00:00:00:02 - 00:00:26:21
Dr. Wanda Ingram '75
Welcome Frier family to the second edition of the African-American Reading at Providence College. My name is Dr. Wanda Ingram, and I am the senior associate dean of Undergraduate Studies. And freshman and sophomore class dean. On behalf of the then now next 50 years of women at Providence College Committee which I have the honor of being a co-chair and as a member of the historic class of 1975.

00:00:26:28 - 00:00:54:19
Dr. Wanda Ingram '75
It is my pleasure to kick off this program today you'll hear from many special guests from across the Providence College community who will read excerpts of African-American literature, poetry and songs It is my honor and pleasure to start this program with a reading of Practice Makes People by Amanda Gorman. Practice makes people the making of plans. When this is over the We can't wait.

00:00:55:00 - 00:01:45:06
Dr. Wanda Ingram '75
Really? Are Knuckles rapping against the future sounding out what lies beneath its hall? But tomorrow isn't revealed. Rather rendered refined wrought. Remember that fate isn't fought against. It is fought for again and again. Maybe there is no fresh wisdom. Just old woes. New words to name them by and the will to act. We've seen life lurching back in stops and starts like a wet born thing, learning to walk the air charged and changed us, charged and changed and yoked out eternity for that needle to pierce our arm.

00:01:45:21 - 00:01:52:28
Dr. Wanda Ingram '75
At last, a pain we asked for. Yes, it is enough to be moved by what we might be.

00:01:53:15 - 00:02:06:22
Nedzer Erilus '03
My name is naturalists of the class of 2003 I share with you an excerpt of a longer original piece I composed for this year's MLK celebration entitled A State of the Dream Address.

00:02:09:14 - 00:02:55:28
Nedzer Erilus '03
You are gone, and so goes sight and sense, reason and Righteousness. What now can we say of the revolution of values? When values revolve around the vaunted vanity and the visceral of violence, we are vexed. Oh, death did us part. Death did its part. And does it still while still we sit and scroll and swipe and scream and still we split and slide and sink and scream and still have not done the hours for hours for complexion, commands and complicates and character's content is more content with characterization and criticism than the constitution of kindness.

00:02:55:28 - 00:03:25:10
Nedzer Erilus '03
And care ism than the love that lifts and liberates, than the lessons you taught from the mountaintop. We've lost the footholds of the climb. Or perhaps we do not care to know. You see, we have forgotten not the way, nor the truth, nor the light. We have simply chosen Other Trinity's American Idols Trump the Testaments. But this news is neither fake nor good, nor old, nor new.

00:03:25:16 - 00:03:58:08
Nedzer Erilus '03
Idolatry is the gross domestic product of social and political capital and exploitative entrepreneurs and junior enterprises of extraordinary estrangement. Cutting fever for the favor of fervor and finding fame and fortune even from us. You see, we have not forgotten. We have chosen and our choosing unconditionally, regardless of circumstance, seemingly on conditions of labor and languor. Mountains are too rigorous hills too steep, and prayer too precipitous.

00:03:58:13 - 00:04:32:02
Nedzer Erilus '03
I wish I could find a mustard seed. Maybe then we could move something more. Anything more. Somewhere more. Anywhere more. Oh. Our situation is grave, but gravity compels compliance. So we descend because dropping is easier than daring. Against falling is easier than fighting against death. Descending is easier. Than rising against what is and has always been the pressure of the present.

00:04:33:10 - 00:05:02:07
Nedzer Erilus '03
You did. You dared you fought. You railed and rallied. You arose from concrete consternation. Planting a romance of hope and love. For a moment or two And momentum found you. But for a blink. Still we behold your name. On street signs and statues in ceremony. Scholarship and service. School recess is three day weekends and second months. Yes. February is well past your birthday.

00:05:02:10 - 00:05:12:07
Nedzer Erilus '03
But who else is there to talk about in all these 28 days at all? In 28 days. The shortest four weeks of any year or any phase. Eternally. I guess. The tales of our heroes and accomplishments are not tall enough legacies last. But they do not live. Thank you.

00:05:12:07 - 00:05:36:14
Rev. Augustine Reisenauer, O.P.
Hello. My name is Father Augustine Reisner, and I'm an assistant professor of theology and the director of the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies.

