Hello and welcome to NewsClick. Today we have with us Professor Ajaz Ahmed and we'll discuss the recent developments in Venezuela and what it portends to the global picture and what I would say is a reemergence of a certain kind of aggressive regime change operations. Ajaz, there are many peculiarities in the Venezuela situation. The chief of this, of course, is that countries outside what I would call a settler colonial countries, the United States and Canada and ex-colonial countries like France, Spain and of course the United Kingdom, deciding who should be the president of an independent country, which of course in this case is Venezuela. Do you find this an attempt to re-contour the world back to a kind of a neo-colonial era? The most interesting part of it to supplement what you're saying is that this process has been going on for about two years and Canada has been a part of it since 2017. That is one major difference that the work for the US is being done was first done with a group of right wing Latin American countries and Canada fronting as the Lima group, which is very concerned about internal affairs in Venezuela and recognizes this, doesn't recognize that, that's all. So that is first layer of it. But what is very extraordinary in it, in my view just pertaining to what you were saying is that there is a global lineup, North America, right wing regimes of Latin America which are on the rise after the pink tide as it was called and virtually all of Europe, Western Europe, minus Italy and things like that, virtually all of it. So Europe's inability to stand up to the United States in this flagrant kind of thing and we'll come to the details of that, that's one side. The other side is Russia, China, South Africa, Turkey, possibly India. So the sort of a rising capitalist countries around the world are on the other side, as is the African Union, as are the left wing governments of Latin America. So it's a global divide. The unity, I mean, the NATO countries plus the Latin American right wing. That's one, you know, it's sort of a global divide like that. The other very great peculiarity in it is that in the former cases where constitutional mechanisms were used in Brazil and Honduras and so on, they actually were used as constitutional procedures. Here what you have is that within two weeks of this appointment of Agüedo by Trump and Pence, the whole story comes out in the Wall Street Journal how it was done, who attended which meetings, who made which phone calls to whom. And in this case, you have this young man standing up declaring himself president after Pence has called him to tell him that he should do so. Trump recognizes him immediately. He makes this announcement as president of the National Assembly, which constitutionally in Venezuela has a defunct organization. But anyway, this is there. He doesn't make that statement in that assembly. That assembly hasn't met. He doesn't have a cabinet. It's a self-magnitude, the great presidency. It's not to be seen anywhere. It's a complete self-magnitude. When they did it in Brazil, it was so spectacularly constitutional. Here the constitutionalist just absolutely in a fig leaf. Two years ago, they said, we don't recognize the constitutional assembly, which was an elected organ from Lima sitting in Peru. And so on. So it is very much like there in Vietnam. You just pick up the guy who will work with you. And then the National Assembly cannot meet because he's not the United candidate of the opposition. He did not even tell his own party that he was going to make this announcement. I mean, he's so very much transparently as too much. So that constitutional mechanisms that were used so blatantly, of course, in Brazil and elsewhere, they at least went through all the steps. This is just blatant. Well, I mean, Wall Street Journal breaks the story of how it was done disapprovingly. Of how you can do this. This Wall Street Journal telling the truth of what happened. It's bizarre. But structurally, what you're seeing is a global divide. But you also see a re-emergence of the confidence of, shall we say, the NATO powers to be able to do this in spite of the fact that there is opposition both within, of course, within Venezuela, resistance if they have an invasion, which I don't think is likely at this stage. But the fact is, if you talk about the media in the West, the NATO countries, if you talk about the civil society in the NATO countries, there is actually a conspiracy of silence. They are all a part of this larger, shall we say, offensive. Yeah, but there's not even a conspiracy of silence. The very strange, you know, sitting in the, when you read the American press and so on, the way they have shifted from one day to the next, it's extraordinary a month before it happened. New York Times was writing very unhappy stories about what is being planned. And as soon as this, it is done, Lido is the leader of the opposition. He can't call the General Assembly because the opposition is not united behind it. He comes from a fringe little party. And the, actually the opposition could not, they could not participate in the elections because it was so divided that it had no chances. It is equally divided about this ghetto boy. As somebody has said, Guaido is the Chalabi. If you take Iraq and Chalabi, that this is- Chalabi is a more recent example of that. My mind went back on the way to Vietnam to DN who was just picked up because he was the only leader of a tiny little thing and made president. But the other thing, sorry to interrupt you. The other thing what I'm seeing actually is not so much confidence. As just pure, you know, aggressivity to grab the oil. You know, you're doing it in such a way that you are dividing the globe and uniting so many people against you. You know, and without a real plan. So far as one can see. Just while that is true, that it doesn't seem to be a long-term successful plan because they don't seem to be in a position to invade Venezuela. I think that would be something they're not willing to do as yet. I don't think Brazil and Colombia are willing to be a part of a military invasion also. So it seems that physically ceasing Venezuelan assets, even the oil assets is going to be not that simple. And we don't see what they expected. They thought with this there will be really a pricing on the streets. That doesn't seem to have happened. And it seems that more people have come out in favor of Maduro. In spite of the fact that the global media is very silent on this. But what I am actually interested in looking at and I just wanted to have your sense of this, that there is no also upsurge against this or in spite of the fact of Wall Street Journalists laid bare what the conspiracy was. But there isn't really the what used to be called a liberal opinion which would take to streets or take to the media saying this is not the right way. Appointing a president from the United States and by colonial, ex-colonial powers and settler colonial powers is not really the right way to go about international relationships in international law. This voice doesn't seem to have been raised. Is that correct or am I mistreating the situation? Well, I mean, I didn't think there I don't think there was any great liberal upsurge of opinion in any public way about when they invaded Libya or when they invaded Syria. There was one before they invaded Iraq but once they invaded it fitted away. You know, this business of Europe what I find new now is that Europe got lined up behind it as the conspiracy was being hatched out. That seems to me to be new. Other than that, in the last 40 years Europe has never defied any decision that the United States has made to overthrow any country. The United States has attempted 68 regime changes in the last 70 years. Europe has never been known to oppose any of them.  You have a week within which to announce elections otherwise we'd recognize the other guy. I mean, they made themselves ridiculous but the Western, and I must say not only the Western popular, liberal, whatever classes are politically so quiescent now. There are no demonstrations against anything the hegemon does. There's an incredible amount of dissatisfaction.  But it's the extreme political passivity, virtual destruction of the public sphere in these countries is very alarming. That's really the point I wanted to focus on that in the context of the Iraq war and the fact that the WMDs were shown to be bogus, the fact that this entire dodgy dossier, et cetera, all this which came out later does not seem to have damaged the credibility of shall we say the state, the United States in this particular case and its regime change operations of the future that there's still all that damage seems to have been very, very transient and it is solidifying again behind the as you said the hegemon. Credibility, I don't know if there is much credibility of this particular kind of government the United States now has it doesn't have credibility about anything at the moment whether in the United States or anywhere else. So, but so I see it as a sort of a political cynicism and withdrawal from politics. As if the setback of the that happened in 1989 and thereafter has wiped out the political sphere in the West. The political parties no longer represent anything. They no longer are left wing parties, right wing parties, social democrats, Christian democrats and so on. So there's a kind of a, so far as that is concerned. But about Venezuela, the lot of the other political media is actually very much up in arms. The, you know, and not only the media that National Lawyers Guild has condemned it, the United Nations Secretary General has said that the UN only recognizes the Maduro government and so on, you know, those kinds of things have happened. But yes, they seem to have a complete license and a complete control over the global media narrative because that is really controlled by Western news agencies and the news feeds. So, you know, you know, you see, I look at all of this and the discussion is not whether what the Western governments are doing is right. The discussion is how legitimate is Maduro's government. So that is the narrative that's playing out, not that whether they can in today's day and age declare themselves as the Roman or the British shall we say vice-roy's or pro-consuls in different parts of the world. But the Senate used to appoint or in the term times of Rome or Britain used to do it, as we know in India. So this kind of imperial overreach is not the narrative. Even in Indian press, the narrative is how legitimate is the Maduro government. The Indian press, you know, that narrative hasn't been there. You know, I mean, when the Iran boy started the Indian press, newspapers used to run pictures of all the fencing equipment that the U.S. was using, various aircraft, this, that and the other, very admiringly of what great technology the United States had, et cetera. So this is very old stuff. I don't think it's very different now. Of course, you know, it has been sort of... Yeah, it's a change in the media, for instance, 50s, 60s, 70s. Actually, global presence of even third world countries media representatives used to be there. We had it from India, we had, for instance, correspondence in different parts of the world, including South Africa, including other parts of Africa, including even in Latin America. But that has completely changed. Now, entirely, the feed comes from Western agencies. 