001[Music] hello and welcome back to the Views expressed uh we are here for more incredible Community conversation here with waca podcast and we have two incredible guests with us uh two of the uh two of the founding members of area and I'm going to have them introduce themselves and then we're going to talk a little bit about area what they do and specifically around Black History Month and how we've we've had these wonderful Community uh celebrations uh of the event in years's past so I'm going to start down at that end of the table for people who are listening I'm pointing to my left absolutely Makita thank you so much for having us here to this show uh looking forward to this conversation um my name is Maggie Moke and I've been a resident of
002Ashland for about 20 years now what a beautiful community and the work we've done with everyone in the community um I live in asheland with my family and uh I'm I'm happy to be here today happy to have you Maggie thank you Barbara do you want to introduce yourself sure thank you so much M for inviting us um we're excited to have to be here and um my name is Barbara SE zundu um and I'm here with my family I've been in Ashland for I think a little over 5 years now and so far I can't complain an exclusive town oh I don't know how exclusive we are I think I think thanks to to I I I I feel like we're very uh open and welcoming and I think it's it's to to uh
003a lot of folks Credit in town that we have been such an open and welcoming community and I think your organization has done a lot to to do that as well as as well as just our friends and neighbors of all backgrounds uh you know so I think that's what makes our community really special you know I've been here for I've been here for almost over 20 years 20 years wow oh my gosh don't tell anybody I about that um so I know like they say what do they say that townies they're townies and then they also all kind of you know as you can see here F 20 a little 20 over 20 years 5 years one year 30 years right so it's such a welcoming town and uh it's amazing it it really
004is it really is so um but let's talk a little bit about um some observances that you all have done for Black History Month uh you know I'll I can share uh I I can share some memories uh you know I when I saw yall with uh some of your your first celebrations here a few years ago and now I feel like they're just part of the community's fabric uh and and they're just uh just so much fun to to watch and be a part of but I'm going to shut up and I don't know Barbara maybe you want to get us started on some of the things that area has done to educate the community about black history um so as area we have um had a few activities we had in town um
005we've had celebrated our you know like our anniversary I remember the first time it was um when we celebrated yeah three within three years three years yeah CU it's going to be about five years now yes it's it's been a and we we've um included some other commit committees in town um that are doing a lot of meaningful work too trying to bring people together um Ashland and we have also been working with um our own you know the Greater Community the schools um you know the police so and we also celebrated juneth so now it's um it's like an annual celebration we know area will be there and it it brings in a lot of people in Ashland and just educating people a little more if they have any questions we try to you
006know help everyone everyone and like our name said you know area is Ashland residents for a in action so we try to help whenever we get a chance to if people wants to know more Circle back to you Barbara in a minute Maggie you know Barbara talked about some of the organizations that you've partnered with here in town and you've and and you you've partnered with a lot of great folks so there's some community- based organizations as well as some of the institutions that you partnered with too like who have you who have you worked with in the past oh my god um a lot of groups in town uh I I'll just start with why currently right now you know we're in discussions with YMCA and we've invited a few other members uh a
007little project we're hoping to get off the ground we've worked with decisions at every turn um Ash is United and of course other you know committees in town you know select Bard you know they've been there um and other communities and Al other local groups or G Scouts how could I forget G SCS GS have been involved in some of the project work we've done you know when we're U collecting food and clothes G SCS really involved so and um and regular folks in town they've been really welcoming to our group and I feel like it's just become it's not just our group it's been it's just become a community thing it's become normal like in the fabric Washland one of the things that I really admire about area and the work that specifically like
008you you two do and you know all of the gang over at area first off it's a very diverse group yes um you know so it's bring it brings together like people of all backgrounds here in town um you know but it's it's so and we learn about uh you know a whole bunch of things but it just feels like to to your point Maggie it's become such a fabric in town like the juneth celebrations I mean every time I go I always hear people in the crowd no matter who they are they're like this is incredible or like oh I didn't know this or this is really educational or like wow this is in you know so like you know I think like we all when we all learn together as a community and
009we celebrate together as a community I think it that really opens up heart and minds and I think you all have done a really great job of doing that well thank you so much with you know with your guidance I remember when we started you know we knew we knew what we wanted to do but we need also guidance so I feel like as a community you know yourself and very many other members came to you know we had uh various conversation on how who do we talk to how do we get started how do we get involved in this um you know how do we get involved in town how do we get involved how do we get on communities we did have this information so I mean like I mean Cara who's one
