I haven’t written my weekly column for five years, moving on to digital content and films, and running a think tank at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

When I joined the NAACP in 1982, Larry and I were vice presidents together, in what was the greatest youth movement this local chapter had seen, growing to more than 15,000.

For 15 years, Larry and I ran on the same page in the Los Angeles Sentinel (1993-2008).

When the Urban Issues Breakfast Forum began in 1999, Larry was there and he rarely missed a forum in 20 years.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Mervyn Dymally Institute at Cal State Dominguez Hills, host of the Urban Issues Forum and author of the upcoming book, “A Thousand Times NO To The Status Quo: Selected Counter Cultural Commentaries of A. Asadullah Samad” (1991-2014).