Vivica’s positive message

Yesterday’s back-to-school event with Vivica A. Fox was a big success. Over 200 people came to Martin Luther King, Jr. Laboratory School in Evanston to welcome Vivica to our district and hear her positive message.

I was deeply impressed by Vivica’s responses to questions from the audience about how to overcome obstacles like racism and jealousy, and the challenges facing black people in Hollywood in particular.

“I don’t put limits on myself as a woman, so then that way society can’t put limits on me as an African-American woman. I was born a black woman and that’s not going to change. I’ll die as a black woman,” Vivica said. “If you find somebody is offering resistance towards you, give them a smile and keep it moving,” she said. “Because then maybe one day they’ll come back to you and they’re going to need you.”

She also was asked about the spat between directors Spike Lee and Tyler Perry on comic portrayals of black people in Perry’s films. “If those kind of films work for [Perry], God bless him. He’s creating opportunities for other people. Is it my style of film? Some of his films aren’t, but then there’s other ones.”

She added that she had moved into producing her own plays rather than waiting for others to create roles for her.

Throughout her presentation, Vivica emphasized the importance of hard work and entrepreneurship. She has succeeded in Hollywood because she refused to take “no” for an answer.

Prejudice? Resist it, but move past it.

Limited opportunities? Create your own.

Negativity? Set it aside, and draw strength from your faith.

These are powerful messages, and they resonated deeply with our audience–and with me. Our campaign overcame several roadblocks simply to hold yesterday’s event.

Originally, we planned the event for another school, but the administration backed out. So did another institution, after initially agreeing to host us. Even the local park district backed away. It was clear to us that there was some behind-the scenes collusion going on.

It was appropriate that we finally found a home for our event at King Lab. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in the importance of diversity of all kinds–not just diversity of color, but diversity of creed; not just diversity of people, but diversity of ideas.

Some people think Evanston should be a one-party town. Yesterday, and every day, we are proving that it’s not. Like Vivica, we’re going to smile and keep moving towards victory!