40 years ago, yes, that is true. So this is... This is not recent. So the global narrative, they also is something they are able to control. They've been able to control it now for a long time. They've controlled the narrative of, you know, all the regime changes in the 21st century. They've controlled it completely. So that has not changed, with even the de-legitimization of the U.S. president, Mr. Trump, has not dentered that part of it. This is a state-controlled media. So it doesn't matter who is the president at any given time. It's part of the national security state. You know, there's no media left in India or in the United States. And what is also for, what may be of surprise to a lot of the other people who don't really, who see this, the other part of it is the social media, the big social media platforms are also very much a part of the security establishment or the security state. Yeah, yeah. Yes, most of them, yes. And there is a slow destruction of the European media. There's a gradual destruction of the European media. There's still some decent newspapers in Europe, but the television and so on are going to American media. What is the long-term prognosis, given the fact that there has been at least resistance, as you said, in terms of countries like China, Russia, Turkey, this kind of lineup that is taking place. Do you think that the long-term is going to make a difference to what happens in Venezuela? This lineup is not going to make, I think that much difference because the regime of sanctions and appropriations, something like $13 billion of Venezuelan money has been appropriated already. The UK put, I mean, basically took over the gold deposits of Venezuela two months before this round. So it's not as if they even are, there's any ground, et cetera. So the economic hardship is going to be immense. This is a very classic, in my view, I think the mood is very classic. They will stop the population, they'll break the population, they will break the economy, they will be low-intensity warfare. It's quite possible that all this money that they're appropriating, some of it will be given nominally to Guido. And maybe a lot of that money would be used to pay for the weaponry, et cetera, et cetera. And there might be some sort of ragtag mercenary army in Venezuela to start. And it would be supplied from Colombia, Brazil, et cetera. Informally, many of their officers may join them without announcing it. So there will be a long, slow destruction of Venezuela. How slow? I'm not very sure, but that's the sort of scenario I see, partly because the opposition is still, is not united behind this joker. And the US has to put all of them together and pretend to bring up a general assembly, form an alternative government, this that and the other. So my sense is that what has been usual with the United States in this century for the last 20 years is not to risk too many of their own soldiers. There won't be invasion of that type. If the fighting develops to a certain point, then the US advisors may go in for 5,000 trainers and advisors, that sort of thing. The Syrian scenario, that I think is in the cards. The problem with China and Russia is just the physical distance, that breaking an embargo of that magnitude in which Western Europe itself is participating would be just logistically very not feasible. So they won't be able to do much. They'll do what they can, but they won't be able to do much. Inside Latin America, the only major country that's on the side of Venezuela is Mexico. And that, for them, things are very precarious. Also, I mean, the Trump administration will do anything it can to undermine that government.  I don't see an American invasion. Americans are not going to risk their troops in a country in which about there are six million or so people who want to fight for their lives. So it's not the Iraq scenario. This will be very serious. This is not Iraq or Syria, I was going to say. This is not the Iraq scenario, but... About 40% of the population will fight. So this is not the Iraq scenario, but the Syrian scenario of low-intensity war supported from arms from the side. From the side of the Americans. Americans. But you see, none of these Arab countries was the population going to fight. Unlike in Venezuela. Venezuela, 40% of the population will fight for their lives. So the Sylvester's, in that sense, are the difference. Yeah, that is a very, you know... So Americans are not going to put there, as they call it, boots in the ground. Thanks Ajaz for being with us, explaining to us the larger context with which this is taking place and the differences between Venezuela and the other countries where regime change has been in operation or has been practiced. We will continue to discuss with you this and other issues. Thanks very much. This is all the time we have for NewsClick today. Do keep watching NewsClick and our other programs.


Hello and welcome to the session. I am Deepika here. Let's discuss a question. Point the values of x, y and z from the following equations. A matrix whose elements are 4, 3, x, 5 is equal to another matrix whose elements are y, z, 1, 5. Let us start the solution. Solution. Since the two matrices are equal, so by equality of two matrices, creating the corresponding elements, we get y is equal to z, x is equal to 1. The answer for the above question is x is equal to 1, y is equal to 4 and z is equal to 3. I hope the question is clear to you. Bye and have a good day.


My name is Sam Vatnin. I'm the author of Malignan Self-Love, Narcissism Revisited. To a narcissistic boss or employer, the members of his staff, his employees, are sources of narcissistic supply and nothing else. Their role is to remember events that support the grandiose self-image of the narcissist. To regulate the narcissistic supply. To adulate, to adore, to admire, to agree, to affirm, to provide attention and approval, and generally to serve as an audience. The staff or employees are supposed to remain passive. The narcissist is not interested in anything, but the simplest function of mirroring is grandeur, its achievements, its status. When the mirror, the employee, acquires a personality and a life of its own, the narcissist is incensed. When independent minded, an employee is perceived to be a kind of danger, and is in danger of being sacked by his narcissistic employer. An act which demonstrates the employer's omnipotence, control over the employee. The employee's presumption to be the employer's equal is rejected and vehemently and emotionally resented by the employer. The employee should not try to befriend a narcissistic boss or a narcissistic employer. Friendship is possible only among equals, and to the narcissist, his employees and his staff are his inferiors. They are his property, he loads over them, he is superior to them. Therefore, how can he be their friend? Trying to become a narcissistic boss or employee's friend constitutes an injury to the haughtiness and pride and arrogance of said boss or employer. The narcissistic boss or employer is willing to accept his employees as underlings, a subordinates, whose very position serves to support his grandiose fantasies, but nothing else and nothing about. The grandiosity of the narcissistic boss or employer is precarious and tenuous. It rests on fragile foundations, any hint of equality with the employees, any disagreement, any criticism, and even any expression of an unfulfilled need threatens the narcissist profoundly. The narcissist is exceedingly insecure deep inside. It is easy to destabilize the narcissist's impromptu personality, his false self. His reactions, however disproportionate and reachful, are nearly in self-defense. So, classic narcissistic behavior is when idealization is followed by devaluation. So at first the narcissistic boss or employer idealizes the new employee. The new employee can do nothing wrong, he is perfect, he is brilliant, he is attuned to the narcissistic needs. But then devaluation follows as a result of minor disagreements, or merely because time has eroded the employee's capacity to serve as a fresh source of attention and narcissistic supply. The veteran employee is taken for granted by his narcissistic employer and boss. He becomes uninspiring as a source of adulation, admiration and attention. The narcissist always seeks new thrills, new stimuli provided through and via the attention given by new employees. The narcissist is notorious for his low threshold of resistance to boredom. His behavior is impulsive, his biographies chaotic precisely because of his needs to introduce uncertainty and risk into what he regards as stagnation or slow death, in other words routine. Narcissists abhor routines. Most interactions in the workplace, though, are part of the rats. They are routine. And thus constitute a reminder to the narcissist that he is quote unquote stagnating, shackled, imprisoned, unappreciated, unable to realize his untapped potential. The routine workplace deflates the narcissist grandiose fantasies. So narcissists do many unnecessary, wrong and even dangerous things in pursuit of restoring and stabilizing their inflated self-image. Narcissists feel suffocated by intimacy or by the constant reminders of real, nitty-gritty world out there. It reduces them. It makes them realize the gap between their fantasies and reality. It is a threat to the balance of their personality structures, the false self which is invented and confabulated and concocted and the true self which is dilapidated and dysfunctional. So they treat routine and everyone connected to that routine as a menace. Narcissists forever shift the blame, they pass the buck and they engage in cognitive dissonance. They pathologize the other by projecting onto him or her. Trailties, weaknesses, failures. They foster feelings of guilt and shame in their employees and their subordinates and use this guilt and shame to manipulate them. They debase and humiliate their staff in order to preserve their own sense of superiority.  They think nothing of confabulating or pathologically telling lies because their very self is false. They are their own confabulation. So what can you do with a narcissistic boss and employer? Number one, never disagree with a narcissist or contradict him. Number two, never offer the narcissist any intimacy. Number three, look old and inspired by whatever attribute matters to the narcissist. For instance, if he regards himself to be a professional, pretend that you are dubstruck, that you are amazed by his professional achievements. If he considers himself good looking, comment on it repeatedly. Never remind the narcissist of life out there, of the routine. And if you do, connect it somehow to his sense of grandiosity. You can aggrandize even ordering office supplies. The most mundane thing consumable. You can say for instance, these are the best art material any workplace is going to have, or we get these office supplies exclusively because of you and your connections and so on. Aggrandize the narcissist. Do not make any comment which might directly or indirectly impinge on the narcissist's self-image, omnipotence, superior judgment, omniscience, skills, capabilities, professional record or even omnipresence. Bad sentences start with, I think you overlooked this and that. I believe you made a mistake here. You don't know that. Do you know that? Etc. Etc. Or you were not here yesterday. You cannot. You should not. These kind of sentences are interpreted by the narcissist as ruining positions and they react very badly to these injurious restrictions and hints at their lack of omnipotence and lack of omniscience. Manager of narcissistic goals. Notice patterns in his bullying. Is he more aggressive on Monday mornings? Is he more open to suggestions on Friday afternoons? Is he amenable to flattery? Can you modify his contact by appealing to his morality, superior knowledge, good manners, good looks, cosmopolitanism or upbringing? Manipulating the narcissist is the only way you as an employee can survive in such contaminated and tainted work place.


