1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - January 15th, 8 am - Meet Peter Ferguson and the importance of teaching our history

Episode Date: January 15, 2022

January 15th, 8 am - Meet Peter Ferguson and the importance of teaching our historyAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the Coppull Chevrolet GMC Studios, here is your host, Derek Pearson, presented by Beatrice Bakery, on 937 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Welcome to a special edition of one-on-one on a Saturday. It's snowy Saturday, so yes, we're live. You guys don't understand that. 42464-564-5-6-8.

to go through this thing. Monday, of course, is Martin Luther King's birthday and the celebration that goes around the state, the country, and here in Lincoln. As a part of that, the annual Martin Luther King Youth Rally will take place, and we've brought in... Look. Look.

He's a builder of spirits, young spirits. He's a director of Young Spirits. He's a shareholder of responsibility and access and direction of young people. So let's bring in Peter Ferguson. Peter, thank you for doing this this morning. I am excited about what you have been efforting. I know it's a labor of love for you got to put this thing together, so the least we could do is give you amplification.

How are you this morning? No, no, doing well. And first off, I just appreciate being offered the opportunity to have the special to have the space and appreciate what you all do. And just, like I said, you being a part of our mission, just investing in that and you'll hear a little bit more about that. But that's just promoting positive youth action. And that's really what this is about.

It's not about an old guy up here. But I'm the one who was able to get up and didn't want to have to come back with moms on driving through the weather and what that was going to look like. So they say I have a face for radio. So that's what you get. You get me today. Look, if you got the face for radio, we're all done. Like we all need to stop.

We all need to go on and get it in. Peter, give folks a little bit of your history. Yeah, you know, the long and short of it is I'm a product and I'm always going to give credit to my mother and father, Howard Ferguson and Alita Ferguson. Alita is, you know, I never got to call her Alita and Howard. It was sir and ma'am. My dad was 25 years military, born in Nacadoches, Texas.

So right by Tyler, Texas. So knowing the sports. Tyler Rose. Tyler Rose, without question. And just had some opportunities, but also as a young black male, in a family with a desire to learn, opportunities were somewhat limited. So pursued those in the military. My mom, Alita Ferguson, was born in Compton, California,

and a 40-year educator, and she was no joke. You know, all five-something of her was no joke. And so give credit. So they, we moved around quite a bit. I was born in Pittsburgh, lived in Washington State, New Mexico, and I claim coming from Arizona because that's where they brought me kicking and screaming from. I always say it was like the black griswals. They grabbed me on the car and I did not want to come.

They were like, we're going to Nebraska. I was like, you're going. I'm a grown man at all at 13, 14, pounding my chest and then got put in some sort of submission hold. Ended up here. But been here, went to most of junior high. and then also went to high school here over at East High School. And then actually I had the opportunity.

I'm reping today. I know you always wear the Husker stuff, but I had to represent for the NAA brothers out there. So, you know, I had the opportunity to go to Hastings College, play for coach Mike Trader. And honestly, went to school there and proud I earned an academic degree. So after that, just got into a nonprofit field, actually worked for radio for a year selling advertising. but my niche was really working with young people. And so I had some fortunate mentors in my life, really Servantes-Salem, who at Big Brothers, Big Sisters,

gave me an opportunity to work there, worked at Leadership Lincoln under Dean Finnegan, elevated a vice president and oversaw their youth programming, but also became involved with the adult side of things as well, and then have been at Lincoln Public Schools for the last 13 years. So have that wife, Stephanie Emery. She says she's been raising two. kids because I have a daughter, it's 21 that's at Northwest Missouri State and overly proud

of both of them, wife's an educator. And then my daughter is just an individual that, like I said, I can't say enough. Just proud of her, but also has just as much as I've invested in her, she's invested in me. And so that's really the story. Again, I like to say I'm a youth developer. My three words are I try to empower, I try to educate, and I try to engage. And that mirrors the components of the honoring and celebration of the rally in March. Through all of that, the three words that you use somehow end up in your actions.

