001all right hi everyone um the BHS student government is really excited to welcome musician author and teacher Brendan slokum to BHS Mr slokom was raised in fville North Carolina and holds a degree in music education with concentrations in Violin Viola from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for more than 20 years he has been a public and private school m music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout Northern Virginia Maryland and Washington DC his first novel The Violin conspiracy was published in 2022 by anchor books his second novel Symphony Of Secrets was published in 2023 also by Anor books he's currently working on his third novel on behalf of the entire BHS Community we would like to welcome Mr slum we would also like to thank the Brookfield Education Foundation for the generous grant
002that has allowed Mr slokum to visit with us today we would also like to thank the Brookfield public library for partnering with us to provide BHS students with this unique opportunity please wel welcome Mr Brendan [Applause] SL morning I think it's great that you guys actually respond when uh I say good morning so this is your diversity day yes all right so I'm not quite sure what diversity Day means can I get a volunteer to explain it to me anyone can't hear you still can't agree so Student Government prepares this day where we have a lot of speakers come in from all different cultures identities things like that just to talk about their experiences um to kind of just teach all of our students about the world around them and some of the things that
003they might not have yet to experience you said that like you're important okay that's cool nice [Applause] job all right so diversity day diversity um when you guys I'm looking around and I'm I'm thinking about diversity and don't take this the wrong way but one of the most diverse things that I see about you guys is probably the [Applause] haircuts but that is actually okay um it's all about your perspective my perspective I is going to be 100% different than most of you guys I don't see a whole lot of people in here who look like me so you know my perspective is going to be really different are are there okay just bear with me any brothers in [Applause] here hey let me ask that again and you want to be brothers in here
004yeah that kid I can tell all right so um my name is Brendan slokum I am from North Car well I was actually born in California and raised in North Carolina and I'm has anybody been down south to North Carolina okay a lot of you and let me guess you guys laugh when you hear us talk right I do uh I pretty much lost my North Carolina Southern accent because I've been living in DC for so long but um I raised in North Carolina I went to a high school that was half black half white uh I went to a college that was predominantly white and you may have guessed from this picture two things are very different one I'm holding a violin and I don't have one here today two I've got a bunch
005of white hair on my face it was black last year no it really was it's a no I just grew a beard because you know Co and I don't like to shave and all of that good stuff but um when you see this picture of this guy holding a violin uh what do you think he like oh this guy's a professional viol violinist probably not it's just a prop that he's using for a picture anyone PR all right you guys are easy this is going to be fun okay so uh when I was 9 years old I started playing the violin in my elementary school I was in fifth grade I started playing violin and um you can imagine seeing a black kid playing the violin was not a common sight so it was kind
006of tough why was it tough because people would look at me and one of the first things that they would say is where did you get that did you steal [Applause] that they have Future Leaders over here so Growing Up High School it was kind of tough as well because say you know you are in high school I was on the baseball team for a little while but I actually had to quit because of music I wanted to play football but I couldn't do it because of Music well that and I was only 150 lbs but um I I couldn't do it all and going through life is already difficult as a teenager and then you have a violin case skinny kid big feet long arms walking around school with a violin case that was
007rough then you go to college and I went to a predominantly white college and I'm carrying this violin around in the School of Music there were probably six people in the entire school of music that looked like me six and the first thing that people say first thing that people think the only reason you're here is because of affirmative action you're not good enough to be here with the rest of us if you think you are you're going to have to prove it over and over and over and over and over and over again I have been told you should not do this because you're not going to be good at it you will not be successful you should do something that you're going to be good at this is not the type of music
008that you should be listening to you should probably find something that suits you better I'm wondering what that means because I've been listening to classical music I've been listening to hip-hop listening to rock and roll listening to everything why would I not be good at this I took the same classes as my counterparts I had the same teachers I worked just as hard if not harder why can't I do this because people like you don't do things like this but what is people like me took me a while to figure out what they were talking about can anyone guess I am all day long so it was it was actually tough it was very tough I would have to deal with this constantly I am in a practice room and I'm practicing my fiddle and
