[Frances Nwajei]: Hi everyone a long time no see since last year. I wish you all a very, very happy new year and I hope you had wonderful holiday celebrations. I'm Frances, and we are all here for our January 2023 Commission on Human Rights meeting. And we have some special guests, which are always welcome. Welcome, little ones. So at this point, I'm going to turn it over to the chair, Shelley.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Hi everybody, it does feel like it's been a minute since we've met, and it's only, I don't know, it's only been a month, I don't know why it feels different than other times. Do we just want to do introductions for the recording, Francis? Yeah, so I'm Shelley, longtime Medford. resident mom, product of the public schools, coming out of a health equity background, and hopefully, fingers crossed, heading to graduate school for policy next year. I guess I'll just popcorn it to the right. So for me, I have Kelly. Oh, I'm sorry.
[Frances Nwajei]: Next year, it's this year now. It was okay.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I will adjust my speaking. I like that. And that's the type of energy I need. Thank you. This year. Appreciate it.
[Kelly Cunha]: Kelly, go ahead. big, big waves for Vera. I'm Kelly Cunha, co chair, Medford Human Rights Commissioner, social worker, Medford mom, and happy to be here.
[Frances Nwajei]: Shelly, you got to popcorn it to someone else or do you want other commissioners to just jump in?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Why don't I hand it to Dan?
[Amanda Centrella]: Okay, hi everyone, Diane McDonald, new commissioner and excited to be here. I work in higher ed as a community builder. I use stories for social change and to build community. And I'm also a longtime volunteer and tour guide at Royal House and Slave Quarters. And I'm just very glad to be here to work with you all.
[Unidentified]: So I'll popcorn over to Munir. Hi, everybody.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Happy New Year, I hope. I'm a long-time Medford resident, retired physicist, full-time babysitter, and sometime activist. And I'll go to Jack since he just arrived. We'll catch him by surprise.
[Jack Buckley]: Not a surprise. Jack Buckley, Chief of Police, Medford. Been here 25 years, just finished my fourth year as Chief of Police. Happy New Year to everyone and apologies for being late because policing just doesn't stop. So I was occupied with one thing and now it's resolved. So thank you.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Chief. Steve, do you want to go next?
[Steve Schnapp]: Steve Schnapp. I live in Medford Square. I'm retired, a retired community organizer. I'm a volunteer with the Human Rights Commission. I take notes. And I'll pass it to, I don't know who the phone number is. Rob, I think.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I think that's Rob.
[Steve Schnapp]: I'll pass it to Rob.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Yep. Thanks, man. Excuse me. This is Rob Klein. I will say, medium-term Medford resident, been here for eight years. I have a background in alternative dispute resolution, public policy analysis, and restorative justice.
[Unidentified]: Happy to be here.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: And if there's anybody left, I will popcorn to them, but I think that I was the last one.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think you were, Rich. Thank you, everyone. Shelley, you have the agenda?
[Steve Schnapp]: There's one more guest.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, there is a guest on. Typically, we leave the guests after we're done in the public comment section, but if you would like to, guest is comfortable.
[Unidentified]: Guests can come on and introduce themselves.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right, maybe we'll call on the guests when we get to the public comment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought I was going to be on mute enough. My name's Bill Giglio, 20 year resident, activist as well, and a huge student resource officer, supporter. Thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Hi, Bill. Thank you for joining us. Welcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Okay. Did everybody get a chance to review the minutes from our last meeting? Yes. So if I can get somebody to make a motion to approve.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Motion to approve.
[Kelly Cunha]: Seconded.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you. Our efficiency is amazing. So update. Francis, do you want us to kind of share a synopsis of our conversation?
[Frances Nwajei]: Initially, when I put this on, I was trying to work in parallel to make sure that things were going out at the same time. So I put it on before I got your message. I think that I mean, it's just trying to share a summary, but because you want to do something for black history month, and that is like fast approaching as soon as January ends, maybe use this time to speak on that instead. That would be my suggestion. Kelly would still have time in the new business to speak more broadly on the stuff that I can get out tonight.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I mean, okay, if I'm being honest, my thoughts around Black History Month might sound quite similar to my thoughts around MLK. I don't know, maybe we just leave this for new business then, because Kelly has a very salient idea. But I also wanted to lift a potential sort of interactive that Diane had shared when we had a conversation. in sort of inviting folks, acknowledging that we have as little time as we do, acknowledging that people are as busy as they are, but inviting just the community and especially our students to kind of think about their thoughts on where Medford is as a community and city right now. And then maybe we thought about inviting people to write a letter to King or write a letter in the name of King's tenants around Medford. how they're feeling given our current climate. And we thought that might be kind of like an easy push through Dr. Edward. But beyond that, we didn't feel like we had capacity. And I also don't want to misspeak. So Kelly and Diane, if I'm saying something that's off, totally check me. But
[Frances Nwajei]: No, sorry, I'm sorry, I'm a little bit confused. Is this around the event that was supposed to happen at the library on the 14th? I thought that event focused on the author that you had told me about and it was going to be an interactive series. So did I, was there a repeat, did I miss something? I guess that's really what I'm asking.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, no, I was just wanting to share the kind of iterations of discussion that we had from the point of considering an author discussion through until now.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm sorry, I'm still a little confused. The author that you told me about, is that the person, is that the direction that we were moving towards or did something change? I just want to make sure that I didn't miss anything. Because I felt like you were working off the plan of the speaker series and the book. No?
[Chelli Keshavan]: So I mean, initially, yes. Right. But I think like the larger feeling, the larger sense was that like there's not enough time. People felt pulled in too many directions and also maybe like not enough appreciation from the side of the city, given that this event does take as much work as it does. And it has felt hard to have folks reach out in support suddenly this year when it really just didn't happen other years, even though we bent over backwards to ask. So yeah, there was a point when we wanted to host a discussion around the sword and the shield and that book is heavy and we didn't want to host something that felt performative. So giving people less than a week to chew through it and actually read it didn't feel that savory, I guess. And so in place of that, when the three of us had a discussion, was the possibility of inviting people to write a letter combining the current climate in Medford to like center our reality right now, but keeping in mind King's tenets to also pull in the kind of spirit of the day. So that was something that came up, but that is a piece that came up before conversation around the work that EMBRACE is doing and this like really brilliant idea of leaning into what will be live streamed on Monday and having Medford join an understandably kind of larger discussion for City of Boston and Metro Boston. So just like multiple steps of where energy and capacity has potentially lent itself. Yeah. And again, jump in.
[Amanda Centrella]: And time just felt very short. So I think we want to just be, you know, leading into next year, we're going to be much more prepared and have a longer lead time for planning and just pulling, you know, because I had some conversations with stakeholders, and it just felt like we were getting to be a week out. And I think that if we start thinking about this late, you know, even late summer, early fall this year, we're going to be set up for great success. And I would love for us to pivot to Black History Month. And I have a concrete idea that I'd love to offer and share when the time is right, that I think we could be successful on and see what folks think.
[Frances Nwajei]: I mean, fantastic. I mean, if you want to, because if you want to pivot to Black History Month, we could, you know, use that time and commissioners can chime in. I'm just trying to make sure that, you know, anything that requires my assistance can be, you know, can be expedited. So Kelly, sorry to put you under the gun, but if you could really send me your stuff this evening, I can get it out. I already sent it. Oh, you did? It hasn't shown up? Are you sure? I don't have an email alert. Okay. All right. Go ahead. Um, I don't know.
