[Music]
good afternoon my community its best
resource is people it’s what drives me
to action it is amazing to see African
American males school-aged walking the
street during school time and not being
seen it is amazing how the unintentional
looks the unseen individual are the best
resources that we have in our community
but folks don’t want to see them they
don’t want to hear him one of the young
men that worked with me told me said you
know Miss honest folks don’t see us
unless we’re really smart or we’re
really mean there’s no in-between but we
as a people we have to make the in
between rural communities matters rural
communities matters have mattered for
years and years and years I grew up as a
tenant farmers daughter as you saw in
the video and I’ve seen tenant farmers
and domestics in eight and nine kids to
school on tenant farmers and domestic
salaries now if you can’t tell me rural
doesn’t matter who can make that happen
this day and time no one rule mattered
then and it matters now in ninth in 2009
we had a very progressive thinking
superintendent and it amazed me that
school-age african-american boys were
walking past the Board of Education
during school time and teachers saw this
administrators saw this and even parents
saw this but nobody really wanted to see
this so he came to me and told me he
said you know we have a building but we
don’t have any money he said it again we
have a building but we don’t have any
money and if if you think that we give
you this building could you do something
with it
so me being the person that I was having
a
I’m sure in mental health I said you
know I can do this I can make my rural
community matter I can make a difference
and what’s happening in these boys lives
so what I did was I traveled throughout
the summer and I found 117 school-aged
african-american boys and I opened up
the hive house Burtie hive I’ll turn to
school we kept those cool kids in school
from 7:30 in the morning until 9 o’clock
at night and what amazed me was the
crime rates for juveniles went down in
Bertie County but it went up in all the
other counties and I think that that
happened because we had the kids in our
presence they were learning things from
us and we took the time to learn things
about them one of the things I decided
to do when I opened up the hive is I
wanted a fresh face I wanted fresh
things for the high I wanted fresh
people because if you’re a teacher and
you’re just in it for the money
and you’re not in it for the kids kids
won’t learn I was sharing with someone
earlier that I like to make up words and
one of the words that I like to make I
made it was fake eration now children
know when you’re fake children know when
you don’t really want to be there with
them and you’re just buying your time
and watching the cloth so what we have
to do is put ourselves in that child’s
position you think about sitting at our
office desk for eight to nine hours and
your boss really don’t want to talk to
you really don’t want to be there with
you really don’t want to help you in any
way just put yourself in that position
how would you feel would you want to be
there would you want someone to to come
and talk to you and ask you to do
something No so we’ve got to put
ourselves in the place of those children
that we’re supposed to serve the hoff
house was my baby it was an opportunity
for me to not only help my children in
the community but I also had an
opportunity
to help the families in the community
because if you don’t change the thinking
of the families it’s no need to work
with the children the mindset of parents
have to change in rural communities
because if you you do tell yourself that
or if a parent is telling themselves I
didn’t buy a 200 dollar pair of Jordan
and put on this child feet to wear but
I’m not willing to buy a five dollar
book for them to read that thinking has
got to change you’ve got to change your
priorities and if you don’t change your
priorities with your parents in your
communities the children are not gonna
go anywhere in the video you saw that we
took the children pass from them and a
lot of people don’t understand that a
lot of people are captured by their past
who’s your mama
who’s your dad was your granddaddy a
drunk was your uncle John and when you
you come in a classroom and people
already got perceptions about you and
what you’re gonna do in life that
destroys a child’s mind that destroys
their self worth worth and I finally
miscues school system today that a lot
of teachers are doing that they already
decide the faith of children before they
even get started so building bridges is
the thing today and in the rural North
Carolina we don’t say bridges we place a
planks you know you put that plate you
put that plank cross that ditch and you
hop that plane well plank to me means a
lot because when you lay planks down you
got to put one behind the other to
reinforce what you’re doing the PM
planks the first thing is your people
you have got to be invested in your
people and for this thing for my life
and for my community my people are my
children my african-american children
who are the gold mine and the untapped
resources in our community the L is my
life
I grew up poor I grew up a tenant
farmers daughter so I’m not coming in
from the outside trying to be the white
knight trying to save or the Black
Knight in this case trying to say
folks on a horse they know that I know
how it feels not to have food to dig in
the couch and try to get up enough money
to buy a loaf of bread to stay in the
house without lights I’ve experienced it
I’ve experienced that in my life it
amazes me I want to share a story with
you when I first moved to Bertie County
our family finances were not where they
should have been and myself and my two
little boys my husband was on the road
driving truck
managed to stay in a home for seven
months with no lights now these children
were in school and the people knew that
we had no lights in the house but you
know nobody wanted to see it in the
community and that’s how a lot of people
do with things that are going on
