 Hello everyone, welcome to Straight Talk Vermont Show. I'm Bruce Wilson, Executive Director and my guest today is Taptic Poo Moore, NWACP Director. And today we're just going to talk about racial injustice and just learn what Taptic is doing with NWACP and how you can be a part of it. First, I just want to say a couple of things about our Art So Wonderful Art Gallery opening up on August 21st. At the University of Vermont, it's going to be an incredible event. We'll have free, you know, different finger foods and drinks. And a lot of people will be there. We'll have a big event before the opening where the Deputy Commissioner will be there from the Department of Health. We'll talk about COVID and we'll have Taptic Poo Moore there to talk about racial injustice and everything she'd like to say. In case you're more there, you'll talk about voters' rights. We have Max Palmer doing a comedy show and DJ Ryan on top of all, he's going to throw some hits out there for us. And it's going to be a lot of fun. That's going to start at 4 p.m. or also we're going to have our unveiling of our 100-foot mural that's in the food court at the University of Vermont. So stay tuned for that. So, time for fun. Hey, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. And I must say Tabitha has been my friend for over 10 years. And she always helped me with lots of youth advocacy work. She used to be a teacher at Mill Rivers High School and been involved with the community. She was a part of a lot of different things in Rutland County. And so I'm just so happy that I'm still able to work with Tabitha and learn from her. So tell us what's going on with the NAACP? Well, the NAACP is still alive and kicking. I think it's fairly near to Vermont. The first branch was founded in 2015 here in the Burlington area by Mary Brown Guillory. That was the Champlain area branch that's no longer still up and running. So we're trying to find somebody who would love to restart that branch because the more folks we have involved with the NAACP, the more powerful we can be. We can be in lifting the work of racial justice. But I'm the president of the Rutland area branch, which Mary actually got me started in 2016. And we were chartered in 2017. And then in 2019, I think, 2018 or 2019, the Wyndham County branch was founded by Stefan Gillum. So we currently have two active branches in Vermont and we work very closely together. Both are in the southern half of the state. We focus on a number of issues. Who is Wyndham County? Wyndham County is Brattleboro. It's like the whole southern skinny part of Vermont is huge. It's a huge region. So Stefan is holding it down down there doing some really great work. And both branches focus on five or six core issues including political engagement, political activity. Us doing legislative items pretty regularly every year. Legal issues. We help people who are experiencing just racism in the workplace or in other areas. And we try to give them support and services that they need or make sure that they're connected with the Attorney General, the Human Rights Commission. We do a lot of educational work with our schools. As you know, there's a lot of problems in Vermont schools with racism. And we continue to be active in what is now Act One, which is the Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools Act. So we do a lot around education stuff. We also do a lot of educational programming in the area. Because by and large, Vermonters, especially white Vermonters, which make up 96% of Vermont, don't really have a lot of information. But we grew. Right. So people like me, it's like, what do I look like 2% now? You know, we're about that. I think there's 7,890 black people ages, you know, birth to near death in the state. You know, and I grew up here and it didn't feel like that much. And so it was nice to come back. But so, you know, we do a lot of outreach and education stuff for folks in the area about how do you deal with racism when you see it? How do you spot it? What do you do in your community? Ways that you can encourage and attract diversity? Those kinds of things and help. You know, right now with COVID-19, we're this far apart. Yeah, sure. So trying to make sure that black and brown people, people marginalized positions are taken care of. You know, a lot of that kind of stuff. Yeah, so I know that you spoke for Juneteenth event. We was on the activity on June 14th in front of City Hall in the Burlington. Yes. And there was a lot of people out there, you know, and your speech was, you know, I was like, I'm standing up here with you. I know you're going to. It's good to have you there. Thank you. I just want to feel it. And so, where do you think about Juneteenth, actually? What do you think about, you know, the meaning of that is for yourself, you know, and maybe some of the history you think about? Because I don't think a lot of people, even black folks, know about Juneteenth. Right. Yes. Well, I knew about Juneteenth as being June 19th because it was my parents' wedding anniversary. But growing up, I didn't know what it meant. And I grew up here in Vermont. So it wasn't until I left Vermont that I got a basic black education at my tiny little women's college. And I was like, gosh, there's