00:05:37:11 - 00:06:02:01
Rev. Augustine Reisenauer, O.P.
I would like to read one of my favorite poems by Langston Hughes entitled Life is Fine and What I Love about this poem is that it celebrates life as worthy of being lived. Life is fine. I went down to the river. I said, down on the bank. I tried to think, but couldn't. So I jumped in and sank.

00:06:02:25 - 00:06:27:08
Rev. Augustine Reisenauer, O.P.
I came up once and hollered, I came out twice and cried. If that water hadn't been so cold, I might have sunk and died. But it was cold in that water. It was cold. I took the elevator 16 floors above the ground. I thought about my baby and thought I would jump down. I stood there and I hollered.

00:06:27:22 - 00:06:54:06
Rev. Augustine Reisenauer, O.P.
I stood there and I cried. If it hadn't been so high, I might have jumped and died. But it was high up there. It was high. So since I'm still here living, I guess I will live on I could have died for love, for living. I was born. Though you may hear me holler and you may see me cry I'll be dog.

00:06:54:06 - 00:07:03:05
Rev. Augustine Reisenauer, O.P.
Sweet baby. If you're going to see me die. Life is fine. Fine as why life is fine.

00:07:03:17 - 00:07:33:16
Amie Mbye '18
Hello, everyone. My name is Amy. I am part of the class of 2018. I also was the secretary for BMC. Today I'll be reading a poem by Mental Trotman that is featured in the impressive collection of essays titled The Politics of Black Woman's Hair. The reason I chose this poem was because my Hair Love Journey actually started at P.S. Drew inspiration from the third and fourth years that I met and Woman Empowered.

00:07:34:15 - 00:08:03:09
Amie Mbye '18
So the poem expresses a lot of my feelings and doubts that I had throughout my journey and also greatly sums up how deeply ingrained, ingrained and resilience in this community are in our culture. So the poem is titled What the Future Have Lost by Amantha Chapman. Chemically, treat it straight in that permit texture eyes it relax it gently, more like fry it as a burning than scratch.

00:08:03:19 - 00:08:33:02
Amie Mbye '18
Try to ignore the smell, highlight it, rinse that diet permanently, color it spiral curling tentacles out, dry it with a hand-held spray of hot air moisturizing cover it with a plastic cap. Pull it back to use it, freeze it most. Gel it, spray it, make sure it has extra hold holds like glue sort of curls won't jump the style won't.

00:08:33:02 - 00:09:03:02
Amie Mbye '18
They had been that sort of roots so ah, it's been it's been more than two months. You're best to cover it. Use the old trick of handfuls of Vaseline and blow dryer damage, breakage, split ends, conditioning treatments, olive oil and mayonnaise. Placenta super growth formula, natural ends and scene treatments because we can't deviate from the norm, got to have long straight hair for him to run his hands through and not get stuck.

00:09:03:12 - 00:09:24:21
Amie Mbye '18
It's got to have bounce. It's got to have body. Can't look like a duplicate of him. Got to look like a woman with hair that slings when you walk. Hair that moves on your hair. The he can run his hands through and not get stuck. So what will Earth Woman do next? And I bid to maintain the norm.

00:09:24:24 - 00:09:42:02
Amie Mbye '18
We really do deviate because the norm before us, before our mothers actually it was before their mothers was kinky hair, dark hair that didn't have to swing and I didn't have to move hair. I didn't have a hand to go through it unstuck to validate its worth.

00:09:42:23 - 00:09:44:27
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Hi, this is Melissa Dubois, associate.

00:09:44:27 - 00:09:48:17
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Judge in the Wet Island District Court and proud member of PC Class of.

00:09:48:17 - 00:09:50:15
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
90 is a great.

00:09:50:15 - 00:09:54:05
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Pleasure to join you today in this year's African-American reading.

00:09:55:07 - 00:10:16:29
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
The following is an essay that I had the pleasure of crafting on behalf of the Committee for Racial and Ethnic Fairness, The Island Court's catalyst for this essay. The Tragic Events in 2020 with the deaths of George Floyd Breonna Taylor and unfortunately many others. I believe that this essay is important because it does a couple of things. First, it acknowledges the role that we.