[Kelly Cunha]: Did you get it? Shelly and I'm Diane. I sent it to all three of you. So did any of you get it?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Let me check right now.
[Amanda Centrella]: I think I got it. I haven't opened it up yet, but I saw the little, you know, the flash.
[Frances Nwajei]: You have a little, yeah, I sent it.
[Kelly Cunha]: So double check that you got it. Yep. Beautiful. Frances, I mean.
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, Outlook closed.
[Chelli Keshavan]: This is great detail, Kelly. Thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Reopen these items from your last session. Yes, please. OK. Well, there were three emails that Outlook closed on. All right. It's coming up now. Okay, thank you Kelly, I have it. So I don't know who's leading the discussion for Black History Month so I'll turn it over to you. Please go ahead and I will take notes as well on what needs to be done.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Diane, would you want to share your thoughts maybe?
[Amanda Centrella]: Sure. Thank you. So as you all know, I've been a longtime volunteer at Royal House and Slave Quarters. And Belinda Sutton and her powerful petition that really centers on civil rights and human rights is dated on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 1783. So this Valentine's Day will be the 240th commemorative year. And when I think about the work of Dr. King, I think about, you know, the people who lived and worked at Royal House and slave quarters and were really, you know, activists and, you know, leaders of the very early American civil rights movement, it should be just this really great point of pride for us in Medford, because it's part of our origin story. And so I would love to see us as a human rights commission host an activity there to kind of lift up Belinda and the people, you know, from there, like Prince Hall, well, Fortune Howard, you know, who was part of Prince Hall's movement, and have people really reflect and think about the meaning of Belinda's petition and its relevance to today, because it uses a lot of really great rhetoric around freedom and democracy from the Declaration of Independence. And then maybe have a service activity that's fun and exciting for families in the same way that Kelly wants to get schools involved with the Embrace Boston. Like how about you know, we could have someone do a talk about the importance of Belinda and her powerful petition, you know, in the lead up to Valentine's Day, and then have a service activity around make Valentines for the local nursing homes. I'd be completely happy to deliver them or affix them to a poster board, you know, and bring, you know, to the nursing homes in Medford. Belinda was, about 70 years old when she wrote her powerful petition. She was a mom, she was a daughter. It all comes out in the petition. There's just so much, you know, empathy and community and family spirit and activism in it. And so I was thinking we could have an event maybe in the afternoon, similar to the hours that we were going to have at the library, you know, have people, you know, we'll have like a little bit of a structured program and then a family drop-in. I would be happy to give a mini tour. It also could be an opportunity, Munir, thinking about, you know, the safe Medford framework that was created and, you know, the very first part of it, community education and engagement. You know, this could also be a meet and greet for the Human Rights Commission to just, you know, greet folks across Medford to say, welcome, how are you? Tell them about us. you know, marketing materials or something. And so we could really, it could be this, you know, so we're celebrating the black history and early civil rights pioneers of Belinda Sutton and, you know, Fortune Howard, who was part of that house, and Prince Hollywood, who was from Medford, and have a Valentine's Day activity that could be fun. I did reach out to Kiera Singleton to see if We could use the quarters in the meeting room, and the meeting room's really beautiful. And it is available the Saturday and Sunday before Valentine's Day, the 10th and 11th. And so if you're all on board with this idea, and you have more ideas to really try to make something concrete, I'm happy to really help get this off the ground.
[Unidentified]: What are your thoughts? commissioners. I love it.
[Kelly Cunha]: I don't have a lot of capacity right now to do a ton of stuff. It sounds like you've done so much of the groundwork already though which is so amazing but I'm happy to like be a day of person, and again, where I I don't want to say where I shine, but where I feel most comfortable is anything with kids. So I'm happy to create language or whatever, help you in that way. But I think it sounds amazing. And the fact that it could be done in the royal house is like, what an amazing connection to bring to kids. And I'm sorry, my child has a million packs on right now.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Yeah, I'll chime in. I mean, yeah, this is indeed a good opportunity perhaps for education. I, myself, just because of our protocols of our extended family and grandchildren, I'm not participating in in-person events. So I apologize, but anything that I can do online to help, I'm willing to do so.
[Amanda Centrella]: Sure. And I can see if we can get a digital version off the ground too. I mean, we could very well be able to do that and I can look into that, Munir. But I think I remember you and Steve volunteering to help see if we could get food donated maybe, maybe there's an opportunity for pastries and hot chocolate or something from a local bakery. We can do some outreach but I'm still like. Anyone else have feedback or thoughts?
[Frances Nwajei]: I'd love to hear what Rob has to say. Yeah, Rob is the only commissioner and the chief. And then I can jump in and let you know how, you can let me know what you need from the city and I can let you know how I can support in that way.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I think it sounds like an outstanding idea, a really great venue for community engagement that's pertinent to the subject matter. One piece that I'm curious about, certainly valentines for folks in some of the assisted living facilities in the city would be really outstanding. I'm curious if we might not be able to come up with an active service that might more directly link to the connection to being Black History Month. I don't have a firm idea what that is. So kind of throwing it out there for the group to think about. I don't know if there's maybe something in conjunction with the West Brantford Community Center or any other organizations that folks are involved with that might come to mind. But also I think that I'm certainly willing personally to do some legwork with respect to soliciting donations for the event And reaching out to different organizations in the area to see what they might be willing to contribute to make the event a success. They will add just a very slight caveat. The weekend of February 12 Sunday is the Super Bowl. So if we want to ensure that we are going to have the highest attendance possible I think we should likely focus on that Saturday.
[Amanda Centrella]: Great. Yeah, I think you raise an excellent point, absolutely. And how are we tying in the Valentine's exercise to Black History Month? And one thought that I had that I wanted to propose to Kiara Singleton, the executive director, is, you know, We have stickers that are like commemorative stickers printed up that aren't too expensive that commemorate Belinda Sutton and her historic, you know, we'll have it dated February 14th, 1783. So that'll just be part of the Valentine somewhere. It's just like this commemorative sticker with Belinda, but it can be decorated in, you know, any way. And we'll have like arts and crafts and things for everyone to decorate their Valentines with.
[Kelly Cunha]: Could we make the connection between And this is kind of ties to the MLK thing that I did too, like collective action, because collective action can be anything. It could be marching, it could be collective action in like uplifting others in your community and talking about, you know, the theme for Black History Month is black resistance this year. And one of the things that we were doing in my school is talking about, you know, what is black resistance and talking about, you know, the songs that enslaved folks would sing and the messages that they would put in their quilts all along up till now, what it looks like, you know, and just kind of making that connection of collective action and for love of community, for love of each other. I don't know.
[Amanda Centrella]: I love that. And I love this language and I love these words. And I, you know, when I think about Belinda's petition, there's a seat at the table for everyone. And there's like, you know, allyship because she used words like, you know, for all in it. And it's, so yeah, I think we can work up some language and just help shape it for that and how we promote it. And then even how, You know, I'll think through more about how we're kind of making sure we're situating, you know, because Belinda's petition. And, you know, there's new research being done on Belinda Sutton and And we're starting to understand that she's the only woman during this time period who did any work like this with this with her petition and so her successful petition so I love that I think we can work that all together and i'm happy. To try to work up language does somebody want to collaborate with me on that and then how do I. work with all of you on the approval process. And Frances, thank you for sending that video. I will be watching that so that I'm following all of the rules too.
[Unidentified]: I'm on mute.
