Media mogul and talk show host Oprah Winfrey made a surprise visit to the South Jersey community of Whitesboro in Middle Township. Winfrey was there to celebrate the town’s annual reunion with her longtime partner and Whitesboro native, Stedman Graham.
Graham is reportedly the executive director and a founder of the community organization Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro. Winfrey gave a speech during the reunion and discussed crime and childhood trauma. She also praised local police.
“There would be no taking the knee, there would be no protesting of police departments in America if all of the police departments took on the idea of addressing what happened to you as a child,” she said. “Treating these young children, particularly the boys, like they are human beings who had adverse circumstances happen to them and not that they’re just born criminals.”
Winfrey also met and took pictures with longtime Black Whitesboro resident Lillian Inez Palmer who recently celebrated her 100 birthday. Winfrey posted a video of her and Palmer on Instagram that received over 725,000 views.