Dan retells Vernon's story

Vernon, CT

Vernon Rose on a visit to Vernon, Connecticut

I grew up in Vernon, so when I learned that the man who would be teaching one of my classes and coordinating my internship while I was in Cape Town was named Vernon I immediately knew I was going to like him. I had heard about him from past participants: he’s amazing, manages to place you in the perfect internship, and literally knows everyone in Cape Town. My expectations were high and I wouldn’t be disappointed. Reverend Vernon Rose has to be one of the most incredible, humble, kind, and personable persons I have ever met. He has an amazing life story and recently sat down to tell our class it. Check it out.

To understand where he is now, you have to go all the way back to Vernon Rose’s childhood. As a youngster, his family was forcibly removed from their home in District 6 to Bridgetown, where I work and he currently lives. In 1960 his third grade teacher, Dulcie September (an anti-apartheid activist who was assassinated), gave him his start on a life of activism. Before he could begin that though, he had to make some noise as an athlete. As a kid he was the Western Province Community Centre’s Table Tennis Champion and represented the Western Province in soccer. To give you a perspective, South Africa only has nine provinces. Then, in the 10^th grade his history teacher played Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and it changed Vernon’s life; he aspired to be like Dr. King. While getting an undergraduate degree in social work from the University of the Western Cape, a local university, Vernon worked as a house parent in a children’s home. By the time he was 25 he was promoted to be the principal.

The next stage of his life occurred in the United States when he traveled to UNC Chapel Hill and Duke. He moved overseas with his soon-to-be wife, Esme, to work at an internship (ironic, huh?) and study theology. In 1979 he worked with the American Communist Party (before you freak out at the word communist, remember that Nelson Mandela also worked with the Communist Party) to get medical supplies to Tanzania. He worked in the prison system where he met with Benjamin Chavis ( who among many things was an assistant to MLK and Director of the NAACP). After getting a Masters in Divinity from Duke he moved up to study at Yale to pursue yet another Masters degree. Being South African, he didn’t realize the prominence of the university. There, his mentor was Cornel West (arguably the leading African American scholar in the States). To top off his list of celebrity appearances, Vernon also worked with Stokely Carmichael (known also as Kwame Ture, who popularized the term “Black Power”) while State side. Somewhere along the way, Vernon was ordained as a Baptist minister.

The interesting phase of his life starts back in South Africa, where on September 2, 1989, his birthday, he was arrested and subsequently spent a night in jail for protesting against the apartheid government. After doing developmental work through the University of Cape Town, he became the Director of the South African Council of Churches, where he worked with Desmond Tutu organizing Peace Talks. As if one Nobel Laureate wasn’t enough, as a Regional Director of the Urban Foundation, Vernon was later invited to attend the World Economic Developmental Forum where Nelson Mandela was speaking and subsequently was able to meet South Africa’s first democratic president. Further, he has worked with the top eight gangsters in Cape Town at the time and helped the National Lottery Board develop policy for their Distribution Agencies. All of this still doesn’t explain how Vernon knows everyone in Cape Town though. In the early 90s Reverend Rose facilitated the process of organizing an NGO forum of 4,000 Capetonian organizations. So, traveling through Cape Town with Vernon feels like you’re traveling with a celebrity, everyone is constantly waving and saying hello.

So what could this man possibly be doing today? Aside from organizing all the internships for my program and the school of nursing that comes in the fall, he is serving as a consultant for the government as well as various local organizations. He is currently mediating a case between two towns, one affluent and the other middle class and colored, that is receiving national attention. Oh, and he’s also writing a musical.

 Personally, I think Vernon should file a lawsuit against Dos Equis, because he has to be the most interesting man in the world. He never would though, as he is probably the most humble and modest person I have ever met. He didn’t want to go through his life story with the class because he didn’t want to talk about himself, and when I asked his permission to write this blog he took a moment to think before giving me the okay. I am so fortunate to be able to call Vernon my professor and my role model; this program wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for him.