001[Music] Hello everybody and welcome back to the views expressed. Um today we're going to be doing something a little different on the podcast. Uh I have a special guest. Uh Roger Street Ghost. She's with Ashlin is United. Um but we are going to turn the tables a bit because I am the one for the most part who will be being interviewed during this session. How's that for flipping of the script? I don't know if I feel very comfortable with that, but uh it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. It's going to be a good chat between two women. Yeah, there you go. And um and I think afterwards uh I I hope you will afford me the opportunity to let the people know a little bit about you and some of the
002important work that Ashland is United does among some of the other good trouble that you make around town. Okay. All right. So, do you want me to get started? Yeah, please get started. Fire away. Let's go. So, why don't we start with the names? Okay. So, I was named because, you know, they wanted to rhyme my name with another cousin and my sister was born after and she was her name rhymes right like mine. So, there was nothing. The only thing that happened is that we we're very very close. What about your name? Where does it originate from? And do you do you know the history and the significance of it? Yeah. Um, well, first off, I think that's very clever of your parents to kind of have a rhyming scheme. I don't think my
003parents had something quite that elaborate in mind when when they named me. Um, so, um, uh, I actually am a twin. Uh, so my parents had the tough job of naming two babies at the same time, uh, boy and a girl. Uh, so for for my name, um, they had there were a couple different influences, but my mom was a was a a history major, Beu, you know, and uh, you know, very interested in uh, different cultures around the world. And specifically when they had named us, they wanted us to uh, take a lot of pride in our name. and uh she had particular and she and dad had done a lot of studying around uh different names from the African continent. Um so my family is historically African-American. We we've been in this country
004for a couple hundred years. Um not really sure exactly what region we're from. U but we do know that we, you know, we're we over here. Um so in some ways that gave my parents some leeway as to what kind of name they wanted to pick and they settled upon a couple of different names um between for my brother and myself from different parts of the continent. My name uh appears uh actually in the Bible. Um so Makita or Mikada uh sometimes Makiba uh Ethiopian name is in some versions of the Bible uh the Queen of Sheba uh is referred to as such and uh so my parents um thought that she would be a a a good namesake for me. Uh, Micada was very well known for her um, diplomat her her diplomatic skills,
005uh, her intelligence, her poise, her grace. I don't think I've lived up to that name at all, but I'm proud to carry that name and it's something that I I do think about and I'm grateful for because it's it's unusual. I I uh growing up where I did uh I don't think I had met anyone with that name, but as I make my travels across the country and and talk with folks, I I find that the name is rising in popularity. So that's that's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. But does it bother you if people can't pronounce it right? Oh, not at all. Um, you know, it it's it's I think we we all uh have different names and uh you know, sometimes it takes a few times to to memorize or to get folks
006names uh said correctly. Uh whether they're quote unquote more common than others, uh you know, it's it's it's fine. Yeah. You know, the commonality here, you were named after Queen of Sheba and I have some royalty in the name. Raja means kingdom. Yes. Um, so it's like the mothers are always thinking about names that are substantive, you know, that the girls can latch on to that and become substance. Anyway, so tell me a little bit about what inspired you along the way. Was there an event? Was there a person um was there an issue that somehow you say, "Okay, this is important and I'd like to work on this." What inspired me along the way to to a career to a career to or public life? Public life. Anything. Fantastic. Um yeah. Uh I have
007to say that you know after giving mom her nod I have to say that a lot of my um passion for public life and public service really comes from my late dad. Um my my father um was my role model, was my hero. He um he grew up in Harlem, uh very poor, not a lot of opportunities. Not only was one of the first folks in his family to go to college, but uh the first in in his family to earn a PhD. uh and uh his brother, my uncle, ended up uh getting his MD. Uh and so, you know, my my grandmother was that's a different discussion, but she was an incredible woman in her own right um given the circumstances, but uh my dad spent his life and devoted his life um to
008making things better for everyone. And the way he he did that was partially through um education. He was an educator. He was a college professor. Uh but he he he didn't just teach college students. He was um I was just telling someone this the other day. Uh he ran one of the very first upwardbound sites in the nation when President Johnson um initialized that program at Brandeise University. um and uh with the kids from all different kinds of backgrounds from different neighborhoods in Boston and during one of the most volatile times in Boston history had a whole bunch of kids and and veterans actually working together and and uh you know learning and growing together. Um he went on and and uh did incredible things in the public service realm. Never ran for office himself.
