Host Haywood Fennel interviews guest Doreen Wade about the annual Salem United Parade and Picnic at Salem Willows Park in Salem, MA.
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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Good afternoon and welcome to the other page radio. BWBCALP102.9 FM Boston. That's the place to be today because we got a program for you. We got a lady. We got a parade to talk about. We're gonna talk to Doreen Wade today. She's one person that I have a lot of admiration for her and a mission that she's taking on, that we're gonna talk about a very important mission, and we're gonna try to push her project a little further than it is. We're just, "Doreen, how are you?" - I'm doing fine today and how are you? - Absolutely, absolutely Doreen, absolutely. I'm so glad that I finally was able to get you in here to talk about an event that is a misnomer. It's not a parade, it is an institution on movement about our veterans, and you are a descendant. I like that word, you know, descendant. - A descendant. - Not a descendant, but a descendant. You understand? A lineage of African-American veterans. Tell us a little bit about yourself. - Well, Doreen Wade and a president of an organization that is called Salem United. It is not called Salem United because we are out of Salem. It is called Salem United because, back in the days, black people used to congregate and meet from all over the state of Massachusetts in Salem-Willows Park. - Salem-Willows Park. - Salem-Willows Park, so that's why we call ourselves, 'cause we unite in that park in Salem. So many people know it as the black picnic, but I decided that I wanted to know more about this. Why do we call it black picnic? Why is it black picnic? Why, as black people, do we go to Salem, Massachusetts and not in Boston? So I spent quite a few years researching this history. As well as well, a very important topic, I returned it back to its original name, which is Negro Election Day. Now, I know many of us are misled in our education about the word Negro. - Okay. - Young people are being taught that it's negative. It's like using the N-word. Older people, middle-aged people, they feel that they have advanced far beyond being called Negro, so they don't want to use it. Even people say, Obama banned the use of the word in the law, which is not true of using the word Negro. - Okay. - The word Negro dates back to 1550 in a part of Africa in one of the tribes of Africa. Because I've been learning a lot and I've learned that the continent of Africa was not called Africa. It was called by its tribe names. So somewhere in that tribe, in those tribes, they use the word Negro. So when they were enslaved, they brought that word here to America, and they wanted to honor this history. And so they took it from their land, and that's why it's called Negro Election Day. - Okay, okay. I strongly, strongly suggest that people learn this because it's whitewashing our history. If we can't call it Negro Election Day. - Okay, so now, let me just stop you folks. We're talking to Dorian Wade. Mr. Dorian Wade who is coordinating this event and she's giving us some feed on the history of it. And call your friends. Let them know that you're on the other page of radio today with Ms. Dorian Wade, and she's here to tell you about the parade and how it came about and what it's about and what date it is and what time it is and where it's gonna be. You know, we want you to understand that this is very important information that we didn't know about. And she had to do some research as we should constantly do on our history because it's supposed to be told not so. Dorian Wade, welcome again. Tell us about the event, the time, or such a upcoming event. - Okay, so it is this Saturday, which is July 20th. - Mm-hmm. - And it starts in Salem Willows Park at eight o'clock. - Okay. - We are having, every year we have a parade that starts at 12 o'clock and that's downtown. But the parade marches from downtown Salem to the Willows. So many people meet and gather in the Willows and wait for the parade to come down to them. - Okay. - One thing about this history is the men, these enslaved men who started this first democratic system in our country. Many, the majority of these men served in wars. They were in the Revolutionary War. They were in the War of 1812. They were in the Civil War. - Okay. - And that is why when I honor this day, I make sure that the military is recognized. We even have a flag that's called the Black American Heritage Flag that was started by two veterans, two Black veterans in the military and they were in the Navy. And they designed this flag and got it approved. So this flag represents this holiday. And by the way, it is a state holiday. - Uh-oh. Did you hear that folks? Did you hear what she just said? - It is a state that's in Commonwealth holiday. - And I stress state because I want people to understand that this history is about the state of Massachusetts. It is not about Salem. It's not about the North Shore. It actually, in 1693, the first celebration was held on the Boston Common. But in 1831, the Honorary and Ancient Artillery Company - Okay. - wanted to separate the enslaved Africans from the white community. - Yeah. - And so they banned Negro Election Day from being on the Boston Common along with the Commonwealth. And so what ended up happening is everybody got on barges and forced back and however they could get there and they would go to Salem. - Well, let me tell you something. There ain't what you just said involved struggle. - Mm-hmm. - And I want to thank you for the continued lineage struggle to bring this event into Salem where it's supposed to be. Can you tell me about some of the people that you're going to be under? - Well, we are happy and proud to state that this year we have Marvin Gilmore. - Marvin