TPD Black History Committee

Lee Bercaw

Interim Chief of Police

Crystal Clark

Host/Director of Communications

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The Program

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Opening

Crystal Clark
Director of Communications, Tampa Police Department

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Invocation

TPD Chaplain Clethen Sutton

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Presentation of Colors

TPD Honor Guard

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Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem

Corporal Sonja Wise

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Occasion and History

Deirdre Joseph

Member, Black History Committee

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Virtual Welcome

Mayor Jane Castor

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Greetings

Interim Chief Lee Bercaw

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Introduction of Unsung Community Heroes

Crystal Clark

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Unsung Hero Recognitions

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.

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Closing Remarks and Announcements

Major Eric DeFelice

Chairman, Black History Committee

Ida Walker

Member, Black History Committee

To learn more about the Tampa Soul Walk, click here.

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Black National Anthem

Corporal Sonja Wise

Lyrics: "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

Lift every voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

 

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun

Let us march on till victory is won.

 

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

 

We have come over a way that with tears have been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

 

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

 

Lest our feet stray from the places, Our God, where we met Thee;

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand.

True to our GOD, True to our native land.

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Benediction

TPD Chaplain Prentiss Davis