Page 12 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, February 19, 2021 Malden man charged in Capitol Building riot pleads not guilty in D.C. court Mark Sahady released on own recognizance after federal court appearance Special to the Advocate A 46-year-old Malden was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return to court for a pretrial conference in a Washington, D.C., federal court appearance on charges in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol building riot. Mark Sahady – known to be associated with the Super Happy Fun America organization and alleged to have ties to white nationalist individuals and groups – was ordered to be back in the D.C. court on April 1. On Feb. 11, Sahady made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., where he is being proseMETEOR | FROM PAGE 11 name when she married a local cricket enthusiast, Wilfred Fraser, in 1941, was most often reticent on the matter. “I felt bad but I tried not to show it,” she was quoted in a few biographical pieces, “I just tried to keep it out of my mind.” Osgood, of the Smithsonian Magazine, titled his article “Sports History Forgot About Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, Two Black Olympians Who Never Got Their Shot.” Pickett was more vocal about the 1932 Olympics decision. According to Osgood, Pickett literally took her bitterness to her grave, believing that “prejudice, not slowness” kept her out of that competition, according to her Chicago Tribune obituary. In another recollection, African-American Olympic History, Pickett is quoted as saying; “They did not allow the better runners to compete,” referring to herself and Stokes. “It was unjust.” The Chicago Defender, the leading newspaper nationally of what was referred to as “The Black Press” in the 1920s up until the 1950s, made its opinion of the matter quite clear. “Lily-whiteism,” wrote Editor Rus Cowan in The Defender, “a thing more pronounced than anything else around here on the eve of the Olympic Games, threatened and ousted Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes from participation and put in their stead two girls who did not qualify.” Of course, at the time in the 1930s, much of America was still very much in the status of segregation, including in hotels, travel by train and bus and in restaucuted on charges of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. He has pleaded not guilty. Sahady was originally arrested at his home in Malden on Jan. 19 by FBI agents and appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston, before being summoned to the D.C. court. In the Washington court, Sahady’s attorney, John C. Kiyonaga, successfully argued for the Malden man’s release, noting he had been fired from his job as an IT specialist since his January arrest and was seeking work, according to an online rerants. This was clearly in place and stated as such in Southern states, and it stretched as far as California at the time. America of the 1930s had widespread segregation Recollections of the events leading up to the last-minute omission from the Olympic competition include stories of segregated travel to the Los Angeles venue as well as separate, segregated lodging for Stokes, Pickett and the black men who were competing for the men’s 1932 U.S. Olympic Team. Sadly, all of that was status quo for America at the time, and it appears, judging from a lot of research and some facts that could be construed as evidence, race ultimately could have caused Stokes and Pickett to be left out in Los Angeles. Of course, judging that while Stokes and Pickett were relegated to the stands as spectators, the foursome comprising the 4 X 100 Relay Team raced to a convincing victory, the Gold Medal and a new world record, 46.9 seconds, some could debate that Vreeland chose the right four women anyway, regardless of racial considerations. In a quirk of the times, the Olympics did not recognize tenths of seconds at that point – believe it or not! – so the record was rounded off to 47.0 seconds for the 4 X 100 relay. But the facts also point to the extremely high probability that had Stokes and Pickett been placed on the that relay team – as the protocols that had been explained to them a few weeks earlier seemed to dictate – then a Malden woman and her friend from Illinois would have made two parts of history. Not only port. According to the online report, Sahady’s attorney also noted that Sahady is a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves. The court ruled Sahady could travel outside Massachusetts moving forward, but he is required to notify court officials of his travel plans or new employment. Sahady and a second suspect, Suzanne Ianni of Natick, were the first two Massachusetts residents arrested and charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, which included hundreds of unauthorized individuals unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol as part of a protest against U.S. Presidential Election results. would they have been the first two Black women to compete in the Olympic Games, they would have been the first Black women to have been Gold Medalists as well. All these women could do was compete as best they could. Through decisions out of their control, they were denied an opportunity to shine, create a