wow [Music] my name is t michael thomas i'm the founder of a program called the people's academy today we're here to celebrate black history month and the artists in and around boston i live in dorchester in district 3. what you see here today is a sample of stuff that was created by me and the ultimate goal is is to take all this stuff and to to uh to expose the need and more for black artists in and around the city the commonwealth also in the back here there's a rendering of a building that we open someday to build a natural trade school for individuals that lives in the boston area but i'm really honored that i was included and asked to be part of this process for black history month i thank the city i thank the mayor and thank all the councillor especially councillor baker for honoring me to be part of this city thank you hi my name is chris tyler i'm from matapam massachusetts and i'm a boston-based photographer i've been practicing for about i want to say almost 10 years what it means to me to be honored today at city hall um in play in playing statement it means a lot um only because just being born and raised here i feel like i never see people from my town get honored for black art or just being artists in general from the city that they're from i feel like oftentimes people who are honored they're outsourced from other places and um to see my peers around me finally get the recognition even outside of myself it it's it's like everything's coming full circle and it's very heartwarming so yeah it doesn't mean a lot hello my name is alan mclean and i'm from dorchester massachusetts i've been in boston my entire life since the 1960s to present and i'm honored and thankful for this wonderful award being presented by counselor ed flynn and it's great to be an artist during the pandemic this was my own self therapy that i did and what you see behind me is a lot of people that that i pay close attention to some of the things that are going on in the real world and have a great influence superintendent norah bassin who is a great friend of mine the work that she's been doing in the community i have to do a painting of her and uh kaepernick and also lebron james and mr terence clark so everything that you see is a reflection of myself and the kind of work that i do here in the community i'm from dorchester so this this really means a lot and it kind of tells me that you know i'm actually doing something right so i'm very excited for today and for all the other artists that are here today with us how you doing my name is mark i'm a local artist from roxbury this is one of my pieces it's called rx78 it's a resin piece acrylic and uh abstract and today i'm being honored by the city i guess and it's pretty dope to me that the city actually acknowledges the local artists so it's pretty dope peace my name is ivan i'm here uh representing jp aoa supply i'm here by way of counselor lara she was she's been a great supporter of mine she's known me since i was like 13 14 years old so i'm very blessed to be here and have her support as well so a little bit about my artwork i started off getting into graffiti that's what got me into art so a lot of my art is inspired by graffiti urban whatever you want to call it i call it graffiti i was a graffiti writer first so you can see some of the aesthetics and a lot of my artwork hip-hop based on and stuff like that so i like working with colors mixed media collaging scraping spray paint brush work and stuff like that and um when i got word that um that laura wanted to honor me for my work it felt um very humbling very i've known kendra for a long time and she's been a great supporter of my work but for her to you know take it to the platform where she's at now um it makes me realize my my a lot more my place in my in this community and what type of impact my art can continue to have in the community hi i'm nariah and i go to the boys and girls clubs of dorchester and i take part in an art program here at the boys and girls club and i've created some art pieces that are here i did one with oprah representing that she's a young entrepreneur who created many successful businesses and i also did walter here including with another artist and she has created repair products for black african americans and has inspired many women to join schools feels great to be here today honoring these proud women and men who've done great things in society i want to thank you all for joining us today in our annual black history event this is an event started many generations ago it's usually hosted and led by the lead or the oldest african-american or black person in the city council this year that's me and i'm honored to kick off this tradition it is the first time i'm able to host it it'll also be unfortunately my last time hosting it as i'm going to be going to the senate in april and i just wanted to say i'm honored to be here with my sisters in service all of them now freshmen but are freshmen at this event but certainly not freshmen as leaders in their community and i just wanted you to have to see this all of us here together julia mejia also part of the planning team couldn't be here today but hopefully she'll be able to log in with a quick message at about 3 45 and also brian royale he is on his way and he is also was part of the planning team but i just wanted to welcome and say thank you and i wanted to then just quickly turn the microphone over for some quick welcoming remarks from our freshmen leaders here and then i'm going to then we're going to kick it off with the black national anthem we'll start with the freshman at large rootsie hello everyone um i'm rudy luigen city counselor at large and i am really happy to be here during black history month to celebrate a black artist there's a lot that we have to celebrate in our community's uh collection of our you know our story isn't only one of struggle it's also one of celebration and of joy and of of making it through despite all the circumstances and so we have a number of uh wonderful talented artists here today showing off the beauty of our culture uh showing off the range of our talent and i'm so honored to have this be one of the first things that i do as a city councilor so thank you all for being here um lydia i hope the food is good that we ordered and i hope everybody is able to uh have full stomachs at the end of this really peace and blessings to all of you and thank you for coming out and being here thank you [Applause] how you doing can we say can we say can we say how you doing good afternoon good afternoon help me out assalamu alaikum [Music] that was good that was good that was good um peace and love everybody black history month is extremely important to us all and i in the spirit of camaraderie and sisterhood or brotherhood i wanted to just make a statement about what i've been feeling this month um considering this is actually my first time talking like this um publicly it's not my major speech um i just i wanna i want to share with you um a small portion very briefly of my experience thus far and how it's been the struggle of juggling and navigating uh local government while trying to advocate for our people in the city of boston we are doing a lot right we're here to celebrate