*Standing on the shoulders of Rosa Parks, yours truly, Daphne Bradford, wrote this article as a response to Black Lives Matter activist Joseph Williams’ public attack against me in his egregious attempt to find out who I am. As the Los Angeles-based BLM activist tries to knock me off the shoulders of the civil rights legend, Williams will have a better understanding of my decades-long work to bridge the gap between the civil rights generation, the Hip Hop generation, and their children.
From the civil rights movement to right now, rumors and lies unjustly bestowed upon Black people in America have always had a devastating impact on the African American community. We’ve seen Black men wrongfully convicted, incarcerated and many times killed because they were falsely accused of a crime, mistakenly identified for someone else, or for simply driving while black.
History has proven that false and sometimes deadly actions by those who intentionally and methodically concoct lies against innocent people not only impacts the targeted persons but often destroys the careers and livelihoods of the innocent persons’ families. To exacerbate matters more, when false claims and/or lies are supported by just one media outlet the impact of the character assassination of the targeted person often silences the voice of the wrongfully accused who doesn’t have reciprocal media and community support to defend themselves from their lying attacker.
Fighting like hell to save your business and restore your defamed character has a huge mental and emotional impact on the innocent man or woman. Some people commit suicide, use drugs or turn to alcohol to comfort the pain and mental stress. For fighters like me, I’m turning to God and ride’n shotgun with Jesus Christ to rebut the false statements that were recently published about me and my nationally recognized work in education. From the title to the contents, the (March ’23) Knock LA article “How A Field Trip to Honor Tyre Nichols Turned Into “Pro-Police” article made false statements about my work as a Black Student Achievement Plan partner at Dorsey High School and the purpose of the 3rd Annual Good Trouble Walk & Summit held in partnership with various law enforcement agencies.
BJoseph Williams, Black Lives Matter leader and Director of #StudentsDeserve, has falsely accused me of pushing students to attend the 3rd Annual Good Trouble Walk & Cultural Sensitivity Summit that was held on February 1, 2023. The annual event was an LAUSD-approved field trip complete with parent permission slips for history students who attended of their own free will. I planned the trip in partnership with esteemed Dorsey high school history teacher and football coach, Mr. Irvin Davis. We started organizing the trip in October 2022 and the February date was selected months before the death of Tyre Nichols. The trip was “never” planned to honor Tyre Nichols. It was an “All Hands On DECC (De-Escalate, Educate, Communicate Collaborate) themed field trip.
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The planning process included several information sessions with students along with “get to know you” meet and greets with school police officers. Joseph Williams’ statement in the Knock LA article that “overall, many students felt extremely lied to, betrayed, misled, abused and used by their school and by the police for being taken on this trip is an “outright lie” according to the field trip teacher of record, Mr. Irvin Davis, who also had this to say: “There have been student organizations on this campus, primarily #StudentsDeserve, I know this as a parent, that has encouraged the students and used the students to spread their own political point of view and done this by encouraging the students to promote propaganda and outright lies. The article that was printed was complete with total falsehoods and outright lies. So I’m saying this as an alumni of this great school, as a community member as well as a parent, that their actions are very, very inappropriate and I think they need to be addressed because I think it’s totally out of hand at this point.”
The overwhelming amount of outrageously false statements given by #StudentsDeserve members and published by Knock LA under the leadership and support of Joseph Williams is extremely concerning. During an LAUSD board meeting, it looks like the young ladies quoted in the article were given prepared statements by someone else. Dorsey alumni, students, and parents are angry and want it to stop.
Summer Alexander, a member of #StudentsDeserve made this statement at last week’s press conference, “I was one of the participants of the Building Blue Bridges field trip and as a person who is a part of #StudentsDeserve I feel that the Knock LA report and the article, the view that they gave on the field trip was not at all how it was for students. I enjoyed the field trip and I feel like it was useful I think that we should have more situations where the community and the police are put in place where we can have open discussions. I feel like the Knock LA did not do justice with the way the field trip actually happened and I don’t agree with the way that it was written and how it was very defamatory to the experience as a whole.”
BLM activist Joseph Williams’ intentional false allegations published by the non-profit Knock LA have unfortunately forced me to publicly respond and make it very “clear“ who Daphne Bradford is an employee of. I want to thank the Black Lives Matter leader for giving me the opportunity to show how much of an “educated fool” you are. Let’s Go!