009um but always always served the communities that he was in. Um one thing that I drew particular uh strength from and admiration I I I I admired him for is his activism during the civil rights movement. Uh my father went to an H.B.CU CU um North Carolina ENT and uh he participated in the uh lunch counter sitins and uh the marches and he was put in jail and he had the dogs put on him. He had the hoses put on him. um you know and to to know that my dad had gone through that so that not just black people in this country but all people in this country uh could be treated equitably and fairly as human beings uh is something that I carry to this day uh and and uh it inspires me
010to ask myself what I can do to uh make whatever communities I'm part of um better. What an amazing amazing story. Um my dad was in the freedom struggle movement. So was my mom um in India. He participated in protest. He walked around uh protesting marches in protesting marches against the colon colonizers. But you know we didn't have a civil rights issue in India. But there were lots of other forms of segregation. Um it's a very segmented society. So there's a lot of opposition and conflict. Um and I I'm drawn to the civil rights movement because Gandhi also looked to that and there's been so much uh pollination cross-pollination of ideas in activism in ideals. So I'm I'm amazed and I'm so inspired by this story that you spoke about your dad. Well, thank you.
011And you know I you know Martin Luther King drew a lot of inspiration from Gandhi and nonviolent uh resistance and you know uh so there are a lot of parallels there. I didn't know that your your family was involved because they were they were uh refugees from Bangladesh into into India. So they went through a lot of hostile displacement and then um you know they were left with nothing and then grew from there to what they were and gave us lives that that we're proud of. So we always look back at our parents with pride and then how do we take that forward and you said the same thing. Yes. So I'm um yeah I'm thankful for this opportunity. That's the thing like you know making yourself aware of different issues. I think we're we're,
012you know, I think it's incumbent upon all folks to to try to be aware and do homework around issues that, you know, you may not be familiar with that do have to do with human rights and civil rights because that makes us um a stronger society on the whole. Uh and you know, I think everyone needs to do that. Yeah. You know, and and I think that because it benefits everyone when you do. Yes. Exactly. I agree. Um the other thing I noticed in today's time and I'm not on social media. I don't I understand that's that's a good thing. That's a good thing. I understand the power it has. Um but it also has an overload of information. So for instance, if I were to um if I didn't know you, I would just
013Google you and find some things about you and and I'll pretend, oh, yes, I know her. Um but I really don't. Mhm. I really don't. Where's the essence of the person unless I have this face to face and and an opportunity like this? Yeah. Um, so how do you keep true to yourself when there is such an overload of information? Well, you know, I think you you've touched upon several interesting topics here. Um, I think I think you're right in that especially with the proliferation of social media and all different kinds of instantaneous electronic communication and connection, there are positive aspects of that and there are extremely negative aspects of that as well. But to your point, I think you know it's about making the effort. Um you I mean you can't Google somebody and
014pro you know proclaim to know them right um you know how do how do people usually get to know each other well they have conversations like this right um you know uh they make connection and you know you don't necessarily have to do that face to face uh you know I have I have colleagues and friends that I deal with on a daily basis that I've grown quite quite close to but have never met in person never met in real life, but because we take that time to make take that human connection uh to listen to each other um to let each other know that we care about each other like th that that's what that's what folks have to do. And I and I'll add to that that I think the temptation nowadays is
015because we're all so busy and there's so much going on and to your point there's just like a a a tsunami of information and some of it's valid and some of it's you know incorrect and you know in my mind that's kind of a call for all of us to sort of like slow down a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. you know, we we're not physiologically constructed as human beings to deal with the speed of life as it is today, right? Um, and I think that probably was safe to say even 30 years ago, the speed of life 30 years ago, right? Um, we have to give ourselves and each other some grace. Yeah. Um, to slow down, get to know, connect. Um, I think that's that that's something that we need to as a society
