 Hi everyone my name is Toy Burton and I am the Founder and Executive Director of the Roxbury Unity Parade. Today we are doing a caravan to celebrate Ms. Sarah Ann Shaw. I believe that we should give our community gyms their flowers why they should smell them and that is why we are here today. Hey everyone my name is Dr. Brandi Brooks. I'm originally from the south but I moved to Boston in 2003 and I've lived here ever since. Why this is important to me regardless of whether I'm a Bostonian you know born and raised it's important because Sarah Ann Shaw means something to this community and by community I mean people of color. She was the first and you always have to celebrate the first. You have to celebrate the trailblazers while they're still here and they can celebrate with you. So this is important it is historic and I'm glad to be a part of it. My name is Reverend Liz Walker. I am now a preacher. I'm pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church but for about 25 years I was a television journalist in Boston at WBZ TV and I worked with Sarah Ann Shaw whom we're honoring tonight today so I'm just excited to be a part of this. Sarah Ann Shaw is a warrior woman who was one of the first black women on television in Boston way back in the 70s right after busing and so she was at that point breaking ground you know just doing something just that had never been done before in a city that wasn't that open to African Americans at least in positions like journalism. She came in as an advocate for the community and in her many years on television she never changed she never strayed from that so she knew she had an obligation as a reporter to report the news she was a street reporter but she felt that she had a bigger obligation to represent her community and to make sure that there were lots of different kinds of stories coming out of the black community. We're right now in the middle of a mess where we're trying to make sure that people are treating our stories fairly and that we can tell our own stories. Well Sarah was one of the first people in this country who knew how important that was in media and so she's a hero. She's a huge hero and at this point in her life at this chapter in her life when she's slowing down we want to pay homage to her we we want to lift her up we want to say this is good news in a in a world where there's so much disturbing news these days. My name is Paul Goodnight I'm an artist in Boston Massachusetts and I'm here to celebrate Sarah Ann Shore who has been a rock in this community for a long time doing the news she's no nonsense she's perfect for the job and she had to go to a lot just to get into position that she was in so I know her nephew we work together he's out in the west coast he told me to make sure that I come here and I'm here it's not so often especially when she was coming up and that they would give her the kind of her reverence and in the job that she's doing and I'm sure she had to jump through hoops to get there to do what she had to do so I you know you have to appreciate somebody who's a trailblazer. My name is Alfred Harris lifelong resident of Roxbury Massachusetts I'm very proud of it and I've known Sarah Ann being as though she's also what we call an original all my life and so I'm here today to help celebrate her and to say hello to her and to wish her the best and like I said it's nothing like the Roxbury folks the original Roxbury folks who grew up together who love each other who care about each other and will do anything we can to help them. My name is Elizabeth Nagaraja and I live right here in Roxbury lived here for most of my life and I'm here to celebrate Sarah Ann Shaw on behalf of the friends of the Roxbury branch library. Sarah Ann has been a part of the friends long before me she was one of the original members starting the friends and I'm here representing the group and it's just exciting that the community is coming out to honor her. Hi my name is Michelle Wu I'm a Boston City counselor and a candidate for mayor. I'm here today because I have not yet missed a Roxbury Unity Parade we've been through I think 90 plus degree heat one year we've been through a lot and and this year is incredible is especially special because we get to celebrate and say hi to one of my heroes and mentors Dr. Sarah Ann Shaw who's just been I'm gonna open the doors for so many in this community and continues to make sure that we have representation that we're talking about the issues head on that we are building community and joy into everything that we do. I remember when I was growing up I didn't see a single person who looks like me on TV right with the exception of Michelle Kwan who was a figure skater in the Olympics one year and that was it and so I never thought that I could or should be in any of these places or rooms where people had power or making decisions and I think that that it matters who we see on the news who we see on TV who we see making decisions and it's not just about those people making decisions right it's about how are we changing the system so that everybody has a say everybody has a voice and can help shape our future together and Ms. Sarah Ann was there decades ago doing that as a very first African American woman to be a television newscaster in Boston she made sure that she was changing the narrative about the community that it was lifting up stories of joy and achievement and opportunity and community making sure that people could see themselves reflected people of color would see themselves reflected in all the good that was happening especially in neighborhoods like Roxbury today went well today went very well um more people showed up than I expected which is always a beautiful thing um the main thing is that Sarah Ann is happy and she loved it and I'm glad that we were able to present her with her flowers why she could still smell them and um and I just want to thank everybody for coming out but I know it's because of her because she's such a phenomenal woman that's why people showed up and um I just want to thank the community for doing that definitely want to thank um Reverend Liz Walker for helping out she called and said what do you need how can I help and she was definitely there definitely want to thank um John Keller for um announcing it on air letting people know about the parade um definitely want to thank the rest of the Roxbury Unity Parade my um director of operations brandy Brooks my grandson Anton that was my driver and my roadie and he helped me with everything and thank you to you just for capturing this moment because I mean I'm just overwhelmed right now I am I'm very happy thank you thank you everyone thank you definitely got to say thank you to her daughter Claire for helping me with this so I appreciate Claire what you're doing is important really to get older younger people understand how how important it is for them to be part of this project this program yes yes I always say Roxbury stand up we are a proud people this is our gem right here and we got to make sure she is shining