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[Carter]: You will find fortune cookies. They are not spiritual guideposts, but they do represent a diverse tradition and a way for us to connect as humans. So crack one open, and please take a moment or two to share what your fortune says with your table mates.
[o9F0qYH9Geo_SPEAKER_05]: All right.
[Carter]: All right. So hopefully, and if everyone could take their seats, please. So hopefully, whatever it said inside of your fortune cookie, if you were fortunate enough to find one, is fortuitous for you, is predictive of long life and many blessings. So let's go. Please allow me to introduce a lifelong West Medford resident and licensed minister, Stacey Moore, to offer an invocation for today's gathering. Stacey is a woman of deep faith and a community connector for the city of Medford. Stacey.
[SPEAKER_21]: Good morning. Let me grab this. Today is a perfect day to honor the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, with due respect for one's personal beliefs and traditions, I'd like to invite you all to join me in prayer as we invoke a spirit of love, a spirit of love, community, and compassion. All-encompassing spirit, we welcome your presence as we gather in reflection and celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King. We are grateful for Dr. King's love of humanity, his faith, his vision, and his relentless effort to see the mission through. While some of his dream has been realized in these changed times of today, there is still much work to be done. We ask to be united as community as we embrace Dr. King's teachings. And when we leave here today, let us leave with a commitment to ourselves and to one another to be community champions of change. Equity, equality, and justice for all. Amen.
[Carter]: Thank you, Stacey, for those words of faith in action. You've helped us to set the atmosphere for all we plan to do today. And now with official words of welcome from the West Medford Community Center, may I present Lisa M. Crossman, Executive Director, Lisa has been with our organization for a few whirlwind years and has skillfully continued to transform our neighborhood home into the vital and dynamic heart of the traditional black community while embracing significant change and increasing diversity of an evolving neighborhood. Please show us some love.
[Crossman]: everybody all right so thank you all for coming today thank you special thanks to Terry Carter who pulled together an amazing program thank you thank you We're so happy to have you all back again this year. For us at the West Medford Community Center, this is really our new year. This really is the starting point for us to start fresh, to set new goals. And as you know, with goals, it's about the journey. It's not about the destination. Yes, it's not about the destination. It's about our journey. So just some really quick housekeeping. If you could turn your cell phones to vibrate or turn them off, we would appreciate that. Bathrooms are right out this way, so whenever, please go. But I'd like to start off, but if everyone could just turn to their neighbor and say, I'm happy that you are here. Okay, wait, wait, wait, now don't lie to him now. Now let's do this again. I am happy that you are here. Okay, wonderful. So I won't take up much time, just really quickly, I had the opportunity to get online and do some training with the King Institute, where they discuss beloved community, and it's really about how you show up, how you show up as a person, showing up with peace, kindness, and love, and that we don't match the situation with the intensity of that situation, whether it's anger, whether it's sadness, whether it's anxiety, that we hold true to that beloved form, that we be loved and we are loved. We allow ourselves to be loved. And so as we go forward in this year, we are really setting the tone with character and values and holding firm to that because We all agree we are all humankind. We are all here today. We didn't do one thing to wake ourselves up and get here today. And I think we all can agree with that. And that is the starting point on which we will set off. And I have the pleasure to work with some children in Medford. We have an after school program. They are wonderful. They are great. But the one thing that I notice is that we can't communicate. We yell at each other, and it's not an anger. We just don't know how to communicate. And I think, you know, being locked down with COVID and all the things that spun and turned, that these children have lost their way. And with the climate we see on social media and on our television screens, it's the same way people don't communicate and that we really need to take ownership of that. We really need to pull that back and we really need to set the tone for the children to show them how it is to communicate, how it is to listen to others, how it is to empathize with others. And so today we are kicking off that point. I'm not going to take up any more time. It is a wonderful, dynamic show. These are people who have mastered their craft, and I am so excited for you to see what we have for you today. So with that, I would like to welcome Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn to come give the welcome for the city of Medford.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Terry. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this celebration of Dr. King's life and legacy. I'm honored to be here today to honor his life with all of you. Thank you to everyone who's made this wonderful event possible, the West Medford Community Center for organizing and running the event, especially Executive Director Lisa Crossman and Terry Carter, St. Raphael's Parish for hosting, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director Francis Wojcicki, the Haywood Family Foundation, Medford Community Media, and Wegmans. And thanks to retired Special Officer Daryl Owens from the Boston Police Department for being here and to share some words with us. Having the opportunity to talk openly about the challenges we face as a community, as well as the successes we've had crafting more meaningful relationships between one another, is a humbling experience. And I'm grateful that we've been able to take this journey of equity and understanding together. Of course, there's much more work we have to do as a government to not only solidify trust with our community, but better serve people who historically have not had agency with those making the decisions. I'm thankful that we're changing that in Medford, and with the help of all of you, we've made such significant progress, but we're not done. I'm looking forward to a wonderful event. Thank you.
[Carter]: So much of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did as a leading light for social justice and human rights was born out of his Christian upbringing and his life in the church. The church had and still has stirring gospel music as its heart and soul. Please embrace our own Stacey Clayton as she ministers in song with Dr. King's favorite traditional hymn, Precious Lord, Take My Hand.
[Clayton]: Good morning. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, and help me stand. Because I am tired. through the storm, through the night. Precious Lord, lead me to the light. Take my hand. Precious Lord, Precious Lord, you're the one that I built my life on. You're my rock. You're my hope. You're my song. You picked me up, made me strong when my way was all wrong. Here's my hand, precious love. When my way grows drear, precious Lord, linger near.
[SPEAKER_05]: hear my cry hear my call take my hand lest I
[SPEAKER_04]: Take my hand Precious Lord Lead me home Take my hand Precious Lord home.
[Carter]: Thank you, Stacey. As always, you make music that brings us closer together as a human family with faith and hope to hold on to. Stacey was accompanied by my dear friend, Jonathan Fagan on the keys. And you will hear from Jonathan a little bit more a little bit later. So Dr. King's leadership and his ability to connect with people brought tremendously talented, diverse, and passionate folks into the struggle for civil rights and social justice. Three of those talented, diverse, and passionate folks were African American women, whose names are synonymous with the movement. We are blessed today to once again have actress and theater professional Maya N. Cotter here with us today, all the way from Brooklyn, New York, to dramatize three semi-fictional letters of appreciation from Marian Wright Edelman, Maya Angelou, and Diane Nash Bevel to Dr. King. The letters will glean from authentic words, impressions, and reflections of each writer. We'll take a minute to set the stage, and then we present to you Maya and Carter.
