During the social and racial upheaval of 2020, one family came together to remember one of their loved ones who was lost to police violence in Signal Hill decades ago.
The first cousins of Ron Settles formed a foundation in his honor to provide scholarships annually for Black students graduating from high school. Each year since 2020, they’ve granted up to two scholarships to students in each of the areas of Los Angeles County, Shelby County Tennessee, and the city of Atlanta, Georgia.
The Ron Settles Memorial Foundation is currently accepting applications for this year’s round of scholarships through March 15.
Settles was killed in a homicide inside the Signal Hill jail in 1981 shortly after being arrested by Signal Hill police over an alleged minor traffic infraction, according to a ruling by a coroner’s jury. His killers were never identified or arrested. A few months after the ruling, thousands showed up to protest the Signal Hill Police Department.
It is widely believed that Settles was killed by police, and that his death was framed to look like a suicide by hanging. Settles was found hanging by a bed sheet, and an inmate of the jail at the time later came forward to say that there had been no sheet on Settles’ jail bed and that he had heard officers beating Settles, according to local historian Claudine Burnett.
Nearly four decades later, as the pandemic kept people home, Settles’ cousins had more time on their hands to think about their cousin’s story, and how it was part of the larger issue of institutional racism against Black people in the United States.
“We were just saying we had not done anything to be part of the movement too, you know, we wish that we could end social injustice to people of color, but at least be involved with affecting some change,” said Cerita Butler, president of the Ron Settles Memorial Foundation and Settle’s first cousin. “So as we sat around, we thought, ‘What can we do?’”
The $2,000 scholarships provided by the foundation are only available to Black students in their senior year of high school from the three eligible areas who are planning to pursue undergraduate degrees related to criminal justice, such as political science, pre-law, law enforcement administration, corrections and criminology.
Scholarships can also be granted to those pursuing teaching degrees, in honor of Settles’ mother, Helen, who was a lifelong educator. Eligible students must also have a GPA of at least 2.25 on a 4.0 scale.
Applicants will need to submit a reference from someone they aren’t related to, an admission essay that they’ve used to apply to a university, and a written response of 350 words or less that explains their personal connection to Ron Settles’ story. Applications can be submitted on the Ron Settles Memorial Foundation’s website.
The funds for the scholarships are raised at a yearly charity golf tournament held in partnership with The Cochran Firm. This year’s tournament will be held on June 7 at the Pine Hill Golf Course in Memphis, Tennessee.
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