MONTICELLO – Sullivan County legislators gathered with the community on Thursday to recognize Black History Month in a truly local fashion.
“Black history is not a side story to American history,” wrote Sullivan County Human Rights
Commission Executive Director Ramone Wilson in words shared by District 8 Legislator Amanda
Ward. “It is American history. It is a story of a people who survived slavery, segregation, disenfranchisement, racial terror, exclusion from opportunity and generations of systemic injustice, yet
still gave this country some of its greatest moral leadership, its most influential art, its most
transformative civic moments and some of its deepest expressions of hope.”
“As Sullivan County’s first African-American legislator, I feel strongly that we should acknowledge
and celebrate our history here in the County, and inspire the next generation to strive to make a
difference – because they certainly can!” Legislator Amanda Ward noted.
Like thousands of others, she’s found such inspiration in Monticello resident Pedro “Pete” Tweed.
“He’s known – on a first-name basis – by all of Sullivan County and far beyond,” Ward acknowledged.
“His name is synonymous with athleticism (particularly gymnastics), compassion, entrepreneurship,
and positivity.”
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