[SPEAKER_08]: Dear Martin, I know how heavy your heart is right now, how tiring it must be to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, like an atlas shouldering the sky as all the gods of Olympus recoil from the ills and maladies and troubles of mere mortals. I'm again on my way to defend the children as I've been called upon by my maker to do in perpetuity. I saw Bobby Kennedy in Washington. I explained to him the sorrow and the burden and the longing that you too have for the poorest among our people, and particularly the poverty of so many of the babies. As I was set to leave, He gave me a message for you. He said something that I never expected a wealthy white politician from a Boston Brahmin family to say. He told me to tell you to bring the poor to Washington. Nothing about the Ku Kluxers or Vietnam or the Freedom Riders or the lunch counters in Carolina and Richmond and Nashville. Perhaps his vision is clouded in ambition or ignorance or whimsy. Doesn't matter. These are the words I know we both have been longing to hear. It's been pretty clear in 1966 and 1967 that you had to address the socioeconomic problems of black folks if political and civil rights were going to have meaning. But you also knew that the tandem issues of hunger and poverty within our communities were killing our people as dead as church bombings and Klan nooses. We are surely kindred spirits in this recognition and its attendant dismay. Kennedy asked me how things were going in Mississippi and I told him how horrified I was at how slow everything seemed and how little progress had been made at this point. I knew that the country was preoccupied with the Vietnam War and that the government's money was going there. Johnson was so entrenched and so people were forgetting what was going on in these poor communities across the country. I shared my frustration with Robert Kennedy, and I told him I was going to see you, and he told me to tell you to bring the poor to Washington. Well, by this time, see, he was running for president and for the Democratic nomination, and I knew we needed to let the nation see the poor, to see their distress, and to see their needs. So I became the willing trustee of this message to you, Dr. King. Visiting with you, a modern-day atlas, in that modest office in Atlanta, that was the message. And I knew you'd been there, sitting by yourself, and that you were constantly at your prodigious wits' end, trying to figure out the next step to take. Like you, I too was depressed about what to do about the war and this poverty that engulfs us. Meanwhile, we're waist deep in the refunding battle over our Head Start program, a program we both know is critical to detangling the Gordian Knot of child poverty in America. And when I told you that Robert Kennedy said, bring the poor to Washington, How your face lit up. Oh, I was transfixed by it. You made me think that I was an angel delivering a message. Yes, an angel. Ultimately, you chose to make war on poverty. Despite a lot of internal dissension and a lot of young bright minds that cried for different emphasis. Now, your last Sunday sermon, you told your mother in Medford that you were going to preach on why America may go to hell if we don't share our richness, the blessings of our rich, our wealth, with all those who need the basic necessities of life. You said, we're going to go to hell. And you called for a poor people's campaign at a time when we had 11 million poor children in this country of so much wealth and promise. I will forever salute you and be in your debt for the courage to love us so much. I hope that in my life I will someday have the courage to love us this much. Yours in the struggle, Marian Wright Edelman. Dear Dr. King, In 1960, as a single mother and struggling actress, I accepted the position of Northern Coordinator for the New York office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It was in this capacity that I first met you, Dr. King. Now, I only worked with the SCLC for six months, but you told me you were grateful for my contribution, particularly the contribution of several fundraising ventures. My default position in describing most of the things that have tested my humanity in this life is writing and poetry. Please allow me to describe my admiration for you thusly. Your gratitude. I was born into the village of strife. St. Louis in 1928 wasn't Stone Mountain, Georgia, but it wasn't no paradise for the Negro either. My folks split up. My grandmama raised me. I had a baby of my own way too early. I tried to raise him up in the way he should go, but boy children need strong, good men in their lives. They just do. New York called and I left to dance. One desperate migration made way for another. Porgy and Bess took me to the camps of the colonizers and to the comfort of the motherland. By 1960, I was familiar with American trials and American turbulence. But I heard you speak at a church in Harlem. Brother Martin, you captured my heart. You captured a lot of hearts in Harlem. You were yet another black renaissance, a renaissance for black folk, a glorious black prince out of Africa. More than anything else, you compelled us to do something. To take what we had and what we knew and who we were and just do something. With my good friend Godfrey, my something was the cabaret for freedom. I knew song and dance and how to entertain, and the black elite said, yes, my sister. Sidney Poitier and Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee and Lorraine Hansberry came out to see us dance and sing and entertain. Every dime that came into the SCLC's coffers, blessed. You thanked me for this. You said you were grateful. Now, I couldn't be Bayard Rustin at SCLC, but you compelled me to do something. I took what I had and what I knew and who I was and did something. I did my best to be useful, to show myself approved. Meeting you face to face was monumental, if not magical. You were shorter than I expected. And so young. You had an easy friendliness which was unsettling. And you were funny. Really. I couldn't stay long. Just as St. Louis ultimately became Harlem, Harlem must ultimately become the new thing and the next thing. Change remains our only constant. In late 1960, I met my own South African freedom fighter. My time to do something evolved into something else. As I left the cocoon of SCLC, I wished you all a year of unlimited success, unlimited strides. I joined with millions of black people all over the world saying, you are our leader. We couldn't want for better. America couldn't want for better. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fair winds and full sails forever. Maya Angelou. Dear Reverend Dr. King, in August 28th of 1963, when about 250,000 people streamed towards the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington and the hours before you'd given your magnificent I Have a Dream speech, I was invited to stand with five other women and be recognized on stage during an official tribute to Negro women and freedom fighters in America. Me, Diane Nash Bevel, alongside Rosa Parks and Daisy Bates, In the perfection of hindsight, I regret not being there. James and I decided to watch the ceremony from our motel room in Birmingham, Alabama, eating room service in bed and just trying to rest up for the next big fight. That morning in Birmingham, when people had started to assemble to get on the buses, James said to me, Diane, you know, with everybody having left and gone to Washington, we could get some rest if we stayed here, which just sounded great to me. We'd worked so hard recruiting people to get on the buses that we were exhausted. I didn't know that I was going to be recognized on stage, but we saw the moment on TV. That was such a weird feeling. I felt like reaching towards the television and saying, oh, I can't get there. My first political awakening came in 1959 when I was a college student at Fisk University in Nashville. See, I wanted to come to the South to see what it was really like. And what I saw was eye-opening. I couldn't get takeout at certain restaurants. I couldn't even go to the public library. Now, I know I'm preaching to a preacher here. But very often, people think of segregation before our movement as the notion that you couldn't go into restaurants and that blacks had to ride at the back of buses. But it was so much more than that. Even for us young college students. There were daily insults. A white person could pass you and call you horrible things. And if you dared retaliate or say anything, you could be beaten. or arrested or killed. I just felt outraged when I was trying to learn new things, broaden my horizons. I found segregation just the opposite, limiting, constricting, confining, insulting. Every time I obeyed a segregation rule, I felt like I was agreeing that I was too inferior to use this facility or to go through a front door. The change in me came through James Lawson's workshops on campus. He shared nonviolent movement techniques that he learned from Gandhi in India. I took what I learned and became chairperson of the Student Central Committee. And we planned the 1960 sit-ins that led to Nashville becoming the first southern city to desegregate lunch counters and public facilities. Eventually, I co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. My dear friend, John Lewis, was with me then. We thought we could make a difference. Dr. King, I know you know all of this. You've been so gracious in your acknowledgment. In 1962, you said, I was the driving spirit in the nonviolent assault on segregation at lunch counters. Our Freedom Riders were attacked in Alabama on May 14th in 1961. I was one of those folks who decided that the Freedom Rides must continue, and one who organized transportation for members of the Nashville Student Central Committee to go to Alabama to finish the journey that those Freedom Riders started. I wanted to prove that you can't stop a determined nonviolent movement by inflicting violence. It was a lesson about the power of love. You taught me that truth, Dr. King, and I'm in debt for the lesson. My involvement with your march on Washington began shortly after I was arrested for trying to finish the walk for justice started by white postal worker William Moore. His trek ended in Alabama when he was shot dead on April 23, 1963. James came to drive me home to Birmingham after I got out of the jail, and he asked me what I thought of the idea of a national campout on the White House lawn to solidify and insist on the movement's goals. I liked the idea and got started on a meeting to talk about it, inviting attendees, finding a location, and following up on the logistics. Now, you came to that meeting, Dr. King, with some of your team when you left. The notion of planning and organizing that march moved along with you, but I didn't feel left out. I just wanted to see it come to fruition. I spread the word about the march in Birmingham at churches and at the bus stops. The notion of receiving an award for my work in this movement at your monumental march on Washington was the furthest thing from my mind when James and I settled into our hotel room in late August. Well, we'd worked so hard recruiting people to get on the buses and we were just exhausted indeed. Now, the movement has also shown me that a little rest from time to time is surely a good thing. I pray that you will also have time to rest, Dr. King. So much of our hopes and dreams depend on what you're teaching us. We will forever be in your debt for the lessons. Yours, in service and sacrifice, Diane Nash Bevel.