Well here we've got what we're calling Get Stuck In. It's the launch day of our Geek Week and this is all about trying to make things that seem geeky at first science, technology, engineering, maths. They're all part of a package of trying to get people engaged with and moving out their comfort zone becoming more involved. Since public libraries were founded a roughly 150 years ago they've been involved not only in reading and books but they're also there about learning, engaging in the community and strengthening those communities and what we're doing here is just the new high-tech way of doing that. Here today we've got a pretty good range we've got um coding club, the coding club are geared more towards kids with a program called Scratch which lets them create simple games and activities for themselves and that's really quite important because it's teaching them fundamental skills. For example in messy science today where we were having great fun with sort of making things explode it is fun but it's also about educating particularly kids but adults as well. There's also robotics, wearable tech is here. We've got stargazing and solar observation and really explaining the science behind it and it's so great to see on one side a lady in her 70s learning about this and next to her was a child of about eight totally in a thrall. We've got the Frankenstein monster a giant version of the operation game explaining all about the physics and the electronics but underpin that likewise with these giant mobile phones he's explaining a lot about how those work. We've also got on the fun side magic which is a card game sort of quite complex rules. We've got maker space people and they're doing a great job at showing people that it isn't all about tech. We're very very lucky to have a graphic novelist and artist in who's demonstrating how this art form is done it's creating a chance for kids to experience things they may not have thought of and a way to engage and it's also fantastic fun. In addition we've got Minecraft going on and one of our library assistants is actually an expert and one of his projects has been he's actually built in the Minecraft world a virtual Crawley library. This is our inaugural geek week but it will go forward it will expand it will be bigger and we are going to be bringing things like coding clubs into our regular activity in some of our libraries at least. We really need to embrace this as a way of engaging with a new audience but also doing a core role of supporting learning information and education.


What's up everybody, Jayce here for JaspiesCaseReady.com. 2021 Panini Immaculate Basketball just sold out. This is a one box break, random teams number 31, and this is a fresh case, guys. High risk, high reward, 30 spots. Everybody gets a random team in the NBA. The first 20 spots were sold straight up and then Carl, Donna, Alan won those in prison, won number 196. So thank you guys and congratulations. Here we go, guys. Randomize because we're names and teams, let's roll it. We got ourselves a five and a six, 11 times. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, and 11. Boom, 11 times. Dusty down to Nick. So, Baron, how are you buddy? I'm doing well, man. Well, earlier I was just hectic because I couldn't find a case, but it turns out the Vegas team took the case. So that was hectic. But other than that, I'm good. All right, so we got that 11 times. Boom. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Clippers down to these Sacramento Kings. Alrighty.  So if anybody wants to trade, guys, I'll have the trade open for about a minute. I won't pause the video, just want to keep it open. If you guys want to trade, trade. If not, I'm going to close it and we'll start the break. Buck spot on Tuesday? What do you mean, man? Oh, but what do you mean by buck spot? What is that? I remember you talked about Disneyland. Hell yeah, that's already this week. And eat a chimichanga for me. Eat a clam chowder bowl for me. Yeah, eat those two at least for me. I miss those. Club chowder bowl and a chimichanga. All right, I'm assuming no trades then. Oh, gotcha. See me like you need to buy into a break where Tom Brady's at. Gotcha. I was just like, what? What's releasing on Tuesday? Why do you want to buy a buck spot? But now I know. Now I get you. Yeah, I buy into a football break and if it's like a pig routine, buy into anything that Brady's in basically, whether it's paint, chit, or bucks. Or hopefully you get random minds, one of those two. That's right. That Brady probably has to be a lot more now than what it was when you first pulled it. That's for sure. All right, one, two, three, four, five. It's from top to bottom. Let's see which potentially I get. See that right there? One, or one of the box one, baby. There we go. Good luck, guys. So the next one's already on the website. So if you guys want to run it back later tonight, we definitely can. Remember, there were no trades. That's good, man. I'm glad you still have it. That's something that you should probably hold on to for, I mean, at least, I mean, if you want to until you retire officially, I guess, or forever, I guess you can. Pass it down to like one of your kids or something. Yeah, I don't know if it's gradeable, but I would slab that. I don't think even if it has a bad grade, it won't hurt it, you know? This is such a low numbered autograph on card. Definitely should try to grade it if you haven't already. Alrighty, good luck, everybody. First one is Stephen Curry, 64 out of 99. Trey Young, 41 out of 99. It won't hurt the value either, man, trust me. Even if you got like an eight or something, people will still pay money for that. Eight out of 25, Donovan Mitchell. What are we getting, all point guards or something? Dang. You told your eyes to Andrew, Atlanta was Canard and Golden State was Allen. We have Charles Oakley, heralded signatures. That's eight out of 25. New York Knicks, going to Dusty. Ricky Rubio, I don't know if Charles, I don't think Charles Oakley was a pointer, but it's four out of the five, at least if it had been point guards. 41 out of 99. Ricky Rubio for the T Wolves, Steve Birch. Last one, ah. No disrespect to Chris Middleton, but this is probably that one box in here that probably not gonna have the best bottom card. I said don't offend to Chris Middleton, but there's definitely gonna be better than that. Dang. Let's hope that we just pulled like an Anthony Edwards or Lamello right here, just called it. But it's gonna be hiding one of these last four guys. But there you go, still a nice hit though for the Bucks. Thomas, last ball mojo, there you go, man.  So definitely still hiding one of these last four boxes. Like I said, I reposted it back up. Let's try to get the next one going, jaspyscasebreaks.com. Appreciate it, guys.


The study shows that tree height influences 3D and intensity features used in classification algorithms for tree species identification, but using size-invariant features or training separate classifiers per tree height strata can improve accuracy. This article was offered by Brindusa Christina Bude and Benoit Saint-Ange.


