INDIANAPOLIS - U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Steward Speakers Inc. in conjunction with Olivet Missionary Baptist Church., will host a National Black History Celebration featuring Common, Award-winning hip hop rapper, author, and actor. This annual, youth-oriented, community outreach event will be held on Monday, February 22, 2016, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Olivet Missionary Baptist Church, 4141 North High School Road, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46254. This program will also include special guests: Joe Hogsett, Mayor of the City of Indianapolis, Dr. Lewis Ferebee, Indianapolis Public School (IPS) Superintendent, and Franklin Jones, Executive Director, CBP Privacy and Diversity Office.
Common serves as one of hip-hop’s most highly regarded and award-winning artists, known for his poetic lyrics and socially conscious messages earning him a Grammy in 2003. Common is a respected youth role model, offering a message of self-empowerment, introspective thought and social commentary through his music and poetry. Common offers the younger generation a better understanding of self-respect, love, and culture through the relevance of hip-hop. Whether inspiring audiences through his music, or his books; Common continues to break new barriers. For the movie Selma, Common and John Legend won a Golden Globe for the song “Glory” as well as an Academy Award and now, Grammy. Both artists used their Oscar acceptance speeches to highlight contemporary issues that connected to the Civil Rights Movement.
“At CBP we recognize our responsibility to serve the community that we are in. It is through these partnerships and community programs, that we believe we further our diversity goals by influencing and impacting the youth of our future by exposing them to notable role models, ” said Darlene Sedwick, Deputy Director, EEO Division, CBP Privacy and Diversity Office. “For the past 25 years, we have partnered with Steward Speakers Inc., and nine years with the Olivet Missionary Baptist Church with a primary goal of uplifting, enlightening and empowering our youth. This year, we will continue on that path.”
The CBP Privacy and Diversity Office provides EEO, diversity and inclusion, and civil rights/civil liberties services to almost 60,000 CBP employees and to the hundreds of millions of travelers and members of the trade and traveling community that CBP interacts with in the performance of our homeland security mission.