[Frances Nwajei]: Why don't I let Chief Buckley go first and then I'll come back to you, Diane, and talk about like the approval process and things of that nature.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you, Francis. So there's three parts of that that I really like it stuck with me in the presentations one we're going to use a very valued but but underutilized piece of method history right and presenting this at the slave quarter so I really think that's that's a great start to this process but the other two parts I think we're. fit right in with the Human Rights Commission is that we talked about introducing the Human Rights Commission to the public, right, and getting them the chance to see us and talk with us and speak to us, not at solely at these meetings that are on Zoom, but in public and be out there and enforcing that events. And that is the second valuable piece. But third, no matter what we talked about in revamping or reforming this Human Rights Commission, one thing came up over and over again, and that was education. This is the perfect opportunity for the Human Rights Commission to take an active role in educating and putting information out there about, you know, people who formed our history, but not just the history of, say, Massachusetts or the country in a sense, but of Medford right here locally and as it relates to human rights. When you gave that presentation, and I know you were just kind of putting it out there, but you hit three valuable points for me as it relates to the role of the Human Rights Commission. So I'm on that. One other point, though, that I think Francis is going to address next is, I think our next HRC meeting is scheduled for the 8th or something, so February. So that's right there in the timer. So we have to find a way to get this done and get all of this done without, we probably won't have a meeting, at least public meeting to do that. So, but yeah. idea sounds great.
[Frances Nwajei]: Great. Alright. Thank you, Chief Shelly.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I'm sorry, is it okay if I share a quick comment?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, go right ahead.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I'm loving these ideas. I'm wondering, though, in place of tethering Valentine's Day, if to some of the points that have already been shared, if we can build in a call to action and make sure that we're also centering sort of the current climate of Blackness, Black people, Black culture, and also Afrofuturism. We have Black businesses, we have Black students, we have there are a lot of avenues within medford that we could take sort of a service task um and so um you know like like i mentioned last time i think there was the facade grant and for some renters that amount of money means different things than for other renters or whatever like i'm just wondering if there is a way to design the ask that is answering to and supporting folks that are current community members um and pulling a certain spirit through to the task.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yeah.
[Chelli Keshavan]: But I do appreciate the structure that you've outlined. And I think it's really well-designed.
[Amanda Centrella]: I love that. I am all about moving people to action. And so I think with that, I mean, if we can all come to agreement, and it has to be doable. We're going to have people coming. They're going to learn a little about Belinda and us. And so by the end, we want them inspired and motivated to do one thing, two things, three things. So like, yeah, articulate them. Like, what do you want people to do? Say we have 50 people come, 100 people come, who knows, and if we can maybe get it some, some citywide digital marketing muscle, Francis, you know, and if we can get a digital Zoom piece off the ground for Munir and others, you know, at the end of the event, what do we want people to walk away and do that is plausible, that we know that everyone can do no matter what?
[Frances Nwajei]: So this is where I'm going to jump in because I'm looking at the calendar and you have less than 30 days, which means that you have to back into what you know is realistic. So what is realistic, you can definitely get the royal house, you can definitely do that. Shelley I certainly hear you know what you're saying about tying it into the black culture, but I think that at this meeting is where a decision has to be made by the commissioners that we're going to reach out to this this this and we're going to get this this and ask about this that and the other, so that you know right by the beginning of next week who you have on board. Because if you say a call to action and you leave it open, two weeks can go by as you're thinking about what that call to action is. And those two weeks are very, very valuable. Like some concrete things that I've heard so far is education about, you know, Belinda Sutton and getting to know the Human Rights Commission. You know, are we, are we selling it is that the focus on our on on, you know, the side of the Human Rights Commission is that their contribution celebrating the work of Belinda Sutton right.
[Kelly Cunha]: So, again, yeah and I think to Shelley, I'm sorry Francis finish up sorry.
[Frances Nwajei]: That's OK. It happens like that, like the idea comes out and that's OK. You know, I'm just I'm thinking I'm thinking timelines. You're saying something to walk away with. So I'm thinking, OK, who can print something quickly that after someone has come through members of the Human Rights Commission, maybe heard a speaking thing or a prose thing or or colored something again. just random ideas. Is there a bookmark or is there something that we can give away, right? Has Belinda Sutton and just some bullet points. So this is, you know, these are just ideas and suggestions because time is short and you're all in different spaces.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yeah. Is there a list of all of the Black-owned businesses in Medford that we can distribute and share?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, it's not something that I would be able to provide so I can't, I'm not going to say that there's a list because that lives in another department, and I can make the request but I can't be, I can't say oh I'll get that list in 48 hours. I don't think the businesses are divided up in an ethnic sense like what's black owned and what's not.
[Kelly Cunha]: I think that there's like, um, just some knowledge that people have about what, like, I feel like Shelly and I probably know them all. Um, but what I was going to say to, to your point, I think to combine these ideas, but also to Francis's point, we need to be able to actually do it right. Is what if the purpose of the thing is what we just talked about. So it's educating about Belinda Sutton and introducing quote unquote HRC. And then the take home thing, whatever, like Francis said something simple and easy a bookmark a blah blah blah or flyer with a QR code or something that links to something that, like I was even thinking Shelly, the thing we did a couple years ago the black. We did it for MLK Day, but it was really almost more aligned with Black History Month, where we connected all the black history to Medford. We could even, like, QR code to that, like, just in our own backyard, in addition to the Royal House, here's what other black history we have. Then and now, and like just something pretty much done. We might, I might have to jazz up the website a little bit or update some things, but like, let's work with stuff. We already have starting small and simple. It's just, we just need to put one foot in front of the other. I think, and like, we have these awesome, amazing, grandiose ideas, but with minimal participation outside of these meetings, we might just have to start small. And I think that this might be a good step and we can work our little jazzy radicalism into it, too. Like, you know, it can, you can make something, this is important, this is a good thing. And we can also make it meaningful to Black folks. And we can really, really do it with making sure our outreach is done in a way that we've, you know, I think that's one thing we can try to do is be really purposeful about our outreach. and who we're inviting and how we get people there and how we make it accessible. Like, can we provide, you know, whatever, we could think more about the logistical stuff, but I think I don't want to not do it because it's not a fully fleshed out, awesome, amazing, like grandiose, awesome thing. Does that make sense?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, sure. Um, I think that a QR code would, I would hope that it could give us a little bit of space to get people thinking about things that haven't come to fruition yet. Maybe that could be a happy medium. Yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: So Diane, I'm going to ask you, are you going to be in charge of securing the real house and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then can you send me an email to let me know that it's confirmed.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yes, yes. That I'll be able to do that tomorrow. But I had already checked on on those the Saturday and the Sunday so I'll confirm it tomorrow, but good.
[Frances Nwajei]: I feel like per Rob's announcement, I would strongly encourage the commission to stay away from Sunday.
[Amanda Centrella]: Oh, yeah. No, no, no. We'll take the Saturday. So I'll confirm that we're doing it on the Saturday with you tomorrow, Frances.
[Frances Nwajei]: Commissioners, do you have an idea of your time frame for the event?
[Amanda Centrella]: I liked the one to 330 that we were originally going to have at the library. And maybe we just have like some, you know, like some pastries and then some like savory snacks and hot chocolate. And I'm happy to work up, you know, like a structured program with an informal, like something in writing, if everybody agrees, and then I'll email it to the entire commission.
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, if it's Black History Month, maybe we can think about reaching out to an ethnic location to prepare more Black-related snacks and stuff. That's something that I know that I can assist with.