010of the founding members as well you know very influential like so many and that's the thing right it's not you know I think when when when you all were getting started like everybody was I think I don't think there was anybody in the community who was just like oh no you know I think everybody was just like how can I help you know how can I how can I do this um but steering the conversation a little bit more and focusing in more on on black history um you know we're doing this interview and observance of black history and black history month I have to ask both of y'all like why is Black History Month important for you and in general for you personally and generally like why is it important yeah so I'll go
011I use Black History Month as a it's important to me because I feel like it's a I take that as a focus time to educate myself about the you know very many hidden figures that we don't know about and that also actually inspires me to to do more by just that struggle and the uh Ingenuity that they had and using the little resources that they they had in those times to be able to come up with all kind of things and uh I feel like it's an inspiration for us an inspiration for like groups like area and any individual whether you're in a group or not to get involved in your town uh in your town or get involved in your community uh if if you like if if there's an issue that you um
012notice you also you can you don't have to wait for the next person you can get it started so one interesting lady I learned about her name is Mary betric Davidson Kenna um this lady um invented the sanitary pad I mean women come on you know each each time of that that month you know no I I never it's it's it's a big invention right right right right people don't think about it but yeah so when I hear about yeah women like that um of hidden figures like that I like to I I don't stop there I talk to my kids I talk to friends we have these open discussions and I I encourage them to also go look for this information and let's just have these conversations as a community regardless of your background
013race this is information that we all need to learn about um and also I like to recognize the struggles that they went through and how we can learn from history yeah that is good yeah what does Black History Month mean to you Barbara um why is it important uh is it just important well let me ask you a question I'm G to put you on the spot is it just important for for for black folks to know about black history or African-American folks to know about black history or should everybody know a little bit about it and why if so why yes so black history is not just for black people and it's not just like just celebrating black history it's also making you understand you know like Maggie said it's also gives you an
014opportunity to to learn even yes we are black but there's still a lot of things that because it was not our time we have to read it and learn it that's how we we know more of this information and I feel like it's good too like with a younger generation you know the more they read the books and yes we celebrated black history but then with the hopes that you continue learning more because this is just like an initial start so to give them like a push to say okay let's start when when they read about one person even their popular ones that pretty much almost everybody knows you know Martin Luther King um you know Max they read one and it hopefully it gives them that more interest to see okay let's me find
015more information but like you know we talked about that there's more people in in history who did more things that Inspire us that it just I I feel like it's also like I'm talking about the younger generation it helps them to say if you have something that you want to do if you voice it you know or you you go ahead and follow your your dreams it can be possible I I love that Barbara uh and I think one thing that I'm just kind of focusing in on I think that there's a lot to unpack with both of what you all said I can do this um you know knowing knowing history and understanding history is so important all history right and you know black history in the United States and and across the world
016is is a part of that world history is part of that history so you know number one it's just important that everyone understands history so that you know you can do many things especially what Barbara said I think draw drawing um strength and encouragement from some of the struggles but also some of the Ingenuity and some of the you know the the the uh creativity of some of these folks those are lessons that I don't care who you are I don't care what your background is like that's something that you can draw upon for strength you know whether you're black white asian you know whatever like you know or whoever whatever ethnic backgrounds you you lay claim to you know you can draw Inspirations to that I'm sorry go ahead go ahead yeah no absolutely
017to add to what you just said there's this lady uh one of the things that area has done now a second year in a row is um organize a group you know invite the community to uh go to Danforth Museum of art what a beautiful place what a gym I feel like everyone should go visit that little gym we have in firmingham if you haven't been yet you really need to go it's incredible I mean all the exhibits there are amazing I I mean it's right in our backyards folks we you know do it I'm sorry go ahead yeah no that's great that's a great and to all folks that work at done for you guys are great you guys are awesome they're amazing so we yeah so second year in a row we have
018this group um people just you know sign up and we we have food um so the main thing there is um there's we we learned about um a Woman by the name of metav Vox War Fuller I might have buted the name a little bit metav Vox War Fuller she's an African she was an African American Artist she right here in firmingham her artwork is amazing she was a sculptor painter poet a mother a wife a designer and also work did some work with theater we learned all that recently in you know when we went uh for the to celebrate uh Black History Month and her work talking about the struggles she she started out here in art school but she was not accepted in the American schools you know because she was a black
