Joe was born and raised in Seattle’s Central Area and currently lives in the Beacon Hill area, which ranks 18th of 14844 communities in the country based on its racial diversity.

In 1968, Joe and ten of his classmates were asked by a counselor to attend Roosevelt High School as part of Seattle’s voluntary transfer program. His attendance at RHS was meaningful and helped in his early development in learning how to navigate America’s racial culture.

RARE has given Joe an opportunity to collaborate with his high school classmates to change the racial climate at RHS and hopefully to make meaningful change toward racial equity.

Joe has a BA from WWSU in Business Administration and has held several executive level management positions in Merchandising, Operations and Human Resources. In the past, he has served on the boards of the Orange County, CA Urban League and the University of Illinois School of Business. Early in his career, he was instrumental in establishing a Minority Networking Conference in the western part of the country for his former company.

In his retirement and before the Coronavirus, he was a volunteer basketball coach at Seattle’s High Point Park Dept.

Bruce Williams graduated from Roosevelt High School where he played football with James Davis, the namesake of RARE’s scholarship. After graduation he and James worked together on a summer job. Bruce graduated from Stanford University and the University of Washington Law School. He served in the US Peace Corps in Liberia, West Africa, teaching at a rural college where he was one of only two white men on the college campus. He worked as a lawyer and at HomeStreet Bank, where his positions ranged from co-chair of the Diversity Committee to CEO. He currently lives in Leavenworth, Washington with his wife, Gro Buer, a Norwegian immigrant. They have one daughter and one grandson. Bruce currently is a hospital commissioner for Leavenworth’s public hospital and serves on multiple community boards.

Tony is a 1971 graduate of Roosevelt HS, where he played varsity sports and made many lifelong friendships. He has been concerned about racial issues since his high school years when unrest was widespread and racial injustice became glaringly apparent to him. Tony took a high school class in Afro-American history and became a history major in college. After a career in business, he became a high school history teacher, and made the history of slavery and race a central part of his curriculum. In 2020, during the racial upheaval that followed George Floyd’s murder, Tony contacted Joe Hunter, his high school basketball teammate. They started a discussion group on racial issues which grew into RARE. Tony calls creating RARE “one of the most rewarding and meaningful experiences of my life — especially the talented, diverse people I get to work with and learn from.“ Tony currently lives on Guemes Island, WA, and is married with three adult children.

The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson jolted me back to some personal experiences with racism in the South in my early twenties.  I was both shocked and outraged that 50 years later policing in many ways still did not value the lives of nonwhites.  It was probably all there to see if you looked hard enough- but I hadn’t been. Then RARE came along and gave me a way to participate to help advance the cause of true equality.

Tim is a software entrepreneur specializing in automated publishing solutions. He has years of experience on non-profit boards, most recently with the Cascade Bicycle Club and Washington Bikes. He was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from Roosevelt High in 1971. He received his bachelor’s from Evergreen State College and master’s from Duke University. He gets outside and enjoys biking, hiking, cross country skiing, and sailing. Tim lives in the Methow valley with his wife Catherine. He has three grown children and seven young grandchildren.

Allan was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He is a product of immigrant Filipino parents. His father came to America as a teenager, worked as a houseboy and graduated from Franklin High School in 1928. He worked his way through college and graduated with a BS in Pharmacy from Oregon State University. On a trip to The Philippines, he met his wife, a third-grade teacher who taught in the “jungle” hiding from the Japanese in WWII. They married and settled in Seattle.

Allan was raised in the predominantly Black Central Area neighborhood of Seattle. He helped desegregate all-white Roosevelt High School as a member of the city’s Voluntary Racial Transfer program. In college, he benefited from the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and affirmative action and became the first Filipino American to graduate from the University of Washington School of Dentistry in 1981. In 1983, he became the first Filipino American to practice dentistry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He and his wife, Edwina, founded the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) in 1989. Programs created by FANHS-HR helped students of Filipino ancestry embrace their personal journey by embracing who we are and what we can become. When it comes to racial equity as a Filipino American, Allan knows the way, goes the way, and continues to show the way in the making and shaping of a better America.

Steve Fisher is a Seattle native and graduated from Roosevelt High School, as did his father 30 years before him. He is also a graduate of Whitman College and has a law degree from Seattle University. Steve’s mentor responsibilities during the last 20 years have focused on supporting young associates of color, mostly women, all of whom continue to practice law today.

Bruce is a second generation graduate of Roosevelt High School, he in 1971. He earned a BA in History at the University of Washington and returned to the UW a year afterwards in the Teacher Certification Program at the College of Education. He did his student teaching and his initial year of teaching at Garfield High School. Bruce spent most of his career teaching Language Arts and US History at Whitman Middle School in northwest Seattle. He retired in 2016 and was doing occasional substituting until Covid hit.

