"I Keep"

♪♪ ♪♪ -The tradition I carry on... -The tradition I carry on... -The tradition I carry on... -Is my faith.

-My Navajo language.

-The tradition I carry on is my family's love of music.

-This culture that we call hip-hop.

♪♪ -[ Vocalizing ] -I'm in danger of losing something that's been in my family for generations.

-How about 15 here, 20, 25.

-Pushing the Black people out.

-We're asking for the destruction and the removal of a mascot that has existed for decades.

-There's fear of retaliation from the school district.

That's why the students and these parents don't wanna speak up.

I'll see this through to the end, but it has to come from you all.

-I'm really paranoid about somebody buying the bar and changing it.

Ooh, total due, $19,000.

There's a very good chance that the Blue Moon can't ever open again.

The historical integrity of Seattle is at stake here.

♪♪ -[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -The tradition that I carry on... -The tradition I carry on... -The tradition that I would carry on... -Is barbecuing every Juneteenth.

-Quinceañeras.

-Dressing up for Halloween.

-Getting together with your family.

-And just celebrating... -Thanksgiving.

-Cinco De Mayo.

-Earth Day.

-Fourth of July.

-We have a moment of silence in remembrance for all those veterans that lost their lives.

And then the fireworks begin.

♪♪ -Representing Guam.

-Yankee Homecoming Week.

-Family dinner.

-Indigenous beadwork.

-The music from here in West Virginia.

-My grandparents' 71-year-old restaurant.

♪♪ -Tradition is a way to unite people.

-And they remind us of who we are and where we come from.

-There's something really powerful about performing or doing or reading things that have been done in my family for generations.

-Standing out here just on a property on Hilton Head Island because I wanted to point out if you see these in your neighborhood or if you see them around the island, it's for the delinquent tax sale that's gonna be held the first Monday of October.

If you're one of the lucky buyers, it may be that the owner doesn't show up and pay his taxes, and you get the property.

So, you might end up owning a great piece of property.

Oop!

They're going fast.

-That's not cool.

I'm in danger of losing something that's been in my family for generations.

If I don't come up with $14,498 to pay my family's property tax by October 2nd, we're going to lose our ancestral land to auction.

[ Indistinct singing, rhythmic clapping ] I'm originally from the Bronx, New York, but my roots are actually in a little town in South Carolina.

People that they call Geechee or Gullah, mostly now descendants of slaves, they have land that's been in their family since Reconstruction.

-After the Civil War, we were able to acquire land.

-From the worst of circumstances where we took what we knew from our ancestors from West Africa and we made a whole new culture.

-Like our language.

-Music, art.

-It is the oldest Black culture in America.

-Stepping on this ground that my ancestors really walked on back in the day.

I just can't describe the feeling.

So, it's very important for us to keep the history alive.

-Sometimes we don't appreciate what we have until we're about to lose it.

[ Singing continues ] -Alright.

-This land is important to my family.

It's about 5 1/2 acres.

And this is the land that my grandfather used to farm -- corn, tomatoes, watermelon.

This is my great-grandmother.

There's my grandfather.

You know, my grandfather made sure I knew that this was going to help our family, you know, like, have some kind of status or voice.

The problem right now is these skyrocketing property taxes.

What started to happen was there was a lot of development coming through, and there were golf courses and department stores.

We're at the point now where families are losing their homes and property due to exorbitant taxes.

Do you remember -- I'm sure you do -- when, like, Cat Island and Dataw and those places first came up?

-All Black people.

-Used to -- Used to own that land?

-Own that property, yeah.

-And do you know, did they lose it?

-If you don't pay your tax, when you got here, they done pay the tax for you.

-Yeah.

-Pushing the Black people out.

Trying to develop, getting to develop something.

Putting their fat, fancy houses and stuff on them.

-♪ Take our homes, take our names ♪ -I always grew up knowing you gotta pay taxes on your property but I didn't expect it to grow, like, exponentially.

I work right now as a safety officer and a photographer.

You know, $14,000 is a nice chunk of change, but I just can't let this land be auctioned off.

By hook or by crook, this has to get done.

-Ladies and gentlemen, the sweethearts of Keller High, the Indianettes.

[ Marching band playing ] ♪♪ -My name is Yolonda Blue Horse, and I'm a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

The current fight for a lot of us down here is to have the Texas schools get rid of Native American mascots.

-The tradition can be broken.

I understand that people were raised around the Indian mascot, but that doesn't make it okay.

-Don't dress up like us.

Don't wear the headdresses.

It just still perpetuates that it's okay to mimic another race of people, which in itself is racist, period.

