Message for Fellows
Recent days bring home how proud we should all be for what the Roothbert Fund has done, not only for the Fellows we have supported and the Fellows I expect we will support in the future--but also for what the Fund has stood for since its first grants and we continue to stand for. We have been a resource for our community and are fortunate to be able to see it even stronger and more robust today. Our recent Roundtable and the upcoming events highlighted in this newsletter are building and expanding the vibrancy of our community. The new database we plan to launch after the summer will enable us to share updates from Fellows, events and even job opportunities to carry us further towards our goal of making the Fellowship as impactful and valuable to our members as the original scholarship grants.
At the same time, when I read Thurgood Marshall say,
“I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.”
I realize we should do more. This is not a time to be self-congratulatory. While we remind ourselves of our long and active support for social justice, we must be even more mindful of the work that the Fund needs to do to live up to our values and see them reflected in the wider ways of the World.
Indeed, each of us must ask ourselves, “Can I do more?” -- and each day, ask ourselves again.... We know the Fellows of the Roothbert Fund have been galvanized by the call to action of recent events. As you read our updates in the Newsletter below, remember that we are each the agent of change that the Fund originally supported, and acting together we can make the difference for this to be the fair and just society we all are seeking. For if we do not act, who will?
On behalf of the Board and all of the Roothbert Fellows, thank you for being a Fellow and for all you do. Your involvement makes a difference to us all.
Charles van Horne, President, Roothbert Fund