Robert Graham Was a “Yes” Man

When Robert Graham was asked in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to lead the Virgin Islands Housing Authority out of federal receivership, Robert said, “Yes.”

I don’t know what day I met Robert Graham; what gathering, what celebration of another benchmark he met in his march to see to it that every Virgin Islander might have a roof over their head, a bed to sleep in, and more than that the social support systems to move them toward a life of prosperity; but I am so glad I did.

I don’t think we ever went to dinner together, or certainly never hobknobbed at a cocktail party, but more than once, we shared lunch hunched over a table in some conference room — often in his Tutu office before the V.I. Housing Authority building was blown away during the hurricanes of 2017 — while we, along with many others, strategized over how to make life better for Virgin Islanders — especially the marginalized.

The most significant effort that we worked on together was the Rotary-sponsored “Practice Peace Initiative,” begun along with LaVerne Ragster in 2013. Robert Graham is one of the first people we reached out to for his experience and support. The point of the initiative was to reduce the outrageous gun violence that was — and still is — felling young Virgin Islanders by the dozens every year.