[Kelly Cunha]: If we provide funding for that, I would want to ask for donations for... it if we were going to use a black or if we're going to.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes. Kelly, you're forgetting, you're forgetting that I made a little. Oh, you've got a budget. No. OK, everybody hold on. Hold on. We're on Zoom here. It's being recorded and you say, oh, you've got a budget. I mean, a budget. Yeah, but we do have access to, we do have access to some funding, right? And I'm sure that with making the purchase and people know what this is for, they might throw in extra. So I don't want, you know, I don't want us to worry about, you know, that. I mean, it's not, you know, we're not going to be serving caviar and champagne and stuff, but that piece I can definitely help take the weight off. Oh, amazing. Unfortunately, I'm a little bit nervous, though, because I don't think that I'm going to have enough turnaround time for the table skirt and things of that nature.
[Kelly Cunha]: So can I I mean, I can we can we can do that. Yeah, I don't know.
[Frances Nwajei]: I had an idea. I think that I can I think that I can order. Very cool.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Frances, we could always do a vinyl. We could do like a vinyl something for the front of the table from staples or Vista print.
[Kelly Cunha]: Yeah, I have some connections to some places that do printing, but Yeah like that I can do a faster but we can talk off camera.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay so Kelly I think that you and I because I had sent you an email that I wanted to talk about the design to to be able to use this time I mean just for the sake of transparency so that we can use this time planning uh what the commission wants to do perhaps you just email me sometimes and you can talk because you created that design.
[Kelly Cunha]: Well Shelly did I didn't so Shelly actually has it I don't even, I have, I don't know.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, no, Frances, I emailed it to you a while ago. You should, I can, I'm happy to resend, but you should have it.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, just email me just the design. You sent me the letterhead. Yeah. And then that way. Okay. And has everybody, I want to make sure, has everybody seen the Human Rights Commission logo before that was created by Shelley? Oh, okay. Shelley, let me, do you have it handy? Are you able to access it? No. No, I don't.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I mean, it's on our Facebook page. I can find it, but I don't have it right
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, so what I will do is I will email it to you as commissioners, so that you see. You know where it is, Shelly? It is on the letter that you wrote. Remember, you and Munir both wrote letters. Munir, you wrote one on one topic. Shelly, you wrote one on the other.
[Chelli Keshavan]: No, but I was quite sure that I just sent you the JPEG because I knew you needed it for proceeding, but I'll resend.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay. All done, commissioners. Somebody take over whilst I go on a search.
[Kelly Cunha]: Is it after this, is it new agenda items or is there something else?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, maybe Kelly, do you want to share the embrace? Yeah, that's an idea. Yeah.
[Kelly Cunha]: Can you make me a person that can share?
[Chelli Keshavan]: I think Frances has to do that.
[Kelly Cunha]: Already did, did that already. There it is. Okay, perfect. So let me, I'll show you guys. So I was thinking we could send this out to the Medford Public Schools and then they can distribute it as they see fit. It's made formal. I am a K-5 educator. So I did it with K to five in mind. And it's just a presentation that. So on Friday they're unveiling the sculpture for on the Boston common. So my thought was, this is something that we can, the educators can show their students and then on Friday they could watch the live stream of the unveiling which is going to be a national event it's pretty big deal. So I wanted to make the connection between MLK and Boston. And again, this is very, you know, kid centric because that's what I do is make things kids friendly talked about, you know, and then in the notes there's questions so like why do we use sculpture statues and plaques to honor people who chooses what people to honor and what messages does it send about what we choose to memorialize. Just some history some pictures. What is financial hardship mean you know Dr. King actually couldn't come to his own graduation because he had financial hardship I think that would be surprising to students, because they see him as this, you know, you know, they don't realize that he struggled. This is at the Boston common. This is about the Boston Common and then this is the embrace. I love just bringing it back to like the feelings. The artist said that he saw glee, joy, and pride. What feelings do you see in it? Then they talking about the concept for it, noticing the shapes. Like, I mean, this could be an art class. It could be anything. The quilting, the African-American quilting traditions led to the part of the design. What do you notice in the design concept that you can relate back to the quilts? And then it talks about inter, sorry, my daughter's touching the screen, interconnecting, interconnectedness, interrelated from his letter from a Birmingham jail, what does that quote mean to you? Talking about collective action and then just highlighting some of the civil rights folks that are from Boston that are also being honored, making sure to really highlight, okay, people of color, but there is also, you know, others, okay. Can you stop, please? Sorry. And then like, you know, primary source material, the Freedom Journal from Massachusetts, and then just relating it to the current movement, the peaceful protests in Boston after the killing of George Floyd. And it sparked huge conversations in the United States about race, racism, inequality, and we continue to have more work to do. And then there's just a little video from CBS Sunday morning, which is awesome, highly recommend that they can show, and then they can show the live, They can view it. We're planning to do it at my school. And I just feel like it's an easy win for us. It's just a, you know, it's pretty straightforward. I don't know what you guys think if you feel like we could share it. I'm sold.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, I love it Kelly, thank you for putting them together.
[Frances Nwajei]: It is absolutely amazing. I will, I will, you know, I can email it just on your behalf, or I can email it as another another visitor. I can email it, you know, as on behalf of the Human Rights Commission, I think that it is fantastic. I will leave it to the commissioners to say yes go ahead Francis hurry up and get it out, which is what I hope the commissioners will say.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yes, it is awesome Kelly.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, yes, yes. Now I have another crazy idea and another crazy suggestion because you know we just have so much time. Um, you said that it's kids centric you know I'm a firm believer I stand by the original mass health standards that language that needs to go out broadly should never be more than a sixth grade level. The more, the more vernacular vocabulary that you throw in there, the less, the less people are able to translate understand interpret. And it's just, it just, you know, um, this is wonderful information that I think could go over very well. I don't know if this is a possibility, but I have to get your permission, Kelly, to share this with Medford community media to see perhaps if they could run this. I don't know if the format is right. I'm sure that- You mean like run the unveiling? No, run the PowerPoint because we talk about education, right?
[Kelly Cunha]: Yeah. I mean, I think the, I mean, the PowerPoint itself is one thing, but to me, it's the discussion that it leads to like, it's a, it's a black and it's a, what does this mean? I mean, I'm thinking about the conversations that I've had this week in my kindergarten classrooms with my daughter, when she asked, why did they kill Martin Luther King? Because she read a book and he, yeah, she's like, what? And I just think these conversations,
[Unidentified]: Yeah, we read Martin's big words.
[Kelly Cunha]: Yes. I know, and your school too. Well, see, Medford Public Schools doing it right. But I think that's to me, like, because I love that in fifth grade, you can really talk about, you know, you can just, anyway, the conversations that can lead to are just so beautiful. So I'm fine with that being run. but to me it's an education comes in the discussion that saying the thing people are so scared to talk about race. We're talking about it. We're bringing it up. We're talking about here in this cities that it, you know, we can see Boston from some of our schools, literally can look out the Mississauga and you can see the skyline, the Boston. So like, how do we, you know, let's bring it back here and whatever.
[Frances Nwajei]: And think about the conversations that it would evoke as it goes, you know, far and wide. Right? I mean, if you know, with your permission, I could share that here, you know, via via email and say, please watch this, you know, presentation created by Yeah, and it's compiled by none of the original I want, I want no, there's no credit, except that I compiled information, compiled sources.