Gilmore. - As our Grand Marshal, he is a Army veteran. And I know you know him very well. - Absolutely. - And so we are going to try every year to make sure that a member of our black military, our black veterans are honored every single year. This is not just a theme that I came up with this year and it will be different next year. No, every year we have a flag raising and that flag raising is going to be an honor of our military. And we normally sing the nasty black anthem when we're raising. But because we want it official, we want our black military to know that they were part of the system and they were part of the fight that helped us get here today. So we are using the traditional military theme song and that is colors. And they will be raising the flag to colors. And I do want to also give a shout out. I know many people are mad at them right at the moment. But Congressman Seth Molten had a flag flown around the U.S. Capitol this year. And that flag is what is going to be raised at Salem Willow's Park. So even Congressman Molten wanted to show respect to our military, especially our black military, for their contributions. - How important is it for -- but I mean, how important is it for our population why then black to understand that we are people of dignity and we want to be recognized as such? - It's extremely important because when I started this history, I thought like a lot of other black people. We went to Salem Willow's. It was a day off from working and, you know, maids were given the day off and others were given the day off. And then we gathered an eight. But when I dug deep and got deeper, I found out that 35 years before the signing of the declaration of independence, these enslaved Africans started the first democratic system in our country. So never mind the first black voting system in our country, but literally the first democratic system because white America was under the control of the British. These were colonies. It wasn't the United States of America. And so when I teach young people this, because I try to go into the schools and I try to teach the kids as much as I can, they look at me with a state of shock because they've never heard anything like this before. And they're trying to figure out how I could find out all this history because most of our history is buried in the graves of the past. But it's really in front of your face if you look for it and look at it. And that's what I did. - We'll take a little break right now. We'll be right back. I guess today is the only way. This is the other page of radio and we're really happy to have her here and you here to hear it. Call your friend, call your friend, we'll be right back. - Are you a veteran or do you know a veteran who is struggling with housing due to COVID-19? Veteran Zinc can help provide support services, including assistance with rent, deposits, utilities, as well as emergency housing, including hotel stays to eligible struggling veterans. If you or someone you know is in need of services, please call 1-800-482-2565 or go online to www.veteransinc.org. - Put a frog in boiling water and it'll jump right out. But put a frog in cool water and slowly heat it up. That frog will boil. As veterans, we tell ourselves the lie that we can handle anything. We let the water boil. You are not a frog. If you or a veteran you know needs support, don't wait. Reach out. Find resources at va.gov/reach. That's va.gov/reach. Brought to you by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Ad Council. - I want to say folks that, you know, African American veterans are the backbone of our independence. And Doreen Wade is here to tell you why we need to be more supportive of this history. Nobody's going to tell it but us. Nobody's going to tell it the right way. And that's why she's here today. And Doreen, I want to just ask you, you've mentioned the kids and getting into the schools. Are you in the schools officially? - Not officially. I'm invited into the school system by some superintendents and by some teachers. They ask me to come in whether it's in June, July, February, March. Whenever they have the availability, especially as we all know, our history is taught in the month of February, our 28 days. So during that time, I'm in the schools an awful lot. - What is the situation in terms of the reception of the history that you're imparting in with? How did the children feel about it? - The kids themselves are excited. They ask questions. They're very interactive. We talk, we question. They are very open to ask me anything, even the word Negro. We discuss it. Adults, I find that there's a lot of black adults who shy away from this history. They don't want to get into the discussion. They don't want to be a part of it. They are afraid of the usage of the word Negro, because as we all know, many white people are offended by the use of the word Negro. So that makes it so that we're not able to tell our history, but we have to remember the Negro College Fund, the Negro Baseball League, the Negro Women's Association, and Negro Election Day. We're not going to change what it's called. We're not going to change its history because people are uncomfortable. But we also need to recognize, as our own people, every decade, our identities are changing. We're being called something else. - Can you tell us about, since you go into the schools in February, or can you tell us, Doreen, if you have a established curriculum, and do you have a digitized rendition of that? - I actually do both. I've made these videos that I teach young people black history with. I do it for quons. I do it with Negro Election Day. I do it with black history facts. So what I do is I teach them the way that I think they're going to listen, and then I'm going to get bored. I don't want to teach them with old-fashioned books. I want them to know the