-And it's scary, honestly, to try and confront people on that because you've got nine people to your one, and you're the only one willing to say anything.

-I love Keller High School.

I will always be an Indian.

I'm not an Indian myself, but we're trying to honor their traditions and we're trying to make traditions of our own to honor.

-I became notified of this issue when a student had a problem with the Keller High School mascot.

-I hate that I've had to be an unwilling participant in my school's racism.

It hurts me to know how many people really see this mascot as something that belongs to them.

-That school, they're just creating another whole generation of people who think that it's okay to mimic other people's race.

We're real people out here with real traditions and real culture.

Growing up, I never lived on a reservation, but my mom told me about who our people were.

Then a little over 20 years ago, my daughter died.

And it wasn't until actually until I lost my daughter that I really started looking into our culture, our beliefs.

When a person loses a child, it's very traumatic.

I guess I was just trying to get some strength, some understanding, some peace that I started experiencing some of our ceremonies.

When we open our powwows up, one of the songs is called a memorial song to remember those who have gone before us.

So, I always bow my head when I hear that song.

Then you start doing your research and you start learning more and more.

This country has a dark history of wanting to kill us all off.

And when we see that people don't know the true history of what happened, it's hurtful.

And I really learned a lot about being an activist.

I think about eight or nine years ago, I started protesting against mascots.

It's hard.

You know, to even hear the Washington team got rid of their mascot, oh, my gosh, we never thought that was gonna come.

So, just out of cur-- So you're in what?

You said 10th grade?

Is that -- -Yeah, I'm in 10th grade.

I'm a sophomore.

-Oh, wow.

You are very mature for your age.

-I mean, certainly, it gets difficult.

I mean -- I mean, I've had kids, like, roll down their window and throw things at me.

And, like, it's been a real challenge, but I agree with you.

-That's -- That's hard.

It's something not every 15-year-old might do 'cause it takes a lot of nerve to get up and talk in front of a group of people or stand up for what you believe in.

-I know there's a large majority of us that aren't gonna say anything but would prefer that someone come forward and address it.

-I'll try -- No, I'll see this through to the end, but it just -- it has to come from you all.

-You are coming to the board meeting tomorrow, right?

-Yeah, I am.

-Okay.

-The biggest obstacle right now is that school board.

You know, maybe none of them wanna rock the boat.

-There's no way for us to actually be able to change the mascot without all of the board members voting on it.

Hopefully, yeah, tomorrow we'll be able to get there in time and they actually listen to us.

-Yeah, so get there probably, I would say, 6:15, 6:20, and then make sure you get signed in.

-Okay.

Well, thank you.

Hopefully, tomorrow goes well.

-Okay, take care, and I'll see you tomorrow.

It's particularly important now that we have the students on board.

It really is.

You know, it might start with one or two students, but at least more people are speaking up.

And I hope that these students won't be scared to speak out.

-Hey, I'm Emma, and this is my husband.

His name's Justin.

And we are in the historic Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle.

We met here and got married here, just like my parents.

Aw, isn't that cute?

My mom wore a Canadian tuxedo to her wedding, and it didn't even match.

This is an 86-year-old bar, so it has a lot of history.

This is my tradition.

This is our tradition.

Ye old Blue Moon, established 1934.

Welcome to the historic Blue Moon.

There's the original sign.

Good old Hank Reverman, my dad, back in the good old days.

Reverman was the only bartender who would serve African-American servicemen.

It was a place where everybody could hang out, all walks of life.

-I've been going there on and off since the mid-'70s.

-I love the Blue Moon because it is as dive bar-y as it could ever be in a dive bar competition.

-The traditions are deep.

-There have been so many weddings and wakes, celebrations, birthdays.

-The Blue Moon is like a family.

-As soon as I walked in, I just felt at ease, I felt accepted, and I felt like this was -- this was a community.

-It's so much more than a career to me, the Blue Moon.

My pops bought the bar with a couple of his friends in the early '80s, and I've spent my whole life here.

My mom told me that her water broke right there with me.

That's where my dad liked to count money.

He actually had a special light installed.

Hey, Papa.

This is my daddy.

He's very handsome and nice.

You wanna talk about your affiliation with what's on your T-shirt?

-Ah, the Blue Moon.

-The tradition of the Blue Moon.

-I mean, it's always been a dive bar.

Quite popular with the intelligentsia of the -- the '40s, '50s, and '60s.

A lot of creativity.

A lot of positive community energy.

-I really love the ceiling in here.

October of 2016, I took over management, and I was so stoked.

But let me tell you, kids, don't buy a bar because, man!

Oh, my gosh, there's so much dust on the pinball machines.

When COVID hit, we closed March 11th and wanted to reopen early April, and that didn't happen.