[Carter]: So she's here engaged in a serious exercise in American oratory. And I'm over there crying like a baby. Thank you so much, Maya. You make your daddy and mommy proud. And I knew when I was writing the letters that you would be perfect for the assignment. And I'm so grateful that you made time to come create community and art with us today. Maya Naomi Cotter. Okay, so now if you will indulge the poet in me to dip into my own bag, I'm going to have my piano man and the founder of the Medford Jazz Festival, Jonathan Fagan, join me for a piece that we played together a number of times. In fact, we've recently released an entire CD of music that meets at the intersection of jazz and social justice under the title of The Ally Project. That CD is available today if you're interested. This is a sample of that music. It's called Beloved Country. I can love this country, too. I didn't have to be born on these barney shores. I didn't have to be a son of the Pentacook, Quinnipiac, or Mohican. I didn't have to have a pilgrim pedigree or be a Connecticut Yankee from King Arthur's Court. I can be the Dahomian, the Pole, or the child of Caribbean suns and Amazon shades. I can love this country too. My green card was a welcome ticket to a new life in a new land. My passport was stamped with new hopes and new dreams. My suitcase was packed full with new aspirations and some apprehensions too. Perhaps I didn't see the harbor sign that said, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuge of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Perhaps I didn't see the lady in the lamp, but I did see the gleaming city on a hill that couldn't be hid, and my soul responded. I can love this country, too. I can love its rocky mountains and its rolling meadows. I can love its gospel songs and its crazy rhythms. I can love its asphalt highways and its born-to-run boss. I can love its teeming ghetto and its urban sprawl. I can love its old spires, new minarets, and golden menorahs. But can America love me, too? Can she love my curry spices, roti, and oxtails? Can she love my dearie, akjonjon, and papitas? Can she love my hijab and henna tattoos? Can she love my Hajj, my Mecca, my Medina? Can she love my Cinco de Mayo, my Dia de los Muertos? Can she love my kente cloth, dreads, twists, and locks? Can she love the skin I'm in, be it ebony, ivory, dulce de leche, or cafe au lait? Can she love me by name? Shekinah Glory, Muhammad Bin Saeed, Anastasia Kozov, Cleophis Dorsey, Claudia Gonzalez, or Gael Petit Frere, can she love me by name? And what if I am among those huddled masses in that wretched refuge or that homeless, tempest-tossed? Will she continue to lift her lamp? or do war and rumors of war, IEDs, sleeper cells, and faith distortions make me a pariah to be eliminated, a scourge to be annihilated, and a plague to be exterminated. I come in peace. I love this country, too. I love its boundless opportunity. I love its generosity of spirit. I love the audacity of its hope. I love its rolling meadows and its joyful songs. I love its asphalt highways and its little red Corvette. I love its teeming ghetto and its urban sprawl. I love its old spires, new minarets, and golden menorahs. I come in peace and I love America too. I come in peace and I love America too. Thank you. Thank you. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Thank you, Jonathan. Jonathan Fagan on the keys. And Jonathan will be back in a little while to play again later in our program. So this is fun for me. This is my happy place. Reading poetry, speaking before interested audiences, introducing wonderful folks to come and minister and perform and do the things that they do. But something else that's fun for me is being at the West Medford Community Center and seeing so many who have, especially of late, come to the aid of our camp. And these folks that we're going to talk about now are folks that truly have come to the aid of our camp. At last year's MLK celebration back on 111 Arlington Street, a little bit smaller than today's, We began a new WMC tradition to honor community leadership in a number of important areas. We awarded the first Drum Major Awards, picking up on Dr. King's notion of leading out and being engaged in the business of building beloved community. Today's second annual WMCC Drum Major Awards focus on the categories of community advocacy, dedicated public service, and cultural legacy. Here to help me present those awards are Lisa Crossman, West Med Community Center Incorporated is honored to present the 2024 Drum Major Award to Joseph M. Jones. in view of your cultural and social significance to the West Medford community and to greater Medford as a builder of bridges, a peacemaker, a preserver of neighborhood history, an active volunteer, a mentor, a teacher, and an outstanding role model for young people, we gratefully present this acknowledgement. You will always have an honored place in the annals and living archive of your beloved neighborhood home. Presented this day, signed by Lisa M. Crossman, Executive Director, January 15, 2024, West Medford Community Center.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you community, beloved community of West Medford. West Medford is fruitful ground for people that came before us that contributed vastly to the cultural heritage of this community. It brings to mind people like Coral Yancey, who created the emblematic song for the Hobbs Junior High School. People like Adele Evans, who created the West Medford Girls Chorus. People like William Thompson, saxophonist who established his career as Woodwind Professor of Music of Berkeley College. And I can go on and on with the fruitful ground of West Medford that gave us talents, cultural talents, like Terry Carter, who became our first poet laureate of the city of Medford. People like my co-celebrant, Dorothy Elizabeth Tucker, who in her 90s gave us her gifts and talents by dancing in front of us at the Medford Senior Center, 95 years of age. And I wish I could have more time and recall others, but West Medford is a resource for talented people. And I hope that you could join me to help continue nurturing this community by doing things like join the West Medford Community Center. join in the battle for civil justice by becoming members of the Mystic Valley branch of the NAACP and join the community center and become part of our community and volunteer volunteer to help nurture our young people who need guidance in this time of disinformation and confusion. So there is such opportunity for us. We are on the beginnings of a new year, and we should look positively for the future. I want to thank you for this honor, but we also must continue to look to the future. Thank you, everyone.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you, Joseph.
[Carter]: Our second 2024 Jump Major Award goes to Francis N. Nwaje. Some people make an impact on an environment the minute that they step into the room, and Frances has been such a person since she's been in Medford. In view of your outstanding service to the city of Medford as a director of equity, diversity, and inclusion, your profound desire to make all the residents of the city feel welcomed and heard, as well as your demonstrated advocacy and affinity for the historic West Medford community, we present this acknowledgment with sincere gratitude. West Medford Community Center Incorporated is proud to present the 2024 Drum Major Award to Frances N. Nwaje.
[Frances Nwajei]: Wow. So I'm not one for big speeches, but what I will say to you is this is a really unique place to be. I'm one of those who believe that my work should speak through my actions. I am deeply humbled and grateful for this award, but as it has been said before, success is the outcome of always making ethical decisions while respecting others. So this award is not my award. It is our award as a community. I would like to ask you, what does diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you? And also, caution you to remember that each response is the correct response because it is based on your own experience, your own understanding. In order to truly effect change, we must recognize the platform that we stand on. No act is too small. Every act is a win. However, we must be willing to listen without judgment and to hear what is being said. and to know how to come to the table and join so that we can create that fabric of community that we have the ability to. Let us never have a better yesterday and always have a brighter tomorrow because Martin Luther King said he had a dream and his dream is my hope and my platform.