[Kelly Cunha]: Yeah, I didn't make it. I didn't. I mean, I made it. I put it together. But it's nothing of my own. It's I mean, the only thing that's my own are the notes and the guiding questions.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, yes. So, um, all right. So very good. I've got my notes, I got to get it out to the school department, get it out internally, share with Medford Community Media to see if they could run it. And, you know, anyone think of anywhere else where I could get this information out to that I'm missing? If you think of anything, shoot me an email. You mentioned the library. Oh, the live. Oh, that's good, Rob. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Princess F, we're trying to reach families, maybe the Family Network. Marie has quite the following.
[Frances Nwajei]: Medford Family Network, the community liaisons. Okay. All right. Perfect. Thank you, Kelly.
[Unidentified]: You're welcome.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right. So it sounds like we're all at a go. 1 to 3.30 or 1.30 to 3, did we say? 1 to 3.30. Does that work for everybody?
[Unidentified]: So Francis, Steve, and Muneer, are we the Yum Yum crew, the food crew?
[Frances Nwajei]: food and beverage crew, is that who we are?
[Steve Schnapp]: I wanted to help. I did go to Bob's and they were unable to support the ask.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, no worries, no worries. Munir, should we?
[Munir Jirmanus]: Now, I mean, once we have a little brochure or a single page thing that shows where the event is and what the event is, Then I think we can, we can do that.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, I can write something for you, similar to what I needed to do for for the pride committee, which was just to let people know that you know this event is happening so if you want, I could write that to you and you could use for your efforts. And I'll just go ahead and connect you think like light refreshments like the pastries and stuff. OK, so I'll just and I'll just go ahead and connect with spaces that, you know, will be directly paid for that work. I'm just I'm thinking in terms of time and in terms of keeping things moving. So all right.
[Kelly Cunha]: And Diane, I can work on updating and sending you the information from that we did in the past for the Medford Black History Tour, because I feel like it's already done. Why not utilize it again? Because it was cool and it was something kids, families could do still to this day, like if they wanted to have a map and walk around. Okay. So I can send you that after I just double check things. And then I'm happy to help with language. Okay. Whatever else.
[Amanda Centrella]: I'm good with kid-centric stuff. Okay, great. And I'm happy to just work up copy and work up like a draft of a structured program. And I'll just email everybody that for feedback.
[Frances Nwajei]: No, because if everybody responds, then you'll have more than. Oh, OK. So I would say email it to me. OK. Yeah. Email it to me and I'll send it out individually. Chief, I'm sort of looking at you on my screen because I might need some assistance here with design. You know, maybe maybe the MPD, maybe we could get some support from Jessica, Officer Walsh. Thank you.
[Jack Buckley]: If I'll volunteer on her behalf.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you. I know she would say yes but I just, I sort of wanted to ask you. Thank you because she would be great so we would have some support would like getting design now and get in, you know, with social media and of course internal support for harms. Do you okay so I should screen share now on the logo that was created because I sort of need to know if you're going to adopt that because if you do adopt that then I can think about something like maybe we can. somebody mentions a place that can quickly do bookmarks or something that we can give away. Belinda Sutton with the HRC logo and blah, blah, blah. So let me just be quiet and screen share. Or maybe I can't screen share it.
[Unidentified]: What did I do with it? It's right there.
[Frances Nwajei]: Entertainment, are we going to have somebody sing? You know the black national anthems amazing grace lift every voice and sing somebody want to. Somebody want to take that on or should I take that on.
[Amanda Centrella]: So I know that, you know, I know we have a dear friend to our family and she's, um, I, she's not from Medford though. She's from Melrose, but she's done. She's saying the national anthem at Fenway park. She's amazing. You know, and, um, she's Haitian American. So she, you know, part of the Caribbean, um, which is, so, I mean, I'm happy to see if I can find someone, but if anyone else, if you know any musicians in Medford, that would be great.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think we should go Medford first, because we have a lot of Medford talent, and that's one of the things that I learned from working with the Pride Planning Committee. Medford is a town of people that are very, very proud of their, you know, of their skillset. One of the things they said, what Bedford first before we move out. So why don't you give me, you know, like till middle of next week, and I'll get back to you if I'm having difficulty, but there is a lot of talent in Medford, a lot of talent with the, you know, with the African-American population. And if it's Black History Month, then we want to keep it as authentic as possible. So I'll get back to you. Somebody just, somebody sent us a message. Um, Yeah, I mean, that's a given. We do have a poet laureate, but in this case, song is extremely important. Song was used for communication, the history of brains. I could go on and on and on. That's not what this is about. So let's go with music. What's the song, Waiting by the Water? That is actually a quote believe it or not, you know, so it, yes, I feel like song before anything else. All right, my gosh, I have not screen shared for so long that it took me a minute to remember how. So this was the logo and I don't know if I can make it any bigger. This is the logo that was created. Is everyone able to see that or enlarge this screen at least?
[Chelli Keshavan]: So it just says Medford Mass on the top, right? And then Human Rights Commission with the abbreviation.
[Jack Buckley]: We had this back in 2020, right? This is older.
[Chelli Keshavan]: It's older. Yeah.
[Jack Buckley]: I remember this. I thought it was a new one. Yep. Okay.
[Chelli Keshavan]: The blue was just to play on the Mustang look. That's all.
[Frances Nwajei]: in my two cents was I was thinking of that blue in the table skirt that color and I felt that it would all really stand out, but the decision is up to you commissioners.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I certainly don't want to throw a wrench into anything, and I think that the logo is outstanding as it is. One of the things that I've seen amongst other organizations representing the city is that The area that's colored blue, maybe in the outline of the city, the physical boundaries, it's somewhat of a unique shape, so I don't know how easy that would be to implement. Completely just a thought, something to throw out there. If it's not feasible, totally fine.
[Frances Nwajei]: Did you see what Medford Pride did, the way Medford Pride did theirs, the logo, is that what you're referring to, like that outline, but in blue? Exactly right, yep. I mean, Rob, that's a fabulous recommendation, but I don't know how to do those things. Shelly, I'm looking at you.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I mean, yeah, we can modify however we want to modify that. That totally works. I might have to play with it a second to.
[Frances Nwajei]: OK.
[Chelli Keshavan]: But I'm willing.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, I'll stop screen sharing now.
[Chelli Keshavan]: So what I'll do- I would just have to remember what was happening for the logo for Pride in all honesty. I both saw it many times and I'm not remembering the details, so my fault.
[Frances Nwajei]: No worries. So what I'll do is I'll go ahead and make sure that I, you know, for table covering, I'll just get like the vinyl ones. I'll just get like blue and white for now, because I know that I don't feel that we'll have the logo ready to get the proper ones. And then maybe whatever we print up, maybe Medford Human Rights Commission, the wording instead, right, with the dates, maybe February 2023. Because I don't think that we'll, I don't think we'll be within a window for a good turnaround to be able to have an actual logo, send it off to print for whatever we want and be ready for the event.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Princess, are you sure that you wanna add a year? Is there a way to just indicate that it's Black History Month by the commission so that it's usable more than one time?
[Frances Nwajei]: I mean, it could be usable more than one time, but it's disposable, right? This is not the permanent stuff, like the table covering is gonna come from the Dollar Tree, right? It's not gonna be the actual cloth one. It's just gonna be something that's gonna, yeah. And in terms of ideas of what you would like me, you know, to look at, I know we've, you know, I threw out the, you know, bookmarks linked. Thank you, Rob. I know I threw out the bookmark. You know, again, we could do pens. I could just say Medford Human Rights Commission, Black History Month 2023. You know, yay, nay. could do hand sanitizers, but if I remember correctly, the hand sanitizers were weird. They started off at one price, and by the time it was done, it was like four or five times, you know. I could do linears, but I would sort of need that guidance and direction as soon as possible, so that that way, everything comes back before. Yeah.
