Black History Month can be overwhelming, for me especially! I’m just a millennial who understands you have to know where you came from to know where you are going. In my eyes, it’s more than a back and forth battle between good and bad or Black and blue, for freedom of speech and years of gentrification and slavery. If history is important, it can trap you in the past if you let it. Throughout history, many have strived, fought and risen to the call for freedom, justice and liberty for all. Yet, many others have risen and will never be celebrated or even forgotten.

This story is meant to highlight the people that walk amongst us daily that we overlook. These are the people helping push us to reach our greatest goal ever of completing our education.

From the big names to the little names, I will give you my list of people in the city of Milwaukee who made my Black history experience even more exciting and meaningful to me.

These are people in the community that I see working with the youth and our community to not only ensure positive outlets but seeing to it that each child–no matter their color–has a fair chance to achieve their dreams.

Music has always been my life. From growing up in the church and staying in a Locust Street high rise to my granny Donna and Mr. Milton always having a song playing. I believe that was the start of my love for music and the drive to push me to complete my Associate degree of Applied Science (AAS) in May 2026.

But it was men like Victor Barnett with the Running Rebels and army vets like Damon Shoates, who poured into me discipline and love for being a disc jockey. Rubin Wittmore, a UWM professor, opened my eyes to film, and now I’m shooting my fourth movie-”Baby.” (My other films are: “Nite Life the Movie” on YouTube, “Disconnection Notice” on Amazon Prime, “Stolliez the Movie” on Tubi.) Craig Green, UWM Hall of Fame basketball star, somehow found a way to mentor me and help me learn more about how computers function and how to build them.

Some of you may know this next great guy as Mizzo or Black, to me. That’s my big bro. He was one of the first Black millionaires in the city to start a record label called Black Out. That’s where I interned under marketing and promotion guru “KB ThePlayMaker” who would soon teach me the game, how to live as a young Black man chasing his dreams, and how to avoid trouble.

I never knew that music would be my life until I met KB and Black. Within the first year of meeting these guys, I traveled to all 50 states doing shows with acts such as Kevin Gates, T-Rell, Big Frank, Chicken P, H1 Da Hook, Don Da Jeweler, Sommer, Sme Tax Free and more.

Never would I have been able to see my dreams come true with music, education, mentoring and more if it wasn’t for these men who defied all odds. They were able to bring people together and create something positive.

So with that being said, I guess it’s my turn to pour into our future leaders and activists.

We are Black history in motion.

So, Black history isn’t just history for me. It’s history in the making, it’s a community of people, it’s striving for better.

Never give up on your dreams!