negative our community they sweeping on
the road they put it on the back burner
they try not to see it
so the unseen person in the community
the people we got to make them visible
folk how are we gonna make the folks
that are unseen in our community visible
and an A in plain PA Lal is life
a is attitude what is your attitude
about the folk that you want to serve
are you do you have an elitist attitude
or where you are to be happy that I want
to talk to you anyway
you know I’m saying what is your
attitude what our teachers attitude what
is the commissioners attitude what are
your leaders attitude about what you’re
trying to do for folk in your community
and then in is need oh man that is the
biggest part of the conversation that we
need to have what is the need and in
order to find out to need you got to
bring everybody to the table you just
can’t make all the decisions by yourself
it just can’t be the commissioners it
just cannot be the teachers the
superintendent but you got to get miss
married down the street who’s standing
on the corner smoking a cigarette
you got to get grandma Jane that’s back
there in the trailer house all the time
the one who give the soda and the
candies you got to get that unofficial
gossip in the community
a seat at the table so they’ll have a
voice so your need is the biggest
conversation that you have to have and K
does not stand for comfort but it’s
kitchen and as y’all can see hey I love
to be in the kitchen so I love to cook
so I just put k with kitchen and cooking
because that’s Comfort comfort food you
have got to have people so they’re in a
conducive environment where they feel
comfortable where young african-american
males do not feel indicted coming in a
store or walking in a place of business
or even walking in a classroom and then
comfort for them also you have to flip
the script they need to carry themselves
in a way that people feel comfortable
having them around them so it’s it’s two
sides of the coin
and so s for me stands for success if we
push all of these agendas forward
unselfishly removing the hidden agendas
we will be moving towards success we as
a people in America today we try to
conform or do what I call it an urban
facelift to rural communities we try to
flip them and try to reconstruct him to
look like urban societies but rule rocks
if we don’t if we didn’t find it out
anywhere else but in the last
presidential election we found out that
rural rocks whether your person won or
not your rule all of a sudden got pushed
to the front of the agenda so rural
communities matters we have to carry
ourselves as if we are standing up
straight and tall and rural America
we cannot be ashamed of our ruinous this
is one of the most beautiful places that
I’ve been in my life today and I would
put it up against San Francisco or
anywhere else but rural America raw
our greatest resource is our people and
we need to take our own stand on making
sure rural people are seen and heard in
America
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
good afternoon my community its best
resource is people it’s what drives me
to action it is amazing to see African
American males school-aged walking the
street during school time and not being
seen it is amazing how the unintentional
looks the unseen individual are the best
resources that we have in our community
but folks don’t want to see them they
don’t want to hear him one of the young
men that worked with me told me said you
know Miss honest folks don’t see us
unless we’re really smart or we’re
really mean there’s no in-between but we
as a people we have to make the in
between rural communities matters rural
communities matters have mattered for
years and years and years I grew up as a
tenant farmers daughter as you saw in
the video and I’ve seen tenant farmers
and domestics in eight and nine kids to
school on tenant farmers and domestic
salaries now if you can’t tell me rural
doesn’t matter who can make that happen
this day and time no one rule mattered
then and it matters now in ninth in 2009
we had a very progressive thinking
superintendent and it amazed me that
school-age african-american boys were
walking past the Board of Education
during school time and teachers saw this
administrators saw this and even parents
saw this but nobody really wanted to see
this so he came to me and told me he
said you know we have a building but we
don’t have any money he said it again we
have a building but we don’t have any
money and if if you think that we give
you this building could you do something
with it
so me being the person that I was having
a
I’m sure in mental health I said you
know I can do this I can make my rural
community matter I can make a difference
and what’s happening in these boys lives
so what I did was I traveled throughout
the summer and I found 117 school-aged
african-american boys and I opened up
the hive house Burtie hive I’ll turn to
school we kept those cool kids in school
from 7:30 in the morning until 9 o’clock
at night and what amazed me was the
crime rates for juveniles went down in
Bertie County but it went up in all the
other counties and I think that that
happened because we had the kids in our
presence they were learning things from
us and we took the time to learn things
about them one of the things I decided
to do when I opened up the hive is I
wanted a fresh face I wanted fresh
things for the high I wanted fresh
people because if you’re a teacher and
you’re just in it for the money
and you’re not in it for the kids kids
won’t learn I was sharing with someone
earlier that I like to make up words and
one of the words that I like to make I
made it was fake eration now children
know when you’re fake children know when
you don’t really want to be there with
them and you’re just buying your time
and watching the cloth so what we have
to do is put ourselves in that child’s
position you think about sitting at our
office desk for eight to nine hours and
your boss really don’t want to talk to
you really don’t want to be there with
you really don’t want to help you in any
