They Had a Dream and They’re Sharing It

It was billed as a Black History Month celebration, but the African American achievers who lined the Charles G. Emery Elementary School stage Friday were more interested in a multiethnic future.

Jerry Austin, the Anaheim Fire Department’s administrative chief, told the assembled fifth- and sixth-graders that the most rewarding part of his job is helping people. Out of that comes a caring for others, he said.

“I enjoy the camaraderie that comes from that because we have a lot of different people in the world,” he said. “If we don’t get along with each other, we can have a real bad situation.”

Cynthia Busby, a promoter and a school mother, hosted the school’s second annual African-American Heritage Celebration by introducing professionals as role models “who look a little bit like me.”

Curren Price, an Inglewood councilman, got no takers when he asked the children who wanted to be a politician.

That was OK, he said: Leadership does not come from an election.

“It’s important for you to be leaders wherever you are,” Price said. “The important thing is, don’t give up.”

That theme resounded during the two-hour assembly, where the children were transfixed by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter that was landed on their playing field by Deputy Anthony Pachot, the first black helicopter pilot in the department.

“I started getting interested in flying a long time ago,” Pachot said. “I saw an airplane and I said, ‘Boy, that would be fun.’ And I never gave up.

“Take the words ‘I can’t’ out of your vocabulary. Because anything you can dream, you can do.”

The students heard the same from character actor Dick Anthony Williams, who joked that they could easily find him in the film “Edward Scissorhands” because he played the black guy. “They only had one, you know,” he said with a chuckle.

Artists Michael Massenburg and Reginald Webster assured them that they each had some special talent, and chiropractor Bruce McMorris made them shout out his personal slogan: “It’s all inside of me!”

“Whatever you want to be--doctor, actor, nurse, the best janitor in the world--please don’t sell yourselves short,” McMorris said.

But of all the inspiring speakers, some kids were most taken with Costa Mesa musician Edward “Dwayne” Nelson, who serenaded them with two songs.

“I want to be like that rap artist because I really like music, but I should probably see that doctor because my back really hurts,” said 10-year-old Omar Tabello.