Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 regular business meeting of the Olympia City Council.

For the record, we have a quorum with all council members present tonight.

Um, so I need a motion to approve tonight's agenda.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor of the agenda as published, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

We have an agenda.

So our first item tonight is item 2A, which is special recognition, a proclamation recognizing Black History Month.

And we have a shared reading of the proclamation beginning with Councilmember Madron.

Whereas the City of Olympia recognizes the importance of honoring the history, heritage, and achievements of African Americans and Black communities whose contributions have shaped our nation and local community.

And whereas in 1915, Dr.

Carter Godwin Woodson, a noted scholar and son of formerly enslaved people, founded the Association for the Study of African African American life and history, and initiated Black History Week on February 12th, 1926, which later expanded and was established as Black History Month in 1967.

And whereas Black History Month provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the many contributions and accomplishments of African Americans and Black community members across all fields, including the arts, education, science, civil rights, labor, health care, technology, and the economy, while also reflecting on the continued need to dismantle racism and strengthen our democratic ideals and whereas the 2026 Black History Month theme, a century of Black History Commemorations, marks 100 years since the founding of Black History Week, honoring a century of collective efforts to research, preserve, and celebrate African American history, culture, labor, and contributions, and reaffirming the ongoing importance of education, truth telling, and equity.

And whereas, as part of this century of black history commemorations, notable African American leaders have shaped Olympia's history through transformative work in education and community building, including Dr.

Maxine Mims, an internationally recognized educator, civil rights leader, and founder of the Evergreen State College's Tacoma campus.

Recognizing that Tacoma's hilltop residents needed access to higher education, Dr.

Mim started teaching out of her home before formerly establishing the Tacoma campus in 1982.

Dr.

Mim stay's Dr.

Mim's decades of leadership expanded access to higher education for working adults and historically excluded communities, strengthened pathways to economic mobility and cultivated generations of leaders committed to equity, justice, and public service, and whereas the City of Olympia continues to take steps to honor African American and Black history and presence in the community.

These efforts include community engagement and planning for Rebecca Howard Park, named for one of Olympia's earliest African American business pioneers.

Together, these actions reflect the city's broader commitment to recognizing black stories and contributions in our public spaces and collective memory.

And whereas it is important to honor the achievements, joy, and resilience of African Americans and Black community members, while also acknowledging the ongoing collective work required of every community member to ensure equal opportunity for all, recognizing the lasting impacts of systemic racism rooted in slavery, segregation, mass incarceration, police brutality, and health and economic inequities.

And whereas the City of Olympia remains committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and equitable community in which all residents are respected, honored, and valued.

Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Olympia City Council does hereby proclaim the month of February 2026 as Black History Month in a City of Olympia, and encourages all Olympians to recognize and honor the African American experience and to work toward a community and nation where all people have equal opportunity to thrive, signed in the City of Olympia, Washington this third day of February 2026, Olympia City Council, Dante Payne, Mayor.

So we have a couple of guests here tonight in honor of celebrating this occasion with the proclamation.

So we're gonna invite up Javon Byrd, who is the executive director of the Hawke Foundation for Research and Education in African culture.

And we also have Antonio McClennan, who is the senior student mentor coordinator with Olympia School District.

Gentlemen.

First off, I would like to say thank you, Mary Payne, and uh thank you, council members, for this opportunity to speak with you all.

Um again, my name is Antonio McClinnan.

I'm the student mentor coordinator here at the Olympia School District.

Uh thank you for this proclamation and for continuing the City of Olympia's commitment to honoring black history, not only as something we reflect on in February, but as something we live out year-round.

Black History Month began as an educational effort.

Um hundred years later, uh, it still holds true.

Here in Olympia, that commitment shows up locally through programs such as the student mentor coordinator, uh student mentor program, um, where we support high school students, middle school students, as well as elementary students, and most of the student participants uh represent an underrepresented uh ethnic group.

In a time when conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion can feel uncertain or contested.

Mentorship offers us something grounded and actionable.

Again, I just wanted to say thank you for the commitment as the student mentor program is a representation of how this proclamation can be seen in action.

So thank you all again.

Thank you.

Hey Javon.

Hey.

On this third of February, the first week of Black Miss History Month, I have to remind myself to control the boiling in my blood.

I have to remind myself that those committed to fake smiles and gestures of reconciliation are not interested in justice.

Healing to them means assimilation.

It means black people proving we are palatable to the expectations of white domination, sometimes with the BIPOC face at the front of it.

I hear white liberals crying that we are living in unprecedented times.

They say they've never seen fertile force weaponized against people.

Hmm.

I hear BIPOP folks saying, after they come for everyone else, black people will be next.

We've been first, middle, and always last.

After Bacon's rebellion in 1676, when poor whites and black people teamed up to challenge the ruling class, the colonies needed a scapegoat.

They needed a force to unify under, because they could not risk poor whites partnering with blacks again.

So they criminalized blackness.

They codified it into law, they built a system that required the permanent dehumanization of black folks.

Under this caste system, all white immigrants had to do to gain power was give up their cultural heritage.

Irish, Spanish, French, Italian, and embrace whiteness, tainted with the blood of indigenous people.

And for whiteness to exist, it must be juxtaposed against blackness.