Like millions of Americans, Bruce was sickened by the police murder of George Floyd, but heartened by the worlds’s and the nation’s long-overdue outrage and call for change that followed. RARE was part of that reaction, and Bruce is proud be part it.

He stays involved with RARE because the work in interesting, and it is an effort for good in the world. RARE has been a positive endeavor in striving towards racial equity. It has also been a pleasure to work with a dedicated group of folks.

Bruce is married and has two grown sons. He lives in northeast Seattle with his wife Janine and their dog Stella.

Les attended Roosevelt High School as a participant in the Voluntary Racial Transfer Program.

His positive experience at RHS via academics, music, and varsity athletics inspired him to attend Western Washington University – College of Humanities & Social Sciences (BA).

After college, Les spent the next 36 years simultaneously following two career paths: with the Washington State Patrol (WSP) and with U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. He was graduated from the FBI National Academy and attended the Princeton Theological Seminary.

“RARE is giving us the opportunity 50+ years after our RHS experience to build the kind of relationships and address the issues of inequity and fundamental fairness that must be met head on if we are going to make a positive difference for all who are victims of injustice.”

Along with RARE, he is a volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association and participates in S.E.R.V.E. (Stafford Emergency Relief for Volunteer Efforts).

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

James Baldwin (1962)

A Midwest transplant, I moved from suburban Chicago to Seattle to attend the University of Washington in 1980. I graduated from the UW with a BA in business administration and a minor in Russian language and history. I worked in US-Soviet and US-Russian commercial joint fishing operations for two decades and travelled extensively in the Russian Far East. I then transitioned to a second career as a tax advisor and partner in a small CPA firm specializing in commercial fishing, working there until early 2022.

I have long felt that race is an undercurrent in many of our most pressing problems, and I’m excited to work with RARE to promote and support racial equity.

Michelle Osborne RHS ’75 came to Seattle as a 6th grader and immediately began navigating the racial politics of the city and its public schools during the era of voluntary busing. Every school she attended was virtually all white – McGilvra Elementary (her neighborhood school), Wilson Junior High, Thompson Junior High, and Roosevelt. She had some great experiences at RHS, making friends for life, doing well academically, becoming a staffer on the literary magazine, and running cross country and track. But she also had experiences that were harmful and overtly racist. One a serious example occurred in the spring of her senior year: her high school counselor admitted he had never bothered to send the required high school counselor forms to the colleges she’d applied to – because he didn’t think Michelle was college material. A graduate of Princeton University, Michelle received her law degree from UCLA. She is a former trial attorney who practiced in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and was a state court prosecutor who specialized in crimes of sexualized violence. She has served as the Race and Social Justice Manager of a large non-profit in Seattle, and directed a rape crisis center in California’s Silicon Valley. Michelle has chaired the boards of several nonprofits, and was an appointee to the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women and to the State Bar of California’s Committeeon Women in the Law. She is now a board member of a Seattle-based law center which represents sexual assault survivors in court and administrative hearings. anecdotes about life at college in New York state.

Nilu Jenks was born in Oklahoma to Iranian-American immigrants, and at almost 8yrs old, her family moved to Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, which is where she started to learn some of the language and words to help her process and understand the marginalization she experienced in her childhood years. She has spent most of her adult life working with students, teachers, and schools in various capacities, as well as being a fierce community activist. Along her journey, Nilu has acquired a great deal of training and experience in racial justice work, so she could understand her own life better and help bring that same understanding to others. Nilu joined the RARE Connections team in November 2021, and she has really enjoyed helping it grow into the curriculum and program that it is today. Nilu is a proud mother of two, a guitar student, a member of the Seattle Iranian Choir, a pet-lover, a happy book club organizer, and a climate emergency advocate.

I am passionate about promoting equity and justice in our society, particularly in my own community and my alma mater. I believe that joining RARE is one of the ways for me to contribute to this important work already happening in our communities. I want to be part of a community of like-minded individuals who are dedicated to creating real, systemic change that will benefit future generations in our community, locally and globally.

Through my work with RARE, I hope to further hone my skills as an advocate and ally to advance the needs of our marginalized communities. I am committed to listening and learning from those whose experiences differ from my own, and I am eager to engage in meaningful dialogue with people from all walks of life. Ultimately, my goal is to help build a more inclusive and equitable world with a strong sense of belonging, and I hope to bring my experience and skills to help further the mission of RARE.

Jessamyn Reichmann is a second generation Roosevelt Alumni (’16) and a native from the Central District of Seattle, Washington. With a background in Criminology and Justice, Jessamyn believes in the restorative power of relational justice. This belief led her to join Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity (RARE); a community space where she can help build racial equity on the foundation of relational justice.

What first drew me to RARE was the plan to produce a documentary on voluntary busing.  My own reflections from that time more than 50 years ago left me feeling unsettled as I remembered my lack of reaching out to the first African American girl who joined my 6^th grade class in elementary school.  Later as a teacher who taught in highly diverse, low-income schools, I gained a greater understanding of the challenges faced by students of color.  Working with RARE has given me a place to put my efforts towards increasing racial equity in our country alongside other people with whom I have some shared RHS history.

