[SPEAKER_01]: Nice to see you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, thank you. Oh, nice to have you all. Yeah, great to see you.
[Unidentified]: Hi, Laura. Hi, Laura. Good to see you. Good to see you. What's that?
[SPEAKER_03]: I said you walked right by it like you didn't know it. I said you walked by it like you didn't know it.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, she's doing pretty good.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are here. You were in my ear.
[Unidentified]: I was like, you know we're in Italy, and where else? I know, but where am I? I'm in Italy, that's what I saw on Facebook. I'm glad you're here. Of course, the library. Yeah. And then his own wife. He's in his area. Oh, yeah. His wife is. So she does, too. She does the housekeeping. I love you so much.
[SPEAKER_03]: I love you so much. I miss you. I love you. I didn't miss you. You should have a great time. I could watch it. I could watch it. Thank you very much.
[Unidentified]: You love a good concert. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I'm going to have you on this side.
[Carter]: Watch out for any cables.
[SPEAKER_01]: That looks good, Mark. Mark can you actually just pan that shot to the right a tiny bit so we don't lose Terry. Yeah, that's good, that's good right there.
[Carter]: Well, good evening, friends and neighbors. My name is Terry E. Cotter, and I direct Elder Services here at our beloved West Medford Community Center. Welcome to another live monthly presentation of Fresh Fridays, Words, and Music, rebranded Cobb and Sanders for February. It's Black History Month. We're happy to be with you tonight, following up our epic Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at St. Rayfield's Paris Center in January, and getting back to our culture-keeping duties here at 111 Arlington Street. Thanks as always to the assistance of the Medford Arts Council, a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council for help with funding this program. And it definitely is starting to do that now. We want to remind you that COVID and RSV and a bunch of new flus are out there. We're still trying to be mindful of local health requirements and concerns. Masking is welcome, but it's not required. As always, we're just happy to have you in the building. We're happy to be here sponsoring live programming. And we're glad to see our neighbors, our friends, and supporters coming through the doors. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks also to our other event partner, Kevin Harrington and Medford Community Media for consistently guiding us as we broadcast you via Medford Community Media, channels 9 for Comcast and 47 for Verizon, as well as on MCM YouTube. If you're out there watching the show on your electronic devices or your television, welcome to the show. So before we get to the main business for the evening, we do want to extend community condolences to the families of Charlie Paris and Ruth Youngblood, two dear friends of the center and great civic-minded citizens of the city of Medford. Their recent losses represent huge tears in the fabric of this neighborhood, and they are both remembered with respect and fondness by all of us here at WMCC. So in my travels as a poet and something of an ambassador for the arts here in Medford, I've been privileged to encounter some tremendous teachers, leaders, and history makers across a wide panorama of human endeavor. Words and Music has given me the great opportunity to bring a lot of those folks to your attention. Tonight is no exception, so I hope you're ready for all things insightful and delightful. Can't help it. I just can't help it. So our guest for this portion of the evening's program is not new to Medford, but she continues to make a significant and positive impression on everyone who has crossed her path. She is the executive director of the historic Royal House and Slave Quarters right off of Main Street just beyond Medford Square. Now the Royal House and Slave Quarters, the former family estate of Isaac Royal, is recognized as a living, breathing reflection of history and existence of a slave quarters and legal slavery in Massachusetts. It is a national historical landmark, now operated as a non-profit museum, and open for public visits between June 1st and the last weekend in October. Please allow me to introduce to some and reacquaint with others the head chef of all that's cooking at RHSQ, Dr. Kiara Singleton. Okay, now this is going to take just a minute to unpack. Kiara holds a PhD, earned PhD, from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in the Department of American Culture. She is also a postdoctoral fellow for the Slavery, Colonialism, and Their Legacies Project at Tufts University. Between 2021 and 2023, Kiara Singleton was an American Democracy fellow in the Charles Warren Center at Harvard University, and she has held a number of prestigious academic fellowships. As a public history scholar, Kiara is one of the co-curators of the Boston Slavery Exhibit at Faneuil Hall. She was a member of the Table of Voices cohort at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston for the Hear Me Now exhibit, the Black Partisans of Old Edgefield, South Carolina. She has been appointed to serve on the City of Boston's Commemoration Commission and the Special Commission on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution for Massachusetts. Her accolades have really, really piled up in recent years. There are really too many to mention, but in October of 2023, she received a Women of Courage and Conviction Award from the National Council of Negro women in an official citation from the Massachusetts State Senate for her work in documenting the history of slavery. She is a board member for Mass Humanities and serves on the advisory team for Just Flicks, a youth-focused storytelling organization in Medford. Kiara is also a member of the Board of Public Humanities Fellows at Brown University, which brings together a collection of museum leaders from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She has reestablished the Royal House and Slave Quarters prominence as the only remaining such structure in the Northeast and has worked tirelessly, along with a dedicated board and a small army of volunteers and supporters, to advance the relevance of this special history throughout New England. With seasonal tours and educational programs throughout the year, the museum is one of Medford's true historical treasures. Again, please welcome Dr. Kiara Singleton. you
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I need to make an abbreviated bio.
