By Azriel James Relph
Azriel.james.relph@gmail.com
Movie stars and other high-profile guests strode past the velvet ropes guarding Father Gigante Plaza on a recent autumn evening.
But the biggest stars were the women of the Bronx.
Hollywood-by-way-of-the-Bronx actresses Kerry Washington and Joy Bryant joined celebrity environmentalist Majora Carter in hosting the Uptown Girl Power! Awards, on Sept. 16, sponsored by the Majora Carter Group.
The ceremony honored the work of nine Bronx women who beat significant odds to reach success, while helping out other area women. The event raised over $30,000 for Bronx mural projects, including one at 825 Hunts Point Ave. that will depict two women planting trees, captioned with one of Carter’s slogans, “You don’t have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one.”
Carter, who founded the non-profit Sustainable South Bronx before moving into the private sector, said she hosted the event because not all women were ready to fight for environmental justice. “They can’t do it until they care about themselves,” she said, citing the obstacles poor women face in the borough, including high rates of domestic abuse, teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates.
“Mothers on the Move! Mothers on the Move,” chanted the crowd as Wanda Salaman walked on stage to accept her award. As executive director of the Longwood-based organization Mothers on the Move, Salaman has helped organize residents to fight for better housing and education and for environmental justice.
Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, who co-founded The Point Community Development Corporation on Garrison Avenue before touring the world as a jazz singer, broke into song, performing “I’m a Woman” from the play Black and Blue as she accepted her award.
Yolanda Gonzales accepted an award on behalf of her mother, Yolanda Garcia, who died of heart failure in 2005 while working at her desk at We Stay/Nos Quedamos, the non-profit she founded to keep Melrose residents from being displaced by urban renewal. “My mother had two rules,” said Gonzales. “First, never do harm to anybody. Second, make sure harm doesn’t come to you.”
Other honorees were teacher, union organizer and hip hop artist Teresita “Lah Tere” Ayala, attorney and WHEDCo founder Nancy Biberman, acclaimed jazz composer Dr. Valerie Capers, Senior Policy Advisor for Economic Development and Employment for the South Bronx Cheryl Simmons-Oliver, President of Bronx Community College Dr. Carolyn G. Williams and founder of Eva’s Kids day care center Eva Sanjurjo.
Also honored were Tiffany McKenzie and Waleska Williams, two young woman from the Odyssey House substance abuse program.
Washington, who has been in such films as “Ray,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “The Last King of Scotland,” said, “We don’t want to be the exception who got out. We want to be part of a tradition.”
A version of this article appeared in the October issue of The Hunts Point Express.