way just put yourself in that position
how would you feel would you want to be
there would you want someone to to come
and talk to you and ask you to do
something No so we’ve got to put
ourselves in the place of those children
that we’re supposed to serve the hoff
house was my baby it was an opportunity
for me to not only help my children in
the community but I also had an
opportunity
to help the families in the community
because if you don’t change the thinking
of the families it’s no need to work
with the children the mindset of parents
have to change in rural communities
because if you you do tell yourself that
or if a parent is telling themselves I
didn’t buy a 200 dollar pair of Jordan
and put on this child feet to wear but
I’m not willing to buy a five dollar
book for them to read that thinking has
got to change you’ve got to change your
priorities and if you don’t change your
priorities with your parents in your
communities the children are not gonna
go anywhere in the video you saw that we
took the children pass from them and a
lot of people don’t understand that a
lot of people are captured by their past
who’s your mama
who’s your dad was your granddaddy a
drunk was your uncle John and when you
you come in a classroom and people
already got perceptions about you and
what you’re gonna do in life that
destroys a child’s mind that destroys
their self worth worth and I finally
miscues school system today that a lot
of teachers are doing that they already
decide the faith of children before they
even get started so building bridges is
the thing today and in the rural North
Carolina we don’t say bridges we place a
planks you know you put that plate you
put that plank cross that ditch and you
hop that plane well plank to me means a
lot because when you lay planks down you
got to put one behind the other to
reinforce what you’re doing the PM
planks the first thing is your people
you have got to be invested in your
people and for this thing for my life
and for my community my people are my
children my african-american children
who are the gold mine and the untapped
resources in our community the L is my
life
I grew up poor I grew up a tenant
farmers daughter so I’m not coming in
from the outside trying to be the white
knight trying to save or the Black
Knight in this case trying to say
folks on a horse they know that I know
how it feels not to have food to dig in
the couch and try to get up enough money
to buy a loaf of bread to stay in the
house without lights I’ve experienced it
I’ve experienced that in my life it
amazes me I want to share a story with
you when I first moved to Bertie County
our family finances were not where they
should have been and myself and my two
little boys my husband was on the road
driving truck
managed to stay in a home for seven
months with no lights now these children
were in school and the people knew that
we had no lights in the house but you
know nobody wanted to see it in the
community and that’s how a lot of people
do with things that are going on
negative our community they sweeping on
the road they put it on the back burner
they try not to see it
so the unseen person in the community
the people we got to make them visible
folk how are we gonna make the folks
that are unseen in our community visible
and an A in plain PA Lal is life
a is attitude what is your attitude
about the folk that you want to serve
are you do you have an elitist attitude
or where you are to be happy that I want
to talk to you anyway
you know I’m saying what is your
attitude what our teachers attitude what
is the commissioners attitude what are
your leaders attitude about what you’re
trying to do for folk in your community
and then in is need oh man that is the
biggest part of the conversation that we
need to have what is the need and in
order to find out to need you got to
bring everybody to the table you just
can’t make all the decisions by yourself
it just can’t be the commissioners it
just cannot be the teachers the
superintendent but you got to get miss
married down the street who’s standing
on the corner smoking a cigarette
you got to get grandma Jane that’s back
there in the trailer house all the time
the one who give the soda and the
candies you got to get that unofficial
gossip in the community
a seat at the table so they’ll have a
voice so your need is the biggest
conversation that you have to have and K
does not stand for comfort but it’s
kitchen and as y’all can see hey I love
to be in the kitchen so I love to cook
so I just put k with kitchen and cooking
because that’s Comfort comfort food you
have got to have people so they’re in a
conducive environment where they feel
comfortable where young african-american
males do not feel indicted coming in a
store or walking in a place of business
or even walking in a classroom and then
comfort for them also you have to flip
the script they need to carry themselves
in a way that people feel comfortable
having them around them so it’s it’s two
sides of the coin
and so s for me stands for success if we
push all of these agendas forward
unselfishly removing the hidden agendas
we will be moving towards success we as
a people in America today we try to
conform or do what I call it an urban
facelift to rural communities we try to
flip them and try to reconstruct him to
look like urban societies but rule rocks
if we don’t if we didn’t find it out
anywhere else but in the last
presidential election we found out that
rural rocks whether your person won or
not your rule all of a sudden got pushed
to the front of the agenda so rural
communities matters we have to carry
ourselves as if we are standing up
straight and tall and rural America
we cannot be ashamed of our ruinous this
is one of the most beautiful places that
I’ve been in my life today and I would
put it up against San Francisco or
anywhere else but rural America raw
our greatest resource is our people and
we need to take our own stand on making
sure rural people are seen and heard in
America
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: