Throughout the past year with the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, the Black Lives Matter movement has come to the spotlight, and I believe that now during Black History Month it is important to highlight the more positive aspects of Black Lives Matter.

Last year, I brought my uncle, Ozzie Smith, to participate in my program after it was brought to my attention that Lafayette didn’t do anything big for Black History Month in the years before I came to Lafayette.

So, I decided that I would take the program into my own hands. I knew that I had the resources and connections to make the school excited about Black History Month. I decided to reach out to some St. Louis natives that have big accomplishments they are well-known for.

I brought my uncle because I knew kids would love him, since he is a Hall of Famer and now, this year, I decided to bring a close family friend of mine, Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Jackie is a gold medalist Olympian Track and Field runner and jumper.

We will be having the program via Zoom this year, and it will be a question and answer format. Our moderators will include the Own Your Now Show on Facebook Live hosts Yolanda Lankford and Tracie Berry-McGhee.

There will also be a chance for participants to win prizes such as Starbucks gift cards, Target gift cards, Chick-Fil-A gift cards, iTunes gift cards and a gift certificate to The Selfie Room for two. And, someone will even have a chance to win a personalized autograph from Jackie herself.

I look forward to future years hopefully when we are all in-person and I can do bigger and better things for Black History Month at Lafayette.

The special Black History Month Zoom with Joyner-Kersee will take place from 10-11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. Click here for the link to the webinar.