The second annual Black Kings Awards will celebrate 30 Black men who have made significant contributions to our community.
The awards are based on Kwanzaa principles, recognizing leaders that exhibit excellence in faith, self-determination, economics, creativity, purpose, unity, and collective work.
“I think nowadays the question becomes ‘How do you celebrate some of our seasoned contributors and community, and some of our next generation leaders that are up and coming?’” said Kathleen Greely, Juneteenth NY navigator and chief executive officer of the Community Reinvestment Coalition-Englewood Southwest.
“Because, right now, you have these young [men] who don’t have positive and healthy role models to emulate,” she said.
The event is set to take place at 5 p.m. Thursday at The Toledo Club, 235 14th St.
“Now, in Toledo, there’s a lot of honoring of women, but nobody is really honoring the brothers,” Ms. Greely said. “Historically, just look at how African-American men have been disenfranchised since the days of enslavement. This is an opportunity for us to uplift, to reframe the narrative of how our African-American men are viewed, not what has been projected onto us systemically.”