[Carter]: I abbreviated the one you sent me. I'm serious, Carrie. I mean, you're shaking and moving all over the historical landscape. So yeah, I'm happy to be able to share it. So as is my custom in hosting these evenings, and I hope you'll bear with me, I'd like to share a bit of verse to help shape the evening. You know by now that I believe that poetry should be, above all things, accessible and inclusive. Sometimes, like the times we're in right now, it also has to have a little bite to it. This piece is called We Earned It. A song poet said, no less than the rocks and the trees, we have a right to be here. You want to find corners, cells, closets, fences, borders, and barriers to close us in or shut us out. Study the history, the real history, not the sugar-coated, sanitized, or whitewashed. The Middle Passage wasn't a picnic, a pleasure trip, a sacred crusade, or a pastoral visit. We were kidnapped, hijacked, and in a word, stolen from our sheltering sun, our greener fields, our shady groves, our spiritual pantheons, our melanated diversity, and our cultural divinity. Doors and gates of no return lapped at the frigid waters of our disconnection from the lands, laws, lords, and villages of our native birth. Foreign invaders took our kindness for weakness, took our curiosity for acquiescence, took our culture and our art, our music, our treasured symbols, and our native creativity by force when necessary. And they always thought it was necessary. Confined to cabin and field, quartered and squalor, hired by North Carolina tobacco bonds, Florida cane breaks, Mississippi mudflats, Alabama cotton kingdoms and Virginia plantation subjugation, beaten but never broken, chained but never conquered, bloody but unbowed, ravaged, reviled, and raped, but resolute and revolutionary. We know you don't want to hear it. White fragility is a real thing. Erasure and elimination is a love language for you right now. Nothing new to us. We've been here before. Our freedom has never been gladly awarded, graciously given, or peacefully conceded. There has always been a war that rages of the head, the heart, the body, and the spirit. Always been battlefields, burial sites, scorched earth, and secret societies. There have always been Confederate aspirations, supremacist machinations, violent perpetrations, and terrorist preparations. We've always made a way out of no way. We are not a people of constant need and pauper's greed. We are not a people of government subsidy and happy poverty. We are not a people of locusts, land grants, and entitlements. We are not freeloaders, panhandlers, beggars, or vagrants. We have glory and pride, and we're dignified. We are overcomers. We are the victory over American apartheid. We are the straw that broke the back of chattel slavery and colonial domination. We are not a footnote, a parenthetical expression, or an asterisk. We are creative genius and collective wisdom. We are athletic prowess and aesthetic brilliance. We are civic engagement and political action. We are military leadership, courage under fire, and valorous service. We are builders, engineers, contractors, and surveyors. We are teachers, trainers, and trendsetters. We are history makers, curse breakers, and territory takers. We are healers, heralds, and heroes. We are heroines, homemakers, and humanitarians. We are prophets, preachers, and philanthropists. We are comedians, filmmakers, and risk takers. We are researchers, detectives, and discoverers. We are the straw that stirs the drink, breaks the camel's back, and makes the best bricks. We have earned it. We inherited little other than our good names and righteous faith. We have not easily acquired generational wealth based on labors other than our own. We have not been repaid, reimbursed, repaired, or made whole for the myriad of sins this republic has committed against us in pursuit of its own life, liberty, and happiness. Our hope and expectation is that God sees us and knows that we are called according to his purpose. Therein lies our future glory. Here endeth the poet's story. Thank you. Thank you. So that's how we're going to move. Now let's have a friendly chat with Dr. Kara Singleton. Okay, so Kira, you're not from New England.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: No, I am not.
[Carter]: No, tell us a bit about how you got here and why you stayed.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so although I'm not from, well first, thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure to be in conversation with you and also to be at the West Medford Community Center. I am originally from Camden, New Jersey. So if anyone knows where Camden, New Jersey is, it's right across from Philadelphia. Literally, it's separated by the Ben Franklin Bridge. I grew up there and I went off to college and I went to Minnesota for college, a small school called McAllister. And there, I really, really, really decided that my passion was to study slavery. And from there I went to grad school, from grad school I ended up here and I think it's really been perfect in many ways because not only do I get to write about the history of slavery, something that I love learning about and talking about, But also my job is to do it every single day. And for some people, that can be a little overwhelming. They're like, you really want to talk about slavery every day? And I'm like, I know, I understand. But I think for me, so much about understanding our past is also about understanding our current moment and imagining what a future could be. So I like to think of it as an entryway to also knowing ourselves.
[Carter]: OK, OK, perfect, perfect. What, if anything, did you know about Medford? And can you talk a little bit about being courted by the Royal House Board and becoming the current executive director?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: So it's actually a really interesting and funny story that in so many ways, the royal house and slave quarters, I don't know how to describe it other than my first time in Boston. My very first time in Boston was in 2019. I came for a conference at Harvard, and that was because my advisor left Michigan, came to Harvard, I was living in Atlanta, not necessarily working on my dissertation as much as I should have been. And she called me one day and she said, you know, you know, I went to graduate school straight out of undergrad, too. So I was like all over the place. She said, you know, I always said I would let you wander and then I will pull you back. It's time to finish. And I was like, do I have to leave Atlanta to do that? And she said, do you have funding in Atlanta? And I said, you're right. said you're gonna come on over to Massachusetts because that's where I'm at and that's where you have funding so I said all right so I came and I was like all right let me see let me imagine my life here the conference was at Harvard so I came to check it out and actually a professor at Tufts was giving the keynote and she started talking about the royal house and slave quarters and she's like you know there's a slave quarters in the north. And I was like, no, there's not. I study slavery. I would know that. I'm from New Jersey. I would know that. So I pull out my phone because I'm Googling it and I'm like, why didn't I know this? And so I had all of my friends who were at the conference with me. We went and we took a tour and we just stayed in the meeting room afterwards and we talked and I never forgot about it. And then a year later, the job posting came up, and that same advisor who told me it was time to finish my dissertation sent it to me and said, I think you would like this. And I applied, and I got it. And I mean, honestly, in so many ways, it feels like it's fate. I love my job. I have a really cool job. And at the same time, I felt like from that moment that I encountered it, I was never able to stop thinking about it. I don't know if they courted me or if I courted them, actually.
[Carter]: OK. All right. All right. Well, that's interesting because, you know, and I've asked this question before when I've had, you know, another person sitting in the seat that you're sitting now. Do you think that there was anything significant that, you know, that the hiring committee was looking for that made you like a preferred candidate? I mean, what did they see in you that they maybe didn't see in anybody else that they were talking to?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I can give the non-political answer.
