Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : THE SENTINEL : Team Effort Scores Rose Parade Victory

According to the Tournament of Roses timeline provided by the association of the same name, the 1994 parade will be the first shrouded in anything other than wonder and extravagance. It will also go down in Rose Parade history as the first year women and minorities were welcomed into the upper ranks of event planning.

The Tournament of Roses Assn., the group that has organized the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game for most of its 103-year history, has announced that it would expand the eight-member executive committee to include two African Americans, a Latino and an Asian woman.

The new makeup of the executive committee now more accurately reflects the ethnic diversity of the parade’s host (Pasadena), which has changed considerably in the 25 years since the last group of executive committee members were appointed, (as well as) the racial composition of the 900-plus corps of volunteers that makes the parade a reality each year.

Last month, Danny Bakewell began an anti-Rose Parade crusade to protest the lack of racial diversity at the upper echelons of the event’s planning committees--namely, the lack of anyone but white males on the TRA’s executive committee. Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade, threatened to spoil the heralded annual event by staging a disruptive protest.

The Los Angeles City Council, led by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, followed suit, voting to pull city support of the event unless women and minorities were included in the executive committee’s makeup. Keeping the city’s float out of the upcoming parade was also a serious consideration.

It is heartening to know that supporters of the cause are still taking a stand and doing so in a concerted effort. Furthermore, it is a much-needed boost for the African American community to see that taking a stand still reaps its reward.

No need to stop now. Our community still needs jobs, greater representation at city halls throughout the state, better services and more dollars coming in instead of going out of nonwhite enclaves.

The efforts of Bakewell, Ridley-Thomas, Pasadena Councilmen Chris Holden and Isaac Richard and their supporters have shown us once again that we have the team spirit and know-how to play the game and come away with a victory.