actual history as it's told, so I have images. I have music. I put everything in these videos, and the kids give me great reception. - Well, the reason why I asked you that is because of the downsizing of our history and schools across the country. - Yes. - And I think that we need to try to find strategies to educate our children because nobody's going to tell our history the way we need to tell it. And so are there any Philly organizations that you're working with outside of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts yet? - No, not yet. - Okay. All right. Okay. What national organizations are you? Are you talking to the Urban League? Are we some Massachusetts and NAACP? - The Urban League has been very receptive to me. They actually came to a meeting to help me out. - Okay. - If I have to be truthful, the NAACP does not give me support. And many of the other black organizations around the state of Massachusetts do not get me support. - Let me just interrupt you on that. Let me just interrupt you on that because I'm disturbed by your answer and that I'm surprised that the NAACP is not in the spirit of support and these other organizations, you know, you look at the Masons and you have all these professional men and women organizations that seem to not understand that we've got to support educators and educating things in order for our children to value themselves and our culture. - Exactly. And if we don't support it soon, we're actually not going to have it because I am one woman on a mission and a movement and I could go out of state and I could get some help from other people. But within my own state, not a lot. And a lot of people seem to think that, oh, well, we've been going for generations and generations and generations. But what people don't know is I just had the pleasure of meeting the two gentlemen who used to organize what was called the Black picnic back then in the '90s and the '90s. And we finally got a chance to sit down and talk. And they basically told me they were thrown out of Salem, literally just thrown out of Salem and told they could not have this event there anymore. Well, the event continued because people showed up because that's what all our families did. We showed up on the third Saturday of July anyway. But basically what happened is the music went away. The parade went away. The meaning of the history of the event died. - How hard was it to establish the parade? How hard was that? - It is extremely hard. I mean, if you come to see it this year, we're probably one of the smallest parades in Salem and we're reasonably a decent size. But when you look at it, you wonder where is our Black community? Where's our Black Teachers Association? Where's our Black Nurses Association? The goal of this parade is to honor our military and show positive images with our history. - Okay. - I was invited to Chicago. - Okay. - Chicago has one of the largest Black parades in history. And they've only been going since 1920-something. And there, they were telling me how to, helping me how to reach out and connect with people. But what I noticed the difference is in Chicago, they opened up their doors. Here they don't. I will not call anybody out, but I talk to a sorority, a Black sorority, and they told me they will not be involved because they will not be affiliated with anything called Negro. I'm not, I'm not understanding that. - That's what it is. That's what it is Negro. - I can't see why we're ashamed of our history. This is our history. - Let me just interrupt, let me just interrupt me. - Go ahead. - You know, because one of the things that I want to make sure that our audience has a clear message of advocacy that's needed to be done. You're a one woman show and I love you, but we can't allow the term that they feel is inappropriate. And the people that started it didn't feel it was inappropriate. And it grew for a while until it started gathering the strength. And that's why they said you can't have that dinner more because, you know, we were adhering to the unity factor. You see, anytime you see a black perspective being ushered in and overwhelming, you know, the status quo stuff you're going to have a problem. Now, if you don't understand what I'm saying, I'm saying is that it seems like, I said, it seems like, you know, we're not honored in the manner that we should be based on our history. - Exactly. - The contents of this program here, the other page, is primarily to educate, to entertain, and to capacity build. Our history is not a mystery. And it has to be told by the descendants that did the work. Doreen, I want you to let us know because this is an open invitation that I'm announcing throughout the coming year for you to come in and give us progress reports on what progress you've made. And if there's no progress made, we'll find a way to create a sustaining conversation of different parties to become sponsors of your event. That's what we're going to do. You know, I want you to think about that, you know, and I want you to keep the spirit, the work that you are doing for our community, for our state. It's a commonwealth of Massachusetts state law. And I don't know any organization of African Americans that have what you possess, the credibility of the history of Negro election. And I resent anyone trying to disclaim the heroic history, the patriotism involved. This is the other page, Radio WBCALP 102.9 FM Boston. Today, we don't need weight, and we'll be right back. Potential is everywhere. It's in every child and every community. Big brothers, big sisters of Eastern Massachusetts works to transform communities by empowering, defending, and igniting the potential of youth across Eastern Massachusetts, ensuring every child has the support from caring adults that they need for healthy development and success in life. Big brothers, big