[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome Medford High for our annual Black History Month assembly.
[SPEAKER_12]: This is brought to you by the Medford High Black Student Union. So, I'm Melissa Antoine, the voice of Medford High.
[SPEAKER_05]: You know who I am?
[SPEAKER_04]: On this glowing Friday evening, the Black Student Union has put together an aspect of culture of what it means to be Black. We're going to have speeches, we're going to have dancing, and we're going to have some fashion events. Are y'all ready?
[SPEAKER_05]: Y'all got no energy. Where are our Tigers players? All right, that's better, that's better. All right, where are our sophomores? Hey, hey, hey! All right, let's go, let's go, let's go. Where are your juniors? Our future seniors, yeah!
[SPEAKER_01]: I love the energy, I love it, I love it.
[SPEAKER_09]: Good afternoon students, faculty and guests.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you for your presence today. I'd like to welcome our mayor, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, our superintendent of schools, Dr. Edward Benson, and other guests that have joined us today. Our program today includes song, dance, poetry, and a fashion show, all of which will focus on the beauty of African American culture. I hope you all walk away today with an appreciation of Black History Month and reflect on what you learned as we celebrate Black History Month. Please provide your undivided attention to our presenters who've worked very hard
[SPEAKER_06]: I'll wait until everyone's ready.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. Please provide your undivided attention to our presenters who've worked very hard in preparation for this event. Thank you to all the performers, and I hope you all enjoy the presentation.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you, Mr. Fallon. Also referred to as the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written... Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written as a poem by the NAACP. The leader, James Weldon Johnson in 1900. Lift Every Voice and Sing was communally sung within black communities while the end of Lazy Pete began to promote the hymn as the Negro national anthem in 1970. Hear His Lift Every Voice and Sing.
[SPEAKER_06]: Every voice and sing to earth and heaven ring. Ring with the harmonies of liberty. Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies. Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of a new day begun. Let us march on till victory is won. Let us march on till victory is won. Let us march on to victory.
[SPEAKER_03]: That was a very hard one. Now, are y'all ready for some fun?
[SPEAKER_01]: No!
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm sorry, I was a little bit on my luck here.
[SPEAKER_05]: Are y'all ready for some fun?
[SPEAKER_03]: Presented by the BSU, we have some dancers for y'all. Are y'all ready?
[SPEAKER_05]: Are y'all ready? Introducing the PSU's opening dance!
[SPEAKER_01]: I miss you.
[SPEAKER_07]: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[SPEAKER_12]: All right, now please welcome our superintendent, Marie Edward-Lindsay.
[SPEAKER_09]: We're saving the superintendent the last. That is the last, right? So I'll go first. May and Marie, I don't know if you'll turn here. I just want to say good afternoon to the members of high school.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you to BSU and the advisors for inviting me to be a part of the celebration of Black History Month. I know you want to get to more music and dancing to celebrate, but I'm just going to speak for a minute or two, give you a little history about here at Medford. This is a wonderful program that the school puts on, and it's exciting to see all that's in store. We've been celebrating Black History Month all throughout the community, and it's truly inspiring to hear from so many people about the importance of uniting us as a community and recognizing the achievements as well as the struggles that our Black neighbors have endured. I'm proud that our city is diverse, inclusive, and forward-thinking. I want to thank our DEI Director, Frances Guage, for her work to ensure that Medford is always attempting to serve our community members with respect and kindness. Black history is our history. Medford's history. And we have deep ties to the past, both uplifting and demoralizing. The city wouldn't stop on the Underground Railroad. Duggar Park is named after Lieutenant Colonel Edward Duggar, who fought in World War I. It is the first park in suburban Boston named after an African-American, and it's right here in Medford. Medford is also home to the Royal House of Slave Quarters. We have now used the relics of our past to highlight both the abomination of slavery as well as to celebrate the significant contributions of Belinda Sutton. Belinda was an African-born woman who was enslaved by the royals. Belinda successfully petitioned for a pension from the royals and is among the earliest narratives by an African-American woman. Her narrative is seen by some as the first call for reparations for American slavery. We cannot run from our history. We must embrace it and learn from it. We're learning how to be a better city, better school system, more compassionate, and more inclusive. And knowing the passion and determination that our students have for creating a better future for all, with that, I know that life is ahead. it's bright. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_12]: Now, please welcome our Black Student Union, Dwayne Soka.
