LARRY BARTON'S TRIBUTE TO KERMIT

Tribute to Brother Kermit Eady
February 12, 2019

It is with homage and all due respect, but it must be said that Kermit was no angel or saint, and I thank all powers that be for he was, simply, an exceptional man with a vision needed at the right place and time.

Kermit was a dedicated, honest leader of high integrity and energy who took on a mission and challenge not too different than did past heroes like Callie House with ex-slaves contributing for mutual relief while awaiting 40 acres and a mule; Booker T Washington with bootstrapping and self-help for uplifting a race; and Marcus Garvey with mass organizing and economic development for self-reliance and Black empowerment through development and ownership of wealth-producing resources. Had Kermit’s pioneering and innovative efforts not been unjustly and suspiciously interrupted and, ultimately, destroyed with assistance from enemies within and without, we may have had the second coming of Garvey. 

 

Kermit, beginning in 1978, was mentored by the late Walter Bremond, Jr. (1933- 1982), president and founder of Brotherhood Crusade (1968) in Los Angeles and National Black United Fund (1972) following the 1965 Watts Rebellion. Bremond charged Kermitwith the mission to establish the New York City chapter in 1979 and organize public and private sector employees, and ultimately throughout New York State under Black United Fund of New York (BUFNY 1984), to gain access to payroll deduction systems for charitable giving then monopolized by United Way and the non-profit establishment. Kermit would become the nemesis of those non-profits in power that excluded and sought to destroy any independent organization that would upset the status quo and landscape of the lucrative employee payroll deduction marketplace. 

 

With employees and workplace organizations support, Kermit led BUFNY to gain access to campaigns in city, county, state and federal agencies across New York and major corporations including IBM, ATT, New York Telephone/Verizon and others that opened their systems to new participating agencies. 

 

Under Kermit’s leadership BUFNY built and/or managed over 400 affordable housing units in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens; saved land about to be lost by Black folks in the Sea Islands of South Carolina; established Harvest Information Tech Centers in Harlem and Brooklyn; and provided grants to community-based organizations. All this plus helping organize the Black United Funds of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and as far west as Oregon.

I am grateful for having worked withKermit spanning 40 years. He was a brother-in-arms, friend and colleague on the same mission. While he is gone in body, his spirit and legacy live on. May his song join with Walter’s and be sung for all to hear, heed and pick up the torch for the generations to come. 

 

RIP.

Larry A Barton
Former Vice President and
General Manager

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria

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