[Carter]: Thank you. Thank you. Wow. She says things beautifully, but that accent, man. That's what gets you. All right. The community center over the course of its history, and it's a long history going all the way back to the late 30s and the true establishment in 1945, has had a lot of friends. We've had our detractors, but we're not going to speak about the ill and dead. We're gonna speak about the loving and live. So one of our friends is a friend of mine and West Medford Community Center Incorporated is honored to present the 2024 Drum Major Award to Richard Rick Caraviello. In view of your long-standing dedication to the city of Medford, as a member of the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Kiwanis Club, among other affiliations, your pride in the best traditions of public service as well as your demonstrated advocacy and affinity for the historic West Medford community, we present this acknowledgement with sincere gratitude. West Medford Community Center Incorporated is proud to present the 2024 Drum Major Award to Richard Rick Caraviello this day, January 15, 2024, and it's signed by Executive Director Lisa M. Grossman.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you, Terry. So being up here speaking, I'm probably the least of the poet laureates that have come before me here. But I want to thank everybody in the room, especially to receive this award, to be in the company with Joe Jones, Dorothy Tucker, That's a great company to be with. And those two people, those are the icons of this community. And we need more people to step up to be like Joe Jones and Dorothy Tucker going forward. But there's many people in this room that have been an inspiration to me and friends and colleagues. I just want to thank them for helping me move forward. And I want to thank my parents for giving me a value system. similar to Martin Luther King's. And my wife and myself, we try to teach our children the same value system so they can move forward and reflect the values of Martin Luther King. So, again, thank you very much for today. And thank you, Terry, for the honor.
[Carter]: Thank you, Rick. My pleasure, brother. All right. Rick. I don't even really, and I very often do because I write, but I write them down and that's why I can remember them, have words to express the joy I have at presenting this award. in absentia, but nonetheless with a presence that is overwhelming and takes over the space of this convening like no other. West Medford Community Center Incorporated is honored to present the 2024 Drum Major Award posthumously to Dorothy Elizabeth Tucker.
[o9F0qYH9Geo_SPEAKER_05]: Thank you.
[Carter]: And this is Dorothy's daughter-in-law, Ketley Tucker, her daughter-in-law, Anita Tucker, and her son, Matthew Tucker. I won't belabor it, although I certainly could. I've written at least two or three poems about Dorothy Elizabeth. But the one vision that I want you to get in your mind is at her homegoing ceremony, after we finished up at West Medford Baptist Church, we formed a New Orleans second line and marched up Harvard Ave down Monument, onto Fairfield, and convened in front of Dorothy Elizabeth's house. And it is one of, in my estimation, the seminal moments in the people history of the West Medford community. So, in view of Dorothy Elizabeth's cultural and social significance to the West Medford community and to greater Medford, as a builder of bridges, a peacemaker, a preserver of neighborhood history, an artistic presence, and an outstanding role model for young people, we gratefully present this acknowledgement She will always have an honored place in the annals and living archive of her beloved neighborhood home, presented this day by Executive Director Lisa M. Crossman, January 15, 2024, the West Medford Community Center, Incorporated.
[SPEAKER_20]: Dorothy was a wonderful woman. I really loved her. When people would say, well, how is she as a mother-in-law? And it was like, I couldn't have got a better mother-in-law. She was the best. Not only did she help us as we went along, but she was able to provide her sons and their families homes to live in, and in this day and age, to have that forethought back in the 60s that we would never be able to afford it otherwise. It was just amazing. And she always did things like that. It would be like she might have thought of it 20 years before you even knew it was a problem. And she had it solved. And you would come in and say, well, what about this? And she would, oh, yeah, this is the way it goes. She raised two wonderful sons. I married one of them. Thank you. And Kepley the other. And it was really kind of nice. She really was a wonderful woman in this community. She helped me with open studios because I worked on that board. She opened her house every year for us, for our readers to be there. I just, I couldn't say enough about her. Did you want to say anything?
[SPEAKER_18]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_20]: She was an awesome woman.
[SPEAKER_18]: Yes, she was awesome. Since the first day I met her, she made me feel like a daughter. So I never, never referred to her at my, like my mother-in-law. She always, everybody thought she was my mother. And then they said we look alike. So she always, she accepted me the first time she met me. So yes, she was a wonderful woman. Thank you.
[Carter]: Thank you. Thank you, family. Thank you. We congratulate and are extremely grateful for the life contributions of each of our drum majors. Medford has been truly blessed by your efforts and by your hearts for the work of building beloved community in Medford and beyond. And that deserves a round of applause. As you can already see, today is a family affair for WMCC. There is talent and community spirit all around us, and we try to take advantage of it whenever possible. For me, that frequently means the Cotter household. Pastor Teresa J. Cotter is an ordained Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, she is a trained dancer and pastors women and girls across New England in liturgical dance ministry, discipleship, missions, and Christian evangelism. She has just recently returned from Cape Town, South Africa, where she was on the missions field, bringing hope, help, and the heart of God to underserved communities. To present ministry and dance to CeCe Winans' belief for it, please welcome Pastor Teresa J. Cotter.
[SPEAKER_07]: Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, everybody. That's better. It's good to see you, and it's great to be here at St. Raphael's, my first time at St. Raphael's, but not my first time with the family of the West Metro Community Center. I just have to say that Sister Dorothy Tucker was an inspiration to me as a dancer at the age of 95. I didn't even know that she was my soror. So I honor Dr. Tucker Soror Dorothy on the Founders Day of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. And I'm also honored, most importantly, to be here representing my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we celebrate Dr. King's birthday. There is a hope that he had. There is a hope that I pray we all still have. When he gave his speech that we all know and have heard of so often, I have a dream. I implore you this day to remember the words of Dr. King and the words that are in the scripture that tell us to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. And if we do those three things, no matter what's happening in the world, I still believe in miracles, and I still believe that the dream is coming to fruition, no matter what the circumstances look like. Amen? Be blessed.
[SPEAKER_04]: They say this mountain can't be moved. They say these chains will never break. But they don't know you like we do. There is power in your name. They haven't seen what you can do
[Carter]: See, if they don't do what I want them to do, I get my money back. Teresa, that was lovely. I expected no less. My Jubilee Bishop Gideon Thompson always says it's a sorry frog that won't praise his own pond. So heartfelt thanks to you for that wonderful presentation honoring God and Dr. Martin Luther King. I'm certain they are both well pleased. All right, that has been quite an hour and a half. Full disclosure, we're going to run a little bit long. But we're going to break now for some light refreshment and an opportunity for folks to connect a bit more with whoever is at your table. Now, our volunteers will guide you in getting a snack. I'm going to call the tables off. And then you are asked to return quickly to your table to eat and converse. At each table, you will find a tent card with a single question to ponder. So look at the yellow tent card and see the question. Now, have a little discussion among yourself, and if you can figure out a way to do it, there's a notebook and a pen on the table. Have somebody record some of those impressions so that later on, not today, we just don't have time, we'll be able to get those impressions back into everybody's hands so they'll know what was talked about today. And this will be a jumping-off point for more discussion as we go along during the course of this year. Okay, we'll reconvene in about 20 minutes for the remainder of today's program. Restrooms are located in the foyer and we thank you for your attentiveness and for your participation.
[o9F0qYH9Geo_SPEAKER_05]: All right, tables 5 through 8. Tables 5 through 8. OK, take off, take off. Okay, table 912. All right, that's it for this episode. you
[Carter]: And if you can, to the extent that you can, try to get in a little bit of conversation around that question that's on your tent card, on the yellow tent card. Try to talk about it a little bit. All right, let's get everybody fed and back to their tables. Okay. Anybody that hasn't been to the table to get a sandwich and a chips and whatever, come now, speak now, forever hold your peace. Come on, I got volunteers that I need to feed too, so let's go. All right. All right, Brian, keep it moving. Keep it moving, mates.
[SPEAKER_09]: Check, check, mic check, check.