sisters, fosters one-to-one mentoring relationships between child and adult, helping the youth in our communities achieve their fullest potential. But at any given moment, there are hundreds of children in our region in need of a caring adult whole model. Do you have what it takes to become a defender of potential? You can learn more at Mass Bay Big Zone. MUSIC Hey, everything okay? Yes, I'm fine. Honey, hey, I'm here for you. Tell me about school today. When kids can't find the right words, music can help them sound it out. Talk to the kids in your life about their emotional well-being. Find tools and resources at soundedouttogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal Ventures. Back to the other page, radio programs brought to you by Triad Veterans League and I'll guess today is a distinguished lady one that has done a lot of work in educating to empower using our history. Doreen, wait a day folks. Doreen, discuss a little more on your background. I think you're a journalist too, aren't you? Yes, many people may know my name from a magazine, especially online that was called "Ani E. Informer" when I ran around the state of Massachusetts just hounding everybody for interviews and stories. I also was an executive director a long time ago for a company that gave people who were starting over a fresh start. I've also worked for the EPA, for the government, and I also worked with the many, many, many. It delicious too long of how many nonprofits I've actually worked with. That's a lot of my history with employment is nonprofit and in the media industry. I also have the dubious distinction of saying that I'm the first black woman to work for a acidic Jewish rabbi at the Jewish advocate newspaper. That in itself, I find a great task that I did. The reason why I'm asking you to share that Doreen and all listening audiences is because here's a lady that had a vision and she has not allowed that vision, that dream to become a nightmare because people are not getting it. And it's very important that you, me, we involve ourselves as much as we can in supporting this project that's going to jump off this Saturday and sailing at eight o'clock in the morning. It's like going someplace to enjoy an adventure, and honest people who are not always honored for their heroism. We struggle, but we don't have to struggle as long or as strong as we seem to be doing. We must take care of this history because this says how far we can go or not go. That's what we're talking about here today on the other page radio. I'll guess today it's not a clown, just a hard-working woman. She needs some help, and that's why we're talking today. Oh, she could go off probably and get it done. Well, let's make it fun. Let's give her the feeling that she's being supported for an important situation. I don't know if you watched the politics last night or the night before, but listen, you understand? I'm not elaborating. I'm not going to use my words. I don't use my words. Talk about Doreen waiting in her project, but you better wake up. Don't smell the coffee. Try drinking it. We got something happening here in 7 Saturday, July the 20th. It starts at 8 o'clock in the morning. We should be there with our kids. This is the time to make the moves now. This is the time to win. Doreen wait as a winner, and you are too. Veterans are very important, and not all the people that were involved in early part 1645. This is one of the years that she mentioned, but I'm missing 400 years of working and not getting paid. I'm getting tired of people trying to minimize the contributions of our ancestors, especially when it comes to veterans whose blood was shared all over the world. For a freedom that we still do not have. I'm so proud of this lady and what she is presenting to our community, and I want you to help her. I mean, we will take help from the lampposts. We don't care what color the help is. We need resources for this particular project so that it can grow into your mind. The responsibility that we have to our history. Kids can do hip-hop spoken words. You're running around here saying all kinds of negative things, such some positive things, and trying to have some of these community leaders that need to be at the table instead of being on the table as in lunch. I get it. I get it. I get it, Doreen. We don't believe in ourselves enough. No, we don't. No, and we don't believe what we tell each other either. I have had more people tell me, how can you prove this? This isn't real. Well, just so everybody knows, I had to go before the Massachusetts legislated. I had to go through the Massachusetts State House. I had to go through Massachusetts Congress, and then I had to go before the governor, before it was signed for years, before it was approved, and it was only approved after I put together an exhibit, and I actually physically could see documents and papers and images. Before that, it was just words coming out of my mouth. But I'm slowly, you know, I'm slowly working because I want to get this, I want to get this exhibit either in a building or a museum so that people can see a kids can get on buses and come and learn this history. Anybody born in Massachusetts does not realize this is your legacy. This is your history. Let me just say something to you because I want you to write this person's name down and give him a call at the State House. Art Gordon, Art Gordon, G-O-R-D-O-N, Governor's Office event planner, Art Gordon, I met him at an event. You know, don't be surprised. You see me at an event because I'm spreading the word. When you see me, I'm talking about other people's projects, I'm not talking about what I'm doing. As you know what I'm doing, I'm advocating for veterans. You know, veterans are an overlooked and underused community resource, and I'm very proud to say that Torrine is a friend of mine. Torrine Wade is