Oh, man.

To keep the Blue Moon going, we need to keep paying for our electricity and our water.

We have to keep paying our rent.

It looks like I'm gonna need $40,000 to make it through the rest of the year.

There's a very good chance that the Blue Moon can't ever open again.

So, what kind of thing do you think she would prefer, chicken or fish?

You know, I suppose I could've been spending this summer really busting my ass to try to figure out a way to open the bar, but I was taking care of my pre-teen children.

What are your favorite things to do in the kitchen, babies?

-Bake.

-My favorite thing to do in the kitchen is to get food and eat.

-[ Laughs ] And taking care of Justin full time.

Justin had an alcohol withdrawal seizure.

Fell down some stairs and had a couple of brain hemorrhages.

Hi, Justin.

I can't handle everything all at once.

-In the near term, in the next couple of months, paying your salary is definitely the biggest expense.

-Okay.

Well, we can always make my salary smaller.

-There is so much uncertainty.

There's no deadline.

-That would be a great theme for my next update, wouldn't it?

The next update that I do on the GoFundMe can -- I'll make some sort of relationship between how long the Blue Moon has been open and how long this GoFundMe may potentially need to last.

There's a lot of people that are like, "Oh, God, I can't imagine Seattle without the Blue Moon."

They all kind of hope that I can keep it afloat because the historical integrity of Seattle is at stake here.

-The tradition that I want to carry on is my family.

That's my tradition.

I want love of family.

♪♪ -Oh, I remember when I was a little boy how the family would all get together, have a big dinner.

-Every Sunday, all the local family will come together and eat.

-The family always used to gather around the dinner table Sunday nights, and we all just shared stories about our weeks.

-My grandmother passed away, and we all used to get together at her house.

And so, when she passed a few years ago, I started bringing everybody to my house.

It brings me so much joy, and the memories just flood back those days.

And even though she's not there, it makes me feel like she is there.

♪♪ -[ Speaking Spanish ] My parents would always set aside a candle.

And around it would be pictures of family members.

So, now that my father's passed on, I'm following that tradition.

-This is the cemetery where my great-great-great-grandparents are buried.

I carry on this tradition.

We come to Decoration Day.

We bring our screwdrivers and we stick them down into the hard earth, and we put artificial flowers.

And we honor those who have gone on before us.

Because they were, I am.

♪♪ -The tradition I carry on is the art of weaving.

My grandma and I had a bonding experience by preparing pandanus leaves, like this.

This is a tradition that I wanna keep alive.

-A tradition that I carry on is storytelling and filmmaking.

My great-grandfather bought one of the first cameras available to the public.

He captured decades and decades of stories and memories, and I will continue to do the same.

-My mama told stories, my dad, my uncles, my aunts, my cousins.

We all are storytellers.

To me, our stories feel like a hug, and so I carry that tradition forward.

-A tradition I carry on is simple.

It's this red bandana.

It came from my great-great-great grandfather, who moved his family to Mississippi, he started a new life.

It's something that reminds me of where I came from but it also gives me insight to know where I'm going.

-A tradition I have carried on in my family is this henge tattoo that my grandpa had and my dad had.

My dad just recently passed away, so I got this tattoo for him.

♪♪ -Just wanna talk about how important the land is to me and my family, just because it's been in my family for generations, right, and it's been passed down.

So, of course, it would be devastating for, you know, it to be lost.

-♪ Satan, we're gonna tear your kingdom down ♪ -We still hold on to the very fabric of Gullah.

-Through cooking, through carpentry, basket making.

-Maintaining gardens.

-Preserving land for future generations.

-Another way I carry on my tradition is the way I talk, 'cause I know Gullah Geechee language is an official language.

Now, I ain't gonna let nobody make me feel ashamed for my language like they used to do back in the day.

-It's important to keep stuff like this alive because if we don't, we lose identity.

-If we don't, then how the next generation gonna know about it?

-♪ ...your kingdom down ♪ -So...just about at my family's property here.

Here's my cousin.

So, like, people don't know that right here at the front of the property, alright, is also -- is a graveyard, alright?

And that's where most of the local people from here are buried.

-I had to come this way and cut this path over here going to Grandma house.

Grandma live right over there.

-Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So I used to say, "Everette, come with me.

Come walk with me because I don't wanna walk by myself.

I don't wanna walk through the graveyard by myself at night."

-Hey.

Halfway.

Let's go!

Graveyard.

-Yeah.

-But you know what old people say, you know.

The dead, they ain't gonna hurt you, boy.

They take care of you.

It's the live one that get you.

Word.

That's real.

I've been here for a long, long time.

