Johnnie Johnson and Sally Gossett-Barron have been selected to receive 2020 Unity Honors from the City of Longview Partners in Prevention’s Unity and Diversity Committee.
The Unity Honors is a lifetime achievement award that recognizes residents who have demonstrated leadership in promoting unity, mutual understanding, and social justice.
The Unity and Diversity Committee, formerly known as the Longview Race Relations Committee, will honor the two women at the annual Unity Honors Luncheon. The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 19 at the Maude Cobb Convention Center.
Longview Community Ministries and Newgate Mission will also receive special recognition awards for their outstanding commitment to the community as they foster diverse relationships and provide services to all residents.
Tickets for the luncheon are $20 and on sale online at LongviewTexas.gov/UnityHonors or at any of three locations — Broughton Recreation Center, 801 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; Longview Public Library, 222 W. Cotton St.; or Partners in Prevention, fourth floor of the Glover-Crim Building, 140 E. Tyler St.
No tickets will be available on the day of the luncheon.
About the Honorees
Ms. Johnnie Johnson
Ms. Johnnie Johnson contributed significantly to the community by starting a civic organization named ONEKOP that furnished part of a hospital and organizing voter registration drives. She also served as the governor’s hostess for Black Political forums. Upon returning to Longview, she co-founded Longview Outreach Mission where she serves as the Executive Director.
Johnnie has empowered hundreds of people in the community as a result of her servant’s heart, mentorship, and counseling that she offers wherever she goes. She is a healing agent for this community. While serving in many leadership roles, experiencing injustice, and inequality, she lives with no apologies or excuses for doing what needs to be done for the sake of human rights.
Ms. Sally Gossett-Barron
Ms. Sally Gossett-Barron, a charter member of the Race Relations Committee (now known as the Unity and Diversity Committee), was a key representative in helping organize the Partner in Prevention retreat for Community Mobilization in the early 1990s and addressing Race Relations in Longview. Sally is intentional for modeling what is best for the community through her servant leadership. Throughout her early career as an educator at Longview I.S.D. and now as a Licensed Professional Counselor at Eastman, she has worked with diverse populations.
Dedicating her service and being a trailblazer for the prevention of drugs and alcohol among the youth in the community is one of Sally’s passion. She lives by a personal creed that “silence is consent,” meaning she is willing to be the voice for the voiceless and a champion for the underserved.