Kathleen (Katie) Ryan (Dougherty)
Some of you have proposed renaming the George Floyd Scholarship. This is not an option because the scholarship has been publicly announced and funds have been raised. However, once we've raised $50k, this does not preclude funding additional endowed scholarships in the name of John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jr., Katherine Johnson, etc. Wouldn’t it be great to increase the amount of scholarship money awarded to aspiring Black students, to future leaders who pursue racial equality in our country?
By way of background, I proposed the scholarship to Dottie King because I was inspired by the challenge, issued by Scott Hagan, Ph.D., president of North Central University in Minneapolis, that every college/university create a George Floyd Memorial Scholarship as he did at NCU. More than thirty schools have met his challenge. I was equally inspired by the letter Dottie wrote to all of us in which she said, “this is the time to impact the future”.
This scholarship is not named for George Floyd to bring him honor. It is so named because of the global movement, awakening, that his murder triggered. As Newt said, “George Floyd’s murder is about potential unfulfilled. This scholarship is about fulfilling potential.”
When the scholarship was announced Barbara Mandal’s son, Craig, wrote:
“I know there may be criticism of those who elevate George Floyd, [criticism levied] due to Floyd’s history with law enforcement and his drug addiction, but to those people I would say ‘the Black community did not pick Floyd to be a figurehead, Derek Chauvin did’. For better or for worse Floyd’s name will be forever in the history books. Let’s make it for the better, yes?”
Finally, we must stand by Dottie and the official position of the college. In response to why SMWC created the scholarship she said:
"The scholarship is not about the character of George Floyd. His murder brought to light the racial injustice that still exists in our country. Through this tragedy, we believe education brings about change. Education is an opportunity to transform bias and inequality to compassion and understanding in a society where racial disparity still exists. Creating broader access to education for aspiring students is a way to address social justice for generations to come."
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