- December 23, 2024
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The scene is not the same as it once was years ago along a street near Washington Boulevard in Newtown.
At night, people no longer walk through the area to sell drugs. The late hours are quiet rather than interrupted by gunshots.
And since 2020, the street sign there no longer reads “Washington Court” but instead says “Veronica H. Allen Pl.”
Allen lived on the street before her death from cancer in 2010. After Allen's death, her daughter, Ronnique Hawkins, thought about a way she could combine the memory and accomplishments of Allen, a volunteer with the Sarasota Police Department, with her own community initiatives.
When she settled on the idea of renaming the street to Veronica H. Allen Place, others in Newtown were “all for it,” Hawkins said.
Allen left behind a different community than the one she entered as a graduate of the first class of the Sarasota Police Department’s Citizen Volunteer Training Academy, Hawkins said.
Allen worked with those who were bereft of society’s compassion, Hawkins said. Allen helped and counseled those fighting drug and alcohol addiction, selling narcotics and those who were jobless and suicidal. Allen even cooked meals for them. She worked extensively with organizations such as Moms Against Drunk Driving and Dads Against Drunk Driving.
“She would share so many different things with people,” said her colleague Victor Johnson. “The passion that she had for the community — it was just wonderful.”
Allen worked tirelessly for her community until her death. Although she survived breast cancer, the disease returned as liver cancer. After Allen’s death, many people came to Hawkins with posthumous messages of thanks, she said.
One person said Allen had saved his life. Another said they never ended up in jail again. Another said he decided never to sell drugs again.
Hawkins herself is not the same either.
“She pretty much stopped at nothing to try to prevent others from going down a path of destruction, or a path that would lead them to unhappiness or an unsuccessful life, and that’s exactly why I do what I do,” she said.
When she faced the same obstacle as her mother, it did not stop her either.
After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, Hawkins initially found herself reliving her mother’s passing, recalling the five long days during which she did not sleep. Yet with three surgeries behind her and years of chemotherapy remaining, she has stayed focused on her latest nonprofit initiative, Learn My History Foundation.
Ronnique Hawkins’ nonprofit work started while she was living in New York City, with her founding of the Anti-Lynching Movement Foundation.
She was inspired to establish the foundation when she co-produced the film "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," released in 2005, along the way encountering many families who did not receive justice for the murders of their loved ones.
Till, who posthumously became a major figure in the Civi Rights movement, was accused of whistling at a white woman, and was brutally murdered by two white men, who were acquitted of the charge, in Mississippi in 1955.
On July 25, the date of Till’s birth, President Biden is expected to sign a proclamation establishing a national monument to Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
Through the foundation, Hawkins also created a film, "Truth 2 Power," in support of the families she had met.
The original branch of Learn My History Foundation was established in New York in 2004, but Hawkins founded a new branch after moving to Florida in 2015. The organization’s goal is to build a platform to provide opportunities, guidance and self-esteem for younger generations.
However, she said she faces the challenge that many will not see the nonprofit as legitimate due to being led by a Black individual. She runs the organization based on about three grants and with no startup capital, she said.
“I have to jump through and I have jumped through a million hoops. It’s maddening and it’s very difficult to deal with,” she said.
Since 2020, Learn My History Foundation has included the Create with Ro program. The multicultural initiative involves children creating a project such as a food or object historically tied to them, and then being interviewed on the success of the project, an experience intended to build confidence.
Hawkins creates “seasons” from each year of the program, which she edits and styles as TV shows, sharing them on YouTube.
After her cancer diagnosis, she launched her second program, the LMH Children’s Network in 2022. It gives children the chance to interview prospective mentors in the community like Chief Judge Charles E. Williams of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, Police Officer Andre Jenkins, Fireman Dan Hedgeman, Mother Minnie Dupree, and Chaplain Tom Pfaff.
The organization is also set to introduce a Youth & Kids Zone that features film production mentoring programs.
The nonprofit’s offerings reflect the support her mother wished she could have had, Hawkins said.
“That bothered her greatly, to not have what you need to make good decisions,” she said. “And then the years catch up to you.”
Even amid the challenges, the need in the community for that support does not cease, she said.
“There was no downtime for me. There was none for her.”
Correction: This story has been updated to state that the making of “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” preceded the Anti-Lynching Movement Foundation, to mention coach Rodrick Miller as a mentor and to correct a photo caption.
