Regina Mason named Woman of the Year.

Regina Mason has spent much of her life fighting for the disempowered -- including the poor, at-risk students, abused children and mental health patients. Although her work is often low-profile, it has touched countless lives. 

 

Now it's her turn to shine. Mason, a longtime Seaside social justice activist, has been named the 27th Assembly District's 2010 Woman of the Year by the office of Assemblyman Bill Monning. She'll be honored on the Assembly Floor on Monday, March 8, as part of Women's History Month. 

"a warrior of the mind, a warrior of the spirit, an activist, a poet."  

   - Cornel West, Ph.D.

Neal Hall, M.D., graduate of Cornell and Harvard, ophthalmologist and poet, has published a critically acclaimed anthology of verse, Nigger For Life, reflecting his painful, later life discovery, that in "unspoken America," race is the one thing on which he is "first" judged, by which he is "first" measured, "first," against which his life and accomplishments are metered diminished value, dignity, equality and justice. All of which have everything to do with accessing choice, opportunity, power and freedom in America.

Miller was born into a family of sharecroppers and raised near Waco, TX. Imposing in stature, he played football in high school and later showed skills as a heavyweight boxer. In 1939, at 19, Miller enlisted in the Navy as a mess attendant, the only job rating open to Blacks at the time.

Miller was serving aboard the battleship West Virginia when the Japanese attacked while it was moored at Pearl Harbor. When damage to the ship prevented him from reaching his regular battle station, Miller helped with efforts to rescue his shipmates, scores of whom were wounded or trapped in wreckage. He was later ordered to the bridge to assist in moving the ship's captain, who had been mortally wounded.