I love this, man.

But, boy, I just like to see my people now.

We're achieving and going further than where we came from, bro.

-Mm-hmm.

-You know?

And then have more to come.

-Mm-hmm.

You know, we're just couple weeks out.

We're still a couple thousand dollars short for the tax bill.

I'm online and I'm doing some research here.

Somebody gave me a organization there in Beaufort.

It's called the Pan-African Family Empowerment Network.

-Pan-African Family Empowerment & Land Preservation Network is designed to help Gullah Geechee people and people of African descent be able to preserve and pass on their ancestral land to future generations.

-Gonna reach out to my sister and stepdad here in just a little bit just to see where they're at.

Maybe they can, you know, pitch in a little bit if I -- you know, if I don't have it by the time things are due.

We'll figure out -- We'll overcome this thing.

The family tradition needs to stay.

-Okay.

So we're entering into New Hope.

This is our church.

This church is very important to me.

My grandmother went there.

My mother, my brother and sisters.

Now my husband and my children attend there.

-We just pray, God, that you see fit to keep the doors open, God.

-This church is being closed down by the Methodist Conference, and it's the end, but we want it to be a new beginning.

We're looking forward to purchasing the church and seeing if we can help it grow and make new traditions.

-One tradition I know I've passed on to my daughter is reading the Bible.

-Every morning, without fail, my mom was out in the living room reading her Bible to study and I know pray for all of us kids.

This is a tradition that I hope to carry on.

-[ Speaking native language ] -[ Chanting ] -[ Chanting ] -I remember when I was a kid hearing my mom chanting.

It would always soothe me.

So when I got older and I started going through things, that's one of the reasons why I really decided to practice, too.

-[ Speaking native language ] -I was raised in a proud Catholic family.

Today, my faith is everything.

-[ Speaking native language ] -A tradition I carry on is the Hindu spiritual tradition.

-I have fond memories of holding pujas or prayer services at home.

It has provided me with comfort, peace, and community throughout my entire life.

-As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I hope that my children will watch me as I make my mistakes and how I turn to God, how they can do that same thing.

-A tradition we carry on is fasting.

-During Ramadan.

-A month where we fast every day from sunrise to sunset.

-As a way of maintaining that connection with our history.

-It helps us practice self-discipline.

-Helps us reevaluate our bad decisions and anything else that may blur our vision.

-We are inside Temple Mishkan Israel in this beautiful 120-year-old sanctuary that's been the home for Selma's Jewish community since 1899.

I was bar mitzvahed here.

My family worshiped here every Friday night.

We struggle here in Selma to maintain our Jewish presence in the community.

That's what we're praying for, that Temple Mishkan Israel will be here for another hundred years.

-Here we are.

Hi, Blue Moon.

How the hell does the freaking heater keep getting turned on magically?

Stay off.

I can't afford that.

See here.

Good ol' rent.

Whoo!

Holy cowabunga Santa Claus.

Total due -- $19,556.32.

That just made me wanna throw up.

Whoo.

[ Ringing ] -Yo.

-Jeff, it's getting kinda scary.

I'm really paranoid about somebody buying the bar and changing it.

-No, you can't.

-Somebody called me and was like, "Hey.

So I wanna turn it into, like, a restaurant chain.

I've already tried to reach out to your landlord, and he didn't answer."

And I was just like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's called overstepping, buddy.

No.

Not gonna happen."

-Wow.

-So, in Washington State, we're technically in phase two, which means that if your bar sells food, you can sell things to go.

I honestly just don't really want to encourage anybody to go out.

I really don't feel comfortable opening the bar.

I sent an e-mail to the landlord saying, you know, "I really hope that you will allow me to accrue debt."

But he didn't respond, and so I'm just gonna not pay him until he gets mad at me or something.

I don't know.

-So, this is me currently walking into the Keller ISD admin building.

I'm about to enter.

But hopefully we can, you know, inspire some change and get something done.

-So we're here at the Keller school board meeting and we're waiting for it to begin.

Behind me is Cameron.

[ Chuckles ] -I'm hoping we can actually have them vote to remove this mascot.

-This portion of the meeting is for members of the public to address the board.

-Distinguished board members, today, I would like to address grievances me, as well as my fellow peers, have with the Indian mascot, as well as the notable hypocrisy in the district's curriculum.

A Native American mascot can be psychologically damaging to Native American students.

I ask of you all, how can you allow this mascot to remain in existence when your own curriculum emphasizes its harmful effects?

According to the APA, and I quote, "Research has shown that the continued use of American Indian mascots has a negative effect on not only American Indian students, but all students."

I urge the district to listen to the pleading cries of a growing number of students, parents, and staff members.

