For our “What’s Next” series, the Spy caught up with Bayside HOYAS President and BlackUnion of Kent County Chairman John Queen to discuss the September 8 Town Council meeting’s approval of Ward 3 Council Member Ellsworth Tolliver’s Resolution and the Mayor Chris Cerino’s 16 month plan to address racial inequality in Chestertown.

Queen, who has long championed the empowerment of at-risk Black youths in Kent County, doesn’t mince words when it comes to evaluating how inequality issues are being addressed. He points out that real success will be found in the Black community and leadership itself rather than goals promoted solely by the white establishment.

“Keep in mind right now this racial injustice is because no one goes into the Black community…how many times has anyone gone into the Black community to find out more about disenfranchised voters?” he says.

But, Cerino’s 16-month plan exemplifies a mutual engagement with the Black community, Queen feels, and the fact that Mayor reached out to Black leadership during the initiative’s planning sets the right tone to moving forward.

Queen does not feel that Council Member Tolliver’s resolution met the same level of Black engagement during its formation.

Both Bayside HOYAs and the BlackUnion of Kent County are community action initiatives providing action-oriented answers to “ensure that all Blacks are valued and thrive economically and culturally by creating policies, programs, and projects.”

Bayside Hoyas (Helping Our Youth Achieve Success) was founded in 2013 by Queen, his brother Pierre and childhood friend Paul Tue III to provide options for Black county youths and to fill the void experienced by impoverished Kent youth lack of activities and positive role models. Co-founder Paul Tue has since moved to co-found the Social Action Committee for Racial Justice. 

The Black Union of Kent County’s mission is “designed to take an in-depth look into five major issues that plague the Black Community; police genocide, miseducation, gentrification, access to wealth and mass incarceration,” and Queen feels that the 16-month plan will begin to address these fundamental issues.

In 2021, Queen expects to launch “The Smallest County,” a tourism company specializing in arts and culture, food and entertainment, african American tours, and educational tours.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length. For more information about the Bayside HOYAS go here. For BlackUnion of Kent County please go to their Facebook page here.

 

 

In March 2020, the curtain closed on the annual Women Helping Women fundraising tradition, an evening of musical performances held at the Garfield Theatre.

Or so they thought.

For 15 years, the WHW program, started by Chestertown’s Carla Massoni, raised funds to help local physician Dr. Maria Boria keep her Marydel clinic open. Each March, local musical artists put on a gala musical event at the Garfield, the annual event quickly becoming one of the Theatre’s popular musical showcases.

Opened in 2005, the Marydel clinic provided essential health care to women in the growing Latino community, most of whom have no health insurance.

2020 marked the esteemed physician’s retirement and what looked like the program’s curtailment to raise funds for the underserved.

Thankfully, her mission continues.  

With a few WHW funds left over, Carla Massoni looked around for someone to pick up the mantle. She didn’t have to look far. Paul Tue III and his work with Arlene Lee at the Social Action Committee for Racial Justice were already well underway with their Feed the Elderly program.

Together, they created the Paul Tue II Challenge to raise funds for the SACRJ program that has become instrumental in meeting the nutrition needs of the elderly who have become isolated during the pandemic.

And each time the challenge goal was met, Tue and Massoni raised the bar. And each time, the community exceeded the goal.

“In honoring Paul’s initiative to respond to the community’s need, we were overwhelmed with donations. It speaks to the respect people have for Paul and the desire they have to lift up our neighbors,” Massoni says 

The amount raised far anticipated their goal by threefold. By September 10, the Challenge has raised $16, 575. 

“The pandemic has cast a light on the precarious situation many are facing. Now that we know…we know. And, we are charged with caring for those in need—particularly our children and the elderly—but also those facing crises in their lives,” Massoni adds.

Tue points out that future federal funding is uncertain with no end of the pandemic in sight but that funds raised from his Challenge will go a long way to preserve the program.

The Spy recently caught up with Paul Tue III to talk about his efforts.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information or to make a donation, please go here or you can mail a check made payable to “Sumner Hall,” specifying Paul Tue III Challenge and mail to to Sumner Hall, 206 South Queen Street, Chestertown, MD 21620.

 

 

 

Chestertown is often thought of as “a little bit of Williamsburg,” its colonial charm, a significant part of the town’s identity that reflects elements of its cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural history.

To preserve an 18th-century town takes some doing, and if you live in the historic district and want to change the exterior of your home, you will be quickly introduced to the Historic District Commission.  

Professor of History at Delaware State University and 7-year member and Chair of the Commission, now retired, Alexa Silver talked to the Spy about how the Commission applies its mission: to safeguard the sites, structures, and districts that reflect the town’s history. To this end, seven members of the Commission interpret the Chestertown Code of Ordinances to any requested changes.

Silver notes that, for some, preserving a historic property can be burdensome. For instance, she says, if you want to replace the windows in a historically designated property, you can be in for a financial shock. Instead, she suggests that how owners maintain the ones they have using local craftspeople for repairs.   

The Commission is not without “wiggle room,” Silver says, but any compromise hews toward the established codes that have worked to maintain respect for the town’s historical legacy.

The video is approximately six minutes in length. For more about the Historic District Commission, go here.