00:10:17:07 - 00:10:17:25
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
The State of Rhode.

00:10:17:25 - 00:10:22:17
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Island played in the institution of slavery here in the United States. And secondly.

00:10:23:01 - 00:10:28:17
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
It's a recommitment and a reaffirmation that we as one island judges are committed to.

00:10:28:18 - 00:10:35:05
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Equal treatment under law of all of our uses regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation.

00:10:35:20 - 00:10:36:22
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
So I hope you enjoy it.

00:10:37:00 - 00:10:44:11
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
And I do want to give a special thanks to my son, Cameron Harrington. Put together what I believe is a pretty cool video. So thank you and Happy Black History Month.

00:10:50:28 - 00:11:28:02
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Jasmyne on June 5th 2020 more than 10,000 what islanders of all ages, races, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds assembled on the steps of the Rhode Island Statehouse, engaged in a historic and peaceful protest of the spate of needless deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement more broadly. The protest was both a passionate display of grief and anger, along with a unified call to end systemic racism and discrimination that continues to plague this nation.

00:11:29:09 - 00:11:58:06
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
Traditionally, the courts, by way of both custom and judicial canons reserves comment and will not make extrajudicial statements regarding civic and political engagement, but recognizing that this is a moment of inflection for both our state and this nation is imperative that we lift up our voice and reaffirm our commitment to the just in equal treatment of every citizen who appear before us.

00:11:58:26 - 00:12:27:01
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
We must not remain silent in the face of such an undeniable truth, lest we risk jeopardizing the very reason we have a voice at all. From its founding. The word islands story is a twin tale of both courage and controversy. It's important that we celebrate the unique contribution that our city founders played in infusing principles of religious freedom and separation of powers into the formation of our national identity.

00:12:27:20 - 00:13:24:02
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
These principles were boldly codified in our State Charter in 1636 and later captured so beautifully in both our state constitution and the U.S. Constitution. However, it's equally important to recognize and acknowledge the unique and preeminent role that Rhode Island played in the devastating history of slavery in the United States. Our geographically stunning coastline served as a brutal vertex along the triangle trade route, resulting in the amassing of tremendous wealth among prominent Rhode Island slavers and unspeakable cruelty to those held in bondage This nation's original sin slavery and its progeny, including Jim Crow South and institutional racism, have roots here in Rhode Island, and we are committed to confronting it within our judicial system.

00:13:25:19 - 00:14:00:09
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
We want to instill confidence in the black, Latino, Latina and LGBTQ in all underrepresented communities. That Rhode Island courts are their courts. And we will fulfill our constitutional mandate. That they will receive equal treatment under the law. We recognize that the pursuit of justice is not merely an aspirational concept or abstraction. It is a guiding imperative that we as members of the judiciary are duty bound to seek.

00:14:00:20 - 00:14:02:00
The Honorable Melissa DuBose, Esq. '90
And this is what we.

00:14:02:00 - 00:14:28:07
Michelle Trieu '14
Believe My name is Michelle. True. And I'm from class of 2014. Today I have the honor of reading to you an excerpt from that feminist by Roxane Gay. This is a compilation of essays for End by Roxann. Through her lens as a bad feminist and a woman of color. Part of the essay I'd like to share with you is titled The Racism We All Carry.

00:14:29:09 - 00:14:56:17
Michelle Trieu '14
This essay is interesting because it calls out subtle racism that we experienced probably more often than we even realize. So let's get started. My downstairs neighbors moved out. They were Korean college students. I never met them, but they seemed nice enough. They played loud music, but it was never enough of a nuisance to complain. Who doesn't like to party?

00:14:57:14 - 00:15:20:23
Michelle Trieu '14
When I went to pay my rent at the beginning of the month after they left, my landlord's receptionist began detailing the extraordinary measures they were taking to air out the apartment. Because you just wouldn't believe the smell. I nodded because I truly had no idea what to say. And then she leaned into me and whispered, You know how those people are.

