Juneteenth, Father's Day, and My Dad

My father passed away on January 1, 2021. He would have been 93 years old this past June 16th, his birthday. Father’s Day always fell close to my dad’s birthday and given last year’s designation of Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday, there is another day coinciding with these personal days of remembrance. So, this year, as we celebrate Juneteenth collectively as a nation, my thoughts around the symbolism of this national holiday are co-mingled with my thoughts and memories of my dad, Eugene Selker.

In June 2016, I wrote a blog about my dad that opens with a quote attributed to Frank Outlaw, an American businessperson and the founder of what became the BI-LO chain of grocery stores in the U.S. Southeast.

“Watch your thoughts, they become words;

watch your words, they become actions;

watch your actions, they become habits;

watch your habits, they become character;

watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

This quote sums up my dad’s life, philosophy, and impact quite nicely.

In honor and memory of him and what he stood for in his life, in honor of Juneteenth and the importance of commemorating this historical day - acknowledging its relevance in our national identity and using it as a vehicle to take stock of both how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go - I am proud and pleased to announce that the Stanton Chase North America Technology Practice will not only be making an annual contribution to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) but is also exploring an internship opportunity with them.

The TMCF, established in 1987, is the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community. TMCF member-schools include the?publicly-supported?Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs).?Publicly-supported?HBCUs enroll over 80% of all students attending HBCUs. Through scholarships, capacity building and research initiatives, innovative programs, and strategic partnerships, TMCF is a vital resource in the K-12 and higher education space. The organization is also a source for top employers seeking top talent for competitive internships and good jobs.

The TMCF offers numerous programs and services, from scholarships/tuition assistance to funding research in HBCUs for developing solutions for some of the most pressing issues in fragile communities, to offering and funding internships through strategic partnerships with major companies and government agencies, to help companies identify highly-qualified and diverse talent from their pool of over 500,000 students and alumni for internships and full-time job opportunities.

We in Stanton Chase’s North America Technology Practice are grateful that this holiday of remembrance allowed us to take the time to slow down and consider how best to help.

If you are interested in discovering more about the TMCF and wish to contribute to this worthy cause, I encourage you to do so here.?

If you’d like to learn more about my dad,?his association with fighting against racial and social injustice, and, hence, the relativity of his personal life and my upbringing to Juneteenth, you can read about him in “Lessons From My Hero, My Dad”.