[Carter]: Okay, can you, yeah, because what I'm gonna try and do is I'm gonna try and
[SPEAKER_09]: Hello. Check, check. Check, check. Can you hear me? Check, check. Check, check. Check, check, check. Check, check, mic check. Check, check.
[SPEAKER_06]: Let's see. Check mic 1, 2.
[o9F0qYH9Geo_SPEAKER_05]: Check mic 1, 2.
[SPEAKER_06]: Mic 1, 2. Check mic 1, 2. Mic 1, 2. Mic 1, 2. Check mic one, two. Mic one, two. Check one, two. One, two.
[SPEAKER_09]: Check, check. Okay. All right.
[Carter]: All right. I don't know what happened, since I got back over here. I have game, but. Okay.
[SPEAKER_06]: Check mic one two, mic one two.
[SPEAKER_05]: make sure you have enough room so it doesn't get too hot.
[SPEAKER_06]: Pass it through, we'll do the screws in hand, get it back going.
[SPEAKER_09]: Check, check. OK.
[Carter]: I still don't have a lot of gain.
[SPEAKER_09]: Check, check, check. Okay.
[Carter]: You never think that it would take so long for people to grab a sandwich. But a lot of folks in the room. And that's a beautiful thing. So hopefully everybody is having a little bit of a nosh and had a chance to talk a little bit amongst yourselves. In a perfect world, what we would have done is we would have had a greater conversation. We would have had a recorder at each table. There was a notebook, notepad, and pen to write down some of the observations. And then we would even have had a report out or two. But my sense of it is that we'd be here till 4 o'clock if we tried to do it. So we're gonna try and shoot for kind of 1.30-ish at this point, because we know that folks have schedules and things to do, but we're hoping that everybody's kind of in holiday mode, so that they've slowed things down a little bit, you know, and taking time to smell the flowers. Those of you that got flowers, anybody that didn't get flowers, I'll hear about that later. But anyways, We hope you get refreshed and that you're reflective. We just want to take a little time. to thank you all for your openness and your participation. I guess we recognize that these conversations are just kind of the tip of the iceberg of what we'd like to see across the city on a regular basis. Our hope is that all of our community-based institutions can become greater and more effective incubators for dynamic communication, communion, and convening. That is certainly the intent of the West Medford Community Center. For me personally, the desire to be in communion with the folks around me underpins what I do as a poet and as a creative spirit. And I know for sure the same can be said for our next speaker. Vijaya Sundaram is Medford's second Poet Laureate. She assumed her duties in July of last year, right around the time she released her first volume of poetry. It's called Fractured Lens. Vijaya is also a professor of literature at Bunker Hill Community College. She is also a mother and a wife. She sings and composes music and she's a visual artist online as well. Her drawings are fantastic. Here to share her creativity with you ladies and gentlemen is my friend and fellow poet laureate Vijaya Sundaram.
[Sundaram]: Thank you, Terry. Can you hear me properly? Okay. Please feel free to raise a finger to let me, the forefinger, to let me know if you can't hear me. So I will respond accordingly. Terry, it's an honor to follow Terry and in his footsteps and to have these amazing performers before me. So thank you for having me here. And this is my first time at this event. So I'm really grateful to be a part of it. Terry told me that the theme was the beloved country, so I had to write a poem for it. I have to admit, I struggled a little bit with it, because I've never written a poem about a person. And this was my first time. I finished it on Saturday morning. But I promise you, I put my heart and soul into it. And before that, I thought the song that I would like to sing is not mine. Obviously, when you hear it, you'll know it's not mine. It's by Mongo Santa Maria, and it's Afro Blue, because the beloved country. dream of the land my soul is from I hear a hand stroke on a drum shades of delight Cocoa hues, rich as the night. Afro blue. Elegant boy, beautiful girl. Dancing for joy Elegant world Shades of delight Cocoa hue Rich as the night Afro blue Two young lovers are face to face With undulating grace They gently sway then slip away to some secluded place. Shades of delight. Cocoa hue. Rich as the night. Afro blue. And that's it for Mongo. Thank you. So I call this the dreamland. There was once a dreamer who had a dream in whom the song of all the forebears flowed unbounded in a visionary stream. He spoke of the promised land undeterred, the shining mountaintop to which he had been. He spoke aloud and claimed the dream deferred. This land, this country that's been ruled by might, he strove for it for us, for those to come, to tilt the balance in the cause of right. He strove, he spoke, and passed a weary spell, while clubs and tear gas tried to hold him back. I may not get there, were his words, a knell. The dream lived on beyond that fateful year. The bridge held, while the ranks of marchers swelled, and pushed aside the bigotry and fear. What makes us reach together for a goal while the chasm widens beneath our feet? We seek to build a bridge to make us whole. But bridges take a while to build and cross, so some leap into currents, fearing not, for time is short and fears are albatross. What currents do we have to swim to brave the hatred that erodes our conjoint work? On rafts of hope, some ride the swelling wave. Brothers, sisters rail against each other, brown and black and beige and white and pale, forgetting that we are born of earth, our mother. This dream for which we're marching is the grail so far away, and yet we see its form. And so, through wind and storm, we shall prevail. We'll hold each other's hands in loving trust. Thank you.
[Carter]: Vijaya, we are different, but we are the same. Thank you for that wonderful mix of sound and spirit. We're so happy to have you here with us today, and we look forward to all that you will continue to do as Medford's second ever Poet Laureate and a great resource for the arts in this community. So we thought long and hard about what we wanted a guest speaker to bring to our audience today. we came to the conclusion that there are so many entities that help the public navigate on this journey to beloved community. And while some of these entities may occasionally seem to delay, deny, or obstruct some of what happens as we make our way toward King's ideal, Dr. King himself knew that we have to have effective partnerships with them. This is particularly true of law enforcement. In his 13 years as a civil rights leader, Dr. King was arrested 30 times, largely for misdemeanors or civil protest violations, so his experience with the police must have been at least troubling. Nonetheless, he maintained that the police had to be included as part of the solution to the civil rights question, even while it frequently cast itself as part of the problem itself. That recognition informed the decision to have a perspective of law enforcement as part of today's conversation. Therefore, if you have any skepticism or disbelief, I ask you to temporarily suspend and have a good listen to this afternoon's keynote address. Okay, another bit of full disclosure. I have yet again prevailed upon a family member to help us with today's celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Darrell W. Owens retired on March 17th, 2023 after 34 years. He only looks like he's 34, it's too funny, with the Boston Police Department. He spent the majority of his police career at the BPD Academy. There he specialized in defensive tactics, use of force and de-escalation, while at the academy he trained over 2,000 police officers and a total of 30 recruit classes. Daryl is the founder and director of the Boston Police Teen Academy, a summer job and outreach program that connects police officers with at-risk youth. His use of force expertise has been honed through hundreds of hours of training, personal research, and consultation. He has trained with the FBI, the Police Executive Research Forum, and the Force Science Institute. One of his passions is teaching the concepts of constitutional police practices to varied civilian audiences. Darryl is a nephew of the late Massachusetts State Senator William Bill Owens and former State Representative Shirley Owens-Hicks. Like so many of his siblings, cousins, and friends, he grew up in the politics of race and reconciliation. He brings that recognition to his evolving professional life beyond his three decades of work with BBT. He has a beautiful wife. Her name is Barbara. He has lovely daughters. Ladies and gentlemen, my esteemed cousin, my brother in Christ, and my friend, Darryl W. Owens.