And not everybody's consistent in that. How do you manage to stay connected to young people in an authentic way? Yeah, you know, in a lot of ways, I think a lot of people say you're a big, scholar and I don't use the word kid or friends or kiddo and so you'll hear me I try not to but you know they they're having the opportunity and doing some things that I did but I didn't even realize we're there and I don't blame parents I don't blame educators I honestly some of those things were right in front of me and I just didn't you know grasp them and so I'll be straightforward especially for our black and brown scholars you know which which I represent I

I want them to tap into everything possible. I think I get empowered every day by a young person. And I think sometimes we wait for individuals to be elders and the assays elders, but seasoned, so to speak. And I want scholars to be so empowered that at second grade, third grade, or fourth grade, they believe they could have their name on a school building. You know, we can get educated every day. I think in this last week, you know, some of my most,

the moments that I'm taking away the most that I'm just like whoa is it came from an 11-year-old came from 11-year-old and that's not just being around and like you just have to listen and and I think engaging I think that's something that I get annoyed as much as the next person really I mean people don't understand I am an introvert I like my alone time I will go to movies by myself that was the thing that my wife was just like I can't like they're like you dude he likes being alone like he he is a is fine, doing stuff on his own. But I feel the importance is, and the thing that we miss is we lack the opportunity, we lack the time of engaging individuals. And you're masterful at that. You engaged me at the Inspire Awards or event that was honoring, you know, females and women within this community. And the fact that if you don't take that opportunity to step to somebody hand me

your business card and just say, hey, how are you doing? Then you're going to miss opportunities. and Dr. King and Congressman Late Lewis and Dr. Leola Bullock and Dr. Jake Kirkland, I've always had individuals in my life who've taken the time to engage me. And I feel like that's a responsibility that I have to give back. And it's not just with young people. If, you know, it's amazing how many people can do that with adults. And then you'll ask them, hey, can you come present with these young people who share this information?

And they freak out. They're like, you know, you'll get the email and, oh, is the presentation okay? I haven't done this in so long. And I'm like, what are you afraid? Like, what are you afraid of? Like, and I, and people like, well, you just, it's so natural for you. No, I'm just as uncomfortable. And I say stupid stuff just like the next person.

And those individuals, those young people, if they were here today, that's probably why I told them the wrong time. No. But they'll call you. They'll call you on it. They'll call you on it. Like, Pete, please don't. Like, that didn't make any sense. But they're engaged in a way that is so special and it's so special.

and it's so fulfilling and, you know, I'm not perfect at it. You know, people say, well, you're modeling it. You know, I'm not perfect at it. But it's something that I really truly want to strive to be proficient at. I brought that up because you've managed to take this event. And again, it's an annual event. Usually it's a rally. There's a march that's attached to it this year due to the circumstance.

That won't happen. It'll be all virtual. But to get young people to move together in a positive direction for anything requires mastery. And you've managed to get this group of young people to go, like to participate, work. So let's go through the process. Talk about the rally itself and its history. Where does it, its beginnings and what you want it to be going forward? Well, the foundation you mentioned earlier, the late Dr. Leola Bullock,

all the credit has to go to her. And if you don't know who she is, you can get on a journal star, just type in her name, and just take a moment. I mean, as we talk about Reverend Dr. King, there are so many things that I have to acknowledge today is his actual birthday. So he's 93 years old today. So January 15th, his actual birthday, the third Monday is when we honor and celebrate it.

But Dr. Leola Bullock was a local civil rights, and I just, Shiro, not just a hero, she was a shiro. she was a shiro. And to her credit, she understood that there was going to be a time that she wasn't going to be around, that my mom, Mrs. Ferguson, wasn't going to be around. Colonel Paul Adams, who was a Tuskegee Airman that worked in the schools here in Lincoln Public Schools, and, you know, was not going to be around. And so we talk about steps, and it's not just who are going to take those next steps,

but who can we walk together with to ensure. that Dr. King's dreams, and it's important. It's not just a dream. You know, you will hear that speech played over and over again in classrooms during the day of and this, that, and the other. He didn't just have one dream. There were dreams that he and others had, his parents had for him. He had for his children.

And so she just, you know, she put that call out. And if you know, you know, they officially called Mama Bullock. Mama Bullock puts a call out, you know, you heed that call. And it wasn't a text message. So those kids, it wasn't on TikTok, it wasn't Instagram. It was, you're in church and she's, we're going to do this and make it happen. So she had individuals like Dr. Jake Kirkland, Jr., who again used to work at the university, is phenomenal, been a mentor of mine.

Mrs. Mays, you know, Mrs. Mays, her son, Brian Mays, and I went to high school together, and Mrs. Stokes, Mrs. Stokes's son is Eric Stokes, who played for the Huskers, and a couple of the championship runs. And they came together and they had connections. Mrs. Mays and Mrs. Stokes worked in schools. And they started gathering young people and put this foundation. As Dr. King talked about a blueprint, you know, had this blueprint and started putting, you know, a solid sound blueprint together.

And they met at Newman Church over there by the Malone Center. Weekly didn't have, you know, a bunch of, resources but they put pieces together they you know they they they were saying you know on that day they were going to go to the county city building and just are you know do speeches maybe some somebody was going to sing johanci christi as i recall as i was told because i wasn't i was still in college gave the i have a dream speech and and he's now the the city attorney just crushed it and so from that every year scholars came together and and i have I remember it was about the fourth year.