This issue ought to be on your agenda.

I implore the district to be on the righteous and benevolent side of history.

Remove this mascot.

Thank you.

-Well, my name is Yolonda Blue Horse.

I'm a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

I don't understand why this is still continuing with this mascot.

Now you have your own students who are reaching out to me -- to me, when they should be coming to you, to the school, to get this mascot changed because they know it's wrong.

Cameron is 15 years old, and he gets it.

You have students in fear of telling or coming forward and saying, "I don't like this mascot."

You have parents out there that don't like it.

There's fear of retaliation from the school district.

That's why the students and these parents don't wanna speak up.

-Time.

-Thank you.

-Yeah.

-Our intent was to try and bring this to their attention and be able to express to them just why this is wrong.

-I came out of there, and one of the students says, "I'm just shaking."

And I said, "Don't.

It's okay."

I said, "So am I. I'm shaking, too, from speaking from your heart."

I think it went really good.

And then another good piece of news we just got a little while ago, a parent had sent me a text and said that two of the board members do want this mascot issue put on the agenda and they were wanting it addressed this fall.

Cross our fingers.

Cross my fingers.

-The tradition that I will carry on is definitely my culture's food.

-We do things like laulau, poi.

-Dim sum.

-Sticky rice.

-Potato latkes.

-Tostadas.

-Arroz con pollo.

-Lasagna.

-Dosa.

-Ouzo.

-Jerk chicken.

-Louisiana blue crabs.

The same way people in South Louisiana have been doing it for generations and generations.

-Polish tradition is to make a lot of Polish pierogies.

I make, in my house, around 300 of them, all by hand.

-And it's absolutely delicious.

-Thank you.

-The tradition I carry on is Vietnamese home cooking.

Growing up, I would stand in the corner of the kitchen, watching my mom prepare dishes.

I honestly don't think that she knows what the exact measurements are.

I think she just spices it until the ancestors whisper in her ear, "Stop."

-The tradition that I carry on is that of my ancestral grandmothers who braided the seeds of okra, cowpea, millet, black rice, egusi melon, and more into their hair before being forced to board transatlantic slave ships.

We dedicate our lives to cultivating, tending, and passing on that seed to generations to come.

-Referral to neuro-ophthalmology.

Will you write that down under my boogie-woogie list?

When having to take care of the bar and take care of Justin happened at the same time, it really -- it seemed like my priority had to be Justin, because it was like he really needed immediate attention.

And in my mind, it was easier to be like, "Okay.

The bar is -- It's a bar.

It's not a human."

Why don't you pop up a new tab and look for some online AA meetings?

So, let's write that down.

Monday, 7:15.

Here, baby.

It's been interesting trying to help Justin with his TBI and alcoholism.

Because of his alcoholism, it made me question what I was supporting by trying to take care of him and open the bar.

Okay, what else do we have on here?

So, you know, choices.

-The tradition I carry on is my favorite holiday, Mizzou Homecoming.

[ Crowd cheering ] I can't think of anything more purely American than getting your family and friends together in a parking lot, eating your weight in grilled meats, and drinking an obscene amount of light beer.

-The tradition I carry on is my mom's love of baseball and the Chicago Cubs.

-When I was a small child, my dad spent a lot of time with me talking about his love of baseball.

These two went to their first baseball games when they were 5 weeks old and 6 weeks old.

-I began my journey as a Raider fan because of my father, who was a lifetime Raider fan, as well.

I will always be a Raider fan in tribute to him for teaching me all the traditions and the honor and the history of being a Raider fan.

-And now that some of our kids now have children, we get to involve our grandkids into Raider games.

-The thing I love most is just going to the golf course and playing with my dad.

-Growing up as a kid, the main sport of all ages in the Spanish community played was basketball.

You know, the tradition of just enjoying the game is something that I wanna continue.

-My great-grandfather was an equestrian and also my dad, my uncles, my aunts.

-My family's been coming here for 50 years.

Three generations.

-I love gymnastics.

And what I do is I provide free to low-cost gymnastics for urban youth.

The reason I do that is 'cause I was a gymnast and we wanna keep it going.

-Growing up in the Midwest small town of Red Wing, Minnesota, which happens to be the home of Riedell Skates, we come together through a love of skating, bond in the camaraderie and celebration of shared heritage.

-I'm part of the Mohawk Tribe in the Haudenosaunee, and the tradition I carry on is the game of lacrosse.

In my culture, the traditional name for it is Teiontsikwaeks.

We still like to carry on old traditions and really show people the culture of our game.

-The tradition I keep is being a member of my high school marching band.

-It's a pretty old tradition.

