Congratulations and kudos to Sherri Darden, the owner and publisher of Scoop USA, for keeping the legacy and spirit of our esteemed ancestor Richard “Sonny” Driver alive and flourishing since his transition in 2017. On Saturday, August 19, 2023, she held the second annual Sonny Driver Day, a community-centered celebration of the life and works of Sonny Driver. The day-long event took place on the block where the original Scoop USA office was located, the 900 block of Watts Street, which has been renamed Sonny Driver Drive.
It was a fitting tribute to the life and the love Sonny Driver had for his people, this region, and his six decades of providing information, news, and a platform for the marginalized and disenfranchised in the Delaware Valley area. Scoop USA was for ordinary people, the working class, not those Sonny called the muckety-mucks; it was a grass roots unpretentious, down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is newspaper designed and focusing on the Black community in the beginning, mainly concentrating on entertainment.
Sonny used to get upset when anyone called Scoop USA a bar paper. He would always correct them and tell them Scoop was an entertainment paper. That’s because Sonny was one of only two African-American booking agents in Pennsylvania, and Scoop USA promoted the happenings and goings on in the Philadelphia area entertainment world. Back in the day, nightclubs featured live entertainment from local and nationally known Jazz, Blues, and Rhythm and Blues artists. Being a booking agent, Sonny helped promote the venues that featured live entertainment in his newspaper, and the nightclub scene was where the action was. Over the years, he transformed the paper into a vehicle for the community, focusing on the issues, news, and challenges facing our people. The paper is still fulfilling that role today.
Sonny Driver Day was a free event with free pretzels, hot dogs, and hamburgers, school supply giveaways, door prizes, a 50/50 raffle, a bounce house, and moonwalk for the children, performances by the Clef Club Youth Jazz Band, and numerous businesses and service agencies were giving out information about their programs and products.
In the spirit of Scoop USA, Sherri also included recognition of the women who were given annual awards during the pandemic by Scoop USA but were prevented from receiving their well-deserved public accolades due to the COVID lockdowns and restrictions. These outstanding service-oriented women include Joanna McClinton, PA State Representative and Speaker of the House; Keir Bradford-Grey, Attorney-At-Law, and Activist; Dr. Lisa Dennis; Dr. Lucille Ijoy, Motivational Speaker and Family Therapist; Tiffany Beauford; retired PA State Senator Shirley M. Kitchen; Mama Akousa Ali- Sabree, (Posthumously); Candice Thompson; Catherine Hicks, Publisher of the Sunday Sun Newspaper and President, Philadelphia Branch NAACP; Vivian VanStory, (posthumously); Phyllis Sims, (posthumously); the Honorable Doris Smith Ribner, retired PA State Judge; Dr. Ellen Jo Waller, Educator, and Activist; Regina Rhea Smith, R.N. and President, Allegheny West Civic Association of Philadelphia; Sheriff Rochelle Bilal; Archbishop Mary Floyd Palmer; Linda Richardson, (posthumously) Founder Uptown Revitalization effort and community activist.
During the Sonny Driver Day program, Scoop USA also recognized and presented Community Service Awards to Michael Coard, Jahzir Davis, William Morgan, Rev. Tom Merrill, and Marlisa Brown-Swint and Lifetime Achievement Awards to City Council President Darrell Clarke, Ducky Birts, Founder of the Ducky Birts Foundation, Joan Myers Brown, Founder of Philadanco, Lovette Hines, Executive Director of The Philadelphia Clef Club, and Carla Washington.
The attendees enjoyed the music from the Clef Club students, a DJ, and the good vibrations of the crowd, which included family members and friends of the awardees, supporters of Scoop USA neighborhood residents, and passers-by. The event is a testament to Sherri Darden’s commitment to continuing the legacy of R. Sonny Driver and building upon the foundation he laid.
Scoop USA is a free community newspaper covering Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, Chester City, Camden, and Atlantic City. At one time, Scoop USA covered Trenton, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware.
The rise of emerging technologies and monopolization have seen the demise of many local newspapers or the gobbling up and consolidation of papers. Bucking this trend, Sherri has worked hard to keep Scoop USA independent and sustainable and even created a new medium called Vizion to focus on businesses and entrepreneurship. Sherri has refused money from people and sources she felt were not in line with Scoop USA’s mission or who wanted to exert editorial influence on the paper.
In this day of ever-shrinking newspapers and the consolidation of media into a small handful of owners and asset managers, it is imperative we keep independent community-focused newspapers like Scoop USA alive and thriving. It has been a struggle, but Sherri has kept her promise to Sonny and is keeping Scoop USA alive at great sacrifice to herself and her family. Sonny Driver would be so proud of Sherri for what she is doing. We need to continue our support of Sherri and Scoop USA.