so much missing. So I really appreciate that we have a day where we celebrate, you know, the gratification of the 13th Amendment. But we still have a long way to go as we talked about during that event. Vermont especially has a really long way to go. I love to see it recognized as federal holiday. Oh yeah, definitely. You know, because it's so significant to the building of this nation. Sure, and who doubted about it, you know. Yeah, so that was very important. And then our good friend, Casey Ram, was the coordinator of that event. Yes. And so, you know, I was happy she did that, you know, and you came to speak and people came to listen. Yeah. And I've seen it. Actually, I'm CCT 17 was out there and I saw the show. Have you seen it? That? The show? No, I haven't. No, I haven't. You've been telling me about it forever. Yeah. So you just look it up on CCTV Channel 17, because they film the whole thing. And you know, all the other networks out there, but you know, they can't get the whole thing. Yeah. But CCT 17 does. And it's probably on Peck TV too. Oh, OK. And also, you know, you were part of the Racial Justice Chalk Project. Yes, that was so much fun. That was one day, I forget what day it was. I think it was like two weeks ago, maybe? Yeah, it was. It was a really wonderful opportunity. Nice day too. And the good thing about that was people would come out and they would be there. But we had a chalk, you know, lettering. Justice or something was on the ground. And people would come in and the kids and parents and, you know, seniors. That was a wonderful day. It was really, you know, and I think when people think about racial justice, they think that they have to be out there marching with signs and, you know, have this big political platform. But people don't realize that racial justice is a human issue and we need to connect with people wherever they are and however they come to the table. And that chalk event, I thought was a really wonderful way for anybody could come. And you didn't have to talk about anything. You could just, you know, pour your heart and soul into making a beautiful community project to say, yeah, you know. Yeah, I care about you. Yeah. Here's some words that I'd like to say, you know. You know, I'm just going to put it out there. Yeah, so I enjoy that event too. So now, Rutland County, you know, because, you know, of course, you know, I spend a lot of time in Rutland County. And I like Rutland County. I like it. It's so beautiful out there, you know. And I like the greenery, you know. It's really nice. But, you know, how many white people live there? I mean, how many black people live there, should I say? I mean, what's the numbers of? Me, my brother. No, we have a pretty low percentage. I mean, Shannon County pretty much took all the brown and black people. Thanks for that, by the way. But they're really, I don't know what our percentage is, but I know it is low compared to the state. Yeah, yeah. And it's really quite difficult for people of color, especially black folks, to connect. And it is such a large area with so few people finding ways and opportunities for us to come together is really tough. Usually we'll do monthly Soul Food Seppers. Oh. Soul Food Sunday. Oh, man. And people just get together. Right. And bring whatever they want. And like Green Mountain College, when it was open, you know, they would come. And Castleton would bring students. And it was just an opportunity for people to get together and see each other. You know, that's awesome. I hope you're going to really get that kick in again because I guess the schools are going to be open or whatever. What is it doing here? What are the schools doing? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I don't know if it's going to be virtual or if it's going to be, you know, well, I see a lot of students coming back to town, you know. And I just love Church Street. And it was a lot of costumes out there, you know. Really? Yeah. Yeah. They were like getting shopping on. You know, like getting that little gear or whatever, you know. And so I really don't know. I got to find out though because I got to find out. Right. Like, I'm a commissioner, so I need to know. Right. Yeah, I should probably know. But so we'll see, you know, but I love that, you know, Casatoon has moved downtown there in Rutland. They do have a couple of buildings downtown. I'm not quite sure what they're doing with them though. Well, so one, two of them are dorms. Oh. One, you know, not the dorms. This is State Street. That's the, yeah. West Street. West Street. And then they have one on Center Street that's our gallery. Right. So nice in there. And so when I write downtown there and they're, you know, for years I worked with Casatoon, you know, for the Art Department of Students. I didn't know that. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. So I'm hopeful that I can still, you know, continue to do that work with them. So I'm also a Rutland Chamber of Commerce member. And so I'm trying to figure out, you know, because I'm going to be doing some more work down there in Rutland County. Right. So I'm trying to figure out, you know, what should we, how can we, what should we do? And also, you know, Rotarian. So I, you know, I've been to a lot of Rutland Rotarian meetings. Yep. And so how can we get the Rotarians? You should, well, I can get you in there. We can speak. You know, I'll be with you about NWCP and the Rotarians, Kuanas, and as well as the Chamber of Commerce. That's very important that they should help out, here, learn some things, and find a way so they can help. Because, you know, just like, you know, like, so, you know, Black Lives Matter is like really popular today. You know, it's been popular for us all our lives. But now everybody likes, have it hard to feel that they should do more or accept Black, I don't know, work. I mean, you should work out the words. What should they do for us? How can we, what should we do to work with people who are not of color? What should we do more of? Right. Well, and I think, you know. What should they do? Right. Well, one of the things that we try to do is offer educational opportunities because a majority of our membership is white. We'll often ask, what is it that you need? And they'll say things like, I have to go to Thanksgiving and deal with my racist uncle. What do I do? So we'll offer workshops for people and like, how do you have difficult dialogues and take care of yourself but at the same time try to remain in healthy, you know, relationship with that person. So a lot of what folks need first is education because they don't know what they don't know. Right. And then after, you know, they kind of get that basic grounding. It's a lot of self-reflective work and understanding the ways that white supremacy and systemic racism has impacted and imprinted on ourselves and then on everything that we do, a lot of what I hear from folks, and this isn't specific to the rotary or the Juarez or anything, but what I hear from a lot of white folks when you ask them, like, what do we do? And it's like, well, step outside your boundaries and do this. And they're like, well, we've never done it that way before. And we're like, exactly. That's why you've never been able to engage people in minority positions. So really encouraging people to do things differently than they have is a lot of what I recommend. Yeah. So we just talked about this before the show, you know, started that, um, like, you know, like Black Lives Matter and racial justice and very impartial policing on all those issues, is that, like, when a white person drives across any street in America now, they're driving across, like, somebody painting Black Lives Matter. And so consciously, I think it should be, for me, like, it's like a stop sign almost, like, you know, that what should we do? I mean, that Black Lives Matter. And, um, and so, yes, that's right, Black Lives Matter. And so how can, what is my, how do I feel about that, you know, if I'm a white person? Right. How do I feel about that? Right. And what should I do to help? Yeah. What is important, you know, for me to teach my kids or view around my family or friends or peers, what other things should we do and should we write, you know, like, guess who's coming to dinner, like City 48 or whatever. The original, yeah. The original, right? Should we invite them to dinner? Invite a Black person to dinner? Oh. And so, so, like, on your speech where people can view your, your YouTube video about you speaking at an event, you know, and one thing I said to you that you had said that, you know, made me, like, that's right. And I'm like, yeah, you know, just listen to what we say. Yeah. And it's so much easier if a non-person of color, if they really want to do something to help a person of color or want to change their thinking or just want to be more, you know, involved, you know, just, just do what the person of color say because they, we lived it, you know, our ancestors lived it. You know, we, we, we've been sterile time. I don't know how many words I can use, you know. All the things. All the things. But so we know, we have some ideas. You know what I mean? We have some great ideas. We've had to study white culture since we were dropped here. We've had to understand the whims and needs of white people and the way that they think and the way that they learn and the way that they process and the way that they undo things. So we are very well versed in whiteness. We're also very well versed in our own needs. So, you know, I, I don't know anyone better positioned to lead the conversation about, you know, the direction and the outcomes than people of color. Right. And it's so much easier. You know, you know, like, you know me, all my, since you know me, I have youth advisory boards. Yeah. You know, I don't go around and tell youth that they should do this, that and that. I said, what do you need? What do you need? How can I help you? You know, if you, if you're a great carpenter, I'm not going to help you be a carpenter or a journeyman. If you say you want to be a doctor, my job is to help you be a doctor. You know what I'm saying? So, so it's how easy is that for me that, that's how we've been so successful and with youth and you too, you know, since we've been doing work with you, it just pretty much acts them. What's your goals, dreams and aspirations? How can we help you? And they say, boom. And so, and that's how it is. And we help them with