It actually goes back 95 years ago.

In 1925, the Junior ROTC started marching down to our football field, and that was kind of the beginning of our marching band.

-Do you wanna talk about the traditions that we have with the Arkansas Razorbacks?

-Yes, absolutely.

Razorbacks.

-One of our favorites is the team walk.

The players come over and give us a really big hug.

Nothing brings us more joy.

-Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

-Go!

Go!

-The tradition we carry on is... -Being fans of the Green Bay Packers.

-We're always wearing our Packer apparel.

-And we've had Packer season tickets in the family since 1959.

-We've been playing football in this town for 124 years.

This stadium is a special place.

It's a symbol of hope.

And it's the future.

-Okay.

Sorry.

It took me a second to actually locate all of the clothing that I have.

Let me go ahead and show you guys what it looks like in my closet currently.

Back whenever I was first becoming a freshman at Keller High School, I bought, like, a lot of apparel with the mascot on it.

This is Exhibit A. I mean, as a high school student, your mascot is typically important to you in that patriotism and your school pride is important.

But that doesn't mean that we should be weighing tradition over equality.

-Hey, Cameron, have you heard anything or any feedback from any -- like, any teachers or any administration?

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh, really?

What did you hear?

-There's definitely a lot of positive feedback.

-We're slowly building momentum and we'll keep at it.

-I really think we need more community members because I think that's one of the district's biggest arguments is that the community isn't, like, affected or offended by it.

-I, hopefully, will have another person there who lives in Keller but his daughter graduated from there a few years ago.

-Oh, that's awesome.

-Okay.

Well, then, you know, if you need anything else before Monday, let me know.

-Yes, definitely.

Hopefully, we finally get something pushed on the agenda or something, at least a response.

I thought it was really important to get a physical petition together.

I'm trying to prove that a bunch of Keller High School students are seriously concerned about it and that they ought to vote on it so then there can actually be a resolution passed.

We're asking for a lot.

I mean, we're asking for the destruction and the removal of a mascot that has existed at Keller High for, I mean, decades.

We're hoping that we can accomplish something much larger at the November 16th meeting, and we're hoping that we're able to finally just push it over the edge.

-The tradition I'm trying to carry on is my small-town movie theater, the Majestic Theatre in Crested Butte, Colorado.

I know the families that come in for every single Disney movie.

I know the families that come every single Wednesday night because that's their tradition.

I'm hoping to raise $3.3 million to buy the movie theater building, gift it back to the town of Crested Butte to ensure there will always be a movie theater here for future generations.

-Ben's Chili Bowl has been here more than 62 years, and it's been our tradition to be a meeting place.

My sons and their wives are now part of my business, and that's how I've been able to stay here for 62 years.

And I'm hoping and praying that they will be able to carry on the tradition.

-Tonight's the last night, and this business has been here for 98 years.

-It's an emotional day for everybody because this was such an important part of our relationship and our friends and family.

We ended up having our wedding reception here.

-I never thought that it would take a pandemic to put us out of business.

-I've met people here that are still a part of my life, you know, 30 years later, and I can't imagine my life without it.

-Tonight, we say goodbye to Southport Lanes, and I'm sure somehow, some way, there'll be another version of it when all of this is over.

-After 50 years in the restaurant, when the virus came along, we had to call it quits.

It's the hometown diner where you feel kind of at home and just say, "Hey, hello, Joe."

You know, you don't have 500 Nicky's diners.

You have one.

-For the first time in over 100 years, Amighetti's is no longer on the hill.

For the first time in over 100 years, the famous Amighetti's bread ring is no longer being baked at all.

This is me in 1988 holding a big chunk of one of those famous bread rings.

My father and I went in every week and got my Grandpa DeCarlo his Amighetti's bread.

With that simple purchase, one that we had been making since before I can even remember, we were able to hand my grandfather a connection to his parents and grandparents in the Old World.

They say, "Something amazing is happening."

Something amazing is gone.

-My husband, John, and I opened Counterpoint Records and Books in 1980.

Over the last 40 years, of course we've had many economic ups and downs, but nothing before like COVID.

But what we are trying to do now is to move forward as a business.

We have about 50% of the income that we used to, so it's gonna take a lot of thought, but we're planning on being here for the next 40 years.

-Oh, look, there I am playing pool right here on this very pool table.

-There's little Mama.

-There's little Mama.

-I just like looking at the pictures.

-I do, too.

-It tells me what the past was like.

-History just repeats itself, doesn't it?

We're almost to $23,000, which I'm really excited about.

Yeah, look at that.

Total raised -- $22,515.

-There's nowhere else in the world like it.

-And I really hope that they survive through this.