019student but she persisted to go abroad and this particular School abroad was offering American students you know a place so when she got there uh what was told to us at the museum that they were like oh we thought an American was coming here yes I am American you American didn't say you were black right right so they were like you know we we we can't have you here so she ended up going somewhere else and long story short persisted she never gave up so this is a story I I feel like a strength we can all pull from regardless like Mak say of color so long story short she came back here did her work as a mom got busy but on her off time did all the sculpting that you guys will see
020at uh Danforth um Museum of Art in firmingham uh so that shows the persistence and the struggles that the black people faced but on a positive point if you persist regardless and especially today just educate educating ourselves not only black history month but uh all months just understanding the struggle but also coming together to work together as a community to how do we help each other Equity that's what I'm I feel like that's where this um has to go yeah yes to get to move the world yeah could agree more and you know I think to to to hone in on that just the persistence right you know everyone regardless of background faces struggle you know and the funny thing about it is that you know I think I think sometimes we as human beings
021forget to have empathy for each other right wow um and you know no matter what your background is everyone has been through something I don't care if you're white you're black you're female you know you're male you know you've been through something and all of these stories the stories you're talking about and the stories that we've that we've talked about you know learning about Black History Month um to draw strength from people who were creative who who who figured out a way through persistence to keep driving at their dreams and their goals my goodness how inspirational but also like whenever you're kind of like at that point where like oh man I can't I can't figure my way out of this and like no yes you can you know look at look at this historical
022figure look at that historical figure like they managed to do it they're human beings like me I can figure out a way of my out of my mess too you know and and maybe even make the world a little better while I do it um I was very honored to be part of that group at the Danforth uh earlier and uh I was very impressed by seeing that collection and that that that artist actually has a couple of uh couple of works I think on display at the Smithsonian at the African-American uh Museum down in DC as well so again folks it's writing framing framing right here like world class art oh my God you know like right in your backyard um so go check it out um but yeah so just kind of moving
023on a little bit um you know I think I I want to I do want to Circle back on uh a point that both of you made about drawing that inspiration uh and from from black history and you know both of you have been very active in the Ashlin Community for some time and you know I how has how has your your understanding of black history and your your learning about black history informed like you and has inspired the work that you do you know with your friends and neighbors here in Ashland yeah it's a lot I mean in five years we just the stuff we've done with the help and support of our of our community and Beyond has been amazing so that that's a loaded question so and first of all I want
024to start with you know being appreciative that I guess the three of us were recognized at the state house um well I wasn't going to embarrass Barbara let's talk about let talk about talk about Barbara because in in the winter of 2025 what what honor and distinction did you receive Barbara yes so I did get uh recognition which was which I was nominated by our state representative yes um to um Jack Lewis to so I got an award from the state representative and I got an award from the senator president yes um Senator spiler so and also um so I did get three awards that night and so the other one from the president for black history Excellence So speaking of black history yeah so who knows congratulations congratulations I was gonna I was going
025to embarrass you at the end but like we can do that now but like all these accolades that you've Acquired and Maggie you are a recipient of that award as well um in the previous cycle but you know um as as people who are out here in the community partnering with other folks uh you know how how does how does uh black history inspire you to do what you do here in Ash right so I was answering that question I want to answer it backwards okay so by that just jumping off all those the recognition that was you know bar that she just received Mak you did too congratulations it goes back so it goes back to covering yeah the Massachusetts black and Latino legis legislative cus so it I I saw a a joint
026effort and force at the State House from between from the governor and lieutenant governor and all the folks that work there to recognize the Black and Latino uh community and the work they're doing and this I feel like has going back to black history where things were happening and people were inventing things and some of the recognition was not there just as America correcting this and fixing this to recognize not only the black Community or any other minority Community but any American or anybody trying to contribute to uh our society is is important so I drove my energy from black history when I read about like um Mary who invited the sanitary pad and you know people like that and I'm we're facing a tough day as area you know trying to figure things out
027or trying to uh get some event and we're facing uh obstacles I draw some energy from those people and the work they did and I get back you know we S as Community like we're going to get this done want to get this done so I feel I get inspiration and strength from learning about black history American history that's how that's how it helps me as well and even just sharing it with the young folks because a lot of them don't know but actually do appreciate it our young people do appreciate it appreciate this work so definely was very true yeah and you know like you said there's a lot of um black people or people of color that have done a lot but it was just never recognized so even just being at the