Good evening Welcome to the Christmas tree lighting for the state of Vermont and the state house I am buildings in general services Commissioner Chris call. I've had the pleasure of speaking to a second crowd today for those of you Who are at this series? Launch this morning We are now going to be entertained by a song We have with us this evening Doug Perkins and Patrick Ross of the band hot flannel Gentlemen take it away to introduce The governor of the great state of Vermont Phil Scott. We have series on top of the state house They kind of completes everything a great day like that. I Thank you very much for being here tonight. This is a really special event And I'm happy to join you to celebrate this season I'd like to thank Larry and Pat Fortier and their family for donating this beautiful beautiful tree As well as Doug and Pat for the wonderful music. I'd also like to thank Bruce Now, you know Bruce was the winter storm. We just had Bruce I for one didn't realize that we we named snow storms these days Hopefully we'll have to name a lot as the the winter goes along But I do appreciate Bruce doing his part to decorate for the holidays a little Earlier than usual. I know the daily commuters may not be as excited as I am But we do live in Vermont if we're going to have cold we might as well have snow along with it So slow down and be careful out there because winter is actually here Now this November snow has also helped kick off the outdoor sports season with many of our ski areas and resorts Hoping up a little bit early, which is a great sign for we hope to be a very strong season I'd also like to thank take a moment to thank the utility crews That have been working day and night over the last few days to restore power to nearly 100,000 folks throughout Vermont With with a winner upon us it's also time to make sure we're checking on the elderly and more vulnerable neighbors that we have when the When the temperatures drop and the snow makes it getting around a little bit more difficult Take some time to see if you could help someone through the next few months Make sure they have heat the walk is shoveled or or they've got enough food in the pantry even a quick visit just to say hi goes a long way and And it would be great greatly appreciated by by many Now Vermont is known for our deep sense of community and commitment to our neighbors We help each other out. It's part of our DNA. We go the extra mile We believe in each other and the value of every person During this holiday season. It's important to reflect on how fortunate We really are to live in this brave little state along so many good and decent people who in their homes and jobs and Churches give so much of themselves in service to others. So let's make sure we don't take it for granted So here tonight as we kick off for the Christmas season Let's commit ourselves to showing gratitude for each other and especially all those Vermonters who inspire us with their kindness But there are random acts of kindness with their commitment to their families their compassion and optimism and their unconditional love Because to me that's what this season represents and that's what this tree represents Especially in a time when our debate and dialogue often lacks the respect and civility our country Desperately needs and deserves it's up to us to remember the golden rule do unto others as you would have done unto you It's really pretty simple treat others the way you want to be treated Even when someone may not be extending it to you or extending that same courtesy because that's when it really matters the most In this time of division we must we must remember that our children our children many of them here tonight are watching They're listening and they need role models to help make sure they understand the right way to engage with each other to talk To each other and to treat each other So as well we should also keep in mind there many Vermont families who are less fortunate that we are We may not be looking forward to this season as many of us do Let's do our part to make sure all Vermonters feel the joy of giving this season Take some time to donate or volunteer in a local food shelf shelter or community soup kitchen Contribute to a mitt and tree or toy drive that helps spread happiness to all of Vermont's children Make a donation to a local charity and always always be kind to each other It goes farther than we can realize Let's also remember that we have men and women who in the military will not be home for the holidays Who are in distant lands serving our nation and protecting the values that we cherish so much Let's keep them and their families and our thoughts as we move towards the new year and finally Let's embrace the hope and promise for the holiday season With so much negativity in the world today in so many ways to get it caught up in the anger and hate Let's use this time to be the example The shining star for others to look to and learn from because that's the Vermont way So thank you very much for being here tonight and merry very have a merry Christmas Governor, thank you for those inspirational words I think you had all the right marks. This is the time of giving A time for remembering those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Thank you Doug Patrick behalf of the state of Vermont the Fortier family. We have a certificate For their gift to the state, which is this magnificent tree And it reads thank you on behalf of Governor Phil Scott in the state of Vermont in recognition of your generous contribution to the 2018 governor's tree lighting ceremony Larry and Pat Fortier Please come up and receive your certificate of appreciation The cold did you gather? Thank you. Thank you so much for donating a tree. We really appreciate it I hope to be around We also have certificates of appreciation for our Musical duo this evening Doug Perkins and Patrick Ross. Please step up and receive your certificates We're gonna get it we're gonna get a picture Perfect We'll box these back up Boxing All right the moment we've all been waiting for can we have The little elves the little kids come on up. We want to assist the governor With the candy cane All right, here comes a countdown 10 nine eight Seven six five four three


Thank you The burger and Martin Luther King is recorded as having said Everyone has the power of greatness not fame Not fame, but greatness because greatness is determined by service Speaking from in from within his faith tradition. Dr. King would have understood and understood the roots of these words and That they were a profoundly political statement about how power is wielded and how change occurs To say that greatness is derived from service service to all is To engage in a profound cultural critique But such an ongoing critique characterized the life of this man Thank you for coming to the 21st annual Martin Luther King junior celebration in Davis one of the very few things We do as a public formative practice a Practice that acts not only as a reminder of a man whose words and life provided leadership In a time of great ferment in the world but also a practice of recommitment To live in ways that honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King My name is Rob Davis. I'm the mayor pro tem of Davis and I'm thankful To have the opportunity to be with each one of you today this day of remembrance and recommitment I'd like to introduce my colleague and friend Dan walk mayor Dan walk the mayor of Davis who will be providing us with an official welcome Thanks, Dan. Thank you very much Rob and thank you for your friendship and leadership on the council I do very much enjoy serving with you and thank you very much for for coming everyone. I'd like to Throw out some more. Thank you. If you will I'd like to thank Ellie fairclaw who is here from Congressman John Garamendi's office Like to thank Rui Laredo who's here from assembly member Bill Dodd's office. I'd like to thank senator Lois Wolk former mayor Lois Wolk former assembly mayor Mariko Yamada is here as well supervisor Don Saylor member of the school board Barbara Archer is here and Jesse Ortiz who's the Yolo County superintendent of schools is here As well, so give those elected officials a round of applause for a couple others No offense the elected officials, but we have some real luminaries in our audience today. We have John Pamperin is here and Dick Holdstock is here these are two freedom riders and real institutions in our community and Lastly, we really need to thank our Human Relations Commission for putting a lot of energy and putting this on and for all the other work That they do specifically the subcommittee that worked on this. Please give them a round of applause So I recently gave a speech as some of you may know in which I implored our community to Renew Davis and renew our commitment to the ideals that made our community what it is today And I'd like to see that I think that applies in this context as well And I'd really like to use this opportunity now This is the 21st year that we're doing this to renew our commitment to this event and really renew our You know commitment to the ideals upon which this event was founded and and of course the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Junior because even though we are in our 21st year of celebrating this event We still have a long ways to go to reach that mountaintop that Dr. King spoke about in his final speech in Memphis One out of every four persons in California lives in poverty We've got staggering inequality in California and throughout the nation and we've got significant racial disparities in our country So these challenges still remain and I think it's really important to use this opportunity To you know re-inject energy into that movement bad deals Upon which this event really was founded and I see that happening in two ways First is really what the theme of this particular event is and that service I have always viewed this day as a day of service I think it's critical that everyone sees this day is not just about coming to this event and And talking about these issues and then getting energized here, but taking that energy and really applying it You know outside of the confines of this theater and really make this day about a day of service But more than that make it about a day of service not just for today But for the 364 other days of the year, I think that's really critical. It's really again what this community is based upon It's why this why we've had this event and it's really what I hope that everyone takes away from this event So again, thank you very much on behalf of the city of Davis. I welcome everyone here and I look forward to it. Thank you Dr. King also said and it was on the screen earlier. You don't have to have a college degree to serve You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics and physics to serve You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love And we might add all you need is a willingness to share the gifts you have To bring them to the table of service place them there so that all can partake We have several people today who willingly bring their gifts to share with us. I Want to introduce James Williams who is going to remind us that while we've come a long way in our celebration of equal rights We have a long way to go With his vocal rendition of a change is going to come. Please join me in welcoming mr. James Williams Which was my original concept very good. Thank you so much for having me here today I'm a little embarrassed to say this is my first Martin Luther King Day celebration and Davis, but as I am soon to be 10 years in Davis Hey better late than never a Change is gonna come I Was just about 12 years old When Sam Cooke released the B side of one of his many big hit 45 The A side anybody remember Provocative title of shake All right Now I have to stop right here and make a reference To those in our audience today who may not have any knowledge of the little vinyl discs the 45 RPM Two-sided as you would say mp3 Okay Just three minutes to make the magic happen which Sam Cooke always did But even though Sam Cooke was at the height of his powers as a songwriter It was not the intention of RCA Victor for this to be anything more than well filler and Maybe a modest success Certainly not a piece of black history In a very simple