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, thank you and hello everybody. It's been great to be here so far. I am really honored to be invited here to speak on this day, to think about and to reflect on the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is enormous to me. I can't quite put it in words, how big it is for me to be able to come before you and speak to you today. You know, the one thing that I'm really grateful for in the legacy of Dr. King is that all throughout today and all throughout next month, we can actually hear the man's voice. Technology was at a place, it wasn't where it is in 2024 of course, but it was at a place during his lifetime that we could actually hear his words from his voice. And so people who weren't even on the earth when he lived get to hear his actual voice, his actual words. But you know something that's amazing about Dr. King is that his actions, were greater than his words. And I don't know about you, but I want to be like that. I am 58 years old. I'm recently retired from the Boston Police Department. And I want to have a life of impact. I want to live a life of impact. You heard it in my introduction. I won't bore you with any more of the facts, but I love the topics that I've come to teach at the Boston Police Academy. I'm a true teacher. I teach. That's what I do. I actually don't talk a lot unless I'm teaching. I'm actually a quiet person, quiet and some might even say shy. But when I have something to teach, I talk. I'm much better standing here in front of a group of 100 or so people than I am mingling at a party. And if you don't believe me, ask my cousins. There's a few of them sprinkled around here. I'm just not a very good mingler. Sorry. But I am a teacher. I loved teaching police use of force. I passionately loved it. And I've been involved in several places around the country. teaching police use of force. Right now, I am the use of force subject matter expert for Ferguson, Missouri. That department has signed a consent decree and a bunch of civilians, me included, went down there and we helped them to restructure their police use of force. I am very proud of that work. And you know, I've been on both sides of this issue. It's funny, when you're the person who is the use of force subject matter expert, and people see you, they want to kind of dictate how it's going to go. Let me explain. I can get kicked out of both cookouts. I can get kicked out of two cookouts. I can seriously get kicked out of the police cookout. Because we might be hanging around the burgers and someone might say, hey, Darryl, what do you think about this issue that happened in this city at this time to that black person? And I might say, well, that cop was wrong. And here's how I know. I've already studied it out. I took six hours to read about it and watch the videos and read the reports. And here's what I think, and that cop was wrong. And then at the cop cookout, somebody might say, do you want that burger wrapped in foil? Means, you got to go, bruh. At the family cookout, I can get kicked out. Same thing. Hey, Darryl, what do you think about this particular use of force that happened to this black person in this city at this time? And my answer might be, this is going to be a hard truth for you, cousin, dear cousin, but this particular use of force was the only reasonable response that that police officer could have arrived at at that particular time. Now maybe there's some ribs and chicken at the family cookout, but nonetheless, would you like your plate to go? And I can live with that. I'm pleased with that. Because one of the statements that I reiterate to myself all the time when I'm going into these conversations is that the truth has no friends. The truth does not have a friend. It is what it is. It's a straight line most of the time. What complicates those truths in this country is implicit bias. It really complicates things. And I don't want to go too much into this, but the devaluing of black and brown bodies in this country is epidemic and historic, of course. I don't want to go too much into that. I do want to teach you something, though. You ready? OK, so I'm going to give you a two-minute lesson in de-escalation. I want you to use your imagination first. I'm going to get some water. Is that OK? Got to lubricate the instrument, as my table neighbor just told me a few minutes ago, a voice teacher. So here's my quick two-minute de-escalation lesson. Use your imagination. Imagine you're on one of those game shows, like a minute-to-win-it game show, and you're the contestant in the phone booth. where in a couple of seconds dollar bills are going to fly up from the floor. And what's your job? To get as many as possible. Are you going to be able to get all of them? Are you going to be able to dictate which ones you grab? No, you're just going to grab as many as possible so you can come out of the phone booth with something of value, yes? The de-escalation conversation. You are talking to someone who is agitated, angry, frustrated, for real good reasons or reasons you don't even understand. And everything they say comes out hard and fast and almost assaultive and almost offensive. They're not controlling their tone. They're not being delicate and kind. They're just firing words at you. The de-escalation listener is just like the phone booth contestant. In that environment of loudness and emotion and angst, they're trying to grab as many truths as possible. And then when they come out of that environment with something of value, they can say, I can see that you're very upset about this or that. That's de-escalation. I'm going to give it some real flesh and bones now. Terry mentioned that I'm the founder of the Boston Teen Police Academy. It is my great joy and pleasure and honor to lead that program. I'll tell you the beginning story. In 2010, Because I did karate since I was nine years old, I needed double hip replacement surgery. I went to the hospital, I got my hips done, and it was intense. Maybe some of you can relate. It was intense, and I can remember, I was only 45 years old. And the doctor came in, and he said, hey, Mr. Owens. I said, yeah. He said, you're going to be feeling better than you have in 15 years. In a few days, I want you to do something amazing. And at first, I was like, what? Who are you? Like, who are you? You ain't my preacher. You ain't, what? I was a little bit offended. And then I went back to work. And I was on light duty, I couldn't go out in the street, I couldn't do anything but I was working in the academy. Now at this time I was halfway through my career as an academy instructor, so I had a few classes of officers under me who really loved and respected me because I was really hard on them when they were in the academy. So they called me up, two cops called me up, and they said, hey, we have a young kid. He has a lot of potential. He's kind of falling in with the wrong group. Can we bring him in and you give him a little tour and tell him what you do? Because he doesn't think that there's anybody that looks like him that has a role of influence in the Boston Police Department. I said, sure, bring him in. He came in. And right away, I don't know if you've ever done this, But right away, I loved this kid. Right away. But not for, I loved him because he was just so edgy and tough. But I could see that there was softness there. Anyway, he had, well, one of my pet peeves at the time, no longer, but at the time, I had a pet peeve about young men wearing their pants really low. Full disclosure. Once you're 58, that happens to you. So I don't have that. I'm not offended by that anymore. It's all good. It's normal. But back then, it wasn't normal. So these two police officers knew that I had that pet peeve, and he had adjusted his pants thusly. So I said, hey, man, can you do me a favor and pull those up? And he was like, I'm not here to get advice on how I wear my clothes from you, man. And I just thought, word, I like this kid. They didn't think that. The two officers that brought him in didn't think that. And so one of them kind of gently put their hand on his elbow, came up from behind the young man, put his hand on his elbow, and said, hey, come over here. Let me talk to you. And this young man, what do you think he did? Get your hand off me. Don't be touching me. I didn't come here for you to put your hands all over me. And I saw it. The officer was going to respond in kind, and it was going to be a situation. You know what a situation is, right? It was going to be an issue. And I said, stop. Stop. We were in the gymnasium at the time. I said, do you guys, do you two wanna go get some coffee or something? There's a coffee machine in my office. Why don't you guys go and make yourself a cup? Yeah, why don't you go do that? I'm gonna stay here and talk to him. So we talked. Initially, it was all attitude. I'm still like, word, I like this kid. I do, I like this kid. They wanted to make him do push-ups. They thought I was going to make him do push-ups and yell at him and tell him off. But I said, hey, sit down on that bench over there. I'm going to sit down on this bench over here. And I'm going to tell you about myself. Do you know why you're here? And he said, no. I said, I happen to know. I happen to know that your father was taken to prison when you were very young. Guess what? My father was taken to prison when I was very young. I happen to know that your father passed away soon after he went away. Guess what? My father passed away soon after he went away. I happen to know that you do pretty well at school, but you're not at the age right now where it's really cool to let other people know in your neighborhood that you're doing well at school. When I was your age, I was doing pretty well at school. But it was not cool to let people know in my neighborhood that I was doing pretty well. And he was like, we're the same. And I said, we're the same. We're the same. And we just started talking and laughing and talking about sneakers and talking about the girls he liked and talking about what he wanted to do in his life. And we became friends. That relationship didn't last a long time. But do you see what I did? I was in the phone booth. I was right there. And I realized that he didn't want that police officer coming up from behind him and touching him because that was traumatic for him in some way. And so I related to him. And he realized, I didn't tell him this because it would have been totally weird. I didn't say, I love you, man. But I think he realized through the connection that I did that I cared. that my heart was open to him, that I wanted his heart to be open to me. And so after they left, I said, I'm going to call my wife and tell her about this. And I called her, and she said, maybe this is what your doctor was talking about. And I said, you know what, I'm going to try to form an organization to bring kids like him into the police academy so they can, I don't even know what I'm going to do with them, but I just want them to experience me. Does that sound weird? I said, I just want them to meet me. I just want them to see that I am the one who's training the police that go out to interact with them. I want them to see that I come from damage and trauma and heartbreak and heartache and I'm here and I'm doing something to give back. I want them to see me. So it started off very simple. It was like a three week program. And I did things like teach them how to tie a necktie. It was all boys initially. Taught them how to tie a necktie, something I didn't learn. Taught them how to catch a baseball and a mitt, something I didn't learn. I didn't have a father to play catch with. Taught them how to order their food at a restaurant, something I didn't learn. I didn't grow up with a father. And the program grew and grew and grew. And now it's a six week long summer program where they are getting paid. One of my kids right now, thank you. One of my kids right now. is in Wentworth Institute, a junior in Wentworth Institute. She should be a sophomore, but she took classes right out of the Teen Academy. She went and took classes at Roxbury Community College and got herself into Wentworth Institute on a higher level and is gonna be finished in less than a year with her training as a software engineer. I'm not there to make cops, although that has been a benefit. I've gotten a few kids. About 10 of them have become police officers thus far in the last 15 years. But my main goal is to give them a pathway to success. I loved my profession. I was sobered by the power that I had as a member of my profession. I was and am concerned about my profession. As you well know, the history of policing and black and brown people are deeply intertwined in this country. Some of the foundational principles of forming modern policing is to control black and brown populations in major cities. Control. subjugation, oppression. Those were some of the initial goals. But now times have changed. Because of work of great people like Dr. King and because of modern efforts like the public outcry and the police killings that have happened in the last five or 10 years, things are changing. There is a nationwide movement for police reform. One of the things that Terry asked me to speak about was, how can we make things better? He said it differently than that, but what I read was, how can we make things better? Fortunately, things are beginning to get better. The departments that I've interacted with closely all over the country, I can't even name all of them because I signed agreements that I won't disclose who they are. but I've seen them do some of the following 10 things to make things better. One, screen candidates for implicit bias and aggression. Two, train candidates in de-escalation, recognition of mental illness and neurodivergence, and also implicit bias. Teach people that their biases exist. Number three, conduct regular training audits to combat complacency. Because as we change, so does police training need to change. Four, create a training environment that supports and encourages cultural curiosity. That means to have an intentionally diverse training staff, not a bunch of people who look just alike, who are eating the same things, who are wearing the same things, and live in the same neighborhoods. That's not going to train your police force. 14 Chevy Tahoes in the parking lot is not going to train your police force. Get some Priuses in there. That's a joke. That was a funny joke. If you were a cop, it's a funny joke. Right, sir? That's a good one if you're a cop. Yes, sir. All right. True transparency in internal investigations. Letting complainants know the progress of the actual investigation. Letting the public know the progress of the actual investigation. This is happening around the country. foster a police culture that embraces accountability rather than fears it. One of the things that I've done to kind of get my way back into that cop cookout is to explain to them that high accountability is good if you are good. That's okay. Use technology such as body-worn cameras to enhance accountability. This has been a big boon for me. My laptop at home has so many body cam videos that I could probably sell it for big money to a news outlet, but I'm not doing that. Center your department identity around the concept of community policing. And finally, help officers to understand it's to their benefit. To have these kind of concepts accepted by officers throughout the departments, we must teach that this approach is good for the public and for the police officers. It's a difficult job at times, and there's no getting around that. I mean, I could stand here and tell you some war stories about my worst days on the job. But I won't, because you're not ready. Only my therapist is ready for that. And that's for real, real. I got one. I need one. And I say, hallelujah, amen. Having an appropriate value for the concepts of supportiveness, teamwork, empathy, and care enables officers to better cope with the inevitable stress that goes with the job. Empathy and compassion are the two key ingredients that enabled me to serve for 34 years and to leave that job loving that job. because I exercised empathy and compassion. I'm very grateful for my experience, and I want to continue to use my life for good and for impact. I'm very thankful for you for listening to me today, but like Dr. King's short life, I want my actions to speak louder than these few words. Thank you.
[Carter]: For the vertically challenged, Thank you so much, Brother Cousin. You clearly understood the assignment and we're so glad that you agreed to join us today as we reflect upon our own journeys to beloved community. Okay, so we're getting close to the close of our program and no such gathering would be complete if we didn't link arms and sing together. So here to present and lead us in the Black National Anthem, lift every voice and sing, is the voice of the city. I call her the voice of the city, Stacey Clayton, accompanied once again by my good friend, pianist Jonathan Fagan.
[Clayton]: Please stand if you're able. You're welcome to sit if not. And sing out loud, we'll hear you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring. Ring with the harmonies of America. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies. Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith. Sing a song that the dark past has taught us. That the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. us, facing the rising sun of our new day begun. Let us march on till victory is won. One more time, the same verse, because I know you know that one. Lift every voice and sing. Lift every voice and sing. Till 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 dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won. Facing the rising sun. of our new day begun. Let us march on till victory is won.
[Carter]: So thank you, Stacey. Thank you, Jonathan. So appreciate that. So just wanted you to know that on Saturday, February 17, in concert at Somerville Community Baptist Church will be Stacey and her community choir. They do it every year. It's wonderful. I've had an opportunity to participate on several occasions. The time is to be determined, but in the late afternoon, So if you're free on February 17th, Somerville Community Baptist Church, Stacey Clayton and her wonderful community choir will be celebrating Black History Month in song and other things. So from one rousing tradition to another, I would like to bring Reverend Wendy Miller Olapade, the pastor of Sanctuary United Church of Christ to the front. Reverend Wendy will deliver our challenge and our charge as we leave this gathering to continue on this kindred journey to beloved community in Medford and beyond. Reverend Wendy.