-The way that the money's been trickling in has definitely helped keep us afloat.

-It may be a dingy place and it may be, you know, a dive bar, but it's ours.

-We haven't really been able to reach a goal where I'm like, "Oh, sick.

We're flush.

We're safe."

But just enough.

-Long live the Blue Moon.

-When I was sort of regarding the Blue Moon as just a bar, it was very easy for me to kind of put it on the back burner priority-wise.

And the more I've updated the GoFundMe and seen comments from strangers loving the place, it just -- it reminded me that it's not a bar.

It's a living room.

It's a home.

-How we doing there, Emma?

-You look very fancy.

Hey, Boogs.

I'm with Gus at the Good Coffee Company.

They've got, like, exactly the cute little espresso machines, and I think this is totally doable.

I had the idea to turn the back door of the Blue Moon into a little coffee window.

-Give you that for like, I don't know, $500 or $600 probably.

-I'll take it.

It would be great to encourage people to spend time together and have conversations and get to know each other without the influence of liquor.

Hi, Papa.

How are you?

-Good.

-I just wanted to call and bug you because I was feeling proud of myself and I really like to boast to my daddy.

-Oh, yeah.

-I sent an e-mail to Jerris just letting him know that I was doing a cold open for the coffee window.

-Uh-huh.

-And he said he's very impressed with my initiative and knows I will succeed.

-Oh, I like that.

That's sweet.

-I think it's sweet, too.

It's always nice to know that your landlord believes in you.

-I love you, sweetheart.

You carry on and keep being good.

-I will do my best.

-Excellent.

-Okay.

Bye-bye, Papa.

-Bye-bye and good luck.

-Thank you, Daddy.

-You betcha.

-[ Smooches ] -Alright.

Here you go, son.

-We're gonna sell some coffee.

-Hi, Blue Moon!

-Hello, there, Blue Moon.

-Here, let me get that.

Thanks, Boogs.

Where the taps are is the only reasonable place to put the espresso machine.

If I love this place so much because of the history and because of the tradition, then why not just bring the Blue Moon into this crazy new world?

Okay.

It's exciting noises.

[ Machine whirring ] Let's see if water comes out of this.

[ Gasps ] It is!

This is, like, almost kind of working.

Oh, my gosh.

You guys.

I love the Blue Moon.

It's 86 years old.

It's so much bigger than me or my family.

The crazy just changes, but the Blue Moon doesn't.

-The tradition I will carry on will be to never give up.

Through the years, we've held on to our beliefs, our customs, our dances.

-We have faced centuries of systems of oppression.

But we are resilient.

-I am Cherokee.

That is the tradition that I carry on proudly.

-I am Pawnee, Seminole, Creek, Omaha, and Ioway.

-Nahua, Mashika People.

-The Wiyot Tribe here on Table Bluff.

-Northern Cheyenne.

-Ojibwe Nation.

-[ Singing in native language ] The tradition that I carry on is singing.

-Tradition I follow is the telling of blessed stories.

-What I'm holding before you is a talking stick.

-The tradition I carry on is sharing the knowledge of who we are and how we heal.

-I continue the tradition of growing and harvesting plants for our people.

-Handed down to me through the many generations of our Native tribe.

-A tradition I carry on is preserving the language and culture of the Pend d'Oreille people.

-I teach Shoshone language to kindergarten and first grade.

-[ Speaking Yupik ] -We are working to legitimize our Choctaw Nation judicial system.

-As a Native American woman, I want to be viewed as an equal, to be able to participate and thrive in our society.

-I'm proud to be Native American.

You're a living, breathing representation of the struggle that our ancestors have overcome.

-We honor our past.

We honor our traditional wisdoms, our knowledge, our ancestors.

-The tradition that I carry on is my people's heritage of strength and resiliency.

-So we are on our way right now to the Keller school board meeting.

We're hoping to, you know, have more people out there this time.

My name is Yolonda Blue Horse, and again I'm here.

-Even now as we come to you begging that you restore decency, respect, and justice.

I could just tell that the atmosphere of the room had been different.

The school board members looked me more directly in the eye.

[ Applause ] We had a lot of people clapping for us in between speeches, and we had a good amount of people speak.

-I just wanna know if y'all actually believe that your mascot was chosen to honor minorities.

The mascot was chosen in the 1940s.

Your schools were segregated in the 1940s.

Brown vs. Board of Education didn't happen till 1955, so Jim Crow laws were still very pertinent in Keller, Texas.

But you're gonna look at me and tell me that this mascot was meant to honor Natives, honor minorities when you chose it at a time you wouldn't even allow them to attend your schools?

-My daughter graduated from Keller.

