AUBURN - Stomp. Clap. Snap.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Members of the Stomp Club at East Middle School perform at the school's Black History Month celebration on Wednesday.
Members of the Stomp Club at East Middle School perform at the school's Black History Month celebration on Wednesday.
Adorned in oversized tan T-shirts and standing shoulder to shoulder in two lines, the East Middle School Stomp Club made its debut on the Auburn school building's auditorium stage Wednesday.
Stomp. Clap. Snap.
Dancing to rapper Usher's hit song “Yeah,” these students took part in an annual celebration honoring Black History Month.
Now in its ninth year, the celebration featured guest speakers Lonnie Love, a supervisor for the Hillside Children's Center, and Demetrius Murphy, an assistant vice president for First Niagara Bank.
“The point is to educate our children to have a better acceptance of all people and to show them that there are very successful African-Americans in our community,” Kent Brandstetter, an organizer of the event, said.
Auburn Enlarged City School District Superintendent Joseph D. “J.D.” Pabis also spoke to students on Wednesday.
As a sports aficionado, Pabis listed past and current black athletes who became role models. Basketball players Carmelo Anthony and Magic Johnson, and the man who broke the color barrier in baseball, Jackie Robinson.
“We should all be proud of our heritage,” Pabis said. “We should all be proud of our background. We should all be proud of what we have been able to accomplish. Today more than ever we should be proud that we can live as brothers.”
Love spoke of the positives of loving yourself and respecting others.
“Walking around hating people, disliking people takes too much energy,” he said.
It's not about the color of people's skin, he said, or about the way they dress or talk. It's about finding something positive in one another and focusing in on that.
“I see a lot of colors in here,” he said. “We're all people of color. That's the greatest barrier, realizing that we're all human, we're all individuals. You'll find no two people alike, and you really have to respect that. That's what makes us unique.”
Black History Month was established in 1976 and is celebrated every February.
But Murphy believes that honoring culture shouldn't be limited to one month of the year. He said that we all have different cultures and traditions, and each month should venerate them.
Students listening to these speakers took in what they said.
“It was interesting listening what they had to say about their lives,” said Gabrielle Dalton, 11, of Auburn. “It was interesting learning about what it used to be like when black people didn't have any rights at all.”
At the start of the assembly, school Principal Diane Dolcemascolo mentioned four people who came to mind when thinking about Black History Month.
She paid homage to President Abraham Lincoln for signing the emancipation proclamation; to Coretta Scott King for continuing the quest for civil rights even after her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, was assassinated; to Dale Post, a revered teacher and mentor in the Auburn school district; and to Barack Obama, for forever changing the political landscape.
“We have to thank President Lincoln, Mrs. King, Mr. Post and I think Barack Obama for being African-American people of achievement.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
Stomp. Clap. Snap.
Dancing to rapper Usher's hit song “Yeah,” these students took part in an annual celebration honoring Black History Month.
Now in its ninth year, the celebration featured guest speakers Lonnie Love, a supervisor for the Hillside Children's Center, and Demetrius Murphy, an assistant vice president for First Niagara Bank.
“The point is to educate our children to have a better acceptance of all people and to show them that there are very successful African-Americans in our community,” Kent Brandstetter, an organizer of the event, said.
Auburn Enlarged City School District Superintendent Joseph D. “J.D.” Pabis also spoke to students on Wednesday.
As a sports aficionado, Pabis listed past and current black athletes who became role models. Basketball players Carmelo Anthony and Magic Johnson, and the man who broke the color barrier in baseball, Jackie Robinson.
“We should all be proud of our heritage,” Pabis said. “We should all be proud of our background. We should all be proud of what we have been able to accomplish. Today more than ever we should be proud that we can live as brothers.”
Love spoke of the positives of loving yourself and respecting others.
“Walking around hating people, disliking people takes too much energy,” he said.
It's not about the color of people's skin, he said, or about the way they dress or talk. It's about finding something positive in one another and focusing in on that.
“I see a lot of colors in here,” he said. “We're all people of color. That's the greatest barrier, realizing that we're all human, we're all individuals. You'll find no two people alike, and you really have to respect that. That's what makes us unique.”
Black History Month was established in 1976 and is celebrated every February.
But Murphy believes that honoring culture shouldn't be limited to one month of the year. He said that we all have different cultures and traditions, and each month should venerate them.
Students listening to these speakers took in what they said.
“It was interesting listening what they had to say about their lives,” said Gabrielle Dalton, 11, of Auburn. “It was interesting learning about what it used to be like when black people didn't have any rights at all.”
At the start of the assembly, school Principal Diane Dolcemascolo mentioned four people who came to mind when thinking about Black History Month.
She paid homage to President Abraham Lincoln for signing the emancipation proclamation; to Coretta Scott King for continuing the quest for civil rights even after her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, was assassinated; to Dale Post, a revered teacher and mentor in the Auburn school district; and to Barack Obama, for forever changing the political landscape.
“We have to thank President Lincoln, Mrs. King, Mr. Post and I think Barack Obama for being African-American people of achievement.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
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