Greg White has done so much for our community than any ten people.
In this letter, he calls out racist Gainesville Rev. Ronald Rawls, Jr., whom Greg calls a "race-hustling 'minister.'" Mr. White says, Rawls is "trying to make a name for himself at the expense of local history. If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were still living today, I doubt he’d be wasting his time and energy trying to remove inanimate monuments when there are real issues to confront."
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: May 5, 2019
Posted May 4, 2019 at 2:18 PM
Updated May 4, 2019 at 2:18 PM
Confederate memorial: ‘Put away all prejudice’
EDITOR: The ages old institution of slavery existed in most of St. Augustine’s long and diverse history, and reminders of it can be seen all over town today including the old fort and many historic buildings. Yet the elected local “leadership” continues to debate the removal of the Confederate War Memorial, erected by local citizens to simply honor local dead from the recent American Civil War, a conflict that took the lives of nearly 700,000 Americans. Having the names of relatives inscribed on that monument, I see no objectionable or offensive language accompanying the names of the war dead.
If the war was fought to end slavery, why was slavery still practiced in four states that remained in the Union? Why was a fifth state — West Virginia — added to the Union as a slave state on June 20, 1863, nearly six months after Lincoln’s grossly misunderstood Emancipation Proclamation became effective — which only freed slaves in territories conquered by the Union military in an effort to weaken the Southern economy and resolve to wage war?
Buried at Tolomato Cemetery is Jean Pierre Augustin Verot, first Bishop of the St. Augustine diocese, and often referenced as the “Rebel Bishop.” In 1861 Bishop Verot gave a sermon defending Southern rights and slavery’s legal basis; while condemning the abolition movement. After the war he asked of his parishioners to “put away all prejudice... their former servants.”
Anthony Welters and Isaac Papino are buried at San Lorenzo Cemetery, and honored with government markers denoting their military service to the Confederacy. Both men were Americans of African descent. Since the above mentioned residents of St. Augustine don’t fit the narrative the City Commission wants to advance for St. Augustine, perhaps they should all be disinterred and buried elsewhere. The old fort and other notable buildings should be demolished so some people aren’t reminded of the institution that erected those structures.
The voters of St. Augustine need to apply pressure to the current commissioners and demand some backbone against a race-hustling “minister” trying to make a name for himself at the expense of local history. If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were still living today, I doubt he’d be wasting his time and energy trying to remove inanimate monuments when there are real issues to confront.
Gregory White, St. Augustine
"TEN WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: It takes all of us working together to make a change."
St. Augustine Record
West Augustine resident and community advocate Gregory “Greg” B. White should change his middle initial from “B” to “E” — E for education.
West Augustine resident and community advocate Gregory “Greg” B. White should change his middle initial from “B” to “E” — E for education.
“I’m a firm believer in education,” White emphasized recently while seated in a community building at the Collier Park facility located at the corner of West King Street and Holmes Boulevard. For the person who has a good education, the jobs come, said White, a 1965 graduate of Richard J. Murray High School,
The message of a good education is one of the many causes White embraces through his numerous community outlets including as chairman of the Weed and Seed Steering Committee since its founding in 2005; as chairman of the West Augustine Steering Committee of the Community Redevelopment Agency; and as a life member of American Legion Post No. 194.
With the latter, White is proud of the Kids Safe Zone program — an after-school tutoring program, which, since its inception, has produced some fine young people who have continued their education at the college level and gone on to excel in life. “Early childhood education is the key to success,” White emphasized.
With both the Weed and Seed and the CRA, the ultimate goal is improvement for all, White continued. Concept of the Weed and Seed, a program brought to the community by former U.S. Rep. John L. Mica, is to weed out the criminal environment and feed the economic development. When federal funding for the program was stopped, White said, St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar saw the importance of the program and continued the funding. “A lot of communities didn’t,” White points out, but Shoar realized how important it was.
CRA COMPONENTS
Goals of the CRA are similar, White said. There are six components to improve the quality of life in West Augustine, ranging from infrastructure and policing to cultural, economic development and affordable housing and the elimination of blight.
Among accomplishments of the CRA have been the opening of a Dollar General Store on West King Street, establishment of the Solomon Calhoun Center, city water for more than 90 percent of the residents, and the demolishing of hundreds of old homes that were in disrepair.
White is a “man of integrity, a man of compassion, a man of caring. He gives more than he receives. He’s phenomenal,” said Dwala Willis, Weed and Seed site coordinator.
In fact, once Willis is asked a question about White it’s hard to get another word in. White gives of “his time, his resources and his compassion,” said Willis. “He’s a good leader. He never asks for anything in return. He stands for what’s right, what’s needed and he leads by example.”
Similar words of praise come from Thomas Crawford, who has worked with White on numerous projects including American Legion Post No. 194. “Since he retired from [Florida Power & Light] his whole passion has been the community,” Crawford said of White. “This is what drives him — community service, and he has always fought for the underdog. He’s been working effectively with the county probably since about 2000, and he’s learned to be every effective with the commissioners and county staff.
“He’s literally,” Crawford concludes of White, “obtained tens of millions of dollars for West Augustine.”
Born in Edgar, Florida — a spot located between Hawthorne and Palatka and also known as Johnson — White, 69, has lived in St. Augustine since the fifth grade. He moved here with his parents, George and Martha Armstrong, when both were hired at the Florida School for The Deaf and The Blind. White retired from FPL as an energy consultant, and his wife, Lydia, retired from Flagler Hospital. After high school, White served two years in the U.S. Army, including one year in Vietnam.
He and his wife are parents of four — Greg White Jr., Joel White and Deandria Palmer, all of St. Augustine; and Monica Anderson, Palm Coast. There are grandchildren, but “too many to count,” and there are four great-grandchildren.
In addition to his leadership in CRA, Weed and Seed and American Legion, on which he serves on the executive board, White is a life member of the DAV, Vietnam Veterans of America and VFW. He also serves on the FSDB Foundation board.
He loves St. Augustine and West Augustine, he says, because, growing up, West Augustine was a “close-knit” community. Things have changed, he admits, but it’s still a great place to live.
As to being selected one of the 10 who have made a difference this past year, he terms it “an honor.”
“I really, really appreciate that.” However, he says, it takes more than one person to make a difference. “It takes all of us working together to make a change.”
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