MLK Day at the George School

Event: MLK Day at the George School (“Synergy Part Two of Two”)

Date: Sunday, January 19 and Monday, January 20, 2025

Kicks of Choice: Nike Dunk High ACG Boots

Thoughts captured on Wednesday, March 12, 2025

So coming off of that Part One entry and thinking about synergy, it was crazy to be at the University of Pennsylvania. Just based on the synergy of the moment between NCAIS, Justin and then Shantel, this moment is really unexpectedly joyful. Shantel and I continued to have conversations via email, as I found out that I was selected to be the MLK Day keynote speaker at the George School – thus, the synergy continued.

What makes the George School so interesting is that I have spent a lot of time passing by the school campus, day in and day out, for a long time. My daughters were born at St. Mary's Hospital, which is right across the street from the George school. My in-laws are not too far from the George School, and our family dentist is basically around the corner. If we were at my in-laws house, we would have to pass the George School to get to the dentist’s office. So I've spent a lot of time looking at the George School as I passed by it in my car. And I always wondered, “what's going on over there? What's happening? What is it like?”

Thus, this moment in synergy just brought me into the George School and all the answers to my longtime questions. As Shantel and I started talking about the event, we figured out that for the MLK Day celebration, I would be the keynote speaker, and I would also DJ a opening set for the event with one of the DJs on campus, DJ Ziza. And as soon as we all met (Shantel, Ziza and I), Ziza was full steam ahead! She was incredibly focused and organized and took the reins on how this DJ set would go. There's a lot about Ziza that reminded me of my early high school DJ years, but she also served as a glimpse of what a younger version of me would look like now, because Ziza had drops and all sorts of new tech that we didn't have access to in my youth. So Ziza and I worked through the music and worked through a set that we would perform together while people were entering the auditorium. Then, I would give the keynote address.

After the larger keynote with the George School community, I wanted to be accessible to all the GS student community. One of the things we planned was me spending time tapping in with the students of color; so we scheduled a set of lunch meetings with me and Umoja (the Black Student Union group on campus). Everything was set and we were ready to go. And then there was a snow storm the Sunday before MLK Day! Luckily, I'm close enough to the George School that I was able to get down there early enough on Sunday for tech rehearsal. Upon my arrival, Shantel arranged for two students to give me a tour of the school – special shout out to Bimby and Halaylah, who were extraordinary tour guides. The tour gave me a good chance to see what the George School really looked like. On some levels, it was very reminiscent of my high school alma mater, St George's School. However, on many levels it looked and felt like a different space.

After we did the tour, I was introduced to the Quaker House meeting. Bimby and Halaylah took me into the meeting house and I sat with them. For people who are not familiar with the Quaker Meeting House scenario, you basically go into the meeting house and everyone is silent for 45 minutes. Towards the end of the meeting, if you feel the urge to share with people, you stand up and speak. You can share some thoughts if you like, but you don’t have to. It really becomes a time and space to reflect: to be in silence and engaged with your own thoughts. It’s a time to meditate and really think. It was the first time I had ever been in a Quaker Meeting House session, and it was incredible. I did crack a couple jokes afterwards (I was like, “Yo, I would pay to have 45 minutes twice a week of just silence so I could just be alone with my thoughts!”). But it was actually really moving, and a special time. And I got a chance to have this new experience with the entire George School community.

After we left the meeting house, we went right into the tech rehearsal. I got a chance to finally meet Ziza in person and rock with her, but then I also got to meet Lance and Irena. These moments really gave me an opportunity to get a feel of who the students were on campus. After the tech run-through, I got a chance to meet with Justin Brandon. It was good to reconnect and touch base with him. The work that Justin is doing is incredible to me, not only because it's good work, but also because very rarely in my independent school experience did I see Black male teachers or administrators. The idea of a Black male Head of School when I was in high school was like miracle work at very best! So to see Justin in his role as Head of School was really powerful. So I was excited to sit down and touch base with him, and just get a chance to chop it up and hear about the work he was doing, and also how he was feeling after his first full year as Head of School. And I really appreciated the conversation we had. I think we both anticipated talking for like 30-45 minutes. But almost two hours and some hefty snow later, we both agreed we had to get going! I was able to get through the snow and over to the hotel to finish preparing for the next day at the MLK Day event.

The MLK Day event was extraordinary. Ziza and I got a chance to really rock out as students were coming in, then we got a chance to include Shantel, who also is a fantastic musician and vocalist. She went in and did a song and some freestyle rhymes over the Pharcyde’s “Drop” instrumental. This momentum laid the foundation for the idea of what dreams can look like. After the musical stylings with Ziza and Shantel, I was able to share my thoughts and ideas about dreams in the keynote with the George School community. Before my keynote, I wanted to make sure that I blessed Ziza with a little present for all the work she had done for our opening DJ set. And after the keynote, I was able to be in conversation with Ziza, followed by answering a series of questions from the George School community. The questions were thoughtful and robust, so it became a really vibrant dialogue about the importance of Hip Hop, the importance of the DJ, what it means to follow your heart and your dreams, and how to persevere and never give up. These are all things that we typically tap into on MLK Day, but they're also themes that we should be tapping into all the other 364 days of the year.

After the keynote, I had two lunch sessions with Umoja, because there are so many Black students that have different schedules, so the only way to get to everybody was to have two time blocks! I stayed in the same room for two back-to-back lunch periods while the students made their way in and out for lunch and conversations. I always joke about how St. George’s in my sophomore year – we thought we had a movement because there were 16 students of color: Black, Latin, Asian, Indigenous, Native American, Biracial. There were 16 of us and we thought we were an unstoppable force. Skip stage to the George School in 2025, and there's almost 100 Umoja students, which is just incredible. In those conversations, we got a chance to talk about community building, leadership, solidarity and the importance of standing together. Of course, we also got a chance to talk about Hip Hop and who I thought was dope and who wasn't and why. I always like to have those conversations with students, but the other conversations were just as critical, if not more so. I also wanted to be around just to make sure that I let those students know that I come through a situation similar to theirs from going to St George's, and so if they ever needed anything – a listening ear, some support or encouraging words – I wanted them to know they could always tap in with me. After those two lunch sessions, we went and watched the end of the MLK Day celebration, followed by a session in the Quaker Meeting House to end the day.

Such an Incredible community, and an incredible school. I'll tell you one thing: Justin and Shantel and the George School community got me thinking about this question: “Do I need to be teaching in independent schools?” It also got me thinking about the fact that the George School is the type of place that I would send my children to. And if you know me, it means a lot for me to say that.

So I want to give a special shout out, of course, to Justin Brandon, Shantel Hubert and Kim who leads Umoja, and to Rachel. Of course, a huge shout out to all of the students who I came into contact with, but especially to DJ Ziza and to Bimby and Halaylah and Lance and Irena. And shout out to Cyrus: we’ve been talking about building a dope piece of DJ cabinetry/storage for the crib! Shout out to the entire George School community for such an extraordinary welcome. It was really a special and moving time. I am so happy that:

A – there was this synergy that unfolded; and

B – that I stopped to take in this moment and be present, because I'm not sure if I could have had the same George School experience if I wasn't fully immersed and fully present.

It’s also taken me this long to process and articulate into words just how meaningful and how special MLK Day with the George School community was for me.

Salute to the George School! I’m looking forward to being in touch with y'all, looking forward to building some lasting ties and community relationships that will flourish beyond just this keynote.