016prioritize going forward. You know, um, some people would say that it's a great equalizer and social media doesn't see who you are, where you are. Um, but somehow it to me it exacerbates the divisions that are already there. You know, I I I and I will push back on the assertion that it's a quoteunquote great equalizer because, you know, being a technologist for most of my career, I can tell you right now it most certainly is not. There are ways that you can um you know, game the system as it were, game the algorithm to make certain issues appear not as they are. Mhm. Um, you know, you know, and that's that's the unfortunate piece about it. Um, but on the other side, there's a tremendous amount of good that can and has come out
017of specifically social media and other means of electronic communication and connection. Um, you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and you don't want to halt uh innovation. However, you want to make sure that you're not doing active harm to yourself or others when you're using these tools, right? And that's, you know, it's like, oh my goodness, you know, you're you're going to you're going to hinder innovation if you put too many regulations on these things. I I think all of us who have lived through web.0 1.0 and social media, now we've got AI, right? you know, we we should have learned some lessons from our first goround on some of this, you know, on some of this internet stuff. Um, let's see how we do. I mean, I worry I worry
018each day, you know, when I get um assignments from my students, how do I even say, you know, is this did they use chat GPT? I don't know. I don't know. Did they get the lesson right? Yeah. I have no idea of finding that. You know there are tools you can use to I know so those tools those tools are available but the thing is you know it depends from person to person how you self-edit indeed you know and you don't expect everybody to have that quality or have that poise where you're saying okay this is wrong I should I should really think about this um and that's hard to come by because people's capacities to think has become limited more and more limited because it's so full of all this information coming in. I
019I I do agree that I I do agree that people are not equipped currently equipped most people are not adequately equipped with the tools that are needed to be more analytical about the information that they are consuming. And I but I do think that we can educate people around that. I'm not to be clear like I you know I do a lot of um I've given a lot of thought around AI and I actually I train people how to to how to use AI effectively but I also do an ethics component to that as well right um because you have to um you know I think there's like any tool I think there's a lot of great promise and I think there's some real good that can come of the AI um revolution. But if
020we collectively as a society don't understand the risks and start mitigating some of the risks and especially put ethical guard rails up to decide like what are we using this for? What are we not using this for? If we don't come to a consensus on that sooner rather than later, yeah, I think there's going to be some very dangerous implications. Yes. Down the pike for that. Absolutely. And that's the worry I have. Yeah. You know, um with bias and prejudice, how is AI handling that? Well, there's a lot there's a lot of literature now. Um right, you know, on that uh wasn't a few years ago. Well, well, with predictive AI, um a few years ago, there was a lot of information. Now with generative AI, we're getting an even uh you know kind of
021like a different data set on like how how these engines are are are um programming or well how they're behaving and and how um or rather how they're processing information uh and you know how can you put up guard rails and prevention around these tools being used as active systems to support active systems of oppression and ignorance. Right. Um and and it's good to know that there are a lot of folks out there who are uh not only examining that issue but offering uh some great insights great on those issues as well. That's good to know. Um so as as a select as a newly appointed select board member I mean you stay new forever now. First off I am not appointed. I am elected oh elected. I have been elected by the good people
022of Ashland. my mistake. That's completely and thank you good people of Ashlin for electing me. I will add. So, so the newly elected select board member, you'll stay new for for some time now. I I feel like I I am. Yeah. So, with with Ashland, I mean, of course, we're all rejoicing. Yeah. The demographics is changing. Yeah. There's change. But the thing is it's majority white still. The loudest voices in most committees and boards are still very white. Um, how do you navigate how do you hold your own in those kinds of situations? Well, I mean, I think the the first thing that I'll say to that is I I I I always approach my work with boards and committees as seeing folks as my fellow Ashlanders. Mhm. Um, we're sitting up at those tables
023and I I and I can I apologize fellow select board members if you're listening to this, but I'm going to speak on your behalf right now. Um, we're all at that table because we want to do our best for the people of Ashlin, right? That's why we ran. That's why hopefully people agreed with what what our visions were and we got elected, you know? So that's that's how I start with any and all of my interactions. And I have to give a big shout out to people who are appointed on appointed boards and who are like uh volunteers. I mean select board technically volunteers as well. We don't pull down salaries. We're elected but we're we're volunteers like we don't get paid for this. Nobody does. um you know um who on these boards and