I was just graduating from college. I just happened on the meeting, so I would come and assist. And I remember after that, they took me to lunch at TGI Fridays, right over here. It's no longer, I think it may have been right in this spot. And they duped me. And I remember she, they took a box, put it up on the table, and they said it's yours. It's yours. That's it.

It's yours. And I was like, what's it? And it was the box with all the flags. and folders of the rally in March. And when you're seasoned elders tell you something is yours, I was honored in a way, I was scared in a way, but I was thankful and appreciative that they would trust me with facilitating.

So for the last 24 years, 23 years, I've been the adult advisor for the rally. And it starts, you know, it started in August. It's become year-round, but August, you know, October, scholars, we start meeting on Sundays. It's open to anybody. It's a community experience. We say anybody can do an event, but we want to make sure it's an experience for individuals, so it lasts past that day. And we've had individuals as young as first grade on up to high school that come and participate.

And it's scholars from Lincoln Public Schools. We've had individuals from Norris, Pius, Raymond Central. This year we have a young lady that's singing from Omaha Central, really wanted it to provide a space that if it's not offered for you within your community, we have no bounds. We want you to come. And they meet regularly from 6 to 8. We do educational pieces. We learn about the Birmingham Children's March,

the importance that any movement that started that young people are a part of that. And we go through that process, and then we start developing some of the parts. There's things that come to my mind, maybe in June or January after the rally. that we start, you know, maybe putting forward and seeing if that's theirs, if that's something they would be interested in. But it's a wholly developed youth rally in March. And so they get ultimate say in that content, the structure. I do the massaging.

I'm making sure the programming side of things. It's kind of like what my coach said. I get the decisions and things that don't really matter. Through all of that, where are you finding these exceptional young people? You know, it's a variety. I think at the beginning, You know, I'm obviously working with young people, and so there are times, you know, I remember seeing an individual like Asia Fleming, and we did just a friendly basketball game with her in third grade. And this young lady, just the way she carried herself on the floor, I just said, hey, there's something special about, like, this is, this is going to be out of the park.

And so asked her, and I remember at fourth grade, she gave the keynote. and to this day it's probably one of the top five I mean standing ovation as a fourth grader and you look at she did not look like a fourth grader brought the house down there's other individuals where you look at Trey Anderson mom was you know

was like oh you know I love my son to be involved boom there's Britney Britney Hodges you know again you ask how I find them it's I get the opportunity to be around young people so I do see different sparks different talents and it's not just about if they're able to speak.

It's more about, you know, some of those other things. You know, how are they empowering individuals? Do they need to be empowered? Are they, you know, did they educate me in some way? You know, are they engaging? And again, it's not that they're the most outgoing individuals. We have some of the most introverted people that you'll ever, ever meet, but this is something that they're invested in.

And I don't need them to know everything about the civil rights movement or Dr. King. They just have to have an interest in this. And sometimes it's just an interest in, okay, we have pizza and we have cookies. But after three or four weeks, to be honest, when you get them in here, they're articulating about how Sylvia Mendez impacted the civil rights movement in California. Do you find yourself being the bridge to that information, like the connector of the people who have been a part of this program, been a part of this march, this rally,

and sharing why it's important to these young people, because yeah they will carry it for it. Yeah, you know, I think, you know, one of the dancers, sometimes we have peers recommend say, hey, you know, can this person be a part of the rally? And that's like, that does your heart well. Or they say I came and I watched, and I just like, I wanted to be a part of this.

And so, you know, as far as being the bridge, there's so many people. Like I think about like an Eva Sol, I think about an Emily Kootman. I think about my daughter who sat at the table. Like as long as they're at the table, my daughter did it for nine, 10 years, you know, As long as they're at the table, they serve as that connector as well.

It can't just be Pete. You know, it can't just be Dr. Kirkland. It has to be, you know, it might be a classroom teacher. Bobby Ehrlich over at Belmont Elementary with her fifth grade class. She serves as a connector. You know, we need a Sherilyn Bullock serves as a connector. Is it boundary by Lincoln? Do you connect to others, even shared references?

Yeah, you know, I think we make sure that individuals understand that, you know, Lincoln's our core, but we've talked about, you know, situations in Bellevue. They need to know about the Omaha riots. You know, they need to understand that Dr. King did not just speak in Selma. You know, he spoke in Wisconsin. He spoke here in Lincoln, Nebraska at Pershing Auditorium. See, I do want to, that's the little linchpin. We're talking to Peter Ferguson.