[Carter]: This is a political crowd. You can go with the political answer for these folks.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: So it's a great question. I think there are a few different things. One, I came in as a scholar. And so coming in with the background meant that already there was going to be a different type of engagement with the space for me. In the sense that, you know, I came in and I looked around and I, you know, I went on the tour, I heard the history, and immediately I started thinking about, this is amazing. What else can we do? How can we expand the narrative? How can we do more research? So I would like to say that my enthusiasm was one of it. My training was another. I think the other part of that is also that I am the first black woman to lead the museum. And so on top of all of my training, on top of my vision, you know, it doesn't hurt, you know, to and I'm very proud of that. Right. To say that, you know, I can come in and not only talk about this history because it's important, but I can also talk about this history as a descendant of, you know, enslaved people. You know, you know, so it's it's it you know, I felt like it it felt perfect. And for me, it also felt perfect to also step outside and be really honest about why I do that work. Yes, I do the work because I love history. The other reason why I do that work is because I also learn about my family history. I love helping other people learn about their family history. I love people understanding how integral black people were to the building of this country, the skills that we had. You know, for me it's a point of pride to be able to talk about this history and also to help other people feel and have some pride about it as well.
[Carter]: I love it, I love it, very good, very good. So now you, you came from, you went from McAllister to Atlanta to Michigan to Michigan. OK, then to Atlanta. Yeah. OK. First Jersey, obviously, and then up to Boston. OK, so Boston is clearly different from all of those places. What has it been about this area that has been engaging to you and then what is it that has been most challenging in terms of the other places that you've been and maybe loved a little bit?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. OK, so I'm a part of the very weird few people when people say, do you like it? I'm like, yes, I do. And I always have to, like, brace for people to be like, really? But it's OK. It's now a thing. It's a joke amongst my friends. Everyone's going to be like, uh, Kiara's going to talk about how much she likes Boston. But I think there are a few reasons why I like it. I think one I'm close to home I left to go to college when I was 18. I spent most of my time not being close to home actually And so there's something very special about that. You know, I'm from you know, I the East Coast like, you know, I know how to get around. It feels comfortable to me. I think the other part of it is that this place is full of history. And I can't imagine doing the work that I do anywhere else. It's not to say that I couldn't, but literally you walk the streets and you just understand how historical it is. And more importantly, how many communities have been working to preserve their history and they were doing it on their own before it became the hottest thing to study right now in Massachusetts, which is slavery. And so I think I've learned a lot from community members who have told me, oh, go look at this archive. Have you heard about this? Or I want you to do this or here's this thing that I've saved. To me, I felt very welcomed. And it felt like I was, it feels like I'm here doing what I'm supposed to do and doing it in community and for community. I think what's challenging about it is that Boston is not Atlanta. No, it's not a Mecca. And so I think sometimes a part of when people go, you really like it here? Is that because they don't see many people who look like us. But I am not a person who is going to take that as fact. So a part of what I have done is I've been like, all right, where are the black people? I'm going to go find them. And guess what? I have found them. So it does take a little getting out of, you know, specifically that Harvard Cambridge bubble and going to places and, you know, showing up, like going and, you know, meeting people. And because I've done that, I've built a really nice community. And so for me, I think a part of, you know, I understand why this is a very challenging place, that it's very clear to me. And at the same time, it has had a historic black community since the, you know, 17th, 18th century. And we're here. You just gotta you just gotta find the people.
[Carter]: That's it. That's it. Very good. Very good. So. We're in a, you know, and I said it before, I'll say it again, we're in kind of a challenging place right now, historically. How have the last few years kind of gotten you ready for the next few and beyond that?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Oh, that's a really good question and a hard question. I guess I would answer it like, I'm not even sure it's just been the last few years, you know, I think. we've been seeing so much happen in the country. I think that there's something to be said about seeing the spirit of how people organize, how they rush into the streets, how they demand justice, how we speak back, knowing that there are gonna be consequences to that, but you do it anyway. And so for me, I think I have been really held and inspired by the many activists, whether we're talking about George Floyd, whether we're talking about Palestine, whether we're talking about speaking back against a repressive government right now, people who have always been fighting and remind us that historically, you know, we have to organize in order to win. And so I think for me, the next few years is all about learning. I mean, right now, my moment is about learning in order to make it to the next few years. And to remember that there have been people who have been living through all types of things. And they have been coming up with strategies. And I like to say that at this moment, it's not a time to feel hopeless. In fact, it's a time for us to learn from the reproductive justice workers in Mississippi, who for them, it has always been challenging to have reproductive care. So they've always had to take care of one another and create systems in order to take care of people. we can look to fast food workers who are striking all throughout the country for a better and higher wage, despite the type of violence and retaliation that they were being met with. And so again, there have been people who have been organizing, and they've been surviving. And I think if we also look to Europe and think through the rise of different fascist governments there since 2010, 2011, you also see that they haven't quite taken over. So it's a reminder that there are people in this country and across the world who have been fighting these battles as well, and I think we should be learning from them and with them in order to resist and to keep going.
[Carter]: Absolutely, and at the risk of quoting history to a historian, the Civil Rights Movement never ended. And what is interesting and hopefully engaging is that we now have some generations that have no real reckoning with the Civil Rights Movement who are gonna have to get up to speed real quick, and they're gonna have to get, as you say, out in the streets, because that's where the battle's gonna be fought. So yeah, it's... Okay, so let's go back to the museum for a minute. You've accomplished some things, certainly. What accomplishments come to mind that you're kind of proud of and that you want to see continue to move forward?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I think My biggest accomplishment, or the accomplishment that feels the most important to me in this moment, is that we started an art summer program. in which we work with 10 students, working with artist Stephen Hamilton from Boston, who is a weaver and a painter. And we taught kids how to weave, how to paint, how to do tie and dye, resist batiking. And then when they were done over that seven weeks, They had an art exhibition that opened up at Harvard last year. And to me, it's one of the proudest things I've ever done in the sense of, you know, this is I run a museum on the history of slavery. It is a former plantation site. And yet it's not lost on me that even though, you know, we always need more funding, we can still give back. And so it's one of the ways that we've been doing that with youth programming. And I think just really seeing how students took to the work so quickly, but more importantly, how they mostly were like, I guess, can we do this? The first day, Steven came in and was like, okay, we're gonna make bags. And they're like, we don't know how to sew. And he's like, I know, isn't that something? By the end, you're gonna make a bag. And they're like, no, we're not. He's like, I have you for six hours. I promise you. And then they had bags at the end, you know? And so also just, you know, I think for me seeing how they were skeptical at first and then they trusted us. And then at the end when they could bring their friends and family to the gallery, You know, they were taking pictures. And they were like, wow, we actually did this. This was a big deal. And so I think just providing spaces for students to learn about the history, but also to learn important traditions that came with us from the continent and the Caribbean.
[Carter]: They absolutely did. Absolutely did. Challenges.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Oh, there are lots of those.
[Carter]: OK.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so obviously I think I want everyone to come to the museum. I think there's something really important about being there, walking through the museum, understanding the history. And so it is one of the biggest challenges is how do we keep raising the visibility? How do we keep pushing ourselves through programming, through the way that we tell the history, how do we try to get every school child in the state of Massachusetts to know the name of Belinda Sutton, who is one of the black women who was enslaved on the plantation, but then had a successful petition that gave her reparations, one of the earliest in the country. I want people to know her name as much as they know Frederick Douglass' name, you know? And so the challenge is about, you know, really making that history accessible, invisible, and constantly, obviously, you know, fundraising in order to do the work that needs to be done. But I think for me, a part of the challenge is there's so much to do. And also understanding that I take the work very seriously. And my board takes the work very seriously. And making sure that we still get people there by not just only wanting to talk about the things that I want to talk about, right? Which is like, let's talk about the history of slavery. Do you know about the body of liberties? Maybe that's not appealing to everyone. But what might be appealing is, I don't know, a poetry slam, or a arts program, or sewing classes, which we just did for MLK weekend. And if that is what community members want to do, and that's how I get them into the door, then I guess that's what I have to do, you know? So just being attuned and asking people, well, what do you want to do? What do you want to do here? How can you make this space your own? And then I get to sneak in the history, right? Then if you're here, then you can go on a tour.
[Carter]: And we do it all the time. You go on a tour.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: You can learn everything that I want you to take away from the site, but also not everyone's going to be able to get. to the site. So my next challenge is how do we bring the Royal House and Slave Quarters to Dorchester? How do we bring the Royal House and Slave Quarters to Roxbury? How do we get out to Mattapan? That means that we have to go to people instead of always expecting people to come to us.
[Carter]: Wow, that's brilliant, that's brilliant. So again, we're in this current state of racial reckoning for some, and a growing retreat from a healthy dialogue about diversity, equity, and inclusion for others. What do you think that means for a cultural institution like yours?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I don't know. I'm thinking about it a lot. I'm thinking about it every day.
[Carter]: Yeah, I know we are, too. Absolutely. It's scary, you know. Yeah, it is.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: But. I mean, I don't. I honestly don't have an answer other than I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. And that's because I'm talking about the history, you know? You can't, like, what are you gonna say to me that didn't happen? Like, that's not true. And to be completely honest, I think, you know, these things really, worry me, and at the same time, I am always reminded by something that a mentor told me early on in grad school when I was like, do I even wanna do this? What am I doing? I'm 23, I can't believe I'm here. Why did I sign up for this? I should not be doing this. But I wanna do this, but what am I doing? And I'm like, will I get a job? And she told me, when people started doing black studies, they didn't know if they were gonna get a job. That wasn't the motivation. The motivation was to start these black studies programs, to get their degrees, to do the history, to write the books, so that no one can say that we weren't there. And it's not to say that people do not deserve jobs, I wanna be very clear, but I think my motivation is to do the work. And I'm gonna do the work. I'm gonna do the work publicly, loudly, visibly. And if for some reason I have to reimagine a way to do it, I'm gonna reimagine how to still do it. I'm going to not back down. And a part of that is because I don't know how to back away from telling the truth. And as a scholar, it is literally my responsibility to do that. As a museum leader, it is also my responsibility to do that. But it's also my responsibility, you know, not just to the site, but to my ancestors to do that. And so I think, I don't know, I'm gonna just keep on keeping on. You know, hope that you know, all that matters is that the work can still be done, however it needs to get done. But it is scary times that we're in. And at the same time, you know, it doesn't stop.
[Carter]: It's invigorating as a matter of fact. You know, it's funny because we're kindred spirits in that regard. You know, you as a scholar, me as a poet, I guess I'm a scholarly poet, I like to say that. But anyways, I think probably for the first time in my life as a writer, I had one of those moments where I said, ooh, did I really want to say this? And I think that scared me more than anything else that was going on, is that it put me in a place where I was thinking retreat. But the good thing about it is that my other sensibilities, as yours do, I'm sure, slapped me around real quick. They said, get out of there. You're going to say exactly what you've always been saying, because what you've always been saying is what needs to be said right now. And I said some of it five years ago. I look back on some of the writing that I've done. I said some of it seven and 10 years ago. Chickens come home to roost eventually. They do, they just do. And we're just gonna have to be ready with that hatchet to chop their heads off and watch them run around. And then make wings.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I also just wanna say really quickly that there are people who have always doubted whether or not we're supposed to be here anyway. So there are people who will be like, how are you doing what you're supposed to do? It doesn't even matter that I have the same training, that I have all of the accolades. You know, exactly, most likely more, you know, but people will doubt me anyway. And so I can't allow that to change me because at the end of the day, you know, I am the granddaughter of, you know, a black woman who never finished, you know, high school. So, and she, went to every, you know, she was always watching all the city council meetings. The first time she took me to vote was for a school board election. I didn't even know at the time. I'm like, what are we voting? What are you voting for? You know, come on, this is important, you know? And I say that to say that you know, my great-grandmom survived many things and was never afraid and always showed up. And I think, you know, I learned that from her. So I'm gonna keep on showing up. And yeah, that's it.
[Carter]: I love it, I love it. So, philosophically, you know, you're a museum leader. You know, what's your, What's your thought about what a museum is supposed to do and what it's supposed to bring to the people?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: So I think there are lots of different ways that museums can activate communities. For me, I think that, personally, museums bear responsibility to tell the truth. They bear responsibility to think about all of the publics that they must engage. And more importantly for me, I want the Royal House and Slave Quarters to be a place in which community members can feel like they get to steward the space as well. That they can come and they can reckon with the history. They can come and they can feel as though it is their space to have a say in, and more importantly, I think a place where we can really think about the times, we can think about what is impacting our communities the most, and we can strategize together moving forward. And I think that that's a part of telling the history, right? So you can't come to the royal house and slave quarters and say, man, I learned about the history of slavery, And wow, I'm so, you know, glad that we have moved out of that period in history. No, no, no, no, no. I want you to go to the museum and say, well, how has the history of slavery still impacted black communities today? That is the charge. Right. It's not just to know about the history. It's also to know about how the legacies of slavery still impact people on a daily basis. And for me, once we do that, when we do that, and we allow it to be a space where community members can reckon with that history, and I'm borrowing that from Lonnie Bunch, I think what happens is that it becomes a space that is not only privileged in the sense about who has access to it, but it also becomes a space in which people don't just come on site and feel harmed. I want specifically people to come on site and to feel proud. And it's not to say that it's not a hard history, because it is a very hard history. But while we're talking about all of the violence, I want also people to walk away and say, and my ancestors built this, and they resisted, and they served in the Revolutionary War, and they went and built lives in different communities, and had whole lives. I want people to really think about black people as having a whole world, regardless of whether or not they were enslaved or free. They still had families. they built lives, they had hopes, they had dreams, they had sorrows, but they had a world. And I want people to understand that black people have worlds.
[Carter]: And in that understanding, there's so much healing that gets derived from that. So you can come into a space and learn some of the history and feel harmed, but as you exit the space, based on everything that you've learned and everything that you've been made aware of, now it becomes a space of healing. Exactly. I love it. I love it. It's beautiful. Do you feel like you're positioned for future success?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Yes. Yes. I think it's a great question actually. I do feel like I'm positioned for future success because I have a lot of people who believe in me. I have a lot of people who support me. I have a lot of people who are committed to catching me if I start to fall. And so for me, I feel like the way that I even define success is to be able to have that. That's what makes me feel successful. It's like yes, I do this work and I love this work and I get to talk to people all the time, which I like Yes, but at the end of the day what matters to me the most is that if you call me you might have to call me twice three times I'm gonna answer I'm gonna come through I And I am going to show up for people in the same way that they show up for me. Because we can't do this work without one another. And so, yeah.
[Carter]: Yeah, we're building community and we're gonna build it whether or not people want us to or not. So will you play a little game of word association with me? Of course. OK. All right. So I'm going to give you a word, and I'm going to ask you to please give me a few sentences on what that word means to you. Can we do that? Yes. OK. All right. All right. So the first word, and this is as broadly or as narrowly as you want to define it, the first word is community.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Love. Oh, wow.
[Carter]: OK.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: All right.
[Carter]: Transparency.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Necessary.
[Carter]: Okay, all right. Philanthropy.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Essential.
[Carter]: Courage.
[SPEAKER_03]: Courage.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I'm usually not at a loss for words. Vital.
[Carter]: Okay, okay. Especially right now, surely. Adversity.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I would say adversity is, hmm. Not a limitation.
[Carter]: Wow. OK. I like that. I like that. Perspective.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I would say perspective, what comes to mind is healing.
[Carter]: Okay, okay. Let me push you a little bit on that one. When you say healing, tell me what you mean.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I think in many ways that sometimes when we can step back and we can have perspective, we can see things more clearly. And more importantly, I think just for all of us as individuals, having perspective also means that we give ourselves grace
[Carter]: I like that, I like that. And then finally stewardship.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Stewardship I would say is Diversity.
[Carter]: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Everybody has to be engaged. Everybody gets to play.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[Carter]: Right. And if we do a little bit, we all get to take a trophy home.
[SPEAKER_03]: Exactly.
[Carter]: You know, and it's not viewed as a bad thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: Exactly.
[Carter]: Hallelujah. All right. All right. So five years from now, what will you want the people of Medford to know about the royal house property and your stewardship of that resource?
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Oh. Five years from now. I would say five years from now. I would want people to see that the Royal House and Slave Quarters is not just a house museum, but has the potential and is essential to understanding slavery in the North so that it becomes a center that does so. And five years from now, I want people to say, more importantly, that I made the space more accessible. I made the history more expansive. And more importantly, I made them proud.
[Carter]: Alright, alright. Okay, alright, so this maybe takes a little bit of the pressure off you. I know I've been a little bit rough on you. But you, of all resources in Medford to me right now, are sitting on, you know, one of the true gold mines that we have. So I, you know, I was, when I thought about sitting down and talking with you, I said, you know, I can't left Kiara off easy. You know, I'm gonna have to, we're gonna have to grill some fish on this one. All right, let's do it. So it's all right. Okay, so. I look snapper. Oh, red snapper? Yeah, you Caribbean, Caribbean girl, you know? Red snapper. What would people who are just meeting you for the first time be surprised to learn about you? Oh, that's a good question.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, actually. Yeah. Probably that I'm a little, I'm a little shy. I think I am so much in the public that I talk all the time. But actually, people are quite surprised that if I walk into a space, I will most likely hang out in the back. I always work up the courage to go do the thing, but initially, you know, it's okay. It's okay.
[Carter]: I'm a little reserved. Well, I'm a little reserved. Listen, you gotta let the introvert in you get out sometimes. That I am not.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately. I'm quite an extrovert, but I'm a reserved extrovert.
[Carter]: It's an interesting dichotomy.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think that's probably it. But yeah, I think it's a little thing.
[Carter]: All right, so it's only fair. I've taken some shots to give you an opportunity to take a shot at me. What shots do I have to take? Any question you think you might want to ask, you can do it.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: Um, I guess I don't have any shots to take.
[Carter]: Okay.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: That's wild. Um, but I, I do have a question. Okay. Um, given your illustrious career as a poet.
[Carter]: All right. I'm just going to take the compliment. Okay. Yeah. Um,
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: How do you think we can use literature to respond to these times?
[Carter]: It's funny because it kind of dovetails and takes me back to that moment that I had where I was feeling kind of a little bit scared about some of the things that I might say and how those things might be interpreted by folks. But I think that my duty, and it's actually biblical, it comes from Habakkuk 2 and 2, and it says, write these things down so that a herald can run with it. So I may not be the person that runs with it, but I have to be the person that writes it down. And the other thing is that if there's a generation of poets coming up after me, and they see that I'm scared to say the things that I think I need to say, then they might be scared to say the things that they need to say. So I've got to be, you know, I've got to have the courage of my literary convictions. And I've got to be able to tell the truth and shame the devils. Because there's a lot of devils right now. And if we cower in fear and we don't strike back at those that are striking at us, then we lose. We can't possibly win if we're not willing to fight. And now, I'm not a fighter fighter. I'm a pacifist by nature. But I'm a pacifist with a big mouth. So I've got something to say, and I can say it reasonably eloquently through my poetry. So that's what I'm going to do. And if it ends up being the thing that makes folks who are out there looking for folks that are doing subversive things, I'm just going to have to deal with that. I'm just going to have to deal with that. I'm going to give you the last word. What are your parting thoughts?
[SPEAKER_03]: Hmm.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: I've been reading a lot. OK. And I want to share a quote from Octavia Butler.
[Unidentified]: OK.
[SPEAKER_03]: that I've been sitting with. Let's see if I can find it.
[nzT0OcLHmhc_SPEAKER_03]: So Octavia Butler has an essay in which she says, So why try to predict the future at all if it's so difficult, so nearly impossible? Because making predictions is one way to give warning when we see ourselves drifting in dangerous directions. Because prediction is a useful way of pointing out safer, wiser courses. Because most of all, our tomorrow is the child of our day. Through thought and deed, we exert a great deal of influence over this child, even though we can't control it absolutely. Best to think about it, though. Best to try to shape it into something good. Best to do that for any child. And I think in thinking about where we are today and the reason why we have to continue to do the work is that, you know, as Octavia Butler says, that we should be doing that anyway and for everyone. Absolutely. And so I think my last parting words would be, There's a lot to be afraid of. A lot of people have a lot of things on the line. And I think if we remember that we are all in community with one another. I think it'll help everyone feel as though they can live their most true and authentic life because we got one another. And so, that's where I'll end.
[Carter]: All right, well that's a hallelujah moment, okay. All right, well, listen, thank you for bringing your broad perspective and your great insight to the cultural community in Medford. It's really, it's important where I can't stress it enough that you're engaged in. And I hope the city will continue to treat you well. To everyone watching, thanks so much for your attentiveness and your interest in our discussion, and thanks for coming along with us as we continue to refresh for greater flexibility in bringing the best stories and entertainment possible. I want you to get ready for something very special on the musical side of the coin right after we take a break to reset our stage and share some WMCC announcements. All right? Don't go too far. Melinda, I'm sorry, can you take a picture? We had a quick changeover, so we're going to get back to the business of the evening. OK. OK. It's OK. It's OK. I understand. It's important stuff. Collaborations, it's important stuff. So we're good. All right, all right. As she's on her way out the door, another hand for Kiara. All right. Very, very wonderful. Okay. All right, so thanks to everyone who joined us for MLK over at St. Ray Fields. It really was a wonderful event, community building in its truest and most engaging sense. We have a lot to do, and we will continue to need your participation and partnerships to make things work. For my part, you know, I would hope that the elders continue to join us each week, Tuesday through Thursday, for a nutritious lunch and a vibrant fellowship. Lunch is served at 12 noon. Call 781-483-3042 to make a reservation. And please, consider taking membership in the West Medford Community Center and make sure that we have your contact information for future outreach and news. There are going to be a number of updates over the next few months as we ramp up activities connected to the 90th anniversary of the West Medford Community Center. All right? So if you're interested in volunteering or assisting, please connect with Lisa Crossman or myself, and we'll try and figure out how to get you plugged in. and how you can help us. Your tax-deductible donations help to support the mission of WMCC. Partner with us in carrying the mission forward. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to this vital community organization. You can make your donation by phone, online, or by check. Please contact Lisa at 781-483-3042 for more information or to become a member. Okay. Now it's time to turn to the lyrical miracle we've engaged for tonight's substantive entertainment. Don't you love it? Don't you love it? See, when a man knows what to do, or a woman as well, you know, it just goes so nicely. OK, so tonight we feature a well-established and highly professional performer and performer and performer that has both gained a huge local following and also made some international friends. As a singer and beloved performer and as a musician, and again, one of the greats in Boston, Athene Wilson is another one of Boston's exceptional musical treasures. Her sultry, soulful voice and dynamic personality have garnered her the attention and respect of the region's finest musicians and venues. Athene has shown an unrivaled ability to mold herself into any musical situation, jazz, pop, funk, soul, you name it. She is a singer's singer and is much beloved around these parts. Singing with such Boston musical legends as Leon Beal and David Fuller and Walter Beasley, Athene is a certified star on the local music scene and is a three-time Boston Urban Music Award winner. People around the world have enjoyed her melodic sounds in jazz clubs, concerts, and special events. She is a consummate professional with a vibe that keeps her audience engaged and moving. As one might suspect, she began her singing career at the tender age of seven in a small Pentecostal church in Jamaica Mine. Athene is ably assisted by another local musical legend, my man, the multi-talented musician, keyboard artist, and esteemed collaborator, Rollins Ross, who we've had the pleasure of hosting on several occasions, most recently when he played here with David Fuller. All right, all right, welcome back to West Medford, Athene Wilson and Rollins Ross. I'm gonna get out your way and let y'all do what you do.