[SPEAKER_04]: Next up, let's give a nice warm welcome to our superintendent, Dr. Heather Hicks.
[SPEAKER_07]: Good afternoon, everyone. I can't resist sometimes, so I just want to give a shout out right now to my seniors. So seniors! June 7th will be here sooner than you can think. But I'm so happy to be here to celebrate with all of you, Black History Month celebration. I want to give a great shout out to our PSU advisors, to Ms. Faye and Ms. Jackson. Please wave so everyone can see you and Ms. Jackson. So in preparation for today's remarks, the leadership and guidance that we've been giving to the students all along. And I know that as we kind of talked about the theme of this year being about change agents, I wanted to take a few minutes to actually just share with you who some of the great change agents are from Medford. We heard from our mayor, She gave us the names of some change agents, but I think that this is really important because these were normal people who ended up doing extraordinary things and they became change agents for the world. So many times I've spoken to you in Medford, in particular West Medford, It's one of the oldest African American communities in the entire United States of America. And that community was established in the early 1800s just after slavery. I talked about in the past about the Underground Railroad and the wonderful abolitionists that were here in Medford, George Stearns, and Lydia Marie Child, where people know her for her famous poem, Over the River and Through the Woods, but she wrote a book called An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans. She was an abolitionist. But I also want to tell you about some change agents of African descent that came through Medford and made an impact not only in Medford, but beyond. I'm going to talk a little bit right now about Prince Hall. He was born in Barbados. And I know we have students here that are of Asian descent. When people were wearing their flags on a Wednesday, I talked to one of our students. He was born in 1735, but he came to Boston at the age of 17 and he settled in Medford at the age of 25. What he ended up doing, he bought real estate and he ended up joining the Continental Army. What I can say to you about Prince Hall, he served as a change agent because he started the Freemasons and he used his status to help liberate slaves. So Bedford was part of his story, and his story was part of freeing slaves. If you go into Boston, in a section called Roxbury, Grove Hall in particular, it's a predominantly African-American community in Roxbury. There is a hair school there called Lyell In School of Beauty Culture. Elizabeth Oliver Newton started her business in Medford and from Medford she was the first African American person to be able to open a hair school for African Americans because at that point in time, they weren't accepted. And she was an hairstylist. So she's just someone that I wanted to just highlight as someone who came through Medford but ended up creating an establishment that supported African Americans and or Afro-Caribbeans to do something that they wanted to do when it wasn't accepted. And if you're in the Brokaw area, between Bowling Alley and Lawrence Street, her hair school is still there. I also want to just, because you know, I may have said to you I grew up in West Medford, if you ever go by the fire station in West Medford, Mr. Charles Booker, He was the first African-American firefighter in the city of Method. Mr. Alonzo Fields. He was the chief usher. He served five presidents of the White House. Then there was also a change agent, Mr. Ansel Alexander, known as Bud Colbright, Jr. He was an orphan, and the city of Method reunited him with his mother and siblings. He went on to serve in World War II, and he was so appreciative of what the city of Method did. As an adult, in 2003, he donated $100,000 to bring new play equipment to the Duggar Park community because that was where he grew up. So as I think about change agents and people who make a difference in the world, I think about all of those people who make a difference who have come through Medford. So I want you to know that Medford has a rich history. All of you who are in here are part of Medford's history. I am part of Medford's history, and so are you. I encourage you to know that just because I mentioned a few change agents, I want all of you to know that you can be change agents of tomorrow as well. So I want to close with a quote from Dr. Rae Jameson. She was the first African-American astronaut to fly on a space shuttle. She once said, by other people's limited imaginations. Dr. Jameson speaks the truth. And I want to thank you, Mustangs. Happy Black History Month to you all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Dr. Edwards.
[SPEAKER_03]: He will be telling us how he navigated through the white spaces of retail and black markets.