009people are like who is that oh that can't be Brendan he's not that good he no that's not him you know you know I would go to play in different churches or weddings if you read my book The Violin conspiracy if you haven't I'm going to recommend that you read it you should read it before the movie comes out oh oh now you want to pay attention Okay I see now right yeah I've got two books out and they're both being made into movies so yeah I know right w so I would go to a church to play and the church director would take one look at me after I sat down he would look at me and then he would go and Whisper to someone I need you to go and sit next to
010that guy because he didn't think that I could handle the part didn't think that I was going to be able to play it because of the way that I looked the person that he usually sat next to me no offense to anyone in here was usually a a white girl she would sit down she would have trouble I would end up helping her because I'd played the piece anybody familiar with handle's Messiah Hallelujah course anyone anyone okay great yeah I'm not going to sing it all right um yeah so I played it Pro I've been playing it since I was in high school I've played it probably 200 times and instead of the girl sitting down to help me I would end up helping her and then she would say something like wow you're really
011good at this I said yeah I've been doing it since longer than you've been alive I have gone into schools to conduct I'm a musician so I've gone into schools to conduct I've walked into a room with a bunch of teachers and they've not not kidding the garbage is over there you can take it out I walked down the hall with my shirt and tie little girl came up to me and said are you one of the cleaning people like no sweetheart I'm going to teach your class today go away does it suck a lot it really does to be judged on your appearance not on what it is that you can do I've had to work twice as hard three times as hard as my counterparts who are white does it suck yes it
012sucks a lot to constantly have to prove yourself all the time but I will do it and I will take the hit so that the next person who looks like me who wants to walk down the hall with a violin case doesn't have to be scrutinized doesn't have to be judged because of what they look like so I will take those hits so that it doesn't have to happen again what does any of this have to do with diversity what I'm saying to you guys is it's not a bad thing that your school or your your population right now is is not super diverse it's not a bad thing it's just different it's your perspective I probably have one of the most unique perspectives in this room things that I have had to endure like
013like you can imagine one of the worst things what what's one of the worst things that you guys would have to deal with out in the world dude you can't hear you still can't hear you dude can you come and grab the mic cuz I'm not walking over there dude can you come over here uh maybe like getting fired from a job I don't know or or um I don't really know [Applause] wor my I don't know what's worse than that are are you interviewing me now you're asking me um what would you imagine one of the worst things that I would have to endure with be keep it real keep it real what's your name kid Ryan uh maybe even just like even just standing up here guess in front of all these people
014I don't know like [Applause] what I'm not really [Applause] sure go take a nap Ryan yeah um I what I was trying to get at is uh okay so Ryan's y'all do y'all know Ryan by the way is he cool one of the worst things you know I'm I'm trying to get what your perspective would be what what what would you think that someone who looks like me what would be a bad thing that I would have to experience that you wouldn't got to come up here dude got to come up here dude okay dude just say it what people say the true very true I have been walking down the street minding my own business and you just you know you're looking at people I'm from the south we smile and we speak and
015we say hello and instead of hello you get the nword I'm not going to say it because there might be some delicate egos in here and I don't want to hurt anybody's although some of you probably said it 10 times today already I'm sure so it's one of those things where you never ever ever get used to it and I hope that I I would hope that you guys would never say that in in Anger to hurt someone else's feelings but it happens and it sucks a lot and and what do you do you know it's uh when it happened to me and it's happened multiple times I I actually played a wedding and um in in my book I write about where the main character went to go play a wedding and he was
016the only person that looked like me in the group and the father father excuse me the uncle didn't want to let him in he's like no you're not supposed to be here that actually happened to me we made it into the church played this as soon as we played our last note the father or the bride shoot us out as quickly as he could looked me dead in the eye and said this is not what I paid for you need to leave it's like okay yes it hurts yes it sucks and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why I like why is this guy so mad we played great I didn't miss a note everything was perfect just because of the way that I looked I didn't do anything to him what did