00:15:22:08 - 00:15:46:18
Michelle Trieu '14
This was one of those rare moments in which I got to see the rules of racism in action in a multiracial context. A white person felt comfortable confiding in me. In that moment, we were all in us conspiring against them. I couldn't think of anything snappy, so I simply said, I have no idea what you mean. I walked away.

00:15:47:02 - 00:16:14:00
Michelle Trieu '14
I wasn't interested in playing a game where we bond as we reveal our racist secret selves to each other. Later, I felt guilty. I hadn't used that moment to educate the stranger about race based generalizations. I wonder why she thought she could reveal that causal racism in mixed company. I wondered, as I often do about people, what she truly thinks about me.

00:16:14:19 - 00:16:35:19
Pamela Tremblay
Hi, my name is Pam Trembley. I'm the director of Service, Immersion and Social Justice and the Office of Campus Ministry, and I'm really humbled to be invited to join you all today. The poem that I selected is a poem by my Angelou that has been passed to me by my mom and gotten her through some tremendously difficult times.

00:16:37:06 - 00:17:09:21
Pamela Tremblay
And these words have continued to be true in our family and shared among the women in our family. And that poem is phenomenal woman Phenomenal woman, Pretty Woman. Wonder where my secret lies. I'm not. You are built to suit a fashion model size, but when I start to tell them they think I'm telling lies, I say it's in the reach of my arms, the span of my hips, the stride of my step, the curl of my lips.

00:17:10:09 - 00:17:38:14
Pamela Tremblay
I'm a woman, phenomenally phenomenal woman. That's me. I walk into a room just as cool as you please. And to a man, the fellow stand or fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me. A hive of honeybees. I say it's a fire in my eyes. And the flash of my teeth. The swaying in my waist and the joy in my feet.

00:17:39:03 - 00:18:05:15
Pamela Tremblay
I'm a woman. Phenomenally phenomenal woman. That's me. Men themselves have wondered what they see in me. They try so much, but they can't touch my inner mystery. When I try to show them they say they still can't see. I say it's in the arch on my back. The sign of my smile. The ride of my breasts, the grace of my style.

00:18:05:28 - 00:18:32:16
Pamela Tremblay
I'm a woman. Phenomenally phenomenal woman. That's me. Now you understand just why my head's not bowed. I don't shout or jump about or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, I ought to make you proud. I say it's in the click of my heels. The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, the need of my care.

00:18:33:00 - 00:18:38:03
Pamela Tremblay
Because I'm a woman. Phenomenally phenomenal woman. That's me.

00:18:39:21 - 00:19:06:03
Elysia "Missy" Cunnigan '23
Vote by Nikki Giovanni. It's not a hug. Enormous ritual at Christmas. It's not a colored egg at Easter. Bunny hopping across the meadow. It's a vote saying you are a citizen. Though it sometimes is chocolate or sometimes vanilla. It could be female or male. It is right or left. I can agree or disagree but and this is an important fact.

00:19:06:27 - 00:19:28:19
Elysia "Missy" Cunnigan '23
I am a citizen. I should be able to vote from prison. I should be able to vote for the battlefield. I should be able to vote when I get a driver's license. I should be able to vote when I can purchase a gun. I must be able to vote if I'm in the hospital, if I'm in the old folks home, if I'm needing a ride to the polling place.

00:19:29:04 - 00:19:57:00
Elysia "Missy" Cunnigan '23
I am a citizen. I must be able to vote folks were lynched. Else were shocked. Those committees were gerrymandered. Folks who believed the Constitution were lied to burned out and sold because they agreed all men and women were created equal. Folks, that folks vote to make us free. It's not cookies nor cake, but it is the ice cream that is so sweet.

00:19:57:27 - 00:20:03:25
Elysia "Missy" Cunnigan '23
Good for the folks. Good for us. My country tis of thee. Hello.

00:20:03:25 - 00:20:19:24
Adebimpe Dare
My name is out of Pandora and I am the assistant director of Multicultural Student Success and Providence College so I'm sharing a piece from Langston Hughes called Census, which is based on one of the many stories he wrote around the character of Jessie Semple from Harlem.