a friend of yours. She's doing some things that you thought they couldn't be done. So what you did was you estimated, you know, "Oh, I ain't got no time, well, we can't do that." Yes, we can do that. And stop underestimating the power of a fist as opposed to a finger when you fight. I never heard a person getting knocked out with a finger, but I still heard a person getting knocked out with a fist. So we want to knock out this pessimism about what we can do and what we can do. Do it. Do it. Torrine Wade is doing it with her program. Imagine if you're involved with her down the line when the next one comes up. You don't have to be in a parade, but you can help make it better. Give us a little bit about your Marshall, Torrine, about Brother Gilmore. Mr. Gilmore is a wonderful, wonderful man. You probably know more about him than I do, but I grew up in Cambridge and this was one of my mentors. This is the man he helped me get into college financially. He told me the history of the war, what he had to go through, what he had to fight. Yes, and how when he came home from fighting this war, he was still looked down at and still discriminated, but he kept going and going and going until he made himself a very successful man. Let me just interrupt you. Let me just interrupt you. Go ahead. Because you just said something. You said that he was in France fighting. Yes. I don't know if people know the history of African-American veterans in France. They didn't even want to give us a uniform. They didn't even want to do anything outside. Over there in Normandy and all of that. That's why when you see the paratroopers jumping out the plane, you don't see any black. The paratroopers, because we weren't in the paratrooper at that time. We were in engineers and building roads and in a quartermaster. We weren't there. They didn't want us there. But when we went to France and saved them French people, they became the men of bronze. They wasn't the men of black. They were 369th resume from New York. Mr. Gilmo coming out of Massachusetts and was honored. Yes. He was honored. We should be honored and show up on July the 20th. This man who could have lost his life and came back and got himself involved and raised a family and successful businessman got a lot of gratitude, not cocky, but he served. And we deserve to have this program, the Dorian Grant. I mean, Dorian Wade is here talking about every year. Stronger and stronger, longer and longer and teaching our kids. We can do this. And also, Hey, that's why I like to tell the story about one of them. They were called black kings or governors after they were elected. And it was one gentleman that I'd like to teach the kids about because his name was Black King Dick. And he actually, when he came back from Great Britain, he actually came back to Massachusetts. And in the 1800s, he served as one of the first black, not the first black auxiliary policeman. But he used Negro election day in one of the worst prisons in Great Britain during the War of 1812 to protect his people and make sure they were taken care of to the point where, after a while, white soldiers from Massachusetts were asking to be in that part of the prison, which is called Dartmoor prison. And they asked to be there because they knew this man would protect them as well. So we may call it Negro election day and people may want to say it's just for Negroes. However, when you look at that part of this history where this man put himself on the line as a veteran, as a POW, to say not just the black vets, but the white ones too, this is why I fight for the military to be honored. But it's difficult because I'm a woman. And when I show up at military bases or when I talk to military men, I'm basically ignored before I can even get much of these stories out. Okay, so let me just say something about those who think that because you're a woman, you're not capable of doing what you know you've been doing. See, you know you've been doing this. And I know you've been doing it and other people know you've been doing it. But what I want from you is to give us some contact information right now so people can get in touch with you. Web page, phone number, whatever it is, we need to get that in right now. Well, I try to make it easy. The name of the organization is Salem United Inc. The website is SalemUnitedink.org and the email is SalemUnitedink@gmail.com. And the phone number is 781-502-5512. Okay, I'm going to have to ask you to do that again. Yes, the name of the organization is Salem United Inc. The website is SalemUnitedink.org. The email is SalemUnitedink@gmail.com. And the phone number is 781-502-5512. Folks, I want you to make sure you got that information because I want you to share that with everybody. And if you're in an organization such as the NAACP, if you're in a professional organization like women's organization, fraternities, sororities, this is the time now for you to step up and help this program, build our community on the history that we made. We're in the uniform. And think, think, back to the, they had the first Negro election voting. I might be butchering up the name, but I'm not going to say anything but Negro. And I'm proud of that. I'm proud of that action that brought about what we get. And I'm even more proud of Dorian Wade struggling, striving, driving with this vision to do more, to recognize. Not afraid, not assured, but a realistic understanding of who we are not. We're not afraid. No, we are determined to get you more involved in your history, in the schools. Online, we need your support. She gave you the numbers. Now, she gave you the web page. She gave you the email. She gave you a phone number. That's called organization. And that's what she's doing. But we need more people. We'll be right back. Are you a veteran or do you know a veteran who is struggling with housing