and we're thinking about what this means to us from from from from the time of kings and queens in africa right as an african immigrant i can i can attest to that and where i come from and from the time that my ancestors the african-american left me behind in cape verde islands at the translating safe trade port in west africa i want to share with you how important it is for us to continue to unite as one community as one brotherhood as one people because as i continue to go into these meetings in the community there are so many beautiful people those of us in the community or those who have paved the way the african-american people who have paved the way for the brown and black immigrants in this country the people in boston and in roxbury of course who have put out their blood sweat and tears sacrificed their time their energy and nurtured boston to what it is today we know that we have a very long way to go but today i ask you to join us in celebrating and extending grace to each other and covering each other and loving each other and hopefully that we do this work and we continue to fight so that we can reach equality or equity in the city of boston i mean that from my heart i look forward to connecting with you i look forward to servicing you i look forward to working for you i humbly give you myself for this next two years insha'allah god willing i do a good job in the next two years that i serve you with my full heart so that we can all reach a point where we are living our lives with dignity and health for all thank you so much i think lydia you're going to do the portuguese but i can do it i can do a creole botanical so that's it then the speech is over all right thank you [Applause] i don't know how to follow that up my name is kendra lara i'm the district six city councilor i am incredibly incredibly excited to be here not only as we set up celebrate black artists but as we celebrate black history and for me it's incredibly important that the black women who are standing behind me come from all places of the diaspora we have haiti represented we have cabo betadine we have the dominican republic and to me it's a testament of what black history looks like in this country and right now as we're celebrating black artists as a black artist for my myself one of the things that is very very unique about black artists in particular is that our art is not just a creative practice but it's a vehicle and a catalyst for community transformation and so as you walk outside in the halls and you see the art from artists all over the city of boston and from all of the different districts you will see that it's embedded with our history it's embedded with our love but it's also embedded with our struggle and our fights and our visions for the future so i'm really excited that we were able to bring this to you all today and i'm looking forward to seeing all the artists thank you thank you portuguese no okay so no one's being crayol maya crayol i know right all right thanks okay so i'm very honored and uh again yes we represent all aspects of the diaspora of course i'm representing the us and and it's it's a beautiful thing and one of the things that we have created in our traditions of the united states is the black national anthem and so i wanted to introduce our singer of that anthem a guest of uh councillor regin varsity if you please if you would please come to the diaz good afternoon everyone just as she just introduced me i will be singing the black national anthem i'm also haitian and i can say that all of the churches that you see in boston made up this voice so i'm so proud of what you black women are doing in this community you guys are amazing and everyone else who is around you lift every [Music] voice and heaven ring ring with the harmonies [Music] let our rejoicing [Music] rise highest the sky let us march on till victory is one [Music] single song full of the faith that our dark past has taught us singing a song full of the hope that our present has brought us [Music] facing the [Music] rising sun [Music] till victory is one so the rhythm of today is basically going to be we'll introduce the counselor they will introduce their artist present them with the citation and then the performance will begin for those artists who came here and have been demonstrating their art we will make space and time for you also to come up with your city counselor and say a couple things couple brief remarks about your art and maybe even demonstrate some of it so if you wanted to go and grab either a painting or a piece of art that's fine we'll give you more than advanced notice though so up first i'm very excited to introduce um we have ashley rose it's actually wonderful if ashley rose could come to the dias ashley rose is actually um was nominated by councillor mejia come on up come on and we will have we will hear a beautiful piece from her a poem that she's written and um she will present that shortly and then councilman here will join us come on come on all the way up to the microphone if you want okay thank you thank you um good afternoon everyone i'm really excited to be here today hi jessica how are you o'brien tigers um clearly i'm so formal right i'm so formal up here um so i'm really honored to take this um citation today under julie mejia um i've watched julia do this work prior to any city counselor type of stuff um i watched her as she set up for c plan i watched her work with parents i watched her work with myself i watched to work with both public private charter schools so it really means a lot for me to be here today um and i think julia the poem i'm going to read for is different than the one that i wrote for her in particular but on this one i'm gonna give it to zip your own dress um julia thank you for being a woman who taught us to be independent for taking a stand for latinas but more importantly for remembering that haitians are actually part of latin america so thank you julia for that one all right so in life you're gonna have to learn how to zip your own dress adjust your own bra straps button up your past forgive those who do you wrong let go of old grudges ham all loose ends you better tailor your pants and ego sister a loose tongue has been known to make the best of us stumble and trip remember that less is more when it comes to words in france choose carefully be picky with companionship like clothes it's quality over quantity don't let out what you don't want to replace find yourself first hold on to who you are because those lost ones will try to steal your respect style and integrity when getting dressed accessorize with humility accent your beauty with self-efficacy and accept the scars of your past stop hiding who you are under that cheap foundation because sister concealer can't conceal your past remember that prayer is the primer of life and it will allow you to hold on to your self-worth so i dare you to start the trend and not follow it don't borrow love or a dress for a one-night stand honey you gots to own it wear it wash it rock it and when you see fit love exchange and return it i need you to put it on proudly by yourself sister wear your independence with confidence i want you to fasten and secure your dreams with a belt of belief i want you to consciously clean out the clutter rid yourself of condemnation find consecration you were born consecrated i need you to take your stained pass to the cleaners iron out your soul hang up the self-hate you are beautifully weighed made way too valuable to ever go on clearance so don't ever settle or sell yourself short i don't care if you're in sneakers keep your head held high like you're standing on spiritual stilts you're a sister in stilettos find sovereignty and sisterhood and realize that when you walk past the mirror god made everything on you a perfect fit and even if you choose to wear a pantsuit and live in a penthouse remember you're not an independent successful woman until you reach back and make sure another sister doesn't have to zip her own dress thank you julia for making sure we have a space here for zipping your dress for us i love you thank you [Applause] that was incredible and inspirational yes yes um help me get you wonderful we just um counselor he is actually on our zoom so i think we're going to pull her in carrie can pull her in on the if anyone can see it i don't know xi'an awesome go ahead counselor mejia oh no you're muted also on the zoom is counselor flynn but we're going to get you unmuted don't worry councilman here we see you we see you we see you we see your finger too we saw you we see you don't worry working on it this is my fault i know i unplugged everything i shouldn't have unplugged everything and while we get uh council mejia situated just wanted to let folks know so um as we're getting performances ready um go ahead and try again councillor mejia okay good afternoon can you guys hear me well first of all just thank you counselor edwards for creating this amazing space for us to celebrate um all of our artists um i'm super inspired unfortunately i'm not able to be there i'm doing a fellowship program that kept me from being with you all in community but i just wanted to uplift my sister ashley who i have known for years and who has always shown up in her true authentic self utilizing her words to uplift our people to to tell her like it is and to bring joy into so many spaces there have been so many events from congresswoman presley from myself and a host of other electeds that have um collaborated with ashley to ensure that not only is she uplifting our people but that she's spitting that truth as you all just seen so ashley so incredibly grateful to uplift you and your amazing work here in the city of boston thank you for blessing us with that beautiful poem as always you killed it so lots of love to you and all of the artists that are being showcased today thank you thank you [Applause] so i'm now going to invite counselor warrell to the diaz and he will be inviting up his artist castle of our skins good afternoon everyone i'm excited to be here today to celebrate black history month with my colleagues and i love the fact that the theme is black artist black artist is very important to me because i grew up for a love of music there's one thing that i believe that brings people together or two things it's music and food and here we are celebrating the art part of it so today we are well i'll be giving a citation to and recognizing ashley gordon who is named one of wuber's arteries 25 25 millennials of color impact and boston's arts and culture scene violas ashley gordon is sought after as a as a soloist chamber musician educator and speaker she has recorded with switzerland's ensemble proton and germany's assembled modern performed with grammy nominated a far cry string ensemble and appeared at the prestigious bbc prawns festival with the cheniki orchestra ashley is a passion advocate for diversity on and off the conscious days thank you [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] hmm [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so that wasn't that was beautiful um i i don't know what else to say i played the oboe in high school and never anywhere near as good so um but i think that just speaks to the talent within our community within all our community and especially what we're celebrating today is also what boston what is black boston let's not forget that too many cases we find our city represented by maybe one or two different kinds of groups only we're boston and that's what this also means too it's a celebration of our history as assist as a city our multiculturalness as a city uh our blackness as a city as well i am excited now to bring up [Music] kamari jones kamara jones could come to the front i'm smiling because i've known kamari since he was i want to say in middle no elementary school he's big and grown now uh i've known him since uh he was he was a zoo mix kid and zumix is a non-profit organization that teaches kids music how to produce music to get on radio to do all sorts of things come all the way back here unless you want to perform up and i remember meeting him when he was junior biggie then he just became biggie because he's grown but now he's his own self his own voice and um carrie i want to make sure you're all set with the backtrack carrie's good um i don't know if you want to start to play it a little huh we're good okay so i'm going to just do you want to do it here do you want to do it what makes sense okay so i'm going to just turn the mic over to kamari jones from east boston um before i say anything i just want to say shout out to everybody that's in the building you know this is when she texted me about doing this i was like you know this is something that i like to do for the community i'm always like doing shows i've been in the hip-hop scene since i was like 11 or 12 around just like doing shows around boston i got my first show in new york tomorrow so it's like a lot of things going on at the moment but i will say i will say for like any artist that's in the city especially if you're like musician there's like a lot of like hate and jealousy nobody wants to like support each other but like things like this when we all come together and like do stuff it's like it puts on something that's way bigger but i'mma kick it off for the acapella and then like i'm gonna do a song that's um on my album that i can check out on all streaming platforms i know a lot of people pronounce my name camarie calamari it's a whole lot but the acapella i wrote this prior when i was like i'll say 15 16. i'm not even gonna lie i'm not gonna last i wrote that when i was like 17 i probably wrote around like 15. so it goes um kamari jones so it goes i come from a city where it's dry landing pool communication lack of investments on the housing just cause you dressed in blue and give you the right to mess with our point of view alone in the truth a life saving displayed on the stretcher newspaper not getting the right story charged with the same crime but not getting convicted the whole system is constructed on stereotypes catch a young black male at night try to accuse them of shooting that happened the other night very blues they choose whether you make it home tonight i extracted my whole life i'm seeing what's right we should have unity fluently written in stone forever so we can stay better do they get them fresh me to see what's in my possession you hold up a scholarship they consider that as a lethal weapon as you are progressing that's that's my first acapella and this the second one the second one is actually more upbeat it goes on it goes something like it's called gamble so um whenever you know the dj for tonight wanna [Music] they said it's playing but i couldn't even hear it i need to get my hearing let me get my hearing aid out [Music] oh maybe we're going to wait a bit but if not i can do that verse acapella i'm no problem we do acapellas i'll just try to do the verse um it goes now when you hit it just know i'm out of your league white teen no long sleeve just let your arms breathe especially in the summer she flipped with me that's the old snap okay to be all right so we can run that back dj you can run it back yeah i know like i mean this is this is like sort of like a hip-hop show so i can see i'll watch your hands up a little bit if you wanna get your hands up a little bit hey yo shout out to my homie melodic that made it y'all could check this out on [Music] check this out yo yo yo now when you hear this just know i'm mighty in league white sea no long sleeve just let your arm breathe especially in the summer she flipped with good night rest to get you to top speed we don't we make y'all do it for us no fuss needed cheated death so many times got the reaper heated i'm holding on to your paper it ain't a secret peep it my thumbs walk through rocks and stones rock that's no problem stop me trying to get it on like i'mma be this way my name until i stone never been to jail but spirits over the phone it's written in your face and gotta be showing papa's got a brand new bag of efforts i'm an expert i'm known as a dude who write raps in the desert well y'all just shouted the lord be [Music] still be my office it's a warning before you enter you always know i've always been a censor you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life you ain't got to tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life and when you think of me you think of a problem you can't stop the kid long as the sea's fed i'ma get to the bread and got no worries been had the game pulling things in their thirties at these birdies cause they follow me on my journey table ladders and gurneys you get hit with them all and no obsession i look happy even through the depression not good with directions but i got a mind so i'm good with correction follow up the date rhymes perfection maybe i'm just biggie resurrection with my own section all sorts of kicks with a collection show no love no affection strictly aggression fine for fame i'm a blessing the booth never aged following the youth when i touched the stage you already know i'm aged it don't matter you can get your career on a silver splatter you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice yeah i'm cool don't gamble with your life you ain't gotta tell me twice yeah i'm nice young cool don't gamble with your life yeah that song right there is called gamble [Applause] i hope you all enjoy that one you guys you guys can follow me on you guys can follow me on ig twitter i don't know which i use yahoo aim just i don't know skype but um i'm all ig at kamari c-a-m-a that's jones with an underscore you won't just see a dude in an afro that's me my profile picture but yeah so c-a-m-a-r-i-e-j-o-n-e-s and i just want to say shout out to lydia edwards and his city councillors and this light is beaming on me sweating up here but yeah shout out to here's your everybody i want to make sure you got your citation when i heard the citation i thought i was in trouble i was like oh snap [Applause] and adrian says hi too adrian modero thank you so much you all saw the sun come out when he was performing and this is a shout out to zumix and madeleine brzezinski many of you know who she is she has been doing this for well over 30 years generations of young kids who wouldn't have access to musical instruments uh to production uh training all of these different things she's created a whole community of folks and kamari is part of that um i'm gonna now before we go into the other artists who are going to be joining us on zoom or physically here we did want to give a shout out to our physical artists who were here today so i'm going to go ahead and have i think i'm going to go and have there's we have chris nevia from council lejeune louisiana i'm sorry that's crazy um if you want to come come up and then on deck would be um copper man and uh councillor baker so they can come up afterwards and then of course we'll have let's see counselor flynn might be on the zoom so we'll have him join us and of course counselor um we have counselor laura as well has an artist so we'll just go ahead and start with council and is your artist here with some artwork okay great hi come on just present yes wanna present this wonderful citation her artwork if you have not seen it she's a photographer a young woman from mattapan mattapan stand up who has graced us with her great photography so if you had not had a chance to check out her work check it out in the hall her name is chris nevaeh chris i'm not sure if you wanted to tell people a little about your artistry but i also wanted to present you with this citation on behalf of the boston city council during black history month thank you for your talent thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us today [Applause] thank you guys my name is krista vay i am born and raised in boston um my work is mainly to promote and uplift to black people especially black women and children this is why this this opportunity really means a lot to me because i feel like whenever i'm in an art space i rarely see black artists or just artists from my own community so i just wanted to thank you so much for just in along with the rest of the council just creating and curating the space to really see us so thank you of course thank you thanks for being here um i also wanted to give a a citation to varsity uh marty noel who sing so beautifully our national anthem so thank you varsity just want to also present you with a citation on behalf of the boston city council in celebration of black history month thank you for sharing your your joy and your voice with us thank you and one last shout out to my staffer hodin um who's back there who has been instrumental in helping put this event together so hodan you are a testament to the to the magic and beauty of black women and i'm so grateful to have you on my staff thank you council baker good day everyone frank baker district 3 dorchester thank you lydia for putting this together um today i have the honor to introduce a friend of mine but but before i get into t michael i'm going to talk about the boys and girls club of dorchester a little bit there you go so i i took the liberty of bringing two organizations in artists uh more than just one artist because i wanted the the the kids from the young people from the boys and girls club to be able to come here and talk about the field house that we're trying we're trying to build over in dorchester and columbia point um the reason why because the field house i believe will put kids on a path to a healthy living and a healthy healthy lifestyle and wrap around services so i brought them here so they could meet different