and direct way The scope of the African-American experience is brought sharply into focus The song inspired by his personal life experiences in the Jim Crow's segregated American South Speaks of the struggle and of his hope for a better time to come You can hear in here in it the historical perspective of one Already once removed from the darkest of times, but also with the knowledge that there is still a very long way to go a Change is going to come was destined to be an anthem for the American civil rights movement and widely considered Sam Cooke's best composition Hailed as culturally historically as well as aesthetically important. It's a very poppy mic. So we're gonna try it I Was born by the river In a little tin just like that river I've been running ever since It's been a long Long time coming But I know Is gonna come It's been too hard living But I'm afraid to die. I don't know what's up there Beyond the sky It's been a long a long time coming But I know a change is gonna come I go to the movies Somebody's always saying now. Don't you hang on? Oh, oh, I go to my brother I say brother help me, please But I find myself back down on my knees Were times that I thought I wouldn't last for long But now I find I have the strength to carry on It's been a long coming But I know yes, it's been and that's the way gifts work I kind of wish I had that gift You know what people often ask How can I best be involved in Fill in the blank helping my community Serving those in need resolving conflict working with youth And I find that the question is often motivated by a fear Fear on the part of the person asking the question Do I really have anything special to bring? And I really have anything special to bring my experience here and around the world is that We must see our community We must see our community as a body Not everyone is a hand Not everyone is an eye Not everyone is the heart But just as no part of the body can choose to act on its own so we in this community Need the contribution of all parts Bring your gift Our next performance is by a person who has not only used his gifts to provide leadership through Throughout Yolo County particularly in the environmental realm. He's also a talented singer and songwriter Please join me in welcoming mr. Clarence van hook who will be sharing two songs with us today This little song I wrote I love it as we are family We all got children And so I think I did this recording in Johnny Otis is studio some of you may know Johnny Otis Okay, anyway, I did this in Johnny Otis is studio and any past home and So I'm still I went on and produced it, but I don't have a Recording label So anyone out there we'll put this out because I think it's appropriate right now It ought to be playing all over the world because we are family and and and well I'll just listen the course goes like this and you you can join me and we'll we'll sing We're all God's children you see He's I redeemer he loved us so much That he gave up his son to redeem us as such So we are We're all God's children you see Then before we break up we'll sit down and make up and stay a Family let's do that course one more time. We are family we We're all God's children you see we're all God's children you see before we break up We'll sit down and make up before we break up. We'll sit down and make up and stay a Fan that's it one more time. Let's do the course.  I'll do the verse We are family we're all God's children you see You see For liberty and justice and freedom fall Together we must stand All divided we fall everybody we I said before we break up we'll sit down and make one more time We are family. I said before we break up. We're gonna sit down and we're gonna make up Hey, thank you. Yeah I'm gonna have to get to get that get the lyrics printed out maybe and pass it out And uh, this is a A song that kind of refers to marten.  What will I leave behind? And I um I think we all Concern ourselves at some point or another But we want to leave you the fact that you're here means that you uh, you want to make a difference And so you want to leave something behind you want to leave a good name and good deeds So this this song goes and you can sing this along with me too It the chorus goes like this leave behind Yes, leave behind What will I leave behind? After I leave Forward unknown Tell me what will I leave? behind One more time leave behind Yes, leave behind What will I leave behind? What will I leave? After I leave for worlds unknown What will I leave? For worlds unknown Tell me what will I leave behind one more time leave behind. Yes, leave Leave sing it out y'all What will I leave behind? After I leave for worlds unknown What will I leave? What will I leave? I'll do a verse This is my prayer Oh Lord today Let me behold Holy night After I'm called From earth away What will I leave? Behind come on the chorus now Yeah, leave. What will I leave? What will I leave? Behind Oh Then after I leave gotta go to work Tell me if I I like this verse Will I be missed? By the ones that I love Or have I been unkind And have I been true To my God up above Tell me what will I leave Behind come on y'all Leave I want to know what will I leave behind I leave gotta go to work unknown Tell me what well. Thank you.  Thanks Clarence You may know that today is is also national martin Luther king day of service and the theme of it is It's a day on not a day off as dan alluded to in his talks Of course, we know that service canon must be extended beyond this day indeed when it comes to service There's no day off To really help us think about service and the different forms it can take in our community We have a special panel today Moderated by the co-chair of the davis human relations commission david greenwald I'm gonna ask david to start making his way up here And the panelists as well, which i'll introduce Whom i'll introduce one at a time we are privileged to have three panelists to share their experiences and stories first we have Clarence van hook who just shared with us in addition to his obvious singing talents He's a guinda farmer has been active in several efforts including with the western yolo grange So come on up and have a seat clarence. We have siara main You can learn more about siara here. Uh siara is um has been a driving force locally with the get on the bus program And then a third panelist is robin dewey Robin has played a leading role with promoting go ahead give a give a round Robin clearly brought family members today Leading role with promoting and sustaining team davis special olympics So with that we'll invite david to come up and lead our panelists in a discussion Good morning, everyone It is great to see a packed audience here Um, so um, we have a lot of questions and a limited time. So i'm going to Cut uh these questions off precisely at two minutes.  Don't be offended and we'll just uh move down the row Because we got about half an hour to do five questions. Um, so, um, we're going to start With robin on the end. Uh, so the first question is Why do you think it was important to dr king to call the community to service? Well, I guess I I really feel like it's the only way to Really get to know people who are different from you and to embrace diversity Which makes our community so much richer and I feel like you can't really embrace diversity unless you Are side-by-side being with with people who are different and learning from them And uh, you know, it just makes the community much stronger and your own lives much richer Go ahead Okay, thank you all for being here. This is my first as well and I'm super excited to be here. Um I believe excuse me That the community like we've already talked about is the body and so bringing and calling your Body parts to then fulfill its main duty and its main principles are the number one thing that king needed to do and To call them and to understand the motivation the principles that we needed to Fulfill in order to get to where we need to get to and then we have all these wonderful people in here today That also fulfill this body and then we have common ground and common mind in order to fulfill That legacy to continue on this community and to continue on our goals and our successes See whenever I tell people I'm holding them to two minutes. They never go to two minutes Go ahead Clarence you just wait Uh I um, I was um Born in arkansas And I brag about it now. I'm very proud of my age. So you have people get tired of hearing me tell them I'll be 83 in april Yeah I'm proud of it. I was born in 1932 Back in the day when and civil rights didn't exist and so I I had an opportunity to To learn and to experience and I know what I'm talking about I can tell my grandkids and they and try to help them to grasp it and so I uh I think dr. Martin Luther king Was doing a great service one of the things that he was a baptist minister And so being being called to preach That was his mission And so that was it in a nutshell. I mean he he had no he he was ordained to go out and to serve and as the As this scripture reads you serve the lord die god with all that heart all the mind all that so And so you serve your fellow man And and and that's what he was that's what that's the message he was carrying So, um I had a He was assassinated on my birthday april 4th And I had an opportunity to meet him and as as I but I didn't get as close to him as I would have as I If I had known but you don't know so and you don't make friends because of who they are in a way, but but You know, you would like to Muhammad Ali used to beg me to come to Louisville to go to the kentucky dergo with him And so I never did and now I regret it And I would I want to go visit him, but they say they won't let people come but he and I were close All right, clearance. I gotta cut you off Okay, we're going to start with with sierra this time, uh, how does service promote diversity in communities? so How does it support how does diversity support? How does service support diversity in communities? Well, just like robin was saying, um It brings people of different cultures together and It allows Responsiveness from other people to then bring forth Something that could they can contribute like their gifts or they have particular um goals that everyone is aligned to then Get to the same exact same exact goal. Um My experience with I've I grew up in sandwich the visible county Or Santa Barbara County, excuse me. And so I've Also grew up in this age and so I've had to learn what I've had to actually live in a more diverse situation than maybe most of you in this audience have and so I have developed working with other people and collaborating with other people and Seeing the better good And I cannot say that I lived through the awesome days, right? I cannot say that I've experienced and actually witnessed moving from one point to the next and seeing the Amendus change that has happened and all that I know is that Me being at this university now and the diversity in the communities that we have on campus and we're trying to To Hold on to this Authentic View, I guess you can call it has been a tremendous privilege. Okay. Thank you very much Clarence, how does service promote diversity in communities? um By coming together service when you when you're working like On a such as this an event such as this you get to fellowship and to meet one another Martin one of it and I I use it a lot, but I don't put it in the order that he he said it but but martin said that One of the reasons we don't get along Is because we don't trust each other We don't know each other the reason we don't trust each other is because we don't know each other And the reason we don't know each other is because we don't fellowship with each other and so on so this The service organizations that uh, I'm I'm a member of a baptist church and we do outreach and we try to feed You know the the hungry and help the Homeless find shelter as our supervisors do and others in You know it's service and that's how it brings us together when we see Each other trying to help someone help do you know that That makes us come closer We then know that if this person has a caring heart and he feels the way He does about this person and he's going out of his way to do this Then he's got to be a decent person. So then you don't have that you lose that fear Then you kind of but you need to talk you need