“We Were There!” program honors African American veterans

Welcome back to We Can Wake Up. Veterans Day may be over, but we continue to honor and respect those who have served. Today, there will be a special tribute honoring the contributions of African-American veterans. Today, we have in the studio with us Drs. Valerie Daniels-Carter and Bernie Crowder. They are here today to talk to us about what we can expect today from We Were There. Thank you so much for being here with us. It is a joy to be here with you. Thank you for having us. Okay, let's get into the collaboration here. Okay. About how this came to be. I want to know how your institution meshed with the Veterans Affairs. Well, I guess I'll start, huh, Bertie? Okay. So IPAMA is, as you know, a vision that Bishop Daniels had for the community. It's the Institution for the Preservation of African American Music and Arts. And today we will be celebrating African American veterans who serve this country from almost every fraction of service that you can imagine. Dr. Bertie's the expert, and she can tell you more about all this good stuff. Dr. Bertie. Yes, thank you. Thank you again for having us here. And thank you, Dr. Carter, for this opportunity. And so I joined Total Redeemer about last year at this time. And I've been a veteran for, of course, many, many years. And just all the different things that I've been doing as a veteran, Dr. Carter saw that. And I think that inspired her to want to do something for our veterans of our community. And so in partnership with the artist that she put in front of us, we're We were able to come up with this wonderful concept of we were there, giving back to our community as well as making sure that our community know that us as African-American veterans was also a part of fighting the war. Well, first, let me say thank you for your service. Thank you. And I love that you already brought that point up because it's a very small thing. We were there. But it's very powerful in its impact. What does that mean to you? Oh, my God. It means a lot. It means that my grandfather, my uncles, people that came before me actually had a part in making sure our country was safe. And it's just not some other entity or some other ethnicity. You know, we matter, too. And so I'm so glad to be a part of that. I'm so glad that Dr. Carter saw fit for us to do this this year. And I believe we're going to be doing this every year from now on. Just having a day to celebrate veterans. Okay, we know it's Sunday. We got some church going on. It's going to be happening. Tell us about the program. So it's Veterans Sunday, of course, 9 o'clock. And if you're driving, just go to 35th and Hampton. You can go to church. I'm going to preach it down, by the way, y'all. But at noon, at noon today, down at Ipama, 32nd and Hampton, and we have colonels and generals, and the governor-elect will be there, and just a number of people from all over, elected officials, and we'll be there to celebrate the unveiling of an amazing sculpture that has historic figures all the way from the Civil War to World War II, current-day individuals that have given their life. And we were there, it just says... We appreciate all veterans, no matter what your ethnicity is, but we don't want to forget the African-American men and women that served and gave their life to this country. So at 12 o'clock today, we will have the unveiling. We will celebrate. Every veteran will receive a medallion with special honors, thanking them for their years of service. So today at 12 o'clock, come on down to 32nd and Hampton. Cut the Ribbon with us. We've got a reception for them. We have a special guest. And I'm sure if they go on your website, they'll see the information. But Nguyen, Major General Nguyen, will be with us on today, all the way from North Carolina. We've just got a lot of stuff going on. OK, and maybe really quickly, if somebody could sum up the art presentation, because I know there's a sculpture unveiling, We kind of got a sneak peek there, but what can people expect from that? And what does it symbolize? So I think people can expect an amazing array of individuals that we celebrate, 18 veterans and civilians that honor the military. We have women. Of course, we have men. I'm super excited. This is going to be a beautiful thing. When you see it, it's the artist. His name was Aaron Paskins from Delaware. And he was commissioned over a year ago to start this piece. And when he sent it to us, we were like, this is amazing. And it's, it's. There's not another reflection of anything like this anywhere in the world. So this is a first. Well, thank you both so much for being here with us this morning. We appreciate it. And like she said, if you're watching us right now, there's going to be some church going on. Oh, there's going to be some church going on tonight. 9 o'clock, we got it going on. Veterans, come on out. We got a special service for you. Special Major General speaking this morning in service. So, I mean, you just don't want to miss the day at Holy Reunion. From the studio to the pool pit. From the studio to the pool pit. We've got to go to break. She's got to get out of here. She's got to go to church.