017I do wrong that's always what I ask myself and I did for years and years and years now I realized that it was it was never me me it was never ever ever me it was always those people they just didn't get it it's different people sometimes are afraid of what they don't understand not the only difference between me and a lot of other people is my skin tone is a bit darker that's it I'm a normal dude I bleed I cry I eat I do everything else only because of the way that I I look and you would think if people are constantly judging you on your appearance that it would make you bitter I used to be extremely bitter extremely bitter I was mad all the time I had a chip on my
018shoulder the size of a house I was just waiting for people to do and say things a lot of times it did happen but it's all in how you how I decided to react to it there came a point where I was like it doesn't make sense that I am putting so much time and energy into being angry over what someone else does I decided a long time ago not to let anyone else dictate my happiness never ever ever let anyone else dictate my happiness it's all a matter of perspective if you guys are unsure about a different person a different culture A different race what's the best way to understand it if you understand it you won't have to fear it if you don't fear it you can embrace it what's the best way
019to understand it does anyone know UC education so how do we educate ourselves stuff like this and there's one really important thing that you all can do I'm I'm not sure if you guys I don't know you all at all oh I know Ryan now but I I'm not sure if you guys are what what your bravery factor is I'm I'm not sure how courageous you are but one of the best things that you can do and I am telling you this as a minority as one of the people who I I'm you know I'm a minority you know there's not a whole a lot of black people in here but if there's something that you want to know I would encourage you all to ask because you bless you because you ask that does
020not mean that you're racist it does not mean that you're being mean or nasty or hateful you're just being inquisitive that's the best way to learn to educate yourselves is to ask people have come up to me and just ask me the most random questions and I appreciate it because instead of making assumptions they actually come and try to find out and I appreciate that you know and it's not embarrassing it's not hurtful it doesn't it doesn't it it takes nothing to just ask a question and it's not being mean it's just you know your lack of knowledge you want to you want to feel that void you want to know and the more you know the better off we're all going to be able to understand each other I'm sure how many of you
021just just raise your hand how many of you have how many of you have stereotypes in your head about black people just a stereotype doesn't have to be good doesn't have to be bad just a stereotype seriously only eight people black people are this black people are that black people are this black people are that all right thank you you may put your hands down now I'm going to do something right now I'm going to do something right now that um it's going to take a very courageous person and I'm I'm it's all seriousness if anyone has a question about me I can just tell you about me I can't speak for the entire my entire race of people I can just speak for myself does anyone have a question who's going to be courageous
022enough to ask anyone well let me ask you this why is it so difficult to ask a question I'm sure you guys have questions why is it hard because I'm scared what are you afraid of how strong are you okay can we give that kid a courtesy laugh right yeah don't do that kid because you're afraid of what of like everyone looking at you dude everybody's looking at you right now what are you I mean are you afraid you're going to actually get an answer that you it might be true um no so you really don't know what you're afraid of no [Music] you got a question is it going to be like a good question or you going to be like a all right cuz if it's not I'm going to hurt your feelings
023[Applause] dude let's go Le oh are the benef are there benefits to being [Applause] black the question was are there benefits to being black I'm going to ask you to clarify that just a bit like are there any things that you get to do that other people don't that is [Applause] good Puerto Rico are there benefits to being Latino what are they like culturally you get to uh I don't know like the environment is different from like Caucasians they don't they don't have the same environment that black people do their familyes different all that like I go to my friend's house and they're like rude to their mom and everything all this stuff no white people then I go to my I go to my um black friend's house and if he says a word
024to his mom it's he's getting beat then and that all right so you guys heard that right um I I I would say that it's a stereotype but I can just speak for myself I don't know what white kids say to their parents I don't know is it bad that's what Leo said I didn't say it he did um we can do things that other races can't what can a black person do that another race can't do if you say play basketball on a body sming I wouldn't say that you can't do anything I can't do but but you just did no if if I speak to my mother rudely I'll get beat if if another person does they might not like there's different situations so you're saying black people can't speak to their parents
025rudely without getting beat what are you saying I'm saying like growing up as a black person it's a lot different than growing up as a Latino or white now how would you know that are you basing this on what you've read what you've seen like like my experience in my experience sit down got this Le hey guys I I don't know how to answer well first Leo is very brave because he said a lot of what I'm sure a lot of you have been thinking am I right just by Applause and I actually I actually applaud you because dude dude are you focused okay I I apud you because that's one of those questions that a lot of people have they like oh well black people do this and you know it's it's like this