to come guy. Hey, I talk So, um, that's one of the things that I think martin espoused and and the The scriptures and he was a minister. I'm not but he By love serve one another And and and it said that in all the law that it says Love one another and love thy neighbor as thyself So so if we do those things then, you know, we we got it kind of covered and as we Do our services Thank you, clarence Okay, robin, uh, how does service promote diversity in communities? well, I think um, clarence and seara have have really sort of defined that so I thought what I would do is just take a second to Um, explain what team davis is and does and how it has affected some of the lives of our volunteers Which is it's a it's our special olympics team in town, but we do many more things. We have nine sports We offer art classes singing classes dances nutrition classes, etc But our primary primary goal is community integration so that our participants Fully feel included and a part of our community And we have about 150 participants their families, etc And we have about 90 volunteers and we're all volunteer And what we hear from college students and in, um, high school students time and time again who volunteer on a regular basis That they have it's changed their lives that they've changed career paths, etc Just because they have been with people who are different from them and have learned from them and embraced Embrace the differences. And so I think that's what you get from Real community service Thank you um, all right third question Before this thing goes off And we'll start with quarence's time What have you found most challenging about participating in community service and most rewarding I found that time Time is the most challenging to to find the time I'm such a busy guy and so but The um If you can find the time to get involved and do What's needed? I think you find many people out there There are many good samaritans out in in the community That would be more than happy to help work with you on on doing something I do a multicultural event a change you started as a black history Up in gwenda and I want to have some flyers out there in the hallway So pick one up and then come and join me because that's what we're trying to do We're trying to get the word out and and you know expose history that that That's not known and bring us together to fellowship. So The hardest thing is find the time And then the other thing is to to be motivated because if you can if you go out and and Start doing something. This was a challenge to me to put this event on But but with god's help and with the help of my friends and all it works. So come on down Thank you, um back to robin, uh What have you found most challenging about participating in community service and what is most rewarding? um Well personally, but I think I can speak for our other volunteers What's most rewarding Is the richness, um That I feel of my life and uh, you know the Embracing a community I have a I have several communities But team davis is a very very important one to me um, and so I feel like You know, that's probably for me and the other volunteers the most rewarding What's challenging is uh making sure that everyone feels included including our volunteers and sometimes What can be hard for new volunteers is to To come into a situation where things are very unfamiliar and people are unfamiliar and people's actions are unfamiliar and I think it's important for um, volunteer long-time volunteers then to make sure that new volunteers feel included and Know how to begin working with with our with our group So I don't know if I answered the question, but Nothing like that Sounds good. All right, uh, seara um so I am a part of A program called get on the bus where we reunite children with their mothers and fathers who are incarcerated And so we serve Folsom prison and silano locally at uc davis But we go all across the state and so my challenge that has Been over and over again in terms of me serving have been Recruiting people who have the same drive and understanding that we are serving the children in this and finding people who understand That stigma that is floating around in this controversial situation and so um That is the logistical challenge I guess but the biggest challenge for me personally is not getting all of these children the opportunity to see their parents Because it is very difficult for people to get from point a to point b and that is all we provide and we go to 13 to 20 prisons each year and It's heartbreaking In that being said it is A privilege to be even a part of something that is spectacular, I will just go in on my My program because I love it so much and I am just so thankful that it is Actually happening it started in 2000 and we are 2015. Oh my goodness And it is just blossomed and we serve so many Prisons and parents we reunite families and that is the most amazing thing that I could ever do And even though we have limited volunteers and it's just hard for me to just give it up I just can't because I guess that's another challenging part. It's can't give it up Okay, thank you So we will go now To robin to start the fourth question Why is the mission of the organization you serve important to you? Well, I I think we've talked a lot about what What's important and that This is a population the population we serve those with intellectual and physical disabilities In davis is is often like other sort of vulnerable Minority populations is often invisible and feels misunderstood And is not accepted And so, uh, it's important as I said our Our mission is is to increase the community integration so that we can increase Understanding and I'll just say that um davis actually has a long history of trying to do this with with our population Starting with the school system, which was um, the some of the first full inclusion programs were started in davis our city Alternative recreation program is a model Across the country. Um, we have uc davis best buddies Chapter on campus that was awarded the best chapter in the state Which is puts college kids together with people with disabilities. We have an autism awareness program on campus uc davis chose this year For uh to pick temple grandin's book as the campus book project temple grandin is the most famous person with autism In the country and her her speech, which is going to be at the mandavia is almost sold out So I think we have a lot to be really proud of Um here in davis, but I also feel like we have a long way to go and so that's our our mission um, so when when people, um Criticize folks for coming to movie theaters and making noises when they are Other people are laughing and make them feel bad When they when people use the our word, um, just sort of indiscriminately and with without, you know, thought Like my hairdresser did recently. That's not acceptable and we have a long way to go to to fix those things here in davis Thank you, and I think that's kind of the theme for the day lots of progress, but a long way to go Sierra Uh, sure, sorry, um, why is the mission of the organization you serve important to you? Oh, I kind of touched on that the last question But um, I guess yeah, right. I guess uh personally my father was incarcerated. So my heart is It has been I basically and so, um I went through my Long-term childhood of not having my father in my life And I just can't bear the thought of any child going through that in terms of Also I I kind of see it in in children's eyes. I I have a heart for youth if you can tell but um I feel that the youth are So powerful and that they are just these seeds ready to blossom up.  That's all I'm saying but Definitely strive to do whatever you want to do Wear whatever you want to wear as long as the parents say it's okay and But be creative and I I really love that in our youth Discipline yet just creativity is something that I would love to see these kids just grow up in and Just rock the world because we need that we definitely need it 2015. We need it this year Thank you And I'll add real quickly that I see all these Little kids sitting out in the audience behaving so well and sitting so patiently. So thank you Clarence why is the mission of the organization you serve important to you? well, it's uh Greater second Baptist church in Woodland, california on second and main you're all invited to come 11 o'clock on sunday And we we worship we go in there and and praise the lord and then we uh We feed on saturdays. We we have a we Take people in and feed them and then it is known. I heard one young lady Say in the church. We were talking about the finances and she was Saying that well one thing that I've heard out on the streets um and people say If you ever need any money For food or whatever you need just go down there to second baptist and they'll give you there. Just give it to you And so some thought that may not be good, but I thought it was good That you know if you have it uh, why not you know and let them come and so um The church It does a lot of good things And and I think that it is worthy of uh support also I belong to I'm a joiner in a way I've helped to found two or three organizations rotary Bayview Hunters Point Rotary and i'm a member Not so active member, but I do go to the meetings of the luna vista rotary here in woodland And the motto of the rotary is service above self And I I think that's a good a good motto and uh I I think gentlemen in the community where I live Said about the Methodist church He was a member and I joined I was lay leader and and gwenda for a while and he uh He says Clarence. I'll tell you one thing about this Methodist organization They send a lot of money overseas over there to Africa And so that means that they were doing some good things to help so that those that makes me proud to be a part of those kind of service organizations We're running a little ahead. That's why I didn't cut anyone off All right one more question, uh, we'll start with sierra What do you think is the biggest barrier for people to participate in community service? outside of time Oh The biggest barrier I feel we've touched on a lot of our kind of Barriers that we've faced personally. Um Time time is definitely That Yes biggest barrier um I would have to just go back to uh getting passionate people or or I guess maybe the biggest barrier is to Continue the progression the You start off and you're ready to go right? Yeah, we got all these fun people We're excited and we're gonna help children or serve like Get people in and feed them and all this stuff and then the momentum kind of dies And I think that's the biggest It's a barrier. It's a barrier. That's always there and it's about Can constantly jumping that barrier? And the barrier can come in all shapes and sizes, but something always blocks your momentum and then getting That strive to just get back up again and say all right. Let's just keep on going. Let's just keep on going Funding's not there. Okay. We're gonna keep on going volunteers on there. Let's keep on going I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna keep on going and so That's where I'm at right now a little bit, but it's okay I'm just gonna keep on Preaching this lovely organization because I don't want it to die. It's my baby. Oh, that's a big barrier too Making it your baby and not being able to Nurture it the way it needs to be nurtured That that's probably But please you can always talk to me afterwards Um about how if you're all doing organizations or something like this And you're trying to get your little wheels turning I would think any of us would be willing to sit down and talk to you for a couple minutes. We're definitely Thank you. Thank you. I think I speak for a lot of people By the time you know what you're doing it's time to hang it up Clarence, what's the biggest barrier outside of time? um You know, I think it's uh motivation And like I was saying about my church the church kind of tends to motivate we go into the church and we sang and of course we We have a good musical celebration and lifting him up and and then we and I like to say now go out and serve And and and those people the members of the church I think they get motivated. That's what the church should be about is motivating us to love one another to serve one another In this scripture, I I had some scriptures that I was gonna but we ain't