the same deal. It's how easy is that for me. How easy is that? That's easy. Right. Just tell me, you know, let me tell you how you can help work with a person who looks like me. Right. You know, and it should be easy for them to be like, thank God. You know what I mean? Well, I think, you know, I think so many folks get uptight about it because, you know, it's been over 400 years and we're still having the same conversation. And, you know, white folks in general will be, you know, get very scared because they might hear some things about themselves that they don't want to know or that, you know, like, oh my gosh, I didn't know that I perpetuated this. And I just encourage everyone to just like hold that because you're always going to find out things about yourself that maybe you weren't prepared to learn. Yeah. But that doesn't mean that you can't learn from it and, you know, change if you need to. Yeah. Well, I know for a fact that white folks and non-people of color, you know, should I say, have been more blinded since I was before I was born. Absolutely. You know, about what's real. You know, this freaking example, you know, and I love everybody, obviously. You know, if I didn't like white folks, I would be came to the White States of America. Yeah, you're in the wrong place. In 1989, I'm in the wrong damn place. I'm from Chicago. Yeah. So anyway, so just like Obama, President Obama, you know, he came in. I thought he, I think it was out of his mind to do any coming to anyways, because he had come in three wars, you know, pretty much. And it was a recession, you know, oppression, whereas that we were gag on broke. You know what I mean? America was on the verge of bankrupt, you know, the whole country. And then he had to deal with that. And then, you know, how funny it was, you know, so a lot of people, not a couple, would say Obama started his three wars. He started, he came in on it. Now he started those wars and then he made the economy worse. And what he did was the smartest recovery, you know, economic stimulation that I had thought could never be done. He like, okay, so what are we going to do? You know, we're going to use our own two dollars, you know, American God, whatever, and spend it on ourselves. We're going to build our roads. We're going to build our schools. We're going to build our, you know, we're going to spend money on ourselves. And now we're going to have the bridges and the roads. And so that put people back to work and that's going to stimulate our economy. Now, how smart was that? And so, oh my God, he spent, he did this, he did that. He put us in, he broke the country, you know what I mean? And he did one of the smartest stimulus package ever, you know what I mean? And so people have blinded zone for what really is good, you know what I mean? And then, and so they still do, you know, and they still do. And so they just got, I think they're doing it now, taking those blinded zone and actually see that, you know, what black people were in slavery for 405 years. We really were, you know what I mean? And we really did build this country. And we really did do build it out for at no cost. You know, we were slaves. And then we came into your service. We paid for it. We paid for it. We paid for it. And worked for absolutely zero dollars. And then, you know, then falsely people say, well, you keep working for us when Juneteenth came around or whatever. And before that and said, you know, we'll give 40 acres in a mural. You know what I'm saying? I want my 40 acres in a mural. That'd be nice. I want it. You know, I forget a lot of stuff. I would take two in a cat. Yeah. Give me my 40 acres and my mural. How about you just stop oppressing me? That would be great. I don't know what you mean. You know, that's what I'm saying. It's funny. It's kind of funny, but it's in theory. You know what I'm saying? And so what I'm trying to say is many people who are not of color through years have just, have lied. They have put us in hardship. Yeah. We built a country. You know, they challenged us economically. We put us in the poorest places. Took our ticket. All our riches. Like our gold and oil and different things that we, like from Africa. Our music and our culture. Music and our culture. And so, and Amy's blind is on like, you know, they created this. So, so now we just want you to take those blinds off and understand number one, understand that everybody and no black person created this or set this or discovered this, that number one person came from Africa. So no white person was born in Africa. They're all black. So everybody from everybody who was born in this world and this first man came from Africa. And that, I didn't, I didn't. That wasn't my footprint that created that. Or said that. That's true facts. So let's, let's understand that we all are came from the same peeps. And so. It's interesting. You should say that my friend was just telling me, I had no idea that one of the Queen Elizabeth's, and there was a couple of other queens of England who were half black, but the history is buried because to recognize blackness is to recognize an excellence. Right. That for some reason Caucasians did not want to be. Right. They didn't, they didn't want to be seen as like, you know, you