00:20:20:07 - 00:20:43:10
Adebimpe Dare
So simple as his called Throughout the story, is approached by a census taker who was asking him about his existence. And he talked a little bit about all the things that he has gone through, the many hardships, his journey to get where he is, the pain and suffering. And these take on the highs and lows of life and how he wants to be counted before it's all gone.

00:20:43:22 - 00:21:10:15
Adebimpe Dare
And so the story relates to me as myself has gone through many hardships and journeys and continue to find my way around. And you want to be counted. So here I shall read Census. I've had so many hardships in this life that simple That is a wonder. I'll live until I die. I was born young black vote, less poor in Hungary and a state where white folks did not even put Negroes on the census.

00:21:10:28 - 00:21:32:01
Adebimpe Dare
My daddy said he was never counted in his life by the United States government and nobody could find a birth certificate for me. Nowhere. It were not until I come to Harlem that one day the census taker dropped around to my house and asked me where where I was born and why also my age and if I was still living I said, yes, I'm here in spite of it all.

00:21:32:11 - 00:21:53:14
Adebimpe Dare
All of what? Asked the census taker. Give me the data. All my corns and bunions, for one. I said, I were born with corns. Most colored people get corns so young they must be inherited. As for bunions, they seem to come natural. We stand on our feet so much These feet of mine have stood and everything from soup lines to the draft board.

00:21:53:24 - 00:22:17:09
Adebimpe Dare
They have supported everything from a packing trunk to a hungry woman. My feet have walked 10,000 miles running errands for white folks and other 10,000 trying to keep up with colored. My feet have stood before altars at crab tables bars, Gray's kitchen doors, welfare windows and Social Security railings. Be sure and include my feet on that census taken.

00:22:17:09 - 00:22:37:01
Adebimpe Dare
I told the man Then I went on to tell him how my feet have helped to keep the American shoe industry going due to the money I have spent on my feet. I have worn out 700 pairs of shoes. 89 tennis shoes, 44 summer sandals, and 202 loafers. The socks my feet have bought could build and netting mil.

00:22:37:10 - 00:22:58:20
Adebimpe Dare
The razor blades I have used cutting away my corns to pay for a raise. A plant. Oh, my feet have helped to make America rich. And I'm still standing on them. I stepped on a rusty nail once and mighty near, had lockjaw and from my feet up. So many other things have happened to me since. It is a wonder I made it through this world in my time.

00:22:58:20 - 00:23:28:07
Adebimpe Dare
I have been cut, stabbed, run over, hit by a car, trumped by a horse. Rob Ford to see double crossed del seconds and mighty near blackmailed. But I'm still here. I have been laid off, fired and not rehired. Jim crowed. Segregated, insulted, eliminated. Locked in locked out, locked up, left, holding the bag and denied relief. I have been caught in the rain court and jails, caught short with my rent and caught with the wrong woman.

00:23:28:07 - 00:23:50:04
Adebimpe Dare
But I'm still here. My momma should have named me job instead of Jessie Bee. Simple. I have been underfed, underpaid, undernourished, and everything but undertaken. Yet I'm still here. The only thing I'm afraid of now is that I'll die before my time. So, man, put me on your senses. Now, this year because I may not be here when the next census comes around.

00:23:51:04 - 00:24:10:07
Adebimpe Dare
The census man said, What do you expect to die of complaining? Now, I said, I expect to ugly away. In which I thought the man would laugh. Instead, you know, he nodded his head and wrote it down. He was white and did not know I was making a joke. Do you reckon that man really thought I am homely?

00:24:11:26 - 00:24:12:26
Adebimpe Dare
Thank you for listening.

00:24:21:02 - 00:25:06:00
Footprints Gospel Choir
Why? Don King. Jesus. No, you're not going down the right on King's Jesus, right? No, man. I hate that. I mean, no man can offend me right? Don King. Jesus. No, you're not going down on me. Jesus. I don't know, man. And I ain't got no man. I and I don't ride on King. Jesus. Oh, man. And I think I'll be right.

00:25:06:00 - 00:26:12:02
Footprints Gospel Choir
Don King. Jesus. Right. Oh, man. Oh, man. And I mean, not me. Right on, King Jesus. No, man. They're not in me. Right? King Jesus. I don't know, man. You're not me. I'll be in that great morning. Wow. Wow. And that may not like making you loud. You have that break. You know, morning. And now when it's got away, you know me in that way.