[Kelly Cunha]: Where does the Belinda Sutton stickers come from?
[Amanda Centrella]: So that's I think I like the idea of pens, because everybody wants pens, everybody uses pens. And then if we get a stock of them, and we have future events, from now through the summer, we just have something that we can continue to share. And then I'm going to talk to Chiara about stickers, you know, and I feel like right now, print them up easily to
[Kelly Cunha]: Like all my kids water bottles have stick, like everything is plastered with stickers. How cool would it be if like Medford kids had Belinda Sutton stickers on their computers? I just think that's so cool.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yeah, I would love that. And you know that in itself would be incredible Medford pride, Belinda Sutton stickers and then human rights commission.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm thinking a picture of Belinda Sutton.
[Amanda Centrella]: Oh, we don't have a picture of her. So it would be, you know, maybe a quote.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Do we have a short sentence or two from her that we can piece apart?
[Amanda Centrella]: Let me look to see if we can come up with a Belinda quote.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Or there are the lyrics from that the Harvard published piece. Yeah, I can help with it.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yeah, okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: And then remember again the turnaround time because who would we have somebody will know who will send the sickest so I will work in Kansas, anybody. I just want to make sure, pens, don't worry about color style, just get pens, get our church keys so that we can move on. Medford Human Rights Commission, Black History Month 2023, or just say Black History Month. Year, no year on the pens.
[Amanda Centrella]: I like evergreen stuff. Me too. No year. So we can reuse them.
[Kelly Cunha]: Yep, Medford Human Rights. So plug us and no year so that we can always use them.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: The Medford Human Rights Commission. And you want Black History Month, right?
[Kelly Cunha]: I mean, or do we want- Could we just do Medford Human Rights? That way we can use them for anything? Yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: I like that better. Okay. Okay. And anything else? Do you want me to look out for anything else in addition to the pens? Do you want me to look out for, what's that thing? The people, lineage, lineage, right.
[Amanda Centrella]: I think we need lanyards.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, pens, okay, all right.
[Amanda Centrella]: Does anyone else think we need, I don't think people will wear them.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, all right, so Frances has pens and food.
[Amanda Centrella]: Food and then music, right?
[Frances Nwajei]: And music.
[Amanda Centrella]: And then I can ask Kiara to help just give some brief remarks. We also just hired an incredible new education coordinator to give some brief remarks. and then we'll have the Valentine's activity. Do we want, and Shelley, you had mentioned.
[Frances Nwajei]: Sorry, Diane, I thought we were pivoting from the Valentine's activity and we were tying it into a more.
[Amanda Centrella]: Okay, so we'll brand like Belinda's petition, February 14th, 1783. Okay, something like that. And maybe that will be it. Okay, so we're not going to try to have like a light service activity where people can take a sticker, a balloon sticker, put it on a valentine in service to the elderly. We're gonna play a little bit of collective action.
[SPEAKER_12]: I'm sorry.
[Kelly Cunha]: What?
[SPEAKER_12]: Go ahead, I'm sorry.
[Kelly Cunha]: No, so like, what if one of the things is for like the younger kids, the collective action is you're making cards for the nursing home. And then maybe we have something for older kids. Like, and again, maybe we could connect it to like, what's been going on at the high school in this like, this, you know, maybe it's a mindfulness activity, maybe it's a because you know, the path to pieces anyway sorry my kids are screaming but like um it's so hard to think i had a train of thought and then they screamed but like maybe that could be it so it's not valentine's day it's a collective action but the collective action happens to be making valentine's cards Does that make sense?
[Amanda Centrella]: Yeah. I like the idea of, I just want to commemorate this February 14, 1783 commission that is so powerful in the space of human rights for all and civil rights. And if we have a way to hand it off outside of the people who attend, you know, and it could be fun for the kids.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think that by focusing on the word February 14 versus focusing on Valentine's, I think that that will resonate more with people in terms of the fact that this is Black History Month. And then you can now make the connection of the service, like the younger children making the cards and the cards are going somewhere.
[Amanda Centrella]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I wouldn't call it a Valentine's activity.
[Amanda Centrella]: Okay, yeah, no, I fully agree. But maybe it's like, you know, a card making activity or something. Right, right. Just like, and then and then it moves the education about Belinda, you know, and, and the work that's, you know, it's part of our origin story in the city of Medford, you know.
[Kelly Cunha]: And like the older kids could do letter writing because Belinda wrote a lot, like wrote letters. So like they could write a letter about what they want to see changes. That's, I mean, we could have all different prompts and we could have people helping and.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. You always have to be a parent first. All right, that sounds great. Anything else, anyone, in regards to Black History Month? I just want to make sure I'm clear with my tasks. And I am sending out that wonderful PowerPoint to school departments, Medford Community Media, Medford Family Network, the community liaisons and the library. And she is gonna help us or I should say Jessica is gonna assist us with design. Wonderful.
[Kelly Cunha]: She can't i'm happy to help like i'm good with like i'm good with a task like do this i'm happy to do that, like i'm good with a task I think it's more the like in between the things that I can't.
[Frances Nwajei]: That is your task, Kelly, on Wednesday. Cook dinner, send it to City Hall with mum for friends. get to babysit us for the next meeting. No, no, it's love. I mean, children are a part of life. And, you know, I remember when we first pivoted as a result of the pandemic to virtual and I used to get so many, you know, complaints and I'm like, well, people are working from their homes. What do you think their cats are going to do? You know, this is what happens when you're home, but it's all part of who you are as well, and it's all part of your contribution. Right, great.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: One quick last thing to add here, and this might be too heavy of a lift, but kind of building on the point that Chief Buckley made before about increasing visibility and this being a really outstanding event to maybe use as some sort of springboard I don't know of, and it could be my own ignorance, but a virtual space that we occupy, whether that be a dedicated website, a subdomain of the city, Facebook, Instagram, anything like that. I don't know what the process looks like for one acquiring, building, and standing up a page like that if it's not something like a subdomain. And also, would want to be careful of putting all this outstanding content in there and then revisiting it in 18 months. And it looks exactly the same. I think it's a project that we've got to be mindful of it being a living, breathing thing. But if other folks think that that's something intriguing or in conjunction or not in conjunction with this event, something to bring up now that it seems like we're getting the wheels turning a bit on public visibility.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, it is. So, the website that you see is not the real website that we're going to be keeping. The website is changing and work is happening in the back. The way I understand it, you know, like when you're a private business, you can have a designer, you can do what you want. As a municipality, we're grouped with other municipalities. lots of fancy things that I wanted to not go into the reality. However, I do, I agree with what you're saying. I'm a stickler for websites that are intuitive and I would rather basic and balanced versus click here, click here, click here, click here, click here. So our comms team is currently working with me to clean up Oh, I'm sorry.
[Kelly Cunha]: Can I, we do have an Instagram. It just hasn't been updated HRC Medford, Ellie and I run it, but we have not been on it since apparently, uh, last post was January 18th, 2021. Um, I wasn't here then, you know, it's been a while. So Rob, if you do HRC Medford on Instagram, we do have an Instagram. We can talk about that and go for, I mean, We have followers and stuff, I don't know. Get down from there. So just so you know, and we do have a Facebook page. Again, Shelly and I were maintaining it for the specific MLK Day stuff. And then after that, it kind of dropped off. So. So can I ask, we also have a LinkedIn page.