know, anything a part of. Yeah. And it's so fascinating because I mean, when you look at algebra and math and libraries and irrigation systems and farming and all of those things, they came from Africa because that's where humanity originated. Right. You know, and so now, you know, I won't keep talking about all the stuff, but there's these things that they've got to take these blinders off and realize. That's all I'm trying to say. Yeah. You know, no white person ever built the pyramids. Not one. Oh, this is where you get the people talking about it. The Jewish people were enslaved, you know, right in the pyramids. And I am always very curious about, you know, what that meant in terms of racial makeup. Because I don't think that are Jewish people considered white? No. No, no. So the history is all twisted and on the blinders that stays on, they just don't want to be, you know, people just don't want to be like, okay, we ain't a part of the black people. Not at all. Not even tiny bit. But they are. See, I think what's happening is that they realizing it. You know what I mean? And then the history just says to itself, we didn't write that stuff. We didn't write the Bible where it says that God only looked like that his hair was woolly and his skin was bronze, like it was burnt in the fire. That's how he looked. You know what I mean? So who said, we don't wave for our ancestors? That's revisioning of history through the eyes of whiteness based on ideals that white should be supreme. And that's where white supremacy began. So long ago that people today are so disconnected from white folks, I should say, are so disconnected that they don't understand how incredibly ingrained those beliefs are in everything, all the ways that our societies have been set up. And so that's why I think that education is so critical. Yeah. Yeah. So that's another thing too. When I come up in my kitchen, Vermont told my mother, I was coming to Vermont. I think I'll tell you the story. But I said, Mom, I'm coming to Vermont. I'll tell you the story, because it's funny to me. I said, Mom, I'm moving to Vermont. And she said, that's good. You're going to make a difference. And so I didn't know what she meant because I was part of the supervising there. And she said, that's coming out of Jackie. I remember why she's coming to our house when I was young. And so I was part of it all growing up. So I didn't know what she actually meant. But I knew that she meant something around that I was going to make a difference being black in the white state of America. So one year, I called my mother up. I said, Mom, I made a difference. I made up different. She said, what you do, what you do? I said, Vermont is the second white state now. So nothing else I made a difference in. So now you say it's 2%, right? Yeah, we're somewhere around that. I think it was like 0.1% when I came to Vermont. Yeah. Yeah. It's still pretty. It's still, I feel like it might be good. It was the second white state now I think, right? Yeah. We were number one. Now we're number two. It's us and I think like Wyoming and Maine. Yeah. The three states kind of go back and forth. I don't think we've ever been lower than two. Yeah. Number two. I don't think we've ever fallen into that third position. So if we did nothing else, we made a difference, right? Just being, you know. Just by existing. So that's funny. I'm going to crack her up. She's cracked up about that. But um, so, like you know, you know me, you know, you two are always set on some type of racial justice or a fair part of policing boards or, you know, try to make a difference for people of color. Yeah. You know, try to work with them and, you know, communities and, you know, my goal is just like, how can we all work together? Like I do, you know, how can I work with everybody? I'm not mad at nobody. I'm not mad at, for what? I'm not mad at anyone. I'm just trying to say is that, you know, I'm glass, some of the blinders are coming out. People's face and whereas they can understand what they're doing. There's, they seem to be, I guess that I really don't know, in hope, what non-people color are doing right now. They've done a lot of protesting and a lot of, you know, Black Lives Matter stuff. They have, you know, they, you see in those, TV stuff, they'll, protests, you know, they green. You look at them, they really mean non-people color. They out there. They, you know, they don't have to wear Black Lives Matter shirts. They don't have to have signs. They don't have to speak on behalf of, let's get this right, you know, you know, between, they don't have to do that. Yeah. And so, why are they doing it? Obviously something, why, why? Well, I think that, right. I mean, why now? You know, I think that, you know, I think that, you know, I think that, what's going on in the reaction in 2016, it's harder for white people to pretend that racism isn't an issue. You know, before they could run off and say, you got crumbs from Clinton, you got crumbs, you had Obama, post-racialists, post-racialists, you know, but, Trump kind of came and blew the lid off of their whole, I mean, all of white supremacy and, process, you know, some have chosen to reflect deeply within themselves on what it means to be white in