due to COVID-19? Veterans Inc can help provide support services, including assistance with rent, deposits, utilities, as well as emergency housing, including hotel stays to eligible struggling veterans. If you or someone you know is in need of services, please call 1-800-482-2565 or go online to www.veteransinc.org. Put a frog in boiling water and it'll jump right out. But put a frog in cool water and slowly heat it up. That frog will boil. As veterans, we tell ourselves the lie that we can handle anything. We let the water boil. You are not a frog. If you or a veteran you know needs support, don't wait. Reach out. Find resources at va.gov/reach. That's va.gov/reach. Brought to you by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Ad Council. This is Haywood Fennell again, a normal veteran. I'm a little proud of my service to my country, but I haven't always been like that. Because of triad, you know, founding triad Veterans League as an advocacy program for veterans, particularly African American veterans, and for them to strategize for change. We have, coming up, a petition drive to create a United States commemorative series stamp of images from our Black Veterans Art exhibit that was created by a group of young people and an after-school art program called Artists for Humanity located in South Boston. Beautiful images. Absolutely. But we need to signature as a part of our petition that we're going to present in February 25 to the United States Postal Service for consideration for creating a United States commemorative stamp. And seeing, you know, people from colonial days, Black people with these long rifles, or the buffalo soldiers, or the Tuskegee airmen, or some women that were in the military, African American women. We got to get this, we got to get this strategy to educate people and to empower them in capacity bill. I told you of this, not a finger. We have extended our invitation to Doreen to come on periodically and talk about her project and the progress that she's made as a direct result of you contacting her and participating in the workshops of organizing that's going to come up. This lady is working for us as a community and attend this event, embrace your culture, embrace our history, because it is not a mystery. We have proven ourselves, but nobody wants to believe us until we learn how to believe on ourselves. We can't let her think that we don't believe her. She's already shown what she's about. Now we need to know what you're about. We need you to be involved to come out on Saturday, July the 20th at eight o'clock. Where are we downtown, Doreen? No, we'll be right in Salem Willow's Park. Okay. The parade will start downtown and go into the park. But once you get down into the park, and the address is 164 Fort Avenue and Salem Mass. And once you get down there, there's this big huge massive park for those who have never been. And there is a big huge ocean lake down there. You could go canoeing. You're allowed on that day to bring your grills and you're cooking utensils and you can literally cook right in the park. We have vendors and we have entertainment this year, we focus a lot on the younger people. We're going to have spoken word. We're going to have some hip hop. And then, you know, we've got young people singing. There's a young lady and another young man coming in to perform from Worcester. We have African drumming and we're going to have a great band around five o'clock. That's more Motown-ish and they're going to perform some old school and some new school music. So there's a lot going on. Of course, we're going to have voter registration and our table will have a petition. So that you can sign it for the stamp. We're going to get that from a would print it and make sure it's on our Salem United vendor table. And just come down and see what it's all about. See what the day represents. Like I said, we even have a flag raising. That's going to be big. That flag raising thing, Doreen. We did the flag raising last year and what really got me emotional is when I saw these men of various ages who almost look like they wanted to come to tears. Because not only seeing a flag that represented them, but this flag was designed by them. So, and I asked every man that was in air shot. If he's a veteran to come up to the flagpole and they came and they saluted and they stood there with pride and I wanted young people to see this. I wanted to young people to understand what is the why we value these men so much. Why we honor them. We're going to get a chance to do that again. She's telling you that. I'm telling you that. We need to be proud of this work that this woman is doing for not herself. For her organization to expand the audience base with this history that is no mystery. It's not mystery. Don't ask me what. That's why not. There was a time that this event had almost 20,000 people in that park from all over Massachusetts. We've got to get them back. We've got to get them back. I'm talking to you now. I'm talking to you. Give them that phone number one more time. Don't worry, please, seven, eight, one, five, oh, two, five, five, one, two. Folks, we're getting ready to wrap up now. But I just want to tell you, Doreen. Thank you. I've been knowing you a little while now. Oh, yeah. We're so proud of you. I just want to make a comment or two on first on the note. A couple of good friends passed away and want to know, want to let them know, days with the Lord, that we would not be here without them encouraging and influencing me. I'm talking about Lord Ward, out of Cambridge. I'm talking about my good friend, Lorne L. Roberts, out of Boston. Strong brothers, man. Strong people are needed. Don't really want to thank you again for coming in. God bless you. Thank you. We'll see you soon. Take care. Take care. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]