[Frances Nwajei]: That's true. So if you have all this, can somebody please email them to me so that those links can be on your updated web page, right?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Kelly, maybe since you have the IG, maybe you could send that, but I'll send the other two.
[Frances Nwajei]: Sure. And then my hope is that with this new website, it will just have two links, meeting agendas, meeting minutes. And when you click on it, you'll be able to see, you know, all the different meetings, you know, uploaded in chronological order. I'm hoping that anything that is a year old just gets archived, you know, give people an opportunity and then people can go into the archives and then in an archive folder, it can be broken up into the different years. Again, this is my hope, not sure what the capacity is because apparently the space is shared. So the space is shared by different municipalities, but there should be a section for events. Because if we're talking about accessibility, the way the websites currently are, they lead to, they're not really accessible. Some people are visual learners, so visual processes, right? So too many words. then they're not taking anything in. So that is something that's being worked on in the background. And Diane, I think that you had asked me a similar question by email, and I think I responded, or was that somebody else? Someone asked me a similar question by email, and I think I responded. So Rob, that is being worked on now. Is it going to be super, super, you know, fancy with fun colors and different fonts? I mean, we're even locked into the style of fonts that we can use, so. But I am excited that the Human Rights Commission does have an Instagram page, a Facebook page, and do you have LinkedIn? Do you have Twitter? Okay. So maybe if those links can somehow be on the new webpage, that would be great. I would be, so I would, again, be very, very careful. If you've not had an opportunity to watch the stuff from KPU Law that I sent out, please do. I would be very careful about everyone chiming in, even if clicking like. There are strict governing policies around the use of social media when it comes to open meeting and things of that nature. Somebody else watch it and give me their take. But this was a direct question that was asked by a commission member. And the recommendation was to stay away from it. But I do recognize that social media is important in terms of visibility and things of that nature.
[Kelly Cunha]: Yeah, we strictly used it as a place to put our events. There was nothing else. It was literally our flyers. here's the link to the event invites like there was no like commentary yeah it was like here's the MLK event here's the link to the discovery tour here's this you didn't do anything else okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: And maybe you know I don't know maybe other you know, like the pride the pride page right all the planning committee members have access to it and it's it's supported right in terms of content and things of that nature that has primarily to do with. You know pride related activities and things of that nature, but this it's not a personal. you know, Frances putting on her, you know, oh, this is yummy dinner type of post. No, I do say good morning every now and then when I remember. Oh, I'm very, very excited.
[Unidentified]: Anything else, anyone else? Chief, you leaned in, were you going to say something?
[Jack Buckley]: I have an incident development. I have my captain just walked in. So I'm going to ask if I can sign off. Thank you. Enjoy everybody. Hopefully your year starts off in a wonderful way, but appreciate it.
[Unidentified]: Thank you, Chief.
[Frances Nwajei]: So Shelly, I think that that's about it. I was- Agreed. Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's about it. Because we did the new business stuff which was to discuss the commission of vacancies, a, what do you call it, an announcement. a broad-based press release or some, it's not a press release, an announcement went out in December for all the vacant commissioner positions and all the different boards for the city. So I'm just waiting for, you know, for us to have a good chunk. I don't want to come to you with just one applicant. I want us to have a good chunk.
[Munir Jirmanus]: So Frances, I thought we're also going to look at the applicants who were not chosen. So is that going to be included in there?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, because I think that it would be good to bring those applicants back if they're interested, as well as new applicants so that you have a broader base pool. It's like when you do interviews, the broader your pool, the varied contributions that you're going to have.
[Unidentified]: I have one more thing.
[Kelly Cunha]: I just came to my mind. Shelly, when you did the virtual one last year, I just remember Sienna like rocking out to a really good band. Who was that? That is... And would they be around for Belinda Day?
[Chelli Keshavan]: I don't know. I don't know. Possibly. So that's Bacari Barrett, which is who's a brilliant Medford guy. Not cheap though. And it took me weeks to figure out who was going to pay what, and then to get payment to come through. that's established, I can text him, but he's also advanced himself to the point where he very well could be booked for that time period at this point.
[Frances Nwajei]: I was just about to say. Yeah, they were like really, really good.
[Chelli Keshavan]: The other thing about Bakari is that his words are fire and his messaging is just out of this world. So it was like both the musical talent and the content.
[Frances Nwajei]: Shelley, I'll add Bakari to my reach out and see if he's available. Him, Sterling, and I can't remember the drums. Dominic. Thank you. Sorry, Dominic, in case you ever were. Sorry, Dominic. I just had to, you know. This is where we open it up for public participation. Judy's on.
[Unidentified]: Hi, Judy.
[MCM00001270_SPEAKER_03]: Hi, I'm sorry, I was getting my heat restored. Oh, so it's kind of important. Um, hi, everybody. So I'm a former commissioner, member of the public.
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, a very happy new year to you. You missed a really fruitful discussion on upcoming activity for Black History Month. So what I'll do is I'll make sure I share the link once the meeting is over so that you'll have a chance to watch it as well.
[MCM00001270_SPEAKER_03]: Can I just confirm one thing? Is the Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday the 16th? Because I had it written down for the Saturday the 14th.
[Frances Nwajei]: It is on Monday the 16th, if you are referring to the one that is being held by the West Medford Community Center, it's on the 16th. The 14th was the one that the Human Rights Commission was going to do at the library, but there's not enough time really to plan something and pull something, you know, that's going to be thoughtful and engaging.
[Unidentified]: Does that clarify things?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, thank you. Okay. All right, so the public participation, oh, Steve?
[Steve Schnapp]: Yes, I do have a question about the open meeting law, and if it's too hairy to discuss now, that's fine. I did review the presentation that you sent around, Frances, I have several questions. One is, does it pertain to volunteers such as myself? No. Great.
[Frances Nwajei]: But unless, and I'll share the unless, the suggestion was made that if you find yourself in a group, in a situation unplanned, right, and you belong to other commissions, And there seemed to be more than you, that you should identify yourself, such as the way Judy said, you know, I am a former commissioner, now a resident. You should identify yourself as a resident, so that the distinction is made that you're not there in your capacity as part of your group. And that response was made by attorney Austin, like even when we go before city council, we should be saying, you know, I'm Francis and I'm, you know, blah, blah, blah. So that I can answer clearly for you. Other questions, I don't know, but go try, go ahead.
[Steve Schnapp]: Well, that's a good answer. The second question is, it was unclear to me whether the KP law was referring to a quorum or two or more members of a particular public body before the open meeting law kicks in.
[Frances Nwajei]: So they were referring to, so open meeting laws, any, how can I explain it? So all of us that are on here now, well, aside from me, I don't have any voting, but I have to follow open meeting. We could all go somewhere. The minute we start talking about anything that we discuss in this space, then we're violating open meeting. Any two members. Right. Any discussion, like the purpose of open meeting law is really about the transparency. If, you know, if I, if we start discussing something that we are talking about voting on and that kind of stuff, you know, Diane, will you support me? I don't want to do it this way. I want to do it this way. You, you were running the risk. of violating open meeting law. Now, remember, Steve, I'm giving you this information based on my attendance at a presentation and questions that somebody else answered. And just my impression is just be careful, don't do it, don't comment on posts, things of that nature.
[Steve Schnapp]: So my third question is, If Diane and Shelley are, Diane volunteered to do a number of tests as others did. And if that task involves, let's say confirming a particular agenda item or a venue, and she contacts Shelley to say, I know you're doing the flyer for the event, or posting it on social media, but this venue isn't available, you'll have to use this other one.