counselors and they and you could talk to them and see what the field does is all about it's going to wrap into school it's going to be it's it's going to be everything from music athletics healthy eating healthy lifestyles and just how to how to how to live in boston i guess so that's the boys and girls club they're up in the back there thank you guys for coming out here today we got them some lunch so i think that they're gonna be okay so we're looking to raise about 30 million dollars for them up there so you guys whoever's got a checkbook let's get it going and the other organization in the head of this organization is my man t michael thomas who we grew up together we we ran the streets a little bit together um so he knows me and i know him we call him the copper man because of his his beautiful artwork that he does also attached to his artwork t michael is a is a um a metal bender by by trade sheet metal metal bender is what you would call it yeah so he is part of the the people's academy which is trying to train young people into the trades and in that trade in in him becoming a tradesman and and he had the good fortune of growing up in a neighborhood in dorchester where someone took an interest in him years ago i won't put it i won't put a number on your age they reached back and they said you're going to need some help son they brought him in and they trained him on on his trade here now and he's giving back here now we also have um a building plan for him if we can raise the money for it on warren and quincy street and brian in your in your district where we have warren and quincy yes warren and quincy district four i believe it's you brian we'll figure it out we'll figure it out but but anyways he's here not only as an artist but if someone that's that's giving back to the community in a true way he's working with with people young people that really need the help the building that we're talking about with with t mike and and the people's academy is we're looking to to have a new sort of program where it's job training on the first law and then wrap around services housing on the second third and fourth floor for people that are returning citizens coming back oh so part of part of um when you're irish in march march 17 you wear green so t michael said you got to wear the colors of africa here so that's what i'm doing here big up big up so i wanted i wanted mike here to come t michael here to come and introduce himself and if you guys would would give him some time and put you on your schedule we can learn about his program already i already know about it if i had the money i'd spend the money and build the building myself but we're going to need help from all everybody here and also the administration across the hall i've spoken enough i think we're at a time in history what's happened in the last in the last two years it's time for us as elected us as people to really wrap around the black community and support the black community in a real way not in just talk and and i brought these two groups in here youth development young men young women development we need to put our money where our mouth is here so that's it's more for me it's it's art it's learning it's all of those things my man camani talked about the unity we have to really get together on this support our programs and and and please make some time for the boys and girls club and for t michael from the people's academy they call him the copper man he's a special individual team mike like russell simmons will do thank you i'm just kidding no um seriously i want to thank the future um rep former counselor it's a bigger spot signing a big spot but seriously that's a great accomplishment i applaud you for that you're a hard worker and i really thank you but i also want to thank all the other uh counselors for the work that you guys have been doing and also the new counselors but this is a time that councilor baker just said that we really need to chip in together the construction industry is a billion dollar industry and if you research how many coppersmith of color there are in existence i want you to do the research remember the face and see how many that are copper smith but the construction industry is is one of the keys to the middle class right now the president of the united states said we're short three million construction workers imagine if a lot of these individuals who's been incarcerated who came home had an opportunity to learn a career path we all know they're not going to go to the military or to college why not teach them a trade with a trade you could survive a lifetime you could take care of your family community the economy it's time there's enough funding there's enough resources there's no reason why we cannot have a trade school in the dorchester roxbury mattapan area but together is the only way we could accomplish this and i reach out to every elected official the mayor wu let's work together we're looking for a partnership with our training component at people's academy we also have a manufacturing piece that will create jobs shovel ready jobs right now thank you for allowing me to speak i hope you like our presentation thank you again thank you so counselor flynn i heard is uh excited to address us council president flynn um should become let me know i can't see the camera when he comes on um we're gonna have him address um in a little bit just text him he's not ready um oh there he is okay council president flynn hi councillor edwards it's on it it's an honor to be with you and our colleagues in the city government and i want to first apologize for not being here i'm feeling a little bit under the weather but uh the first day i missed in about four years but i'm honored to be with everybody over zoom um first i want to say thank you to you counselor edwards and also to the um other counselors as well for hosting this in our central staff team i the opportunity to nominate a person and i chose a person that i i believed in and i knew um about his accomplishments and that's al mcclain and many many of you have seen his paintings in and around city hall recently there's a great photo of some boston celtics but also there's a great photo of superintendent bastian from the police department but what what i respect about al mclean is his commitment to the youth of the city bringing people together white and black in in other ethnic groups especially during the difficult times in boston in the 70s and 80s and 90s during racial turmoil but al mclean was there and he was bringing people together through sports my good friend brian will mention that a lot of people are brought together through music and academics and i'd also like to and i agree with them but i'd also like to add the incredible role sports plays in society and al is not only a teacher in a youth coach but he's also an effective artist he works closely with so many different organizations across the city i was just with them several months ago at the craft center in the dudley area with with my father maya flynn watching watching a basketball game of young people in the city but it was al mcclain bringing people together different backgrounds finding common ground bringing out the best in them through sports and talking after so i just wanted to highlight al wanted to say thank you to al we're proud of you i'm proud to be a friend but i'm more but more so we want to say thank you al to your commitment to bringing the city together but also giving young people the opportunity through sports and education uh thank you well thank you thank you so much councillor flynn and councillor flynn gave um a citation we have it here councillor flynn that will present to al and your words are incredibly powerful about the i think there's a certain artistry to sports that a lot of us know uh the way it's performed the skill set necessary and there's a true beauty to it and so i wanted to present this on behalf of counselor flynn this is his citation to you in recognition of you bringing us together through your art thank you thank you good afternoon everyone can you hear me okay hi my name is al mcclain i came to boston in 1965 and i came up from montgomery alabama um when i first came to boston we were trying to escape alabama to come up to a better place where there was hopefully a better opportunity for my family coming up at six years old being hard and coming from the south you always see the signs that said blacks to the back and things of that nature um you can't drink out of certain fountains well i saw those things at that age and it's always been in my head and it just comes to think that why do we have signs like that um i consider myself a king a woman a black person black man and i never wanted to drink out of the water or go to the back of the room or back of the bus because of those signs so coming in here coming to boston in 1970 and mayor raymond flynn he was our mayor but he was at one time he was a great basketball player he played at providence college he was inducted into the basketball hall of fame and he was drafted by the boston celtics so as a young man and that being my mayor i paid attention to mr raymond flynn i say that to say that i'm a product of boston right now i hold the city and i'm so proud of my city and i learned from mr mayor raymond flynn and what i learned was i carried that to college i went to the university of new hampshire in 1984 i was drafted by the houston rockets emulating some of the things that i saw around me i was inducted into the basketball hall of fame and currently now i work for the city of boston teaching kids how not to make mistakes and just to let you know you can ask questions when you don't always know the answer this has been a wonderful a wonderful road that i'm climbing right now today is my birthday so i'm a little bittersweet okay thank you yeah it's been so i just turned 62 and the legs are hurting a little bit more but i feel good i want to thank council ed flynn for this wonderful acknowledgement and i'm super proud of the city and i can't wait to do work thank you all and i believe a lot of their work is still in on the fifth floor so please um as we're headed to uh our late lunch please go by and see some of their work um we're gonna come a little bit out of order uh as one of our performing artists has a time crunch so we're going to go ahead and have counselor murphy come up and she will be introducing kilomo dokimado and courtney in their um artistry of capoeira you thank you counselor edwards and thank you everyone this is a wonderful experience so i am honored to introduce capuela angola which is an afro-brazilian art dance ritual that africans and indigenous natives used to combat the trans-atlantic slave trade this resulted in over 200 villages of escapees which were reportedly the first multicultural democratic republicans in the republics in the americas this group his group is called colomba nova which leverages the power of this practice to assist those impacted with poverty oppression marginalization and traumatic stress this last semester students taught over 150 youths weekly in boston public schools in montessori schools to improve school climate support social and emotional learning and to help students cope with the biophysical impact that the pandemic has caused all of us if you know courtney gray and i found out many of us do because we've had many visitors in the office since he showed up a couple hours ago so if you know him you know he doesn't really need any introduction he is a wonderful man he ended up in my life when i needed him most he's a healer and i know we will all join in and be healed today from his group and his art so thank you so much [Applause] so so [Music] so so so so [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Applause] um distance uh um about why they joined this article or something why somebody else you know you're used to speaking right you started writing when she was 15. and then we're going to sing we're going to ask you the fact and then here's the thing the quality of your singing is going to determine when we do the movements whether or not someone gets purged if you sing badly someone gets hurt but know that this art form is a different form of fighting that does not result in someone being knocked out or and one thing that no is that bad singing is not about your tonality or whether or not you have a hopeful beautiful voice it is about the energy you bring do it does your song send love and positive energy and hope to people or is it about something else so we invite you not to perform in your singing but to use your singing as a way to share the kinds of energy that will bring the healing we need i um my community over a decade my son is here um [Applause] and this thing about what you transmit is more important than the quality of sin uh [Music] fast as the ocean um wraps around 70 of our planet the same salinity as our blood and our tears and after the judgment between water uh and so one of them [Music] [Applause] uh the masters thought they were singing nonsensical songs but we were like this is the signal we're sending this people because he was freezing tonight but like wait in the morning it was in america every place into diaspora we escaped with stuff like this so the song says open the way for me give me my way to pass through because there's no way for us to survive this thing this oppressive thing we've never seen human beings that do this other people and multiply and add versatility [Music] building in the city we're going to echo it through the walls through this one of the few concrete city halls of the country we're going through the concrete to where the wampanoag people live before these buildings okay okay so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] all right oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] bye [Applause] oh [Music] hey [Applause] my [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] ai [Music] hi [Music] oh so [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] wow we have a few more a few more artists to recognize before we go eat and i just wanted to acknowledge before you guys please don't leave because there's some artists here who have art also to celebrate with all of us so up next we have counselor arroyo council royal has an artist and i believe he's joining us via zoom or council royale might us be on the zoom um and then we'll have counselor laura and then we'll conclude with council flaherty who