Boston Branch NAACP Education Committee co-Chair Ayele Shakur delivers the keynote address during the Boston City Council’s Black History Month celebration.
City councilors and community members gathered at City Hall last week to honor African American business and civic leaders as part of black history month.
“Today the Boston City Council acknowledges the contributions of our modern-day heroes and heroines,” said Councilor Charles Yancey, kicking off the hour-long celebration in the Council’s Iannella Chambers.
“History is not static,” said Councilor Ayanna Pressley. “It is dynamic and living in all of us. This celebration today is about paying tribute to those who are walking among us.”
Business leaders honored included Beth Williams; Donald Ward; Jamie Mitchell; Teri Williams; Walter Little; Kenneth Guscott; John Cruz III; Gregory Janey; Loulee Morrisson; Willie Hicks, Sr.; Calvin M. Grimes, Sr.; and Sayid Malik A. Abdal-Khallaq.
“Many of you in this chamber literally had to be in the back of the bus, literally had to live in the Jim Crow South,” said Councilor Tito Jackson. “We have much farther to go, but today we celebrate how far we’ve come.”
In addition to Pressley, Yancey and Jackson, elected officials present included City Councilors Michael Flaherty, Stephen Murphy and Sal LaMattina, City Council President Bill Linehan, Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins, 15th Suffolk District state Rep. Evandro Carvalho, and 10th Hampden state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez.
“As a grandson of immigrants, I think it’s important we celebrate our heritage and never forget where we came from,” said LaMattina.
Ayele Shakur, executive director of BUILD Boston, an educational nonprofit that teaches students entrepreneurial skills, served as a keynote speaker for the program. Shakur, a co-chair of the Boston Branch NAACP’s Education Committee, urged the audience to remain involved in the city’s schools.
“You’d think in 2015, we wouldn’t have to fight for the same issues of access and opportunity,” she said. “But I’m here to tell you these issues are alive today.”
She pointed to the school system’s budget cuts and the department’s plan to shutter schools as issues Boston residents should weigh in on.
“Continue to lean in when it comes to our schools,” she said. “Be here and testify and say you can’t cut $60 million from our budget and limit opportunities for our young people.”