00:26:13:02 - 00:27:29:01
Footprints Gospel Choir
Ain't got nowhere to go, man. And I'm gonna say things that say, you know, no, man, and I ain't got me, but it's me. And I know, man. And I'm been one of those things like. Oh, man. And I think I know what those streets are gonna be. No, man. And like Don King, that, you know, that he got me off on Kings you know, I think we go back and, I mean, I don't ride on things that, you know, I can't I mean, I my games right now and I think, you know, man and I think I know no, man, no man.

00:27:30:01 - 00:28:24:20
Footprints Gospel Choir
And I know, I know. And I know where you can go oh, man. And I mean, you know, and I ain't no oh, man. And, you know, you know, man. And, you know, I mean, you know, man, you know, man, and I and me.

00:28:29:19 - 00:28:53:19
Brianna Harper '22
Hi, my name is Brianna Harper. I'm a senior here at Providence College, and I will be reading a portion of teaching to transgress by bell hooks Today, we live in the midst of the floundering. We live in chaos, uncertain about the possibility of building and sustaining community. The public figures who speak the most to us about a return to old fashioned values embody the evils King describes.

00:28:54:04 - 00:29:23:22
Brianna Harper '22
They are most committed to maintaining systems of domination, racism, sexism, and class exploitation and imperialism. They promote a perverse division of freedom that makes it synonymous with materialism. They teach us to believe that domination is natural that it is right for the strong to rule over the weak, the powerful over the powerless. What amazes me is that so many people claim not to embrace these values and yet our collective rejection of them cannot be complete since they prevail in our daily lives.

00:29:24:26 - 00:29:46:29
Brianna Harper '22
These days, I am compelled to consider what forces keep us from moving forward from having that revolution of values that would enable us to live differently. King taught us to understand that if we are to have peace on Earth, that our loyalties must transcend our race. Our tribe, our class, and our nation. Long before the word multiculturalism became fashionable.

00:29:47:03 - 00:30:11:18
Brianna Harper '22
He encouraged us to develop a world perspective. Yet what we are witnessing today in our everyday life is not an eagerness on the part of neighbors and strangers to develop a world perspective, but a return to our national ism. Isolationism and xenophobia. These shifts are usually explained in new right in neoconservative terms as attempts to bring order to the chaos to return to an idealized past.

00:30:12:14 - 00:30:50:16
Brianna Harper '22
The notion of family evoked in these discussions is one in which sexist rules are upheld as stable as in traditions. Nor surprisingly, this vision of family life is coupled with the notion of security that suggests we are always most safe with people of our same group race, class, religion, and so on. No matter how many statistics on domestic violence, homicide, rape and child abuse indicate that in fact the ideals patriarchal family is not a safe space, that those of us who experience any form of us are more likely to be victimized by those who are like us rather than by some mysterious, strange outsiders.

00:30:50:28 - 00:31:05:01
Brianna Harper '22
These conservative myths persist. It is apparent that one of the primary reasons we have not experienced the revolution of values is that a culture of domination necessarily promotes addiction to lying and denial.

00:31:05:10 - 00:31:44:02
Adetola Abiade '95
Hi, my name is Adam Levine. I and I graduated in the class of 1995. Music is poetry and poetry is music and I am grounded every day in my face and focusing on the importance of being present. And there is a quote that inspires me from Martin Luther King that I always hold dear in my heart and it is the code that says faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

00:31:45:01 - 00:32:11:08
Adetola Abiade '95
And when I need to reset, when I need to slow down before I go fast, when I have doubts, when I need to pick myself up or focus on being resilient and having courage and being inspired, I tap into music. But music does not create itself. It's the lyrics in the wisdom of the lyrics that make it so.

00:32:11:24 - 00:32:28:07
Adetola Abiade '95
So I am going to sing a song. It's a gospel song. Called I Know Who Holds Tomorrow. And that is poetry for me. And I hope you feel what I feel when I sing a piece of this music. For you right now.

00:32:30:15 - 00:32:33:09
Adetola Abiade '95
I don't know.