Daphne Bradford is the dedicated founder and CEO of Queen James Entertainment and the non-profit organization Mother Of Many. To make it perfectly clear, I am a successful black woman business owner who also employs others in the South Los Angeles community. I started my nonprofit Mother Of Many (MOM) in 1999 while I was working for urban radio legend Lee Bailey, the creator, and producer of the trailblazing RadioScope and creator of one of the longest-running urban entertainment, sports, and political online news sources eurweb.com, EUR/Everything Urtban + RadioScope (formerly Electronic Urban Report).
Mother Of Many was created while I was working as Lee Bailey’s Inside Gospel radio news editor. During this employment period, I took a leap of faith and reached out to the late civil rights pioneer Willis Edwards seeking an interview with his boss, Mrs. Rosa Parks. By God’s amazing grace, Willis said yes and I secured a Black History Month interview celebrating Rosa Parks 86 Birthday. It was the chance of a lifetime interview that inspired me to incorporate my non-profit Mother Of Many. With permission from the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement, I made a promise to Rosa Parks to bridge the gap between the civil rights generation, the hip-hop generation, and their children. For 24 years students from various high schools including Morningside, Lawndale, Crenshaw, Locke, Hamilton, and Dorsey have willingly participated in Mother Of Many programs. With the full support of Lee Bailey, I incorporated Queen James Entertainment (QJE) when I decided to launch my own syndicated gospel entertainment news shows. Teaching students radio production at Locke high school, Queen James Entertainment started providing K-12 education consulting, digital media training and teacher professional development, QJE also organizes the annual Good Trouble Walk & Cultural Sensitivity Summit.
#StudentsDeserve’s idiotic political attempt to compare me to Ron DeSantis, who is blocking courses in African American Studies, is pathetic. Y’all need to knock if off. Just like Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and celebrated educator Mary McCloud Bethune, my commitment to Build Bridges & Win the Future for our youth is strong and my steps are ordered by God. The innovative accomplishments I have achieved at Dorsey High School are cemented in the foundation of their family of Magnet Schools.
From the development of the STEAM Magnet to opening the door for Dorsey to pilot the College Boards’s forthcoming AP African American Studies course my mission to bridge the gap between the civil rights movement, the hip hop generation and their children will be a generational blessing. “Ms. Bradford has done so much for this high school. I am also in the AP African American Studies course which is a pilot program that Ms. Bradford helped bring to Dorsey. I was a participant on this trip down to the police department and I found that it was one of the best trips I’ve had hear at Dorsey High School. I found that I was able to have an honest conversation with police in a setting other than being in handcuffs or in a courtroom,” proclaimed Hunter Langley.
It’s troubling, disrespectful, and heartbreaking to watch #StudentsDeserve Director Joseph Williams misguide three black girls in a targeted attack against a black woman who has done so much history-making work benefiting the #StudentsDeserve members under his leadership at Dorsey High School. Mr. Williams’ lack of knowledge about who I am and what I’ve contributed to K-12 education erodes his Black Lives Matter leadership of #StudentsDeserve to resignation status. This unjust targeted public media assault and defamation of my character affects my work and future business opportunities. Joseph Williams and Knock LA reporter Erin Wisti should resign their positions for misleading these impressionable young ladies. Knock LA Editor Jonathan Peltz should resign for his role in spreading the false story and criticizing reputable media outlets for covering the solutions-based summits provided by Building Blue Bridges (B3). The article should be removed with a full retraction.
Today, tomorrow and until my last breath I will forever stand on the shoulders of Rosa Parks on my continued journey to bridge the gap between the Civil Rights generation, the Hip Hop generation, and their children. It’s going to take more than Black Lives Matter activist Joseph Willimas, politically biased #StudentsDeserve teachers, and students to knock me off the shoulders of Rosa Parks, the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement who stood on the shoulders of Harriet Tubman, the fierce conductor of the Underground Railroad.
Links to articles:
Daphne Bradford: White House Champion of Change Article
2011 Freedom’s Sister at the Museum of Tolerance
Rosa Park: Institute for Self Development
Willis Edwards: History Makers
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