Remarks by Milton Raiford '73, Awarded the Edward Pulling Community Service Fellowship
My Name is Milton E. Raiford class of 1973. I was born in Pittsburgh PA in 1955. My parents Cora and Eli Raiford were from Alabama and South Carolina respectfully. I was the second son of five boys. My father worked as a janitor and as a shipping clerk. My mother worked for herself and for others in the community cooking, sewing and teaching crafts and home economics to those in the community. My mother and father instilled values in us that were purely American. We went to church every Sunday and we studied hard in school. I was seven years old when I kneeled to pray and ask God to bring white people and black people together; and to use me to do the same.
This prayer had to be a vision from God, because there were no white people living close to me and I had no interactions with them on a regular basis. By the time I was 14 years old I had distinguished myself in the city of Pittsburgh academically. In 1968, in the same year that Martin Luther King was killed and Bobby Kennedy was killed, I received an offer from Millbrook School through the ABC program (A Better Chance) to attend. I did not want to leave my home in the midst of the riots. But, my mother insisted that this would be an opportunity to free the family and she had groomed me to be able to succeed regardless of the odds or the location. I came to Millbrook as a ninth grader or third former. I can remember so vividly catching the Greyhound bus to the Port Authority station in New York City and then catching a train from Grand Central station to Poughkeepsie, NY and then arriving to Millbrook by way of cab.
That first night was scary but funny. My roommate Frank White was a pleasant young man. He was very inquisitive. It was obvious he had not spent any time around African Americans. I can recall him asking me before bedtime, "Are you that color all over your body?" I said, "You are about to find out because it's now time for lights out."
I remained the only African American in my class until graduation, and I became friends with so many people. I realized that what I had seen in the vision was really the truth; that black people and white people were the same. For every black friend that I had in Pittsburgh, I had a white friend at Millbrook that talked the same, laughed the same, and cried the same and even got into the same trouble. I loved and still do love Millbrook. It was such a peaceful place. It was the first place that I fell in love with the human race in total. It was also the first place I realized what love was in Godly terms. I loved the Chapel and I loved to do community service, and, of course, I loved sports.
I remember one football game we had on Saturday. My father drove all night from Pittsburgh and brought my mother and my three younger brothers to watch me play in the game. He drove all night and arrived at game time wearing a coat and tie and his Sunday hat. I was so moved because I recognized what it took for him to get there. When asked by the Headmaster why he took such a long trip to see his son play a game of football, my dad replied, “It was a short trip to see my son Milton.” I remember I scored a touchdown very quick that day on a pass thrown by Chad Small.
My Millbrook experience was a family experience. My mother loved Millbrook. I am fortunate that I was the first of three Raiford boys to graduate from Millbrook (Cornelius and Kevin). Millbrook was so different from where I grew up in the inner city. I could not get adjusted to the opulence of the environment in which my Millbrook friends lived. Chris Brady, one of my best Millbrook friends invited me to his home in Far Hills, NJ. I can recall how uncomfortable I felt seeing the "help." They looked like my father, the janitor. I didn't stay at Chris's home for the full time that I had been invited. It did not mean that I didn't love him. I was just on a mission to create heaven for everybody, and I did not want to get stuck in one corner of it.
When I graduated from Millbrook, I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After PENN I came home and began working in the Allegheny County Courthouse as a clerk to a powerful judge. I attended law school at Duquesne University at night starting in 1982. I graduated from law school in 1986 and quickly became the most prominent African American lawyer in Pittsburgh and one of the most prominent African American lawyers in the country. I had the largest criminal law practice in Allegheny county in terms of clients. In 1993, 118 black boys between the ages of 13-25 shot and killed one another in gang warfare. I had become a gang lawyer and a lawyer who made a lot of money and prestige by representing drug dealers and those who seemed to be hell-bent on tearing the community apart.
I felt a real sense of responsibility because the blood of these young men was on my hands. I was defending them but not instructing them in lessons I learned growing up. From the vantage point of being their lawyer I could not teach life lessons. That year, I got knocked off my mule just as Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. I went back to church, committed my life to Christ, was baptized, and asked God to take everything away from me that was not of him.
God answered that prayer by putting me in position to confess my misdeeds as a lawyer, which subsequently led me to surrendering my license to practice law. I had lost the ability in my conversion to use the power of persuasion for individual gain. I took the funds that I had been saving and gave them to my pastor to start a school in the inner city that would be like Millbrook. That school is called Imani Christian Academy. It is a school that embraces all children in our society, particularly those who are at risk, and transform them to whole adults - spiritually, academically, physically and socially and then release them into lives of purpose and contribution. Imani students are spiritual. Imani students are mentally strong. Imani students are socially responsible. Sounds a lot like Millbrook, huh? Imani started in 1993 with three teachers and 30 students. Now in 2009, we are a school of 220 students with 27 staff members. We have graduated over hundreds of children, all of whom are living lives of contribution to their community.
Our school has won numerous awards and has been cited as one of those schools that is actually working in our nation. I have been the Headmaster since 1995. I am still the Headmaster. I learned about being a Headmaster from Mr. Henry Callard who was the Headmaster at Millbrook when I entered. Now I know why I came to Millbrook, and I am thankful to be able to return here after 36 years to see that so much about Millbrook has changed but everything about Millbrook has remained the same. I thank you all for presenting me with the Edward Pulling Community Service Award.