024committees um that's not there in other towns that's not necessarily true but we don't um so you know so from there like that's the similarity that we share and that's where I start um and I think that I'd like to think that you know that's where most of us start and I can actually say that that is definitely true because with the interactions that I've had with my colleagues on select board and you know other folks on other committees. You know that's how folks operate in this town and I'm really I'm proud to say that you know um you know we're all just rolling up our sleeves trying to do the best for our friends and neighbors here in town. And if I think if you have that sort of baseline understanding of what why
025we're here and why we're doing that um even when we I was going to say if we I say when we have differences on opinions on how to achieve that because we do um and that's good because that's what a healthy democracy is about right you don't want everybody in lock step over every single issue seeing things the same way you know and in in that regard I think there's that, you know, a lot of diversity of opinion, a lot of a diversity of approach. Um, you know, but when you get people from different different backgrounds, you know, serve with people whose families have been here since the inception of the town. I serve with people who've gotten here just a couple of years ago on these committees. And that's a great mix. You want
026everyone with all of those those backgrounds and with all of that experience to be, you know, looking forward to try to shape the Ashland that we all want to see, right? You know, so, you know, I think that's what that's what makes things so dynamic here in town and that's why I enjoy doing what I do. Yeah. I'm still learning. Yeah. Um I I to your point like I'm kind of wet behind the ears and brand new at this stuff. Uh this is the first elected office I've I've ever I've ever been involved in. Uh I've never been elected before. Um I'm still learning the job. I'm doing my best. I want to like again shout out all the members of the boards and committees that I've spoken with who have been really helpful and
027helping me to understand some of these issues and and a shout out to the citizens too that I get a chance to work with and and and represent. Um and of course my fellow select board uh colleagues. Um, but yeah, like we're all here to serve you. Period. Wonderful. Wonderful. So, um, so let's do something fun. Okay, I'm down for fun. How about if you had you were organizing a dinner at home? Mhm. Who would you call three people? Think of three people. People who may have passed on also would will do. And why historical figures? Can we do historical figures or is it just like people I know or you take your pick? Oh my goodness. Um, well, I was a philosophy major in undergrad. And then you went into technology. Yeah. So, philosophy
028lost you? No, I carry philosophy with me all I mean. Well, I Well, not to not to not answer your question, the double negative there. Um, but you know, that's part of the reason why I think, you know, as I as I've worked with technology for quite some time now, um, you know, I started I I I started doing kind of web development and and now I'm I'm kind of more of a productbased person. I do like product owner slash business analysis for different platforms. Um, and um, predominantly Salesforce platform at this point. That's where I've I've made uh my living for many years. Um having a philosophy degree has been a real advantage especially with dealing with emerging technologies and it goes back for when we were talking about AI. You know, basically what
029what are some of the ethical issues around using these technologies? you know, what are some of the questions as humans should we be asking ourselves about appropriate appropriate use and also like maximizing good and what does that mean? I I've I've I've found that having a philosophy degree and having technical background has been an incredible combination. And I actually really wish that more engineering and computer science schools would require students to take um not you know not just philosophy like epistemology or whatever but like like honestly like ethics classes around you know some of the things that they're building because I think it gives you a very different perspective of how you approach your work. I'm not saying that I have all the answers and I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but at least having
030that degree helps me kind of think about things maybe a little differently than with somebody who may have just exclusively gotten like an engineering or a CS degree. For sure. You know, um but but yeah, so uh dinner party. Um I'm thinking about food already. Well, yeah, I know. Like I'm actually thinking about the menu. I don't know. I think I think I'd just put like a whole bunch of names in a hat and draw randomly. Yeah. You know, um there are some US presidents I'd love to speak with because I'd like to get some ideas from there. There are some philosophers I'd love to sit down with. I I would like to meet my namesake and ask her some questions. um you know and you know just people a lot of historical figures I