has a special artist that all of us know very well am i can you guys hear me in my am i good to go oh i can hear you there we go on the main list uh and so i just want to make sure that uh central staff or whoever's doing this tease up we sent a video in yesterday to central staff to make sure that they can see it up so that they can play i want to thank everybody who's there in person i was there earlier unfortunately i wasn't able to be there now but i'm grateful watching your performances and you sharing your art with us so i just want to thank all of you uh for doing that uh it is my great honor and privilege to introduce wyatt jackson uh who is a legend in boston he's an emmy award-winning dancer recording artist and actor uh mr jackson began performing throughout the newland region with his own hip-hop crew in the 1980s which makes him cutting edge because that's when this was all really starting and getting uh getting uh national recognition uh he worked with acclaimed boston new theater for seven seasons he was later cast in the european tour body and soul where he worked with tony award winner george faison mercedes ellington and the european avant-garde producer and director andre heller upon finishing that tour mr jackson landed a reporting contract with warner brother records uh under the corporate direction of actor michael douglas uh the hip hop and r b duo here and now makes vodaval spotable style storytelling and popular music production uh and he dropped several charcoal releases uh with two hit songs are you ready and taste in love again uh the latter landing him the soundtrack to the terminal pictures released losing isaiah he currently produces media for our leaders cbs pbs vh1 mtv bt uh and murky mercury polygram records he's also a teacher uh and is a high park resident and native who is deeply entrenched in sharing his art with people but also creating community uh through his activism i am like greatly honored that he is here today i see him on the zoom so if we can transfer to him i'm gonna give him a moment to say a couple words i have a citation for you sir i'm dropping it off to your house so you will get it that way uh and so i'm gonna give you the floor now uh so you can say some words and sort of speak to your career and what you mean i remember i you know people know me when my brother's a music artist and uh mr jackson and his wife are community activists and i knew them in that way and he walked up and said oh you don't got to introduce yourself i know who you are and so many folks might know who mr jackson is i want to make sure that y'all know who he is and give him the floor now and then we'll play a video of one of his most recent pieces of work uh which as all things he does has a message so the floor is yours mr jackson thank you for being here with us sure can you hear me yes okay well first of all i just have to say seeing courtney gray and both their friends reverend mariama hammond together working with capoeira and brazilian culture it's just mind-blowing to see that in the chambers of uh city hall it's it's it's it's like it's almost like you're dreaming seeing that so i just want to say a huge shout out to both of them and all of you who are there um i've been around long enough to see that this is a different city hall now so i'm very thankful to be seeing this in real time and with real ground-breaking folks that i know who are doing the real work let me just quickly say that with respect to the arts we've always been about breaking the fourth wall meaning not just doing your art in a theater or in a concert hall um going out to the street working with people who have a voice who want to speak up and say something and because of uh all that we went through a couple of years ago now i can say that a couple of years ago 2020 i got a phone call from grammy award-winning producer jen rubin who said to me man look we have to do something and i said okay what do you want to do he said i really can't write it wyatt you have to write the song and i'll produce it and so we came up with a song called as we speak and uh the subtitle is get up and it really is one of those things where you take all that stuff that was going on and you put a positive spin on it and as it was said earlier your intention is to make sure that positive energy goes forward even in the midst of one of the most challenging seasons that america and the world has ever faced you still put something positive forward so the song you're about to see is about saying get up and do something as the world was going through what it was going through and still to this day we still have a lot of things we have to deal with so here's the song and i hope you enjoy the message in it and most importantly thank you for this honor i don't take it lightly all right so thank you [Applause] [Music] as we speak from the land of let's go crazy jim crow decides rice [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] don't pretend [Music] growing stronger [Music] language [Music] [Applause] mother should have to tell her baby that others will avoid him judge him hate him hunt him just for the color of his skin what kind of world are we living in broken unjust divided within show your face show your pain choose to love choose to make a change [Music] [Music] as we speak as we speak thank you so much i would invite uh counselor laura and then council fernandez and then we'll have i'll conclude with council flaherty and our special guest council lara good afternoon everyone thank you so much for coming i am very very excited to [Music] be honoring ivan riccias as our artist for district six [Applause] ivan riccias is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in boston massachusetts as a first generation dominican male growing up in jamaica plain income inequality was not the only thing he became aware of at a young age the graffiti art that laced the walls of the subway underpass lit a flame of inspiration that has transformed over time into a passion for activating public spaces abstracting type strategic branding guerrilla marketing expressing the human experience and obsessing over color theory the hieroglyphics of the streets awakened the genuine desire to learn everything he could about the art form and its history learning and becoming part of the graffiti culture led to a journey of self-discovery and art-related mentorship before serving as an elective arts teacher at fenway high school and charlestown's diploma plus program ivan was a youth worker and program coordinator at beantown society a youth serving organization in jamaica plain which i am a proud co-founder of his summer seminar course hip hop's role in oppressed communities a vehicle for social change highlights how the creative arts catalyze community transformation ivan's public art and commissions include the black boston icons mural in grove hall the lubiana outdoor gallery at black market and restaurants like rhythm and wraps oasis vegan veggie parlor and el barrio restaurant ivan exemplifies what it means to use your skill and talent to further the liberation of black people across the diaspora which is why it's my honor to recognize him on behalf of our office and all of district six ivan [Applause] i