This past summer my dear mother and older brother died on July 11 in a fire in our family home. I wish my mother could be here today. But in some way I feel that she is. I would like to thank you, Millbrook, for the foundation you provided for me and my brothers who attended here. I will be back before another 36 years pass, I promise you that. I am glad I got a chance to meet Drew, the current Headmaster and I thank Mr. Bob Anthony for all he did to make this possible. I thank Mr. Stuart Lovejoy, my dear classmate who has supported me through his prayers and friendship. And most of all, I would like to thank God for hearing my prayers by sending me to a place that reminded me, and still reminds me, of what heaven is like.
With all sincerity in Christ,
Elder Milton Raiford
Back
That first night was scary but funny. My roommate Frank White was a pleasant young man. He was very inquisitive. It was obvious he had not spent any time around African Americans. I can recall him asking me before bedtime, "Are you that color all over your body?" I said, "You are about to find out because it's now time for lights out."
I remained the only African American in my class until graduation, and I became friends with so many people. I realized that what I had seen in the vision was really the truth; that black people and white people were the same. For every black friend that I had in Pittsburgh, I had a white friend at Millbrook that talked the same, laughed the same, and cried the same and even got into the same trouble. I loved and still do love Millbrook. It was such a peaceful place. It was the first place that I fell in love with the human race in total. It was also the first place I realized what love was in Godly terms. I loved the Chapel and I loved to do community service, and, of course, I loved sports.
I remember one football game we had on Saturday. My father drove all night from Pittsburgh and brought my mother and my three younger brothers to watch me play in the game. He drove all night and arrived at game time wearing a coat and tie and his Sunday hat. I was so moved because I recognized what it took for him to get there. When asked by the Headmaster why he took such a long trip to see his son play a game of football, my dad replied, “It was a short trip to see my son Milton.” I remember I scored a touchdown very quick that day on a pass thrown by Chad Small.
My Millbrook experience was a family experience. My mother loved Millbrook. I am fortunate that I was the first of three Raiford boys to graduate from Millbrook (Cornelius and Kevin). Millbrook was so different from where I grew up in the inner city. I could not get adjusted to the opulence of the environment in which my Millbrook friends lived. Chris Brady, one of my best Millbrook friends invited me to his home in Far Hills, NJ. I can recall how uncomfortable I felt seeing the "help." They looked like my father, the janitor. I didn't stay at Chris's home for the full time that I had been invited. It did not mean that I didn't love him. I was just on a mission to create heaven for everybody, and I did not want to get stuck in one corner of it.
When I graduated from Millbrook, I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After PENN I came home and began working in the Allegheny County Courthouse as a clerk to a powerful judge. I attended law school at Duquesne University at night starting in 1982. I graduated from law school in 1986 and quickly became the most prominent African American lawyer in Pittsburgh and one of the most prominent African American lawyers in the country. I had the largest criminal law practice in Allegheny county in terms of clients. In 1993, 118 black boys between the ages of 13-25 shot and killed one another in gang warfare. I had become a gang lawyer and a lawyer who made a lot of money and prestige by representing drug dealers and those who seemed to be hell-bent on tearing the community apart.
I felt a real sense of responsibility because the blood of these young men was on my hands. I was defending them but not instructing them in lessons I learned growing up. From the vantage point of being their lawyer I could not teach life lessons. That year, I got knocked off my mule just as Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. I went back to church, committed my life to Christ, was baptized, and asked God to take everything away from me that was not of him.
God answered that prayer by putting me in position to confess my misdeeds as a lawyer, which subsequently led me to surrendering my license to practice law. I had lost the ability in my conversion to use the power of persuasion for individual gain. I took the funds that I had been saving and gave them to my pastor to start a school in the inner city that would be like Millbrook. That school is called Imani Christian Academy. It is a school that embraces all children in our society, particularly those who are at risk, and transform them to whole adults - spiritually, academically, physically and socially and then release them into lives of purpose and contribution. Imani students are spiritual. Imani students are mentally strong. Imani students are socially responsible. Sounds a lot like Millbrook, huh? Imani started in 1993 with three teachers and 30 students. Now in 2009, we are a school of 220 students with 27 staff members. We have graduated over hundreds of children, all of whom are living lives of contribution to their community.
Our school has won numerous awards and has been cited as one of those schools that is actually working in our nation. I have been the Headmaster since 1995. I am still the Headmaster. I learned about being a Headmaster from Mr. Henry Callard who was the Headmaster at Millbrook when I entered. Now I know why I came to Millbrook, and I am thankful to be able to return here after 36 years to see that so much about Millbrook has changed but everything about Millbrook has remained the same. I thank you all for presenting me with the Edward Pulling Community Service Award.
This past summer my dear mother and older brother died on July 11 in a fire in our family home. I wish my mother could be here today. But in some way I feel that she is. I would like to thank you, Millbrook, for the foundation you provided for me and my brothers who attended here. I will be back before another 36 years pass, I promise you that. I am glad I got a chance to meet Drew, the current Headmaster and I thank Mr. Bob Anthony for all he did to make this possible. I thank Mr. Stuart Lovejoy, my dear classmate who has supported me through his prayers and friendship. And most of all, I would like to thank God for hearing my prayers by sending me to a place that reminded me, and still reminds me, of what heaven is like.
With all sincerity in Christ,
Elder Milton Raiford
