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(relaxed music)

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<v ->You know, I was the first person in my immediate family</v>

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to go to college.

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I had some very excellent high school teachers

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in the public schools of Chicago,

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so I was convinced that when I came to Gustavus

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I was going to take the professional education courses

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and become a secondary ed teacher.

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Gustavus afforded the opportunity for students

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to do independent studies in the subject of African history.

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I had a number of experiences there at Gustavus

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that really propelled me on the path

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that brought me to Charleston today.

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I have been involved in the AME church all of my life.

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I joined with a couple of colleagues to write a book

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which tried to contextualize the racially motivated

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murders that occurred over at Emmanuel AME Church

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in June of 2015.

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We wanted to try to memorialize the lives of those people

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who lost their lives, and we wanted to make sure

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that the reading public understand what kind of people

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these were, what kind of contributions they had made

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to this community, what their great potential was

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to continue to do good.

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I have found that a lot of times,

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people look at the position that you occupy

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and they look to you to be the voice of the voiceless.

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There's a lot of responsibility there.

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There's risk as well as reward,

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and you do what you can to try to improve the community

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that you are a part of and make the lives of those

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who live here better in whatever way that you can.

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I am Dr. Bernard Powers, and I'm a Gustie.

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Make your life count.