031think and not that no shade on anyone current but um I think I think the the saying history doesn't repeat itself but it it was it but does rhyme right and I think there are a lot of lessons that we can learn from the past that we can apply to to make a better future so I whoever I invite definitely will will be folks who have uh who are no longer walking the earth but who might be able to share some insights about what is occurring now. Yeah. Yeah. And some of the values that you might want to impart to your child. I mean something that that your legacy is about. What would that be? Well, I mean I think when I think of children, I think of like all children. I think of young
032people. um you know and like what what values do we want to impart to our young people? I think one of the um one of one of the the central values and people say this isn't a value but like one of the values that I'd like to convey to to our younger folks coming up is a sense of community. A sense that um you know no person really is an island. You know we exist because we help each other to exist. We prosper because we help each other prosper. Now, I'm not talking about that in a socialist or communist, you know, context. I'm talking about this. I'm I'm I'm getting out of political systems. I'm talking about human beings and human connections. Yeah, that is just a fact. Mhm. Everyone sees the data about like
033how, you know, infants die or or have failure to thrive if they are not, you know, held and and and just even held and and so they know that they're safe. They know that they're wanted. Like that's not just for little tiny babies. Like that's for grown people as well. We all need to be part of a community. We all need to feel wanted, needed, share, and be able to share our gifts and talents with each other. Yeah, that's so well said. Yeah. So, yeah. So, I I'm I'm actually I want to have some more fun because I want to turn the tables a little bit back around here, Raji. So um you my friend uh are very prominent here in the Ashlin community and yes you are uh and and that you know due
034to your work with so many things but um one of the organizations that I know you're extremely active with is Ashlin is United and speaking of like building community that's pretty much what you all do. How did you get involved in Ashlin here with Ashlin is United and why are you why are you why are you doing all the incredible things that you're doing? Yeah. Yeah. So, um I joined Ashlanders United in 2020 right before COVID hit us. Oh my goodness. Um and so we all went online and um but Ashland United has existed in town since 2017. Um uh and it was a sad event. um anti-semitic signs were found in the Ashen High School. But post that the whole town came together around uh a facilitated courageous conversation event and it was attended
035by town administration, police chief, students, parents, residents alike. And then what came out of that was that there needs to be a group of people town residents who works with the town um and builds a sense of community builds a sense of acceptance and inclusivity and that's how Ashers United came along and I when I joined in 2020 because people were feeling so isolated and so disconnected and didn't know what was going on with COVID and with social isolation we decided to go online and reach out to people. But even before we could do that, George Floyd was murdered. And so the group then became one of the primary ones um to develop what was called #standup Ashland. And we did a video I think um this channel was involved in developing that. WACA was
036was involved very involved. They helped produce that that video. Yeah. and and I was so touched that the community members stood up um sang recited poems said things and so it was deeply deeply touching um and so I thought okay if this group can do that there's so much else that we can do together and so the mission has been to strengthen bridges where there aren't any and to expose and educate um people to new ideas and so we've done several events Um recently of course we've done um Ashland flavors which is about connecting through food. So we went to Spice Kitchen which is uh at the Pawn Street Plaza which is an Indian restaurant and we really talked about Indian food practices some misnomers like you know everybody says oh you made curry because
037you're Indian. Curry means nothing to an Indian. You know it's almost like somebody saying did you make sauce? Um so so this we dealt with some of those we talked about some of those and it was such an intimate setting that people started talking to each other about you know their visits to India or what can be done can be done about supporting a local business like spice kitchen and they wanted more. So we we're going to do this again um but this time with Mexican cuisine. One of our members is going to lead that. Um but really you know through all these events there have been you know we did the pride event this time which is a huge challenge because many people in who are part of the LGBTQI plus community are feeling
038threatened. Their rights are threatened. They are feeling scared. And so one of our members could not show up because she's really feeling scared. And so we wanted to stand up as allies for her. Um and we were so um thankful that select board members like you and Brandy Kinsman and Claudia Bennett showed up. Jack Lewis gave us such a wonderful speech. And so we were able to do that because our town manager provided us with that opportunity. And we did have police, you know, circling the area because we didn't know we were threatened if we were going to be threatened. Uh we did receive some messages online and so we were being very careful, but we were thrilled that, you know, little kids from Ashlin High School uh participated um in this event. Um and