[SPEAKER_04]: Let's hear it for Brother Terry, the poet with the most. All right, all right. So I'm so happy to be back here with you all. I was here a couple of times before, and it's always a pleasure to come back. So how y'all doing? Excellent. As Brother Terry said, this is Rollins Ross. So we're going to just give you some eclectic taste today, all right? So as you know, we do jazz, gospel, R&B, and all that. So you might have that eclectic taste today, all right? All right. So in the climate that we're in, Brother Marvin Gaye wrote the song almost 60 years ago, right? And it still is something that we have to reckon with. What's going on? What's going on? I'd like to know. But towards the end of the song, we kind of tagged on something to it. And we kind of gave it, you'll see what I'm talking about. I'll let you know. Mother, mother, far too many of you crying. And brother, brother, brother, far too many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way to bring some loving here today. Father, Father, Father, we don't need to escalate. War is not the answer. No, it's not. Only love can conquer hate. You know we've got to find a way to bring some loving here today. Come on. Picket signs, brother. Picket lines, brother. Brutality. Talk to me, brother, so you can see. Oh, what's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? I still don't know. I hope we find out, though, and soon.
[Unidentified]: Everybody thinks we're wrong.
[SPEAKER_04]: Who are they to judge us? Simply cause our hair's too long, too long. You know we know we've got to find a way to bring some loving here today. Come on. Picket lines, sister, picket sign. Punish me with brutality. You gotta talk to me so you can see. Oh, what's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? And he used to say, right on, right on, right on, right on. ♪ Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Mother, everybody thinks we're wrong, yeah. Who are they to judge us, judge us, simply cause your hair's too long? You know we've got to find a way to bring some loving here today. Picket lines, brother, picket signs. Don't punish me, so you can see. You better talk to me, so you can see. Oh, what's going on? What's going on? What's going on? So here's what we answered the song with. What's going on is you have to spread some love, right? So we just simply say, yes. All we have to do is spread love, love, love. Spread love, love, love. Spread love, love, love. Love. Spread love. Love. Love. All you got to do is spread some love. Give yourself a hand for helping us out. All right. All right. So this next one, Brother Stevie did. And he just said, love's in need of love, right? You can tell where I'm going with this, this whole night. I got to pound it in. We need some love, y'all. All right? Come on. Good morning, evening, friends. Here's your friendly announcer. I've got some serious news to pass on to everybody. What I'm about to say could mean the world's disaster. could change your joy and laughter to tears and pain. You know that love's in need of a little love today. Come on, send it right away, yeah, yeah. You know that hate's going around breaking many hearts, oh. Stop it, please, before it goes too far, yeah, yeah. The force of evil plans to make it its own possessor. And it will, if you let it destroy everybody. We all must take precautionary measures. And the love if you treasure, you'll hear me when I say, you know that love's in need of a little love today. Don't delay. Come on, send it right away. You know that hate's going around breaking many hearts. Stop it, please, before it goes too far. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Ross on keys. So a little jazz for you. Them that's got shall get. Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, and it still rings true, your mama may have, your papa he may have. God bless the child that's got his own. got his own. Rich relations give a crust of bread and such. You can help yourself. You can help yourself, but please don't take too much. Your mama may have. Your papa, he may have. God bless the child that's got his own, that's got his own. Money, you've got lots of friends, and they're crowding around your door. When the spending ends and all your money's gone, they don't come around no more. Rich relations give across the bread and sun. You can help yourself. You can help yourself. But please don't take too much. Your mama may have. Your papa, he may have. God bless the child that's got his own. That's got his own. Crowding around your door. When the spinning ends, all your money's gone. They don't come around no more. Rich relations give a crust of bread and such. You can help yourself, help yourself, but please don't take too much. Your mama may have. Your papa may have. God bless the child that's got his own, that's got his own. Zuh-duh-dee-uh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, yeah. That's God is all. Thank you so much. Thank you. You like that. All right. Well it is go red month as well as black history and I'm all about giving community you know outreach and health awareness and all that. So definitely please take take good care of yourselves. All right. I see the red drapes or the. window dressing. And it reminds me of Valentine's Day, too, which is coming up next week, next Friday. So how about a little Valentine's early for you? All right. Yeah, let's do that. Heart healthy. That works, right? Take care of your heart. funny valentine sweet comic valentine you make me smile with my heart your looks Unphotographable, yet you're my favorite work of art. Is your figure less than Greek? too but weak when you open it to speak. Are you smart? Are you smarter? Baby, don't, don't, don't change one single hair for me, not if you Pretty Valentine, won't you stay? Each day is my Valentine's. Ooh, is your figure less than Greek? Is your mouth a little bit weak? When you open it to speak, are you smiling? Baby, don't, don't, don't, don't you change one hair for me. Not if you care for me. Stay pretty Valentine, won't you stay? Each day is my Valentine's. Each day is my Valentine's. Each day is my, my Valentine's. Thank you. Oh, you make a girl feel nice. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Oh, I appreciate y'all. I really do. I really do. It's all in the music, you know? Oh, thank you so much. I received that all due to God. Thank you. Amen. A little re-read for you. Y'all can dance in your chairs. Though you don't call me anymore, I sit and wait in vain. I'm going to rap on your door, tap on it, tap on it, tap on your windowpane. I want to tell you, baby, the changes I've been going through, missing you, missing you. Till you come back to me, that's what I'm going to do. Yeah. Why did you have to decide? I'm gonna swallow my pride. Baby, baby, please, please, please come see about me. I'm gonna walk by myself just to prove to you our love is true. Listen, you, listen, you, till you come back to me. That's what I'm gonna do. Although your phone you ignore, somehow I must, somehow I must explain. I'm going to rap on your door, tap on it, tap on it, tap on your end of pain. I'm going to camp on your steps just to prove to you our love is true. Till you come back to me, that's what I'm gonna do. Yeah. Come on, Ross. That's a good problem. Living for you, my dear, is like living in a world of constant fear. Somehow I must, somehow I must explain. I'm going to rap on your door, tap on it, tap on it, tap on your window pane. I'm going to tell you, baby, the changes I've been going through. Ž Till you come back to me Ž Ž That's what I'm gonna do Ž Ž Till you come back to me Ž Ž That's what I'm gonna do Ž Ž Yeah Ž Ž Till you come back to me Ž Ž That's what I'm gonna do Ž Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. You have the list? You have the list? Mine's jumbled. OK. All