once-in-a-lifetime achievement and represent their country on the biggest stage. As somewhat of a postscript, neither woman was thwarted by this glaring omission. Louise May Stokes was received warmly and with great honor when she arrived back in Malden, as was Pickett in her hometown. Stokes continued to train at a world-class pace and amazingly, she earned another try as a U.S. Olympian at the 1936 Games, this time being held in Berlin. Pickett had a second try as well. These were some of the most well-known Olympics in history, featuring an eventual, fourGold Medal performance by Jesse Owens, a well-known black athlete, and two Gold Medals by Johnny Weissmuller, who gained great fame as the star of the Tarzan movies after the Olympics. This time the stakes went up, as none of the Olympic athletes not backed by a corporation team had to come up with their own resources to purchase a trip by ocean liner across the Atlantic to Germany. Generous Malden residents helped Stokes get to the 1936 Olympics in Germany Stokes was beloved in Malden for earning another Olympic Team bid, and Malden residents responded by raising S Senator Lewis appointed to Senate leadership roles enate President Karen Spilka recently appointed State Senator Jason Lewis to several key leadership roles in the Massachusetts Senate, including Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education, Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and Vice Chair of the new Senate Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts: Post-Pandemic Resiliency. “I’m proud of what we accomplished last session, particularly the passage of the landmark Student Opportunity Act,” said Lewis regarding his work leading the Education Committee. “I $680 to pay for her transportation to the games. To gauge the generosity of locals at the time, that sum is worth $11,172 in today’s dollars! For one roundtrip ticket! Stokes was humbled and thrilled by the gesture and vowed to do her best. Unfortunately, “The Malden Meteor” for the second time in four years missed out on competing. Once again, she and Pickett were in the 4 X 100 Relay pool, but neither was selected for the competition event. There were two small bits of consolation. Pickett did go on to become the first Black woman to compete in the Olympics, in the hurdles event, but she broke her foot in the semifinals and had to bow out. Apparently, she had always trained with loose hurdles and the ones at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games were rigid and stationary, which probably played a factor in her injury. Also, this time around, Stokes finished fifth in the pre-Olympics trials, while Pickett had concentrated on the hurdles. The four participants who were selected for the women’s 4 X 100 Relay Team in 1936 were all highly experienced and previously successful sprinters, unlike the field in 1932. This time around Stokes, again a spectator, saw the women’s team grab a Gold Medal finish and, ironically, tie the still standing world record at 46.9 seconds. Heroine’s welcome for Stokes in Malden By all accounts, Stokes got another heroine’s welcome when she came back to Malden after a second Olympics and was honored and revered in her hometown. look forward to continuing our work with educators, parents, students and other stakeholders to support and strengthen our schools and early education providers as we recover from the pandemic. I’m also looking forward to serving as Vice Chair of the new Senate Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts: Post-Pandemic Resiliency. This committee will help inform and guide the Senate’s efforts to foster a more equitable, just and resilient Commonwealth for all.” The 2021-2022 legislative session began last month. Lewis has served in the Massachusetts Senate since 2014. Stokes fully intended on trying for a third time, at age 26, to compete in the 1940 Olympics, but the games were never played because of the onset of World War II. As the years went on, she stayed in Malden and around the area, donating her time teaching other young girls and women the sports of track, running and basketball. She also gained acclaim as a highly successful professional bowler and was instrumental in helping found the Colored Women’s Bowling Association. She passed away too young at the age of 65 in 1978. The City of Malden named what then was a new fieldhouse in her honor at Roosevelt Park on Salem Street, right next to the old railroad tracks where she used to race the boys in her younger years. In 1983, she was posthumously recognized and inducted as one of the charter members of the Malden High School Golden Tornado Hall of Fame for her school and Olympics selections. In 1987, a memorial was erected in the courtyard of her hometown high school as part of the extensive renovations completed there. Recently, in May of 2020, Stokes Fraser’s hometown of Malden showed once again that they have never forgotten her and the pride she brought to the city: Mayor Gary Christenson presided over the dedication of a major portion of the Northern Strand Community Trail/“Bike to Sea” path, the Louise Stokes Fraser Loop. Whether she brought home medals or not, the memory, character, passion and legacy of Louise Mae Stokes Fraser will forever shine brightly in Malden history.
13 Publizr Home