Monday's youth rally, and we'll go deeper into what the rally is going to be, but the historical storytelling is mandatory. It's mandatory to share Lincoln's connection to civil rights, Martin Luther King himself. Please tell the story. You were telling us before the show that, I mean, he was here. There are people here that were connected to it. Please tell, share that story.

You know, and if you don't know it, I mean, it's part of his, I mean, I think it's the thing that we should have every one of our newscasts talk about that day of. But he came and he spoke at Pershing Auditorium. And Pershing, obviously, is in the news going to be a library or a skating rink or your next home, your condominium, whatever it might be. But when he came, Albert Maxie, who is a local artist here, was a longtime police officer, was actually. actually at that time was the only black police officer on the force. And to go back a little bit for Mr. Maxey's story, which is extremely powerful, he played basketball at the University of Nebraska. Before that, he was one of the, he played with Oscar Robertson.

So I know your, your listener basis is. That Hoosier's your story is the one day? Yeah. You're going to lose, you're going to lose your sports card if you do not know who Oscar Robertson is and he played with Oscar Robertson and actually Mr. Maxey was on the first team that won first team of all black athletes that won a high school state championship in Indiana and so he came here played basketball for Nebraska and became a police officer. Dr. King came. Dr. King made the request and said I want for my safety my trust I want a black officer you know in my detail well Elbowls

PD only had one and it was Mr. Maxey. So Mr. Maxey for Dr. King's time was Dr. King's security detail. And he speaks to the conversation he's had and I'm not going to do it justice. And so I won't even try. But to understand Mr. Maxey, who's down in the Haymarket, Burke Holder Project, does art, you know, a phenomenal individual is part of that. Like, people think this was 200 years ago. Like, 19... Like, that wasn't that long ago.

And you have somebody here that you could sit and have a conversation with and he could tell you what Dr. King sounded like. He could tell you how he walked. He could tell you who was around him. That's powerful. But that's not going to be the case for very much longer. So I think people think, again, people think it's Selma. and people think it's, you know, Alabama and Memphis

and all the things they see on the movies and it happens in L.A. But the bottom line is, if you didn't realize in the last two years on our streets that it's about Lincoln, Nebraska, it was about Lincoln, Nebraska in 1960. Important enough that Martin Luther King came here to present. Well, exactly.

To be a presence here. Exactly. There wasn't, you know, just let that matter. Just a very need for a second. As people think about Lincoln, Nebraska, that the leadership, the civil rights leadership deemed that Lincoln, Nebraska, not only was worthy, but it was necessary for that visit and that presence to be.

That's pretty remarkable. If you look at signs, we had signs that said colored restrooms. We had segregation. We had Jim Crow. We had a very strong presence in this state of the Ku Klux Klan. and in Lincoln, we had a presence of the Ku Klux Klan. We had racial housing ordinance on Sheridan Boulevard. So, again, we had racism.

We had segregation. We still experience it, but individuals, it's really tough sometimes for individuals, like, man, it's the good life and this, that, and the other. And there are a lot of phenomenal things about Nebraska. There are a lot of phenomenal things, too. But we have to be real truthful when we have that conversation with our scholars, and we have that conversation amongst all of us, is that there are individuals with privilege. There are individuals that are not experiencing the life in a good way. I will share this.

I am old enough to have been, I grew up just outside of Washington, D.C. in Arlington, Virginia. And when you see, as you mentioned, Hoosiers as being a reference, right? So think back to remember the Titans. Oh, yeah. Okay. Coach Boone. So remember that that's my hometown.

And so as that was happening in 1970, 1971, I was an elementary student at an all-black elementary school who there were people that came to my house. because they had done testing and said, we need to choose these alpha students who are going to be put into this busing program, this brand new busing program. So imagine at age eight being sent on a bus to the opposite side of town, to a predominantly, well, at the time it was an all-white school. And that morning, the very first morning,

there were six kids who got on the bus. in the dark, rolled to the other side of the county when I arrived at my school and to give you some point of reference, Stonewall Jackson Elementary. Wow. Yes. Right. Right. Right.

That there were, there was a collection of parents waiting for me with my name on signs that I didn't, they didn't know me. They didn't know me. so to go through busing at that level in that space and then to have it spoken of with the i have a dream speech well one of the first school trips that we took was to that space to go and stand where the speech was given so that we understood why the speech was given what you're doing now is connecting people to the past in a way that's real to them. And that's how the story will be told going forward.

Like, that's the beautiful part of this thing. We'll throw it to break. Again, a special edition of one-on-one. Peter Ferguson is my guest. Again, the rally is Monday. We'll talk more about the rally, but we will continually talk about the mission and the purpose. And the reason behind all of this,

we will do that on 93-7 the ticket. Download our app by searching 93.7. the ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with DP on 937 the the ticket and the ticketfm.com.