right. We did a little something to the song. I think it's fitting for now. Everything gonna be all right. Everything gonna be all right. Everything gonna be all right, yeah. We mashed it up. No woman no cry. I tell you no, no woman no cry. Oh, yeah. No woman, no cry. I tell you now, no woman, no cry. You're broken down and tired of living life on a merry-go-round. I know you feel like dying, but I see you. We're going to walk it out and move mountains. We're gonna walk it out in mountains. Guess what? And I'll rise up. Rise like the wave. I'll rise up. In spite of the ache, I'll rise up. And I'll do it a thousand times again. And I'll rise up. Rise with the waves, don't rise up. In spite of the ache, I'll rise up. And I'll do it 1,000 times again for you, for you. When the silence isn't quiet, and it feels like it's getting hard to breathe. I know you feel like dying, but I know you'll take the world to its feet. And I move mountains. I'm gonna walk it out and move mountains, yeah. And I'll rise up, rise like the day. And I'll rise up, rise unafraid. I'll rise up and do it 1,000 times again. Rise like the waves, I'll rise up. In spite of the anger, I'll rise up. I'll do it 1,000 times again. For you. For you. For you. I'll do it for you. Thank you. Woo, got me sweating up here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Down to the river, huh? Yes, yes. All right. You said something down by the river. I'm going to lay down my burdens down by the riverside, down by the riverside, down by the riverside. I'm going to lay down my burdens. Down by the riverside, ain't gonna study war no more. I ain't gonna study war no more. Come on, Clay. Ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more. I ain't gonna study war no more. I ain't gonna study war no more. I ain't gonna study war no more. Oh, I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield down by the riverside. Way down. Oh, way down. ♪ I ain't gonna lay down my sword and shield ♪ ♪ Down by the riverside ♪ ♪ Gonna study war no more ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna study war no more ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna study war no more ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna study war no more ♪ One of those freedom songs. Yes, yes. All right. Don't stop now. You said two minutes? Two more. OK, all right. So we went from the jazz to the R&B, and we did the gospel. We're going to stay in the gospel feel right now. All right. alone in a room, just me and you. I feel so lost. Don't know what I'm going to do. So what if I choose the wrong thing to do? I'm so afraid. afraid of disappointing you. So I need to talk to you and ask you for your guidance, especially today, when my life is so cloudy. Lord, guide me until I'm sure. And I'll open up. Hopes and dreams are fading fast. I'm so burnt out. Don't know if my strength's going to last. So I'm crying out, crying out to you, Lord. I know you're able, able to save me. to you and ask you for your guidance, especially today when my life is so cloudy. Lord, guide me on till I'm sure, and I'll open up my heart. So show me how to do things your way. Don't let me make the same mistakes over and over again. Your will be done. And I'll be the one to make sure that it's carried out And I'll ask you for your guidance, especially today, when my life is so cloudy. Lord, guide me until I'm sure. And I'll open up my eyes. All I need is one word, one word, one word, and I'll open up my heart. All I need is one word, oh, one word, one word, and I'll open up my heart. Thank you. Hallelujah. All right. Yes. So one song. You all can help me with this one. I like to end every show where I do, when I can, just simply says, this little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine. Oh, this little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine. Oh, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let me hear you sing now. This little light. Come on. This. Yeah, it's quiet. I hope you can hear this. I'm going to let it. I'm going to let it shine. This little light, this little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Oh, there's a verse that says, everywhere I go, oh, everywhere I go, you're going to do what? Oh, everywhere. I'm gonna let it. Everywhere. Everywhere I go. Yes. I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Big finish. Let it shine. Wonderful choir, thank you so much. Yes, Mr. Rollins Ross on keys. Brother Terry. And West Medford Community Center, yes. And all of you, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
[Carter]: So, Athene and I go way back. Way back. Rollins and I maybe not quite as far, but there was a foundation in Boston called the Coming At You Foundation.
[Unidentified]: That's right.
[Carter]: And they were doing work in the kingdom, you know, real good community work. And that's where I first met Athene. She was one of their featured singers. They had a choir. And they have a choir. They had a choir. And we just clicked. And so when I call, she comes. And it's a beautiful thing, because everybody doesn't have it like that. But I said to her after the first time she came, I said, you come out there and wreck my little community center. Right. And she's come back and she's wrecked my little community center again. So, you know, you're welcome. Thank you so much. All about spreading the love. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen.
[Unidentified]: Amen.
[Carter]: And my man Rollins, you know, he just, you know, just back there. And I call it tickle tickle because that's what he does. He just tickles those keys. And it's a beautiful thing. Listen, thank you all for coming out this evening. sharing this bitter community with us. We need this more than ever. I mean, we need to support each other, we need to love up on each other. No matter what comes down the pike, we need to understand that this is a place that's a safe place in Medford, that people can gather and they can exchange ideas. And they can feel free to kind of let loose a little bit. We're not going to support any foolishness. We're not going to let you come in here and try and tear down the community or tear down the people that we love and care about. But we definitely want you to come and share community with us. Become a member. We'd love to have your membership. And stay tuned for what's coming down the pike, because no matter what's going on out there, we're going to be doing wonderful things in here. Amen. OK? So I just want to thank my dear friend, Athene Wilson, and my brother, my brother, my brother, Rollins Ross. Thank all of you for coming out tonight. We'll have another program in March. It's Women's History Month, but we're gonna enjoy the last of these 28 days of February. It's Black History Month, and we wanna make sure you know that, you know, I'm black every day, but this month, I'm blackity, blackity, black, black, black, so, you know. In case you didn't understand, that's where I'm coming from. But it's beautiful to see everybody in here, all races. And it's lovely for everybody to be here tonight. And so we thank you for joining us this evening. I want to thank my man Kevin Harrington and Mark Davidson from Medford Community Media. Charmaine Alleyne, as always. Lisa Crossman, our esteemed executive director. I see Melinda Reagan is here with us from the board of directors. And just lots of our friends and family are here tonight. We have our octogenarians in the building. We have our nonagenarians in the building. We have our septagenarians in the building, our sexagenarians in the building. Hmm, I wonder what that means. But it's a beautiful thing to see everybody come out tonight. So come back and join us. And don't be a stranger. There's nobody stranger than we are. All right, hallelujah. Have a good evening. Thank you very much.