SARASOTA – Staff at Booker Middle School organized the first Black Heritage event at the school.
“We started talking about having some kind of celebration for the black history program and I found out we never had a black history program,” Edward Frazier, employee at Booker Middle School.
Students and parents at Booker Middle School enjoyed a night music, food, and learning about African American heritage.
“That’s one of the things we wanted to know our history of not just Newtown but Sarasota period,” said Frazier.
Dozens students and their families attended the celebratory event. Key Note Speaker Edward James III shared the importance of actions speaking louder than words.
“I’ll be talking about dreaming and doing and how we can manifest ourselves and really step into our excellence by not just dreaming but also doing and making sure that everything we do for our community is an actionable item,” said James.
James says his family has been fighting for civil rights on the Suncoast for years.
“I come from a long line of freedom fighters. My father helped integrate the public libraries here in Sarasota County, my grandmother was a longtime educator, my great-grandmother helped integrate the beaches here at Lido Beach in the early1950s,” said James. “So for me it’s kinda something that runs through my blood and ancestry.”
James ran for office when he was 25 years-old and believes younger generations are vital in getting the changes the American people want. “Often time people tell young folks that you’re the future but when we look at any major revolution that has ever happened across the world it’s always been led by young people so the time is now don’t just dream also act on that and do,” he said.
James hopes at the end of his speech people understand and act on his message.
Students also read poems by prominent African American poets and sang the African American national anthem. Staff at the school hopes to continue to host this event in the future.