this country and to recognize the ways that systemic white supremacy is really harming everyone. And I think, you know, part of it is that they're now listening to us when we're like, oh, wait, this is what you meant. Yes, this is what we meant. And so more heads are turned and more heads are asking us, you know, what to do. And through that process, I think that they're realizing that it's not just us who are dying, but they're dying, too. Because they have been sold a whole bill of lies about what this world is, what this country is like. I mean, think about it historically, you know, what we've been taught about the history of this world and how it evolved around Europe, you know, so I think they are waking up in some really important ways. And if they don't stay awake, we'll just keep going back to the cycle until we're all dead and nobody wakes up. And I think that that's starting to get through. Yeah, I believe that. And so part two is like, those are younger people and middle-aged people. These younger people today, they're not playing around. They get it. And I love it. And that's why I think we both have always preferred working with younger people because the level of ingrained hate is just not there. That entrenched sort of, I know what the world's about. It's just this natural curiosity and desire to connect with another is still there. And so, you know, for me, I like listening to younger people. It's weird when I'm considering myself older now, but they just have wonderful ideas in ways of being and technology and the way technology, they're digital natives in ways that you and I aren't. And so their ability to make human connections in ways that we never could is just, it's incredible. Yeah. My whole team is probably up to the age of 24, you know, from like, I don't know, 17 or 24. Yeah. It's always been like that. It's so funny. Because like, I just meet one of my, I just wanted for a mural coalition and it's like 20 of them and we do, they do all the murals and we just, before I came here too, it was met downtown. Yeah. It's about another mural. And one of our muralists is going to do a portrait of one of our sponsors on the building. And they are out there, you know, doing like they do, you know what I mean? They so in charge. I mean, and you know, both of us, we always make sure that our youth, you know, are in charge. I mean, like, you know, we don't like, that's what we always have youth advisory boards, you know, and who makes the decisions on our programs, projects and events. And it just makes so much sense, you know, because we want them to lead themselves, you know, a peer-to-peer model. And we know, we just want to be like, how can we help them? What do you need? Right. We need to talk to one of our sponsors. You know, and you talk to the top of the pool more or, you know, about something or, you know, what do you need from me? You know, and then they, they write on it. Like you said, they write on it. So they have the energy, they have the creativity. Yeah. They get it. All the things. And they don't be like, okay, well, she's white. We don't want her. You know, he's white or he's black. You know, that's not it. They don't, they color by him. You know, when they come in, so the culture of all the youth that come together, my team is all diverse. You know what I mean? Right. You know, they are all diverse. I didn't, I didn't create that group. Somebody in our group created, brought their friends together to, to work on our coalitions or work with our youth group or work with our programs, projects, events. And they always are. Some kids from all over the world or something. Well, see, I think that they're color conscious, not color blind. They're very aware of how people from different backgrounds add richness and depth. And they want that. They, they realize, unlike our generations that think that, you know, the 40 acres in a mule or the little suburban house with the two dogs and that, you know, unlike our generations that were taught that that's what you aim for. They're aiming for diversity. They're aiming for enrichment through understanding difference. Yeah. And that is just to me, that's what's powerful and that's what's going to undo all this stuff that we've created. Yeah. It's so funny, you know, you know, in like a lot of, a lot of, you know, wonderful nonprofits and other agencies that use service providers. So, still today, we've been doing this work. I've been doing this since 1999 for youth and graduate board. And you put youth centers in malls since 2003, free chill out centers and loft 89 and all these cool places, you know, and free for this, right, for years. And then all the programs, the projects we do all around in the car or whatever, you know. And so when I started, when I talked to a dog, it's still the same. When I talked to a dog about these programs, they're like, wow, I'm surprised I've never heard of these things. I'm surprised that, you know, and, and, and, and the reason why they didn't have never heard of it, because I don't have talked to them about it, you know, because it's not, it's not about them. It's about the youth who I serve. Right. That's why they have youth advisory board. Ask any youth about chill out centers or Life's A