00:32:35:28 - 00:32:39:10
Adetola Abiade '95
Oh, well. To my.

00:32:39:10 - 00:32:40:29
Adetola Abiade '95
Soul.

00:32:41:14 - 00:32:45:22
Adetola Abiade '95
And I just.

00:32:45:29 - 00:32:48:06
Adetola Abiade '95
Live.

00:32:48:15 - 00:33:11:17
Adetola Abiade '95
From day to day. I don't borrow from it, sunshine. I always scare you. Maybe you turn to gray, and I.

00:33:11:17 - 00:33:14:29
Adetola Abiade '95
Don't worry.

00:33:15:15 - 00:33:24:05
Adetola Abiade '95
About my future. So I know where.

00:33:24:06 - 00:33:26:06
Adetola Abiade '95
I see.

00:33:26:14 - 00:33:45:04
Adetola Abiade '95
That's and to date, he was really sad to be here. For he knows what lies.

00:33:45:11 - 00:33:46:07
Adetola Abiade '95
Ahead.

00:33:48:12 - 00:33:50:03
Adetola Abiade '95
Many.

00:33:50:03 - 00:33:53:11
Adetola Abiade '95
Things are.

00:33:53:11 - 00:34:48:03
Adetola Abiade '95
About to now roll I don't see any need to come down and I stay where I am. I know. I know. I know. Who tomorrow night. I know. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, my yeah. I guess who holds my hair

00:34:48:03 - 00:35:08:06
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
Hi. My name is Ann Manchester. Moloch, executive vice president and member of the class of 1975 I'm honored to share today's final reading taken from a book called The Souls of Black Folks, published in 19 03 by William De Bois a black historian, scholar and sociologist.

00:35:08:13 - 00:35:38:20
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
Dubois same passages. More recently a reference by Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the recently published New York Times 1619 project Your Country. How came at yours before the pilgrims landed we were here. Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours. A Gift of story and song. Soft stirring melody in an ill harmonized and un melodious land.

00:35:39:16 - 00:36:08:13
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
The gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness conquer the soil and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire 200 years earlier than your weak cans could have done it. The third. A gift of the spirit around us. The history of the land has centered for thrice 100 years out of the nation's heart, we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst.

00:36:09:03 - 00:36:53:27
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
Fire and blood pressure and sacrifice have billowed over this people, and they have found peace only in the altars of the God of Right. Nor has our gift of the Spirit been merely passive actively. We fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs. And generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise, not justice, mercy and truth less the nation, be smitten with a curse our song, our toil, our cheer and warning have been given to this nation in blood brotherhood are not these gifts worth the giving?

00:36:55:08 - 00:37:44:01
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
Is not this worth the striving? Would America have been America without her Negro people? This is our national truth. America would not be America without the wealth from black labor, without black striving, black ingenuity, black resistance. So much of the music, the food, the language, the art, scientific advances, athletic renown, fashion, guarantees of civil rights, oratory and intellectual inspiration that we export to the world that draws the world to us, comes forth from black Americans, from the people born on the water this is black Americans legacy to this nation.

00:37:45:23 - 00:38:09:06
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
We cannot change the hypocrisy upon which we were founded. We cannot change all the times in the past when this nation had the opportunity to do the right thing and chose to return to its basis, inclinations we cannot make up for all the lives lost and dreams snatched, for all the suffering endured. But we can atone for it.

00:38:09:21 - 00:38:35:11
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
We can acknowledge the crime, and we can do something to try to set things right, to ease the hardship and hurt of so many of our fellow Americans. It is one thing to say you do not support reparations because you did not know the history, that you did not understand how things done long ago helped create the conditions in which millions of black Americans live today.

00:38:37:07 - 00:39:16:16
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
Nationalized amnesia can no longer provide the excuse. None of us can be held responsible for the wrongs of our ancestors. But if today we choose not to do the right thing and necessary thing, that burden we all Thank you for watching today's program and for joining us in the celebration of Black History Month. I hope this event has inspired you as it has for me to continue to learn more about the many contributions of African-American artists, scholars and writers beyond today and beyond the month of February.

00:39:17:06 - 00:39:17:22
Ann Manchester-Molak '75
Thank you.