having church today, but Come to come to second Baptist some Sunday. Anyway, the the motivation is what I think is missing in some ways and I don't quite know how How there's some brains here and think about it. I would like to find a way I thought I thought maybe if People who are working in organizations like the Rotary and and other organizations who are helping others like you doing you doing that And it's obvious You should be tax exempt. They shouldn't be irish. Shouldn't even have your social security number So so so let's let's think about that. Why not because that's a better way to motivate to serve The welfare of others and so of course you don't need we do it because I don't need anything I love doing it and the joy. I didn't tell you about I just get a joy out of seeing the The results of what I have done to help someone to help I'm a contractor and I have have several young men that I helped get into the electricians union and helped to get into The labor union and all that I helped them and what blesses my heart is sometimes I see them They say mr. Vanhoog. How are you doing? I'm harry. You know, you you help me get into the union. You remember me? That that's what I do it for and in a way I do it because I have the empathy and my religion says do it but anyway I heard that All right, robin you get the last word biggest barrier outside of time Okay, um Well, as you two were talking I was sort of thinking about how lucky we are that In team davis that we have some really long term volunteers who To have programs they run with those programs And so I think one of the challenges is making sure that your your group is organized So that it's not just one person doing everything or two people It's several people that really feel responsible for that organization and can run with it And so that's one challenge and that I feel like has really actually been working really well with with our group We feel very lucky about it and I think another challenge besides time is New volunteers will come to us and say well, I don't really and I'm thinking about what rob said and what dan said I don't really have anything to offer You know, I'm interested but I don't have a you know I don't have skills at a particular sport or art or whatever And how am I going to fit in and the reality is That doesn't matter if you've got the right attitude and you care and you're understanding And you're willing to learn and be with a diverse group of people then this you know our organization I think any of the organizations represented here You know, that's all you need and so the last thing I would also say is that Even if you don't have time to actually put in to volunteer Everybody has a role to play Out in the community to be understanding of people with differences to be accepting and to Speak up when when you see an injustice among Anybody that is different from you. And so I think it's really really important that we all Embraced with dr. King was calling us to do and do that very thing I'd like to thank our panel very much for their participation All right, look forward to hearing what the reverend Malone has to say in a few minutes here Well, it's evident from well, let's give him another round of applause We know it. We know that that service can take many forms You Robin Sierra Clarence You're part of a body Of a community of witness Martin Luther king talked about the beloved community. It doesn't spring from the earth It's a community of witness. It's a community of action of persistence and commitment So thank you for your examples Thank you for your leadership Next we're in for a special treat as we listen to the captivating voice of miss natalie Minya. Miss minya is a motivational speaker an entrepreneur a designer a singer This goes on Today she'll sing for us Miss minya strongly believes that everyone is here for a purpose That should find and can find their potential in service to others Oh, it's on All right, um the spiritual i'm about to sing today Was the lyrics of it was written by john newton a famous in the in the at the time slave owner And history has it that he was inspired to write these lyrics when his ship which was transporting slaves from africa Was about to capsize and he he he was inspired to sing these words The fascinating thing is that the books say lyrics john newton melody unknown And many theorists believe That he heard the sound and the melodies from the slaves down below Singing as they also were in fear of their lives I find this very interesting this theory because as a person born in zimbabwe africa I know when times are tough All we can do is sing those chants or those hymns that bring us closer I can imagine during that time. They're probably saying something like G And many other funeral songs but However, whatever the theory might be we may never know I find that this song that is sung all over the world A song written by a slave owner Something that was meant to divide the world has come to unite us as a people the song is sung all around the world Primarily by african americans africans europeans you name it people of all tribes and colors And if there's anything I can think of dedicating to a person who stood for unity for the world a world hero Is margin with a king Join me the last one Our keynote speaker today is the reverend tim malone Reverend malone is a long time davis resident founder of the regional martin luther king junior scholarship program which has provided thousands of scholarship Dollars to college students He's provided campus ministry for uc davis for years and was previously the director of the broader christian center in west sacramento Service is integrated into everything He does and everything that he lives join me in welcoming the reverend tim malone spirit of the living god Fall afresh on me Mold me Hold me Use me Let me be an instrument for peace and justice With the power of love It is indeed an honor and a privilege to be with you today as we reflect on a historical giant A man whom i did not get the opportunity to meet But a man who nevertheless profoundly affected my life And the lives of many people not only united states But all over the world is a great privilege and honor to be here with Many of the distinguished people in our audience the movers and shakers in this community Who has outreach that affects people everywhere If i started to name names they would be too many to mention But you know who you are And i thank you for being here when i was a A child A young man My father never hunted He wouldn't fish He wouldn't kill anything. He was not a vegetarian, but he could not kill anything And i asked him I said dad why? He said son I fought in world war two I was in patents All black tank battalion They sent us out on some very very tough assignments Some of them actually were suicide missions He almost died three times He was coming back from the war to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the north And the buses were not segregated in the north And he was on the bus in full uniform There were two seats left And a young white woman and her little darler came in the bus and the white woman Took the seat across from him And there was a seat next to him And the little girl hesitated to sit down next to him And the mother said honey sit down take the seat no Please honey sit down take that seat no Said honey, would you please sit down and take that seat? I'm not sitting next to that nigger And the mother was embarrassed My dad's heart sank He said from that moment on he was never the same He realized that he was fighting really the wrong war The freedom that he fought for for those in europe he did not have in his own country And he became an activist And the swimming pool that I swam in he told me a story that When he got back to Pittsburgh That particular public pool Was a white only pool And he got involved with some activists And he was the first african-american ever to swim in that pool They had to have guards to let them get in the swim And guards from the come out My father was never the same Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Grew up in an extremely violent and segregated environment He grew up in a world where black lives meant nothing Constant indignities Colored drinking fountains white drinking fountains If they went to the store they couldn't try on clothes They faced Jim Crow laws they couldn't vote They were second-class citizens had to give up their seats on buses And when he was a little boy There was a Family across the street a man a white family that owned the store near them And they used to go over and play with their sons who were white Him and his brother and maybe even a sister But one day he went over to play with his friends And his father they weren't his father wouldn't let him play with Martin and his brother ad And martin couldn't understand So he came back up sent and he went to his mother. He said We've been playing with them all along mom. What what's going on? She said martin Some people don't treat others fairly Martin Luther king looked at him looked up at her and said Mama one day i'm going to change this So dr. Martin Luther king Was a brilliant student He uh grew up under daddy king who was a profound impact but the most The strongest impact on on dr. Martin Luther king jr. Was his father daddy king Now i did meet daddy king And i'll never forget the experience He was sitting outside his church Eating some peanuts And we all approached him we surround him daddy king daddy king I looked at him and we took a picture with him. I said daddy king. Can I have your autograph? He said what you want it for I said daddy king you're famous He said where you from I told him i was in the bay area then i was in uh graduate school in berkeley california He said yeah, that's right across the beach from san francisco. I've been there a great place So he politely signed it And uh, we went on our way But daddy king was a strong man Daddy king was active in this community Daddy king stood up for the rights I remember the story of of martin going into a store to the the try on some shoes and the And the man went and let him try them on and daddy king took a son and and took him out of that store I remember when daddy king the story of daddy king was stopped by the police For whatever reason and the police called him boy and daddy king pointed martin luther king jr. He said you see that That young man. That's a boy. I'm a man The police officer was so shocked by it that he didn't give him a ticket and drove off Daddy king was strong And here he was sitting outside of his church now a lot of people don't realize that when daddy king Was supposed to preach one sunday There was a man that came in who intended on killing daddy king at the church.  King and a deacon and killed both of them But daddy king was undeterred There he was sitting out front of the church Now to be a member of the king family is is an awesome burden even now Just their very name evokes power Dr martin luther king jr. When he was young When he just started out In montgomery and led the bus boycott He was in montgomery and he was a young creature. He had his errant his phd. He was married He had his wife and the young baby yolanda king And uh rose the parks on december 1st 1955 refused to give up her seat And the bus boycott They were thinking about it. They wanted to have a meeting and They asked dr. King if he would lead it and he said well, you know, I'm sorry. I can't be involved with this He was no fool. That was a dangerous mission and uh Then dr. King thought about he said well I'll tell you what I'll attend the meeting They said that's good because the meeting's at your church So dr. King eventually and reluctantly accepted the leadership of the montgomery improvement association and led the bus boycott Not long after the leadership a few months later or maybe less than a month even His house was bombed and creta was there with yolanda And a crowd of angry men and women gathered around the house and they brought their guns He said we're not gonna let them get away with this.    