Boy Remind or, you know, I still want to for all I play, they know about them. Ask any, just by any youth about some chill place like chill out centers or whatever. They know all about, you know what I mean? Ask any adult, they don't know about them because, first of all, I don't, I don't have the time to present to them. I work with the schools, like I worked with your school, Mill Rivers, I work all the high schools and colleges around, and I present to the youth who I serve. See, I serve youth. So I get there, I talk to them and they tell me what's good. I see a lot of people think that youth, for some reason, that you've served them and they're in the capacity of being like an executive director or director. And they think they can write a grant without talking to the people who they serve. I don't go, that's not how I do it. That's not how I do it. My art director, she's 24, she write our art grants. I don't, you know, she wants some words from me or something, I give it to her. But she knows what our art galleries need because she's also the curator, Alondra De La Cuesta. She's also our curator, you know what I'm saying? So she knows, you know, and she worked with all our artists and all our team. So what I look like, and she worked with them. She can probably meet with somebody right now. I don't know. You know, what it looks like me going in and talking about his, his time should be done, you know what I mean? And she does the work. And why should I talk, you know, that's what it is, you know what I mean? So that I get the youth of leadership to be able to lead based on what their growth stream and aspirations are and things they want to do. And it's, now I've done that forever. And since you've known me, you helped me put together youth boards and run this right all the time. Because you know, I won't do nothing. I say, first thing I got to do is put together youth board. I'm not going to make no move. I ain't going to say nothing. I want to know until I get a youth board together and tell them, and here's some ideas about what some of the youth groups have done in Chilling County. There's some things they've done. It's how they operate the youth centers. So here's some ideas for you, but take this whole different county. So we do what we need to do in this county. So that's how I do it. And I'll stand by that forever. I will never turn from that. So that's what I do. So that's why a lot of adults don't hear about our programs. That's why they know we don't have over 50 awards. I will say this. I'm going to talk about all our 50 awards. Because this is two awards that I'm proud of the most. And that is, we have the Greek award from UVM, and Mr. Fraternius Roy-Roy, and we got that like 2,000 awards. Every time I go to the chair's meetings at Davidson, I bring my award. And they be like, wow, y'all, girl. It means a lot. It means a lot to them, too. It means a lot to me, too. And we have the Kids Safe Collaborative Award, which is a big award in the state of Vermont for youth safety and families, work with law enforcement, the court for the safety of youth and families. And we got four of those. Wow. So those are all of the 50-some of the ones we got those two out of my most proud of. So I'm, you know, people, I don't go around saying all that stuff to me. But it's don't mean I don't need to. I don't really need to. A lion will never have to tell you it's a lion. That's right. That's why I read one. All I know is that, you know, I can tell somebody just at the end of the day, that I work for the people who I serve. I work for you. They don't work for me. I work for them, because that's what it's supposed to be. So what's coming up now? So tell me, what's the job description for the NAACP person in the Chilling County? Oh, so it really wouldn't. It would be, well, it's not application and it's not paid. And I think people forget that we're all volunteers, which in some people, some people look at the scope of what we do, they're like, no. But really every branch is locally based and does what its community needs it to. Again, the NAACP has five game changers, which are the key areas in which we operate. What that looks like is based on, you know, what your community needs within those areas. So this person would basically, they would want to talk to myself and stuff on Gillum and we would put their name forth to our state area conference president, Juan Cofill. And Juan would have a conversation with them and then we would help them get the number of folks needed to reactivate the branch. And then they would install officers. And typically your person that has your organizing committee becomes the president, but it doesn't have to be that way. So if there are folks that are interested in being part of it, but don't necessarily want to be president, but they would be secretary or maybe they want to be the head of the environmental action committee, there are different ways that people can get involved. But this person who's organizing committee chair, typically, you know, their job is just to get the number of members and then to start holding the meetings. And before you know it, you become the president and then you're four years in like, wait, what just happened? And then, you know,