I was invited to cover the BAA’s Trojan Family Pinning & Affirmation Ceremony today at the University of Southern California. Thanks to Nicole Jones, the Assistant Director at the Office of Black Alumni Programs for inviting me down. I will be photographing Nicole and Jason’s wedding in a couple weeks. The ceremony is for African-American students and their parents that are new to the USC campus. It was filled with performances and inspirational speeches.
BAA Ceremony
It was a cool experience to meet some of the prominent people at USC such as Maulana Karenga, Ph.D who is the creator of the end-of-the-year holiday of Kwanzaa. Yeah that’s right. He invented Kwanzaa.
Also in attendance was Reverend Cecil “Chip” Murray who is the pastor of the famous First African Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as the First AME church. You gotta look him up. Remember the race riots after the Rodney King verdict? OK get this… when the Los Angeles Fire Department is called to respond to multiple businesses on fire, they refuse to enter the area without protection. They had good reason to fear for their safety. Rioters were hungry for blood and revenge. Well Rev. Murray and 100 of his church followers made a human shield between the rioters and the firefighters for the next three hours! There’s more about him here.
Reverend Cecil Murray
Again thanks Nicole!
Blue Pack Photo 