I'm going to kill anybody around you He lived under the threat of death for 13 years From the beginning of the mongomri bus boycott until he was assassinated on april the 4th 1968 in memphis, tennessee Amazing pressure The fbi followed him wherever he went Once barbie kennedy gave jagga hoover the authority Now barbie kennedy and his defense Gave jagga hoover limited authority a tap king. He shouldn't have given it to him at all It wasn't lbj as in the movie selma, but it is a great movie. It was barbie kennedy But jagga hoover Took that power as he did with everything and gave himself unlimited And he had the fbi Watching king like a hawk falling around taping everything Even got to the point where they sent a letter to missus king On summer kings indiscretions And told him you know what you have to do right now martin Oneing dr. Martin Luther king jr. To commit suicide In the face of the threats in the face of the violence People getting killed the four little children That died in a in the church bombing Medgar evers was assassinated melko mechs was assassinated James reeve was killed vital awaysle was killed People were dying around him all the time they even shot john kennedy King Knew that he was going to die And when i look back on history and i've studied it the most amazing thing was not that he was assassinated The most amazing thing that he lived for 13 years under the threat of death Think about it right now in america no one to say we have guns everywhere Some idiot can come in right now and shoot all of us Our laws allow that The young men that shot those People in the in the movie theater in colorado But all kinds of guns Was facing problems mental challenges But yet these companies ship ammunition after ammunition he bought all kinds of guns That's the laws that we still have in this country and it's insane Now you know if it could happen now If that can happen right now, you know how easy it was for them to kill dr king back then there People don't realize that after doctor after uh, melko mechs was assassinated The tremendous pressure that was placed on king People don't realize that when he died a lot of people I should say don't realize that when he died he was not a hero King was hated And this is the thing that we need to understand about religion And I'll specifically speak about christianity since that is my faith And as a baptist minister I understand the tradition of dr. Martin Luther king jr In the black baptist church There is no more Important place than the past of that church in black baptist ministers They are the kings. They are the princes. They are the part of royalty to be respected But the other thing that's important is that We are looked upon to speak up for the people in our community We are to be the boys. We are to be the strength We're to stand up for the oppressed for their poor That's our job and daddy king fulfilled that role and martin Luther king Even took it to a higher level He not only spoke up for black Folks and african-americans. He spoke up for the poor He spoke up for those in vietnam that were being killed indiscriminately by our bombs He spoke out against materialism He spoke up for poor whites Who had fallen under the illusion that they were better than us Because they were white but they were treated the same way So king was a threat and the most serious thing happened When he went out and spoke against the vietnam war We have a man here that talked to king and and told him also asked him to speak out against the vietnam war Well, all kinds of people were speaking out against the vietnam war That was on april 4th 1967 very important date i'm sorry april 4th 1967 riverside church Dr king gave a speech against the vietnam war After that linden bain johnson's did not talk to him After that bainard rustin came out supporting the war After that rory wilkins of the nblcp supported the war The leader of the urban league supported the war after that a lot of the white liberal support that he got came out against king Of course a lot of the modern and african-american leaders that always thought he was too radical said that's ridiculous You're supposed to spoke on civil rights. Don't worry about the war That's how a lot of us get our jobs We get paid we go into the military we serve we get these nice houses good jobs. We're accepted in society But king spoke out against the war He said i cannot preach non-violence here at home and support violence Overseas in another country After the assassination of melka mechs The black radicals criticized and called him an uncle tom The black conservative said he was too radical He lost support Things were very very difficult spinning out of control Every day was a struggle But yet king had the strength to keep moving forward i'm sure he remembered That there was something important to do Something he had to do as a little boy He had to keep his eyes on the prize He had a purpose in life Something much bigger than himself Red brown yellow black and white all are precious in god's sight. He knew that the human family is a family That we are not not separated or segregated by anything He did not fight against individuals Dr king fought against injustice He fought against an unjust system that killed innocent people that held people down Red brown yellow black and white And that's what made him dangerous Because those who benefit from the system are rich They're wealthy. They're connected. They're powerful. Don't rock that boat When you speak against militarism materialism and racism you're talking about three giant evils When you speak about against the military industrial complex You're talking about billions of dollars Could you imagine The money that we spend on drones for killing if we spent that money on drones for healing Can you imagine if we took the money that we spent on prisons and put them in the building of our communities and Making our schools better what we could do Can you imagine that we took dq university that's closed down? We have more native americans in this state than anywhere else in the nation They only had one Native american indigenous community college dq u right outside of davis and it's closed Can you imagine if uc davis with all of his resources took dq u in the state and made it into a place that raised and served Native americans what it would do to our nation in our world We have a lot of work to do We're just beginning What you need to know is that jesus was a radical Jesus was militant Yeah, I know some of us like listen to joe holstein that you're all going to get rich and everything's going to be fine And no matter what happens to you it's going to work out If king had preached that sermon he'd still be alive today He'd have a big church bigger than joe holstein ever thought of Using words more eloquent than any other person ever born or are dead ever had And he would still be alive But jesus was hated Jesus was a radical jesus was a militant You didn't come to jesus and all of a sudden, you know, you're feeling good. He was a rich man that came to jesus He was very very rich. He said I said do you do you love god? Well, all your heart so oh so in strength. Are you are you serving people said yes, I do Jesus looked at him. He said didn't one thing Sell everything you have and give it to the poor Jesus didn't make you comfortable. Jesus made you uncomfortable. He was a radical. He was a militant The young rich man walked away because he was very very rich Now if you if jesus didn't impress that church would be empty after a while. He'd only be left with about 12 people That's all he would have 12 people falling around And some women too just a few But that's the message of the gospel You know religion is really about healing and bringing people together. It's not about killing That's why I want to have a world religions there. You see davis We got to teach them that world religion is about bringing people up not pushing them down standing up for their poor Standing up for their oppressed standing up for people who are struggling just to live Two months before he died february 4 1968 He preached his last sermon at ebb and ease about this church It's the famous sermon where he gave his eulogy And he used the text of the scripture where james and john mark 10th 35 through 45 And basically they came to jesus saying hey jesus, you know, we want to sit on your your right side and left side And uh Jesus looked at them Dr. King called the sermon the drum major instinct Jesus looked at him and said you you don't know what you're asking They said yes, we do. He he said are you able to the drink from the cup that i'm going to drink from Are you able to suffer like i'm going to suffer they said yes, we will jesus And jesus looked at him he said you know, that's really not My decision the seat on my right And the seat on my left Are reserved for those who are willing to serve because the greatest of you must be a servant of all And king said that's a new definition of greatness Because anybody can be great because anyone can serve Yes, we want to be first We want to have that drum major instinct. We want to lead the crowd. He said that's a good instinct if you lose use it right It's okay to want to be first But be first in love be first in justice be first in service because the greatest of you must be the servant of all And then he went on to say He said if anyone of you are around when I come to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral If you get somebody to deliver the eulogy tell them not to talk too long He said if you ask them what I want to say Tell them that I tried to feed the hungry I tried to clothe the naked I visited those who were sick and in prison I tried to love and serve humanity And that's all I want you to say because when jesus was asked about the kingdom of heaven and getting to heaven He told him a story the parable of the final judgment of sheeps and goats that were separated on the right and the left You said I'll tell those who are on my right coming to me That to the kingdom a place of repair for you since the beginning of time For I was hungry and you fed me I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home I was naked and you gave me clothing.   It's not what color you are what family you came from Did you help someone in need did you make the world a better place?  What was his prize king wanted justice? Malcolm X wanted justice Fannie Lou Hamer wanted justice Goodman Swerner and Cheney wanted justice All the great people in the world want justice for all why because justice brings us peace and peace brings us freedom and freedom allows us to live a great life and and living a great life allows you to love And the bible said that god is love I know one thing we did right It was the day we started to fight Keep your eyes on the prize Hold on Hold on Keep your eyes on the prize Hold on Hold on Work for peace Fight for justice With love for all Amen Thank you Reverend Malone I hear in uh, I hear in your words The title of your sermon which is that service has a has a cost service has a price Um, I think when we serve from a place of privilege And I acknowledge my privilege We have to acknowledge our privilege When I have served from a place of privilege and I have done that I confess It's about me defining what you need And condescending to help you But that's not what service is service has a cost The only way we're going to serve in the way of martin is to get down where people hurt Is to learn the way of brokenness To walk with it That's the way I want to serve and that's the way I hope our community will serve one another We're going to conclude our program today We're going to conclude our program today with folk music Played by our ever popular davis freedom singers led by dick holdstock come on up. You can start making your way up When they're done everybody here is is encouraged to participate in a short freedom march through downtown davis Thank you in advance To the freedom singers and thanks to each of you For joining us today to celebrate service Bring your hands Bring your heart Bring your feet Bring your arms Bring your gifts that together we might serve and in service honor the memory of dr. Martin Luther king and continue his work Thanks for coming Okay, so please come up and sing with us and uh, we're gonna We're gonna sing zipper songs That means that there's a line that keeps on repeating itself And then we just put another thing in there if we can think what to put in next But listening to that wonderful talk I want to start with oh freedom And uh, so oh freedom now you get the idea you're Oh Freedom