039so we can have differences of opinion in this community which is good as you said but we also need to learn to sit with those differences and speak to each other because that's where community and that's where um you know belonging can happen and that's what Ashenders United is trying to promote. Yeah. And you folks have been doing that just like the programming that you've been talking about for for many years. It's I mean I'm looking at I'm thinking of the calendar. It's like you all almost like 10 years now. And so like there's a a great catalog of of community activism and actually really just kind of comm I'd say community building that you all have been doing um with your events and uh spreading awareness and trying to bring people together even if
040they they have differences of opinion. I think uh a lot of the work that you do emphasizes that mutual respect piece like you know um and that's that's important. Um speaking of bringing communities together um you are also involved with the comprehensive plan here in town. What for people who are listening like what is that and where are we in that process right now? Sure. Yeah. So, comprehensive plan is really a blueprint for a a an urban center. In our case, our town, a town's plan for the next 10 years. Where do we want to be? What do we want in our community? And it's like a house. You if you if you don't have a blueprint, you don't have a building. Um similarly, you can't build a community without a vision. And so, this
041comprehensive plan looks at different elements in town. So for instance, economic development, infrastructure, um u historical and cultural aspects, uh open space and recreation, sustainability, all these elements, um you know, and and we're building a plan, uh based on public engagement and also inputs from 29 members who make up the steering committee. These 29 members come from different committees and boards as well as precincts in town. So they each time we've had public engagement opportunities these 29 members have gone out into the committee into the community and sought out uh inputs from community members. So Ashlin community members have been part and parcel of this process. We are now in phase four almost towards the end of this um planning process. Is phase four the what what's the final phase? So basically a plan would
042be written, a document will be provided. Our consultants are James uh G uh James Goldson and Co. Um and they're helping us, you know, shephering us and guiding us through uh the process. A plan will be made available. Uh it will be presented to the select board and planning board. And once it's approved by the public and by the planning board, it's good to go. It's uh it calls the community into action and we're off to the races. We're off to the races. My goodness. Well, um if people want to find out more information about the comprehensive plan and Ashlin United, let's take one at a time. First, comprehensive plan. Who who can they talk to? They can they can write to the comprehensive plan u steering committee at any time. Um so, I'm the
043co-chair and my partner in crime is Stacy Grant Lewis. Yes. So either one of us uh will be responding to that email. Um and you can look up the town website for the comprehensive plan tab. You can also look up the comprehensive plan um website that has been developed by our consultants and um you know reach us at any time and we're happy to you can also attend our meetings. They're hybrid. Um, and you know, you can join on Zoom or you can be present at the meeting. And those listed those meetings are listed on the town website. They're posted. They're posted so folks can can uh can attend at their convenience. I just wanted to add that as well. So, so that's a great resource. separate and apart from that. Yes. If people want
044to get more involved with Ashland is United or find out when the next uh event is like who who can they contact? So they can write to ashlandisunitedgmail.com and um you know write to us tell us what you want u want to see happen in the community. If you want to join us as volunteers absolutely you know we would love to have more input. Um, and uh, you know, it'll be it'll be good to have more and more people join in this activity because the more people are involved, the more you know that this community is going to do well. Yeah. You know, and again, it just kind of circles back to building community and getting to know each other and building that mutual respect. Absolutely. Uh, Raji Goch, it has been a pleasure being
045interviewed by you. Wonderful. I enjoyed myself. This was fun. Oh, it was a lot of fun. And I want to thank our listeners and our viewers for hanging out for this very special edition of The Views Expressed. Um, yet another community affairs podcast produced by WACA TV right here in Ashlin, Massachusetts. Tune in again and hear more about what's going on in your community right here in this feed. Thanks for joining us and we hope that you come around and listen to us again soon. Thank you. [Music]