I am calling on all of my class members from the class of 72’…you guys just don’t realize what we bring to the table…remember we had to fight at that new school for recognition, cheerleaders, football, basketball, track, in and out of the classroom? Remember the time we made the teacher cry in oneof our classes at GHS, that, just didn’t understand Black people? Remember I neverwanted to start in basketball, because the coach didn’t start me the first game, due to pressure of the Athletic Boosters, parents and they sent Mr. RossHarrison to talk with me about not wanting to "ever" start for them…I felt like I was only playing for my self and my own dignity! I even wore an AFRO in protest in football and basketball… We didn’t come from E. E. Butler to sit on any body’s bench!…We sat on the hill…having to protest to get things other students were already afforded…The coach supposed to got me a scholarship to VA Tech or Grambling but never did…and had the nerve totell me after…I could have went to those schools…Joe Norman, Charles Young, Curtis Haynes, Sidney Gardner, Greg Young, Walter Rucker, James Davis, Robert Willingham, Doug Young, Calvin Young, are only a few of my fellow teammates…we had to fight for positions on the teams that we were already better than our counterparts…If you guys only knew what we faced everyday besides trying to get an education…to be continue…
Rev. Earnest Mason