mainly want to express my gratitude and how proud i am of kendra um kendra's been a like one of the most one of the biggest supporters of my art in times when i wasn't even aware of like when she's thinking about her people her community and she's always reached out to me in that way so i'm i'm extremely humbled i have i wish i could say much more because i've been watching kendra shout her lungs out behind every campaign uh social justice movement in jp from high square task force up until now and to see her in this chamber where we used to be here fighting for the youth pass fighting for all sorts of stuff like i'm behind here now by way of her and this to me is really really big um i owe it oh more to the community to to to everybody here you know this is really big for me um so thank you very much i appreciate it um i'm going to invite counselor uh fernando's angela but before i do that i want to recognize we have a special guest here a tuskegee airman talk about black history please stand for our tuskegee airmen enoch woodhouse also known as woody who is here all right he told us to continue all right sir we listen um counselor all right um y'all don't notice but you know i'm actually a singer too so i was going to perform some real quick i believe the children are fusion sensible chocolate that's it that's all you'll get um it didn't come out as i planted my head i thought it was funny um i wanted to present uh today i wanted to present my or not my artist but um the artist that we brought in today um is it is here with us sorry um but before i do that i just wanted to shout out some artists in my office um although they have many talents professionally but also artists kalamu kieta my director of community service and communications um who is a visual artist and much more um aline mercury who is a choreographer and a director for theater plays she's not here with us today my director of constitutional service as well as my chief of staff joshua mcfadden who is also an artist yep [Applause] and myself um shout out to taylor andre my baby my sweetheart an activist a fierce radio host tv real estate entrepreneur mom and artist in our community i thank you so much for all your activism and your work i want to present today the citation to mar please join [Applause] us thank you mar for your service as a co-founder of aoa supply which is dedicated to using artistic expression to bring communities together and inspire others to use their own creativity as a roxbury native he is most motivated by creating artwork in his neighborhood and was recently one of the lead artists in the black lives matter mural in nubian square additionally he was a curator and organizer for black book sessions a series of weekly events for artists to collaborate and share their work mars diverse artistic style from abstract to graffiti incorporates intricate lines and blocking that makes his work unique and for presenting and being honored as an outstanding artist of black history month celebrating in the boston city council thank you so very much for your work [Applause] i'll keep it short but uh thank you very much for having me here and um yeah i'm just like honored to be here with the room for everybody of color as well what i'm saying is crazy to me but thank you very much you guys can see more of mars art and other artists we have our art space in the district 7 council office where you can come and see art wall we are just playing all local artists there thank you and last but not least i'm inviting councillor flaherty to the dyess he is going to introduce our local artist in residence who is part of our city council family and city council staff and so i'm excited for council ferrari to come and uh with this uh council flaherty thank you council edwards good afternoon everyone uh and happy uh black history month it's an honor and a privilege to serve as your at-large counselor and congratulations and best of luck to all the artists that were here today in in all of your future endeavors for those that do not know i'm here to introduce our very own candice morales who many who who many know as uh she's the city council uh communications assistant but uh not a lot of folks know that um you know that uh she has um she's got very talented obviously and she's also the founder uh director and producer of six stone productions and so while she's hard at work every day here on the city council she has an outside full-time job and she finds time to use her artistic talents in a variety of ways filming short bits for clients as well as writing directing and producing her own series of short films and one that hopefully we'll see her earn an oscar with which is titled girls so council redwoods had asked that we be brief and not have long speeches so i know candace will be offering some words she's saving her grand speech for when she does win the oscar but i just want on behalf of all of uh the colleagues here on the city council congratulate candace for her great work and to keep up that great work not only here on the city council but as you continue to pursue your artistic dreams and all the best with girls so come on up here hi everyone thank you um i will be brief because i know you guys are hungry now but i just wanted to share something with you all the other night i was watching a tv series in fact i was binge watching i was up until three am i had to be here at seven or up at seven to be here but on my way to work that day i was thinking about the series and i was so amazed by the amount of black people that were on screen and the amount of black people that went into creating that series so i started to reflect on my own life and my own childhood and when i was growing up i was around a lot of people who could paint and draw sing play instruments create music and i couldn't do any of that so growing up i thought i wasn't creative i didn't think there was anything artistic about me at all and it wasn't until i saw a great representation of black people in film that i realized i can do this so i immersed myself into that art and i found a way to express my creativity so later that day i came into work and i found out that i was going to be honored as a black artist in boston so i'm really grateful for that and i thank you counselor flaherty for recognizing that in me i mean before i go i just want to say black people have been creating art for years and for years black people have sometimes created art out of absolutely nothing at all so despite the barriers before us we're going to continue to create art i'm going to continue to create art and like my shirt says i am black history in the making so thank you all so much [Applause] with that um i think that's a wonderful wonderful note to conclude this segment food is next for those who want to come over thank you all so much for participating in this again my first and last time leading this but i'll see you at the state house um thank you all i love this as i couldn't have thought and i want to thank councillor fernandez anderson she actually helped come up with the theme along with council lejeune and councillor lara and your leadership council rowell thank you so much you are in good hands in the city council [Music] wow [Music] you