Al Herron is a Particle Physicist, Electrical Engineer, numerical analysis specialist, and Serial Entrepreneur, currently pursuing a PhD in Business Management, Strategy and Innovation. He has spent his career pushing the boundaries of Compact Linear Accelerator Technology, driving new business development opportunities, and working with business owners and entrepreneurs for educational and economic equity in the BIPOC and other under-served communities, with a particular focus on STEM Curriculum and Program Development. Mr. Herron is currently serving on several state level committees on education policy and the response to COVID19, the Lake Washington School District Equity Team, the Breakfast Group Advisory Board, the Board for the Seattle Universal Math Museum, the Board for Stemtac Foundation, and the Board for the Black Education Strategy Roundtable.

Robin Uchida Lange is a 1971 graduate of Roosevelt High School and University of Washington graduate from the College of Forest Resources. She spent 7 years working at Mt. Rainier National Park and 2 years at Crater Lake National Park before taking seven years to have kids. After Crater Lake she and her family moved to Glacier National Park and have lived in the area for the last 40 years. Robin spent 13 years teaching remedial reading, 20 years as an Executive Assistant for the regional hospital while simultaneously teaching piano lessons for 45 years. As a woman of color in a very homogenous state, she is interested in bringing forth the stories, truths, and power of racial equity.

Michelle M. Fields was born and raised in Seattle’s Central Area, where she continues to reside as a proud homeowner and community member. She has always had an interest in multicultural diversity, attending Eckstein Junior High and Roosevelt High Schools as part of the groundbreaking Voluntary Racial Transfer Program (VRTP). From a young age, Michelle had a desire to work in the criminal justice system. Becoming a teen mother in high school sharpened her determination to reach that goal. She graduated from Roosevelt in 1972, balancing parenting with earning a Bachelor of Arts in Community Service with a Certificate in Alcohol Studies from Seattle University. She earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix (Seattle), overcoming numerous obstacles along her journey. Michelle’s 40 year career began at the King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD), as the first black female Jail Aide in Food Services. She continued to advance in her career as Corrections Officer and Sergeant; and ultimately became the first black female Corrections Captain, a position she held until her retirement in 2018. Throughout her tenure at DAJD, she was recognized for her friendly, positive attitude; conflict management and resolution abilities; supervision, leadership, team management; and interpersonal communication skills. Michelle’s real career trademark was recognizing the humanity of the incarcerated individuals, which improved morale and reduced negative outcomes within the jail environment. She brings these passions and skills to RARE in the spirit of continuing her work towards racial and social justice. Michelle is active in the community, serving on the Black Law Enforcement Association of Washington (BLEAW) organization, as a member and recently as the secretary. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors, she currently serves on RARE’s Connections and the Restorative Justice committees. Michelle enjoys reading, music, line dancing, traveling and spending time with her daughter, grandson, and son-in-law.

My background has been in project management, program development and budgeting. I have had the pleasure of working with the Seattle City Council, Department of Community Development, Department of Neighborhoods/Neighborhood Matching Fund and department of Neighborhoods/Food Equity Fund. In addition to public service, I have served on several grant programs and scholarship committees.

Although I am a proud Garfield High School graduate, I attended Roosevelt in 1969-1970, during my junior year of high school. The late James Davis was a good friend of mine beginning with our days at Washington Junior High. I can think of no better way to honor James and to continue the legacy of excellence in education than to work towards helping deserving students to graduate from college.

TaRessa Stovall was born in Seattle, Washington when much of the country was racially segregated and her parents’ marriage was illegal in 16 states, and grew up in Seattle’s pre-gentrified Central Area. She attended Seward Elementary School, Temple DeHirsch (Sinai) Hebrew School, Meany Middle School, then was bussed to Jane Addams Middle School, and Roosevelt High School. An alumnus of Black Arts / West and Oscar Productions Film School, she attended the University of Washington and graduated from The Evergreen State College with a B.A. in Multimedia Communications.

An author from the age of seven, TaRessa has written several poems, books, and plays on various topics, including racial identity and the impact of colorism on People of Color. Her books include SWIRL GIRL: Coming of Race in the USA – a memoir of growing up Mixed; A Love Supreme: Real-Life Stories of Black Love, portraits of 20 couples, with a foreword by Ruby Dee, and featured on Oprah’s “In the Spirit”; The Hot Spot, a novel; and The Buffalo Soldiers, a children’s book.

TaRessa is humbled and grateful to have been mentored by Seattle leaders including Elmer Dixon and the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party; Larry Gossett; Dr. Rosetta Hunter; Ron Chew; Dean Wong; Terry Morgan; Dr. W. Joye Hardiman; Dr. Maxine Mimms; Nate Long; and Coleen McElroy.