[Frances Nwajei]: But if you remember, I asked Diane to contact me instead. I asked Diane to send the information to me.
[Steve Schnapp]: So all information about logistics has to go through you.
[Frances Nwajei]: It's not that it has to go through me. When it comes to me, then all I need to do is send it directly to Shelly. If Shelly is the person that's doing the flyer or whoever's doing the flyer, this is who is doing the fly. You know, this is the information that you need. We are confirmed for this space. I can send information out to all of you because a lot of times I send information out that is information like knowledge like, hey, just an FYI, hey, this training is coming up. But you as a group of commissioners cannot have behind the scenes anything that could be perceived as behind the scenes deliberation.
[Steve Schnapp]: What I'm trying to clarify is if there's a discussion about logistics. So in other words, a subcommittee has planned to meet on Monday, but somebody is sick. Are they not allowed to inform the other members that we have to shift the venue and the time of the meeting?
[Frances Nwajei]: So if the subcommittee has plans to meet, remember the subcommittee is also governed by open meeting laws. So the members of the public would already know at least 48 hours in advance that the subcommittee is meeting on such and such day. If a cancellation were to take place, In the same way, like if we were to cancel the human rights meeting, I would have to make sure that the clerk is aware so that they can it can be posted. Right.
[Steve Schnapp]: So I'm going to go to the meeting at six, but I'm not going to be there until 630. I'm not allowed to tell people that.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, you can tell people that but you don't have to tell everybody you just email one person you email me. You know, I mean Steve you again, remember, I am not an attorney. I do not want to. I do not want to sit here and get into the nitty gritty of things that I really shouldn't get into. There are laws. I shared that information so that we could be more knowledgeable about what the expectations are in hopes that everybody else watches it. Now, if everybody else watches it and people come back to me just like you did, and there are additional questions, then I can send those questions off. But what I would say is we are bound by open meeting laws. It is about being transparent and I think that we need to be careful in how we engage. I'm not violating open meeting was when I send you all the agenda and when I send you the. when I send you the meeting notes, because I say, here are the, I say, here's the proposed agenda. Here's the proposed meeting notes. If you want to, you know, add anything, let me know. But if I was to say, Hey guys, I need a quick vote on something.
[Kelly Cunha]: So to me, what you're saying and what Steve's saying as a complete op, like what he's talking about, isn't anything that could remotely be called deliberation. It's like, Hey, Shelley, let Francis know I'm going to be late or, Like he's talking about one-to-one communication, nothing. So it's the exact same thing as you sending out an email, an informational email.
[Frances Nwajei]: I feel like- But why is Steve going through Shelley? Why doesn't Steve tell whoever directly, I'm going to be late and leave it at that?
[Kelly Cunha]: And then that doesn't matter. It's not an open meeting violation.
[Frances Nwajei]: So it's, again, I'm going to say, everybody watch the presentation. If you have questions, send those questions, and then I can get those questions to the attorney. It is not my place to interpret. I'm merely sharing what was shared with us, just so that We are in the know. I remember when I first started and there were issues with the subcommittee. So that's why I shared that time piece with this group to provide you with clarification.
[Steve Schnapp]: Which was very helpful. I appreciate that. Thank you.
[Amanda Centrella]: So this is just all very helpful and I'm just learning and absorbing. And at the same time, I just share, it does feel a little bit hard when, you know, and I will like send stuff to you, Francis, and then you'll share it with Shelly and Kelly and everybody. but maybe to try to get ahead of it. So we know that we're all on the same page because February 8th feels too late to me because I'm quite certain that when I email you tomorrow, Francis, after I get in touch with Kiara, you know, like the date of our event will be February 11th. I mean, can we just plan ahead?
[Frances Nwajei]: And you can meet before February 8 like if you need to if you need to call a group meeting to discuss that rate and really what you're doing is you're calling a sub you're calling for a subcommittee. So again, you would have to follow open meeting laws, so you would have to let me know Francis you know. We need to call for a subcommittee meeting. I don't know how many, you know, how many members of the, you know, how many commissioners will be available.
[Amanda Centrella]: Right. Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: My role in my job is to make sure that that is posted 48 hours before. You know, it doesn't, just because we don't have a meeting until February 8th, it doesn't mean that you can't meet, but you just have to make sure that you do it appropriately.
[Kelly Cunha]: So remember, Diane has a question about something she can reach out and say, Hey, Kelly, can you do this for the event? Like that? I think we need to be there about that.
[Frances Nwajei]: Cause otherwise she can, she can reach out, but Diane shouldn't CC the whole group. She says, Oh,
[Kelly Cunha]: you know, send something to me that she wants me to do Cece's you on it, Frances. Hey Kelly, can you whip this up for me? And I'm like, sure. That's not, I think we need to be clear because otherwise- No, that's not, that's not a violation of open meetings.
[Frances Nwajei]: I don't want people to be scared to, because then we'll get nothing done.
[Amanda Centrella]: Okay, good.
[Frances Nwajei]: I know, because I was feeling nervous. Okay. Don't, don't, no, don't let this make you feel nervous.
[Kelly Cunha]: And if someone wants to sue us for like talking about pastries,
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, let them go ahead. Go ahead. And then we'll all go. Okay, so what's the penalty of violating the law? Absolutely no idea but I hope that, you know, after all of this, you know, I don't know again, anything that could be seen as deliberation we're not deliberating we're planning an event, everyone has heard the conversation, you know, I'm actually looking forward to hearing from Diane tomorrow I'm looking forward to getting you know, these emails out so that we can get our programming, you'll, at some point, you're all going to get a, hey, I found this. I hope you guys like my choice because I know I'm responsible for pens. Click here so that you can see what you're getting, you know? And yeah, I mean, if somebody sent me an email and said, oh my gosh, Frances, those are hideous, please don't order those because they represent something, I would put a pause on it, you know?
[Munir Jirmanus]: just know, like, I mean, I must also add here that KP law is only a consultant for the city. They're not the city solicitor.
[Frances Nwajei]: So no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. KP law actually does open meeting law and public records presentations for the Massachusetts. Okay. Yes. So that is where they came in. They didn't come in through the consulting piece that they do with the city. So we actually, in this case, have to defer to them. They actually have a presentation on the MMA website, you know. So what happened was, you know, the Charter Study Review Committee is made of a variety of very new people. So there's a level of guidance that's needed. And then we're working with the Collins Center. So many, you know, some folks on there had never participated in a committee before, so they needed like that training in that presentation. I'm the city liaison, so I got the benefit of actually hearing this firsthand, but also hearing people ask questions, right? Which then jogs your own memory. But there is a presentation that they have done. If you don't like the one that I sent you. There is one that they have done like this is what they do. So, we do have to sort of. They were in their KP law capacity, not in just the consultants capacity. Yeah. 706. Thank you, Steve. Everybody who watches this, we're going to blame Steve. He took us six minutes over.
[Munir Jirmanus]: I will blame KP though, don't worry.
[Frances Nwajei]: And now we're going to blame Muneer because Muneer's trying to cause problems and now it's 707. But I'll be quiet. I don't have anything else to add.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Motion to close.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Aye aye.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Muneer.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Thank you.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, everybody. Appreciate all of you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Have a fabulous evening and fabulous rest of the month.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Likewise. You too.
[Kelly Cunha]: Good night, everybody. And see, Francis, if you want to see see me on any of the emails you send out with the MLK stuff, so that if anyone has questions, they have my email.
[Frances Nwajei]: Definitely. Will do. Thank you, Kelly. Bye bye.