[SPEAKER_14]: Hello everyone. My name is Brian Owens. I grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts, right next door. So don't take that against me. But why I mention that is that growing up as a black man or a black child, my family's fourth generation African-American in Boston. It's about Roxbury. I've heard of Roxbury. I know a lot about West Medford because I spent a lot of time in West Medford. I was a basketball court as a kid in the summertime. I was probably talking to some nice people here and there. So, I say that because part of the speech I'm going to make today is about experience, my strength, and my hope. The topic's about being a change agent, and why I mention that is because growing up black in Arlington, or just black in Boston in general, One, education's everywhere you go. My mother, who just passed away a year ago from pancreatic cancer, was a teacher. She was assistant superintendent of Boston Public Schools. She was an assistant principal. She was a principal. She was a first grade teacher, second grade teacher, third grade teacher, fourth grade teacher. All I gotta say is education's at the foundation of everything we're about. So one of the reasons why I mentioned being a change agent Ask some questions. Being around other folks, understanding how to relate to other people are one of the advantages I have in business too. Part of what I do now is, how many people use TikTok? How many people use Instagram? So, how many people watch the Super Bowl this year? How many people like the Dunkin' Donuts commercial? How many people like that Toothy commercial? Well, three out of four of those commercials my company made. I work for the world's largest advertising and communications company in the world. So if you're looking to be a social influencer, part of my job is to track Instagram and TikTok to see who is a nano-influencer and find ways to make money for you. So why I say that is because education has changed the game. So if you are a change agent, even if you're in high school right now, you can be a millionaire. Did you guys hear me? I'm saying, if you are in high school right now, and you understand who you are, understand your own personal story, and you have a following, you're able to make money off of that. All right, why I say that is because if you don't understand who you are, what you're about, it's very hard to know where you're going. So as a change agent, as being a person of color in this community, you're forced to really listen to who you are and your own personal story. So my experience growing up in this community was very difficult. Part of the reason why I was successful growing up in this community is because I played sports. So I graduated from Belmont Hill School. I played ice hockey. I went to college for ice hockey. Full scholarship. For football, I played division one football and division one ice hockey at Colgate University. I mentioned that because I got a full scholarship to Delaware Hill. Why? Because my mother was an educator. She understood the power of education. She understood that that school lacked diversity. And because of that lack of diversity, I had an opportunity. Because of that opportunity, I couldn't mess it up. Right? So instead of saying, I'm not going to play nice hockey, I played nice hockey. And because I tried something I wasn't very comfortable with, I became very successful at that. I also played lacrosse. I also ran track. I mention these things not because me the ability to understand people from Canada, people from Russia. I've been called the N-word by probably 15, probably 20 different languages on that plane I took. I got a lot of advice when I was a young kid. And after a while, I just started scoring goals. When you start scoring goals, you start getting recruited. When you start getting recruited, you start getting scholarship offers. You start getting scholarship offers, professional players start looking at you. I actually played a little professional hockey, too. I mentioned a lot of things about myself, right? Oh, this and that, right? Because of those things, being a person of color, that ego, my ego got too big. So being a person of color, thinking I was better than everybody else, once you start playing sports and you start getting attention, you start to struggle. And if you don't have a community of people that you identify with, you struggle by yourself. When you get depressed, you suffer from mental health. And if you have bad energy, you probably pass on bad energy, too. So you make everyone around you miserable. I've known that for a very, very, very long time. Why I mention that? Because because of that experience, I now have strength. I got through it. Now I have faith. Why do I have faith? Because I can look back at those experiences as a person of color, surviving it, and being able to help anyone, even anyone your age right now, understand who they are and their personal story. There's a lot of hope in that. What do I mean by hope? Well, I mentioned how many people here use TikTok or Instagram. I am now in the business of creating strategies for big brands like Coca-Cola, Advil, Palladol. What else do we have going on? Powerade. These are big global brands that I work on right now to help these folks understand themselves. And we're looking at folks like you often and looking at more diverse bodies. So part of what I'm doing right now is having black and brown businesses go to market. So if you're a small business owner, And if you're working on a direct-to-consumer or an e-commerce site, part of what my job is is to help brown companies become as big as a billion dollars as fast as they can. So part of what I'm doing now is taking that privilege I had at all those schools, growing up in Harlem City, growing up in Massachusetts, frankly. You all don't even understand how much of an advantage you have growing up here, going to school here, compared to if you were anywhere else in the country. Why do I say that? Because if I say I'm from Massachusetts, My resume speaks for itself, because people respect the education of this city, as well as this community. So now I'm actually teaching people, because now part of my job isn't about making money. Part of it's about making money. But the people that are very successful as an SDP, or a CEO, or EVP, or all these high-level folks that are teachers, people are able to teach something, to master something. If you can master something, you can make money off of it. quit my period. So the more you understand what your personal brand is, and if you can't teach it, you don't really know it. That's why I was told as a child. So your ability to understand something in a way where you're mastering it so you can actually instruct somebody, you do a lot of that on social media. Helping other people, using videos to teach other people. Those are all teaching moments. If you're having a hard time in school, do it anyway. Why? Because once you get done with it, you have a lot of opportunity to make a lot of money on your own personal grades. You spend enough time learning yourself. So as a person of color, if you're black in this room, if you're brown in this room, keep doing it. Keep learning. Because the more you're able to identify with the people that don't look like you, as well as understand your own personal story, You guys hear me? Yes. Help somebody else. Stop thinking about yourself and help somebody else, because that energy comes back. And the more you're able to help somebody else, your community gets stronger, your mental health gets better, and everyone around you can win. Because I'm around people winning. I don't know about you. I like to win, and I want to make sure everyone in this room can win, too. So I can be of any help to anyone, personal or not,
[SPEAKER_04]: How many know who Ashby Berners-Woods is? Just a raise of hand. Does anyone know who Ashby Berners-Woods is? This is a story that should be done. And people who wrote this tribute are here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were both students here. We graduated back in 2009-2010. Since then, I went to US Boston for biology, worked at Apple for a little bit of time.