And all of us old white guys and the rest of us who think it's tradition, we need to talk.

Would we ever stand for the Keller Koreans, the Keller Caucasians?

Races of people should never be mascots.

They should never be equated with lions and tigers and other animals.

[ Applause ] -Thank you.

-Unfortunately, the board did not take any action on the mascot tonight.

But we did succeed in bringing the issue to their attention.

I'm seeing a trend where every school board meeting, they're continuing to pay more attention to me.

And some of the community definitely is supporting us.

It's getting hard to not get emotional 'cause this is, you know -- A large portion of my high school career already has been dedicated to this.

And I will come back to every board meeting, if need be, and try and convince them why this is wrong.

-Keller ISD, you think you're preserving us.

We're not something to be preserved.

We're here.

And we're willing to teach you.

It's been a long fight, but I do think that it can be changed.

It might take a couple years, but over time, they will change.

But until then, we will still fight.

-Traditions didn't mean a lot to me until recently.

And it's weird because I grew up with routine.

Every Sunday, my parents, my sister and I, we would drive to Chinatown and park the car outside my grandmother's rent-tenement building, and I'd help her prepare Sunday dinner.

I've never felt Asian enough.

I've never felt American enough.

But in Chinatown, it felt right to be Asian-American.

And that's where my identity is rooted.

During COVID, I felt myself desperately seeing the stores and saying, "Are they closing for good?"

There's this sense of loss that I suddenly realized routines were traditions, and I wanted those traditions for my future kids.

-Tradition I carry on is that of caretaker for our family beach home in Venice Beach, Maryland.

It's a historically Black beach community.

The community is still predominantly African-American, but climate change and erosion has completely eaten away the sand.

In fact, nothing much remains of Venice Beach that I once played on.

But hope does spring eternal.

And I feel that my family would want us to keep it up and preserve that tradition for the now fifth generation of our family to enjoy this place, which is magical.

-Stepping into my backyard is Little Havana.

It's a vibrant neighborhood with lots of history and heritage.

[ Speaking Spanish ] Thankfully these Cuban owners own the buildings.

So there's no chance they're going anywhere anytime soon.

But the neighborhood is evolving.

-Sitting here in front of my dad's house thinking about how things used to be and the ties that we had and all going to school together and realizing the changes that have occurred within this neighborhood, I do miss the days where I would walk around the neighborhood and I could probably tell you within every home that was here somebody that lived in that home.

As you walk around now, you don't necessarily know everybody, but everybody is very friendly and they do say hi.

So it is different but yet it's the same, and I think it's different in a better way.

Yeah, our old ways are nice, but things have to change.

-The deadline for tax payment is October 2nd, and, you know, we're just about right there.

My sister, my stepdad, you know, everybody chipped in.

So we're just to the point now where it's close enough, it's late enough.

We're just gonna pay it now.

Okay.

Gonna get my card here.

Done.

So of course I'm happy, right?

You get the relief.

But also in the back of my mind, you know, I know there's a year after, right?

So it's not like it's over.

-This is an ongoing battle ever since the Civil War era when they first acquired land coming out of slavery.

That's why I do what I do.

-Hello.

-Hello, Dwight.

How are you?

-Great.

-I know that you just recently finished paying a tax bill.

-Right.

-But you will be receiving another bill, and I know that's gonna be a major struggle.

I have some good news for you.

I am now in a position to offer to pay off the entire bill for your family for one year.

So what is your response to that?

-I don't know what to say.

Wow.

Phew.

-Sometimes people tell you stuff and it's just so unbelievable that if you can't see it, you don't believe it.

-Mm.

Theresa, I am -- Okay, I'm shocked, alright, first.

I thank you, my family thanks you, but, you know, my mother -- my mother thanks you.

You know, I know she does.

-You're welcome.

God bless you.

Be safe.

I hope you can continue to hold on to your family's property.

-I appreciate all the love, alright?

These bring back memories here, right?

This is my mom and my stepsister.

I wanna show my nephew one more time.

By the time all this is over, he's probably the one who will inherit this property.

-♪ What will become ♪ ♪ Of me?

♪ -My mother always said, "If you got land, you're never poor."

That's why we do what we can to keep everything here and pass it down.

I'll be back.

Be safe, you know.

-♪ Of me ♪ -♪ You know it's amazing ♪ -♪ It's amazing grace ♪ -It's important to not take for granted the gifts that our parents, our great-grandparents leave to us.

-And then pass it on to the next generation.

-We must know where we came from to know how strong we are and to know where we're going.

-♪ Tell me ♪ -♪ What will become ♪ ♪ Of me?

♪ -Alright.