028state house to see all those people and you know you know something as simple as just having the first um superintend superintendent who's a female and black in in Springfield that was you know that was something huge very inspiring and yes very inspiring you know it just tells you that you know whatever you put your mind to it and we now know that the ones that were there before us if they can do it right there's no what should be stopping us you know in our communities to work together right Y and having these diverse Minds come together I feel it's a powerful to like we should all draw from whether it's in our communities or as a nation yes diverse Minds uh even in companies they say is increased productivity so uh true you
029know I feel um I'm all fired up every year every day to to keep to move the needle a little bit in forward in terms of let's come back let's come let's come as a community and continue this work to make it you know a very inclusive and happy happy Community for everyone one here in asheland and Beyond and uh it involves all of us just doing this work uh you know putting in time if you don't have the time to sit down and start an organization donate money to some organizations that are doing work you know in disadvantaged communities and um education in in schools or just give back in any way you can I you know I have this rule that I feel like we all have five minutes to give if you
030don't donate some money donate your finances uh to just make you know our communities um and something that we talk about too like in area that like most of these committees people feel like if they join a committee they feel like you have to put like hours and hours most of them they meet like once a month or even once quarterly like now with areas sometimes we meet once quarterly andless if there's something that's going on that we have um to talk about but it's just even just coming and listening when people are talking it's very inspiring just lifts you up just knowing that you know there are some people that you can go on and talk to and if there's things that needs to be done you know we work together and let's not
031get discouraged if you feel like you know you you try once to you know get open get the door open and it doesn't work and you know let's partner like area I guess our mission says it best we have we're not only working as black people we work with allies everybody's welcome and I would love to just end with this you know this Mission I feel like area is a group of people of color and their allies working together to ensure that our voices are represented in local and Civic organizations like you said government and the schools we also support and promote people of color run businesses in Metro West as engines of Economic Development um that benefit our community at large through Community Action we want to make Ashland a safe and inclusive community
032for all I mean that feels like history now because Ash has been you know yes yeah I mean and you know I think that's uh again there's there's there's a lot to unpack there but I think what some of the key takeaways I'm hearing is that you know uh especially with a lot of the work that you've done with area and both of you everyone on area because it's a very big and and devoted group of folks from all backgrounds um you know one thing that's inspirational when I when I do manage to get to your meetings it's not as often as I probably should be um is that uh there is um there is a lot of cooperation there's a lot of optimism there's a lot of community Spirit there um and I think
033people hold each other uh in high regard no matter what background and I think everyone there is dedicated to keeping Ashland and and and a beautiful place for everyone everyone everyone uh white black latino you know Asian you know and and making sure that we um we work together as a community to see the kind of community that we want to have you know um you know you're talking about black history you black history is part of American History absolutely and I think we've kind of come full circle you know um we should all know all of our history here in this country and uh and uh make sure that we all draw strength and inspiration from the many stories um that so many groups have contributed it's like that you used to call it
034the Great American Melting Pot you know so we've got so many people from so many diverse backgrounds um and that defines America you know all of us all of us you know and um we to your point you know Megan it's been shown like you know uh that diversity is part of our strength as Americans right so you know so I think that's that's uh something that we can all be proud of and and hold dear and uh draw from from that that optimism you know and uh keep going towards the future Al together um so thank thank you both so much for being here to talk a little bit about black history if people are interested in area how can they get in touch with uh the group absolutely they have a website yes
035Ashan equity. org okay great can go there and subscribe and you know we have uh look at our website we have all yeah so that's one way to reach us absolutely and uh yeah leave an email if you want us to get in touch with you you know and if people wants to help us walk go with them join a another comedi in town you know you can go and just with you because sometimes I know people are don't want to go to a new comedy where their new faces by themselves oh that's true so they're very they're a very friendly group I want to say like like they welcome everybody it's it's really great but and you make it fun and you do a lot of fun stuff and with your Community Partners and
036especially you know decisions that they return Ashley's United so many people that I'm not mentioning that will be angry because I don't mention them everyone in town you know and that's that's one of the great things about being in Ashlin like as a community we we all pull together to make ashin a better place thank you so much you two for coming on the views Express for this uh wonderful celebration of our for having us history thank you so much Makita for having us and uh want to thanks thank everyone the area the community of Ashan the board area board and all the members you know it's amazing amazing so let's keep celebrating black history all year long all year year long my goodness what a happy note to leave on and thank you listeners
037for hanging out with us on the views expressed uh yet another community- based conversation offered by waa uh make sure to tune in again we'll have some more hyper local conversation for you to enjoy take care everybody thank you [Music]