[SPEAKER_02]: My sister, she... So yeah, a brief history of my time here. I grew up in a lot of different things. I grew up in orchestra from third grade at the day school. It's not even a school here anymore. But through 12th grade, I played music. I now play the bass guitar semi-professionally. I teach. If you want to learn the bass, let me know. My sister drew and found some images on it, like the wings and like the face, on the head, and it's just really, really beautiful. and actually should do it in person. Thank you guys. All right, thank you, thank you, thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: We're gonna have speeches of hope by one of our sophomores, Chris Xavier.
[SPEAKER_13]: Just wrote this whole poem, a flash speech, about being black, about what it's like to be black, raising up in America. All right. What does it mean to be black in America? Being black in America means our kindness is awakened. Being black means our silence Being black means our language is slang. Being black means our confidence is conceit. Being black means our mistakes as defeats. Being black means our success is accidental. Being black means minimizing our intelligence to potential. Being black means our questions mean we are unaware. Being black means our advancements are somehow unfair. Being black means our worst self-concern is annoyance. apprehensive. Being black means we're defiant if we separate. Being black means our character is constantly under attack. Being black means having the power of our race makes us too black. Being black means labeling us as criminals. But what does it mean to actually be black in America? My daddy told me, to be black in America, you have to endure white supremacy. You have to fear the police. The American, you have the luxury of saying, this shit don't comply. To be black in America, you have to hope that someone orders your compliance because you can't no longer be in a relationship with a man or something. Being a black in America makes you grow up being aware of racism continuously. We was brought up in a difficult system, a system that feels like a game we're just falling in. While we're in it, it's a lot of people that are just trying to survive. But we don't want to survive, we just want to live. The government needs us with weed and drugs to give us a hopeful opportunity. Thinking it's the toll to our connection. And we just... Yeah, that's why you see a lot of kids trapped in because they have nothing else to turn to. Their dreams end up not coming true because of their skin color, which makes it hard for them. But what do you do when you have no one there to support your team? You end up giving up on your team. take the only option to get what the government left you, and that's selling dope or just being you. It's not our fault that we're viewed as monsters. We're not monsters, we're just physical children. They label us as criminals, we're just kids in a system.
[SPEAKER_12]: Last but not least, the students of BFU have prepared a fashion show. This fashion show represents different cultures and eras from black and white. First up, we're going to have traditional African clothing.
[SPEAKER_10]: Please join me in a round of applause for all the graduates who have made it this far. And rigorously, even down to the last minute, it's been a good experience for all of us. I feel like we've grown closer because of it. So thank you for all of your hard work, determination, and effort. Thank you. I'd also like to call our Black Community Advisors to the center as well. Ms. Jackson, Ms. Day, and Ms. Caraviello-Russo. have worked very hard to put the show together and actually plan it for future shows. We'll be having a special presentation last day. I'd also like to thank And Brian Owens, M.D.A., for also being here and speaking at our event today. Mr. Apollo is not here, but we would like to welcome him. Mr. Apollo, if you're here, please come out. I don't know what I would do without you, I don't know what we would all do without you, so thank you for always being there behind the scenes, supporting us as well. The bell is about to ring.