[Miller]: Just leave it on the thing. Just leave it on the thing. I gotta tell you, I'm really anxious. I've been anxious all day. I feel really honored, really, really honored. You're not hearing that. I feel really, really honored to have been invited to do this, to do this thing. When Terry asked me a couple of weeks ago, I said, Terry, do you really want an old white lady doing the charge of the community? And you know what he said? I want this old white lady to do the charge to the community. And I'm standing here underneath this image that has been staring at me all morning, feeling the responsibility of this moment. So can I ask you to just sort of extend your hands up this way and give me a little of your positive energy, because I'm just so anxious. I've been doing this for 30 years. You'd think I'd know how to do this without, you know, a script and anxiety, but it is so important for us to gather in moments like this, to be community in the ways that King asked us to be. And so you can put your hands down, thanks. I wish that that moved all that energy out, but it didn't, but that's okay. I'll start talking and it'll go. I got to thinking this morning about what beloved community would look like as envisioned by Martin and Coretta and the King Center and so many others who aspired to make it so. Can you hear me all right? There would be racial harmony and diversity. A society that truly embraces the idea of the beloved community actively promotes racial harmony and celebrates diversity. This would be evident in integrated communities and schools and workplaces where people of all races and religions and perspectives and ethnicities actually interact with each other respectfully and with equity. There would be economic justice and equity, Steve. Is Steve still here back there? Economic disparities would be addressed through fair policies and practices. And that includes equal opportunities in education and employment and housing. It also means providing support for those in poverty and working towards a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources, yes? There would be nonviolent conflict resolution. In the beloved community, conflicts, whether interpersonal or international, are resolved through nonviolent means. This approach involves dialogue and empathy and understanding and compassion, Owen. it would involve a commitment to finding mutually beneficial solutions. There would be community engagement and participation. Active community involvement is a key feature of Beloved Community. People are encouraged to participate in civic life and contribute to decision-making processes. This could manifest in local community meetings, Erin Olapade, participating in government models and volunteerism. There would be education and moral development. Our systems in a beloved community wouldn't focus just on academic achievement, but also on moral and ethical development. They would teach those values that our speaker spoke of, like empathy and social justice and community service, preparing everybody to contribute positively to society. There would be access to health care and social services, and that would be universal, ensuring that all members of the community have the support that they need to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. We would steward the environment, yes? A beloved community recognizes the importance of protecting the Earth and her environments. There would be sustainable practices and policies would become the norm, reflecting a deep respect for the planet and future generations. There would be global solidarity and peace. The principles of the beloved community extend beyond Medford, extend beyond the United States, promoting global solidarity, global peace, global cooperation. Efforts to address global issues like poverty and climate change and conflict would be grounded in the principles of justice and nonviolence. There would be cultural and spiritual enrichment. A rich cultural life that celebrates diversity and fosters spiritual growth would be integral. This might include community events like this one and arts programs and spaces for spiritual reflection and connection. And we would practice restorative justice. Instead of punitive justice systems, a beloved community would focus on restorative justice, seeking to heal and rebuild relationships rather than simply punish. So tell me, are we there? No, we are not. Do we have a society, a city, a faith community, or even a neighborhood that's deeply rooted in justice, equity, love, and respect for all its members, where every individual has the opportunity to thrive and contribute to the common good? No. No, we do not. Do you want beloved community? Let me hear that. Do you want to help make it so? Then I invite you today, I charge you to join me and people around the world to make the pledge, as Lisa talked about, to be love. Lisa mentioned it at the beginning. Have some of you already done this? Yes? Good. Stand up if you've done it. Help me to lead this. Be Love is a movement that's been born amidst the immense uncertainty and global tension of the past couple of years. And it's grounded in the iconic words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who in his notable and inspirational writing, Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community, professed that power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. Do you need to hear that again? Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. And justice at its best is love correcting everything, everything that stands against love. But friends, it is not enough to say that you want beloved community. And it's not enough to say that you want to be love. We must make love and justice real. we must live it. In order to be the kind of love that implements the demands of justice, in order to be the kind of love that corrects everything that stands against love, in order to be the kind of love that practices beloved community, we must practice what informs King's call to become beloved community, and that is nonviolence. a powerful, practical approach to dealing with conflict and dismantling injustice in every aspect of our society. Nonviolence is a practice that can be used in our personal lives, our schools, our workplaces, our local community, and in national and global movements. It is a love-centered way of thinking, speaking, engaging, and acting that leads to personal, cultural, and societal transformation. And by the way, the Kingian philosophy called Nonviolence 365, that's what Lisa was talking about, is available online for anybody to watch and learn from. And so today, I charge you to be love. To do so, we need to acknowledge three things. The violence, oppression, inequity, injustice, and hate in our world has to stop. Can you say that? Stop. We have a responsibility and a role to play in creating social change for a more just, humane, equitable, and peaceful world. And the decision is ours whether or not to do something in this moment to have the courage to stand up for justice. So I charge you to make your own decision. Starting today, make a personal choice to be love. Pledge to allow love to drive your thoughts, words, decisions, and actions, and honor the humanity of every individual. Pledge to speak the truth to power in love. Pledge to focus on defeating injustice and not destroying a person. Pledge to support leaders who demonstrate a love for humanity. That means vote, by the way. Pledge to promote unity and refuse to perpetuate or magnify division, and pledge to demonstrate a life of courage, care, and compassion as you boldly confront anything that stands in opposition to love. Make this your pledge here, now, today. Be love. Live out love. Make love and justice real. Go to the kingcenter.org website. It's easy. All you have to do is Google be love. You'll get there. Yeah? Go to the website, sign the pledge, go to the website, sign up for the training, and be love in the world, because there isn't anything else. Thanks.
[Carter]: If you give a preacher a mic, she will do exactly as she is warranted to do by the universe. She will preach. So thank you, Sister Pastor, for those stirring and heartfelt words of challenge and conviction. You have given us both food and fuel for the days ahead, and we're going to need it because being love isn't easy. Well, Medford, that's a lot. We've discussed, we've dined, we've danced, we've sang, we've listened, and we've learned. I believe it's exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted. I pray that there's no COVID, no conflict, and no controversy in the room. As we wrap things up, I do have a few folks to acknowledge and to thank. Please show your love for our program participants, Minister Stacey Moore, The divine Stacey Clayton. My man on the keys, Jonathan Fagan. My beloved daughter, Maya Cotter. My even more beloved wife, gotta be that way, Teresa J. Cotter. My sister poet, Vijaya Sundaram. My beloved cousin, Darryl W. Owens. And the most erudite, Dr. Reverend Wendy Olapade. Please congratulate our drum major awardees, Rick Caraviello, Joe Jones, Francis Nwaje, And in the blissful throes of eternity, the luminous Dorothy Elizabeth Tucker. I also need to thank our WMCC board of directors for their tremendous support. I want to applaud the decorating hand of super volunteer, Ketley Tucker. The volunteering spirit of the West Medford Senior Club. The Medford Human Rights Commission for volunteering so aptly as well. This is my dog in the fight. Kudos to Medford Community and Media Station Manager Kevin Harrington. He never says no, and I appreciate that. Profound appreciation to St. Raphael Parish, led by Father Paul Coughlin, and the excellent assistance of Facilities Guru, Bill Cadigan. Shout out to Medford's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Director Frances Nwaje. as well, once again, as volunteers from the Human Rights Commission. Our other event sponsors included Wegmans Supermarket and the Haywood Family Foundation of Brockton, Mass. Lastly, we just want to call your attention to a few other events happening in the community over the next few weeks. On Wednesday, January 24th, at the West Medford Community Center, we'll be hosting a conversation about the city's planned renovations at Duggar Park. You can listen to Todd Blake, City of Medford Director of Traffic and Transportation, speak on updates and plans about the upcoming Duggar Park project. Mr. Blake will present designs of the Duggar Park renovation, and you'll be able to discuss the multi-use area in West Medford and provide feedback on renovations, parking, sidewalks, bike paths, and signage to improve that beloved institution in West Medford. And then on Friday, February 2nd at 7 p.m. please join us at 111 Arlington Street for another edition of First Friday's Words and Music as we kick off our celebration of Black History Month. Program details to be announced soon. So thanks to everyone who was here today for your interest and participation. I know we had luminaries in the room, we had, you know, politicians, we had a police superintendent, Jack Buckley, he's back there and I appreciate him being here. The mayor was here, some of our city councilors and new school committee folks. I'm not going to get into too many more names, but we just appreciate that you thought it was important for you to be in the room. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, you've received the challenge and you know the charge. He said, everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need to have a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. As we leave this place, let's allow our hearts to be full of grace and our souls to be generated by love. Thank you and good afternoon. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. So if you're interested, I do have some books and media over here at the table. That's just my little commercial.
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