YOUNGSTOWN — Blend someone who was selfless, loving, kind and committed to others’ well-being, and you have the essence of Victoria M. Allen, many who knew her say.

“She was an angel on assignment on this Earth,” the Rev. Kenneth L. Simon, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, said.

Before she died Sept. 21, 2021, at age 49, Allen was a pillar in the community and part of the New Bethel church family who worked tirelessly to help children and families, in part by serving as a liaison for the Youngstown Police Department, where she, among other things, comforted families of crime victims. Allen also was more than willing to give her time, resources and self to those who sought her, Simon recalled.

In addition, Allen was president of the ICU Block Watch and Crime Stoppers of Greater Youngstown, part of the South Avenue Area Neighborhood Development initiative and events coordinator for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 28.

For her longtime work in the community, Allen was awarded posthumously the local Simeon Booker Award for Courage during a special program Tuesday evening at the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown. Accepting the award on Allen’s behalf was her mother, Cherry Robinson of Boardman.

Hosting the event, which also was part of Nonviolence Week in Ohio, was Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past.

Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, received the national Booker Award for Courage.

Allen, who was the 2021 recipient of the Distinguished Civilian Leadership Award from Ohio Attorney General David Yost, was a community role model, Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Department’s detective division, said in a video shown during the program. She also impacted countless people of all ages while leaving an indelible imprint on the region, he added.

“Her work was ceaseless and her energy was boundless,” Simon said.

In addition, Allen was anything but shy about immersing herself in a variety of area events geared toward uplifting young people. She enjoyed being part of annual Shop with a Cop events that paired children and police officers for shopping expeditions, along with city Easter egg hunts and Christmas giveaways, he recalled.

DOUG JONES

Jones, whom President Bill Clinton appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in 1997, was awarded for his work in securing convictions against Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2001 and 2002, respectively, for their roles in the Sept. 15, 1963, terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. The blast killed four girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair and wounded dozens of others.

Cherry and Blanton, both of whom were part of the local Ku Klux Klan, were sentenced to life in prison. Herman Cash, the fourth bombing suspect, died in 1994 before he could be tried.

“It’s never too late to do justice,” Jones told an audience of more than 100. “We told the truth; we had to dig for it, but we told the truth.”

Jones, who lives in Birmingham, recalled that a key witness who helped his case was Kirthus Glenn of Detroit, who was visiting a friend in her native Birmingham at that time. Around 2 a.m. Sept. 15, 1963, about eight hours before the explosion, Glenn parked about a block from the church, where she saw three white men in a blue-and-white 1957 Chevrolet with the interior dome light illuminated, Jones recalled.

Glenn thought it was unusual that three white men would be in the predominantly black neighborhood of what was then arguably America’s most segregated city, and she got a good look at one of the men, Jones said.

Glenn, who was highly reluctant to return to Alabama, was finally persuaded to testify in the 1977 trial of Robert E. Chambliss, infamously known as “Dynamite Bob,” who was the first of the four Klan bombers to be convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He died in October 1985.

Her testimony in that case bolstered his case, Jones said.

After Chambliss’ conviction, the case saw little movement until 1995, when FBI Special Agent Rob Langford reopened an investigation into the bombing. Even then, however, the case appeared to stall until two years later, when investigators got a break and, soon after, reporters tracked Cherry to Mabank, Texas.

Over the next three years, numerous witnesses testified before a federal grand jury in Birmingham that was looking into the case. In May 2000, state and federal prosecutors, led by Jones, took the case before a Jefferson County grand jury, which resulted in Blanton and Cherry’s arrest and indictment on murder charges.

Jones noted that when he took Blanton and Cherry to trial, he did not have a lot of new evidence to work with; instead, he was able to “rethink” it and see what he had in another way.

Jones also recalled having visited Blanton in prison on a few occasions, including close to the Klansman’s death. Even at the end, Blanton was unapologetic and showed no remorse for his part in the crime.

Jones, who served in the U.S. Senate from 2018 to 2021, expressed worry that the concept of truth is under attack in today’s divisive society, which, in turn, erodes our fragile democracy. It’s vital that more people refrain from being silent in the face of the deliberate spreading of misinformation, as well as falling for the “politics of the moment,” he said.

“Truth is a cornerstone of our democracy. Our democracy is for every person of every hue,” Jones said, adding, “We need more people to teach the truths of our shared history, not to outlaw it.”

In addition, Jones also began the annual tradition of assembling a bipartisan group of elected officials to read aloud Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” each April on the Senate floor. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has kept it going, Jones said.

Handing the award to Jones was Samie Winick, a social activist and former Youngstown City Schools teacher who said she became familiar with Jones while engaged in an online fundraiser at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Booker, who was from Youngstown, was the Washington Post’s first black reporter. He also wrote extensively for Jet magazine and reported on the 1955 Emmett Till lynching case and other atrocities from the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s.