating in 1988, earning three team MVPs and the Charles Polin Award for outstanding sportsmanship. Though some advisors in the school suggested he look into avenues besides college, Patrick wisely heeded the advice of his mother and attended Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, on a track scholarship. In 1992, he graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in marketing. Two years later, he received a fellowship from the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a Masters of Arts in Afro-American studies. He returned to Long Island in 1997 to pursue a fellowship at SUNY-Stony Brook, but life had other things in mind for Patrick while he was home.
"Sometimes life throws you a curveball," he said recently as he reflected back on his tenure. In September, 1997, at the urging of several friends, Mr. Graham accepted the position of Executive Director of the MLK Center during one of the most tumultuous periods in its history. The center and its basketball courts had been an instrumental part of Mr. Graham's childhood, and ultimately he felt compelled to do what he could.
"I thought what batter way to give back to the community than through this agency," he said.
The list of what would be achieved over the ensuing three years likely seemed impossible at the time, but Mr. Graham leaves behind a legacy that included co-founding the Interagency Youth Council; co-founding the BRIDGE program; aiding the North Park Neighborhood Association in the development of the North Park beautification project; and proposing the declaration of North Park as a "drug free" zone with the Long Beach Police Department.
Many of the programs Mr. Graham helped push forward were met by some form of community resistance. The combination of his Johnson C. Smith education and his homegrown street sense came into play many times to help achieve his goals, but perhaps never moreso than when he declared the MLK Center off-limits to drug dealers. Such action took more than a posted sign and increased penalties. Mr. Graham met, personally, with local dealers to earn their agreement to steer clear of the building. In May, 2000, the center and much of the surrounding neighborhood was was officially designated a "drug free school zone" by Long Beach police.
"We felt it was our duty to protect the youth," Mr. Graham said. "This was one of the only areas in Long Beach that wasn't zoned drug free."
Former MLK Center board chairman Rev. William Fuller called the outgoing director "an amazing young man."
"The work he did for the most part won't be realized until his absence," Rev. Fuller said. "He's a great communicator. He has a way about him that says he's a winner. Most of all, the kids had a great identity in him."
Of those transplanted southerners who helped change the face of northern communities like Long Beach during the Civil Rights era, Mr. Graham said that these people were not just looking for a new place to live.
"When they came here, they wanted to be fully engrained in this city. They wanted to be a part of this community." Speaking of his proudest achievement as a community leader in his hometown, Mr. Graham said, "We were able to really branch out. I think we've brought focus and attention to the Center that wasn't there before."