026but one thing about culture culture is learned you're not automatically a part of the culture just because of your race culture is learned and I think parents who discipline their children they're just good parents go sit down [Applause] man stereotypes oh okay we have another brave soul okay let's let's be respectful to the man with the beard [Applause] please um Jes um my question I could probably get canceled for this I hope I don't all right so so there's a stereotype in like Sports and just Athletics in general that people of color are faster or stronger than people that are white do you believe in that such that said stereotype it's biology so like for example like Lamar Jackson you know Lamar Jackson the NFL quarterback they all call him he should be a running
027back because he's just really fast but some people say that's because he's black not because not because he's a good athlete correct and like you see people see black athletes being faster but is that just because they're black or is it just because they're a good athlete that's a good question and I'm curious what do you think you're really good at this aren't you yes I am well crap um Banda please don't get me in trouble um Banda that's my principal so what I think is I think that they work as equally as all as white people do as people that are Asian people that are trans at are by any anything they work just as hard as we I'm getting a lot of like half and half in here but yeah well I I
028do appreciate your okay let's focus let's focus let's focus hang on dude I appreciate that question and it's that's a very common question and I can't answer that fully because I'm not you know I I was athletic growing up and do it could be the same thing for like music like do you think that I mean do you is there a stereotype with white and black white and people of color or anything else being like better at music or being at anything for that matter like do you see that stereotype and do you believe in it okay you're putting me on the spot all right um in my experiences just my experiences uh I'm around a lot of musicians so most of the musicians that I'm around have pretty good Rhythm doesn't matter if they're
029white or black um or Latin or Asian or whatever but they've got good Rhythm because they are good musicians as far as Sports is concerned there are so many theories about why uh black athletes are so much more athletic there's so many theories some of them probably are valid some of them are probably just dumb and just people make stuff up I don't know but does it really matter not really okay dude you're very brave young man with that be thank [Applause] you uh what's the most common form of discrimination you think you fa [Applause] uh I thinkk you what's the most common form of discrimination I think you face a lot of systemic discrimination like you're you're inherently not going to be the first choice for jobs you're going to be like discriminated against
030by police just because of how you look the government just not going to favor you over white people so aliser right okay so um aliser mentioned the police in 2000 I was driving a brand new Honda Accord it was black I was driving through Baton Rouge Louisiana this was preg GPS I put on my left turn signal and I was I made an illegal Lane change cuz my hotel was on the other side of the street lights and Sirens immediately cop pulls me over gets on his bullhorn with his gun drawing on me get out of the car walk backwards get on your hands and knees I had a friend in the car with me we were taking a road trip he was white he just sat there I thought my head was going to
031get blown off for making an illegal L ch had my friend not been there there's no telling what would have happened it's real I'm not saying cops are bad I'm just saying that every now and then you'll get some power hungry person who needs to prove themselves unfortunately sometimes people who look like me get the brunt of it if you were in the car and that happened you'd probably get a warning I get a gun to my head so it happens but I still don't hate cops cops are important cops keep us safe from people like me no just kidding just kidding kidding jokes that was all right all right right do you have anything else what's your favorite movie not really I got a lot of favorite movies I'm into the Marvel movies in
032game was insane that last fight scene was worth the entire 3 hours hey who cuts your hair no it's a dope haircut for real are you uncomfortable at all uh I had Indian food for breakfast so kind of what [Applause] all right I think we've got time for another couple of questions is there a young lady who would like to ask a question [Applause] okay so what's your thoughts on other minorities as a black person like what like do you have any stereotypes um what is my thoughts on other minorities they're cool I mean I don't have any to me I I I honestly I I judge people by their character as opposed to their characteristics so if someone comes up to me so if someone comes up to me you know and they are
033Asian or Latin or white or whatever I don't judge them based on what it I you know I I got to get to know them I that's me because I have been judged so much that I refuse to do that to anybody else so I always you know I I wait to meet the people and see what they're about before it make a judgment about them does that make you feel better yeah okay thank you oh thank you go sit down oh we okay thank you guys okay nice round of applause for Mr slokum at this point this block is over so you need to go to ilt if you're an upper classman