Kimberly Suiter, you excel in poise, and a commitment to give the best to a task, a story; and the deep feeling you give your work focuses the mind to the story. Thank you for the tribute to Jim Vance. He and Marion Barry, the mayor of life, were the deep examples of manhood for thousands of Black boys, men, women and churches across the city who held a standard needed during the dark days of the crack wars and before!
Jim Vance modeled a grace and masculinity many broken men paid close attention to. These two men walked through the streets during the most violent of times with assurance in the deep places of their being. People paid attention to what they said, did not say and did not need to say but embodied and shared with the collective.
Jim Vance was studied.
Blacks in the District remember with more than fondness, with a deep inability to relate how it felt to see him on screen every night not taking shots at Major Marion Barry. If you bring it up it evokes, as I am now, tears in some, in others a look that says it all.
With deep sadness he will sustain many a Black man with his deep warrior, his impeccability of thought and action in his death. These are my words.
Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
July 30, 2017
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| Kimberly Suiters, ABC news journalist, her tribute to Jim Vance July 22, 2014. |
