Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, July 23, 2021 ~ Political Announcement ~ Joe Gray announces candidacy for Ward 6 School Committee N ow is the time in the election cycle when last minute add/ drops take place among candidates for all kinds of reasons and I’m no exception. Anything can happen. Any skeletons can emerge. Many activists (voters) look for candidates like themselves, yet they want someone different. When I was a teenager in Boston, all my friends and family prided themselves on how different we all were, yet being together. It felt strange to me to see how shocked everyone around me was to truly learn that I was a little extra different, when I decided to join the military out of high school. Even in my own family. Reconciling the words of diversity with the reality can be difficult for many. From what pieced-together memories that I can recall, making my own decisions, whether right or wrong, has always been a thing with me. And attempting to do the right thing had become part of me due to my parent’s influence. I zigged and zagged a lot in Trinidad as a child and as an adult in America. As a toddler, I wandered off and left my parents downtown in a strange city in Trinidad. Of course, they went nuts trying to find a little child (maybe about 7 or 8 years old at the time), while I calmly walked home through a strange city and hung out till they returned, shocked to find me normal and playing miles from where I had left them. My mom still recounts that story till this day. Virtually penniless and poor, we eventually moved to America, when I was about 5 years old. Experiencing multiple cultures and multiple countries growing up in New England in the 1970s gave me a diverse perspective on many levels, as America went through continuing changes. Spending time with friends alternatively in Puerto Rican households, Cape Verdean, Jewish, Italian, Irish, African, Chinese, Lebanese, etc. Somehow ending up running with rich kids at swanky soirees, basements with heavy metal punks, all white girls club as an honorary type member, country and western honky-tonks, helping steel bands in Franklin Park carnivals, hanging with the jocks, making friends with the computer geeks, acting in drama club productions, singing in choral groups statewide, watching pals build machines at Harvard, that could pick up, rotate an atom and take color photos, watching pals become international super lawyers and sailing my own little boat on the Charles River. Benign random choices seem normal to me, like going from my days as an Army soldier and male stripper to being a politician and a parent. I don’t slap on leather gloves and go ride mechanical bulls anymore, but I do what I can now that I’ve slowed down a lot at this time in life. No advanced degrees or special skills. I am just a normal person with normal experiences. Growing up next to gang/drug infested ghettos in Boston gives me certain perspectives to deal with life. At various times people randomly tried to kill or intimidate me. Seeing neighborhood knife fights, fist fights, bar room brawls, being investigated by the police, being saved Joseph Gray Ward 6 School Committee Candidate by the police, being brought up on court martial charges (dismissed), being hunted by international spy rings, where co-workers were likely to end up dead in an alley in foreign countries. I almost started a riot in the barracks once in the early 1980s in Fort Jackson, South Carolina simply for saying that I had gay friends and relatives. Or on the flip side during my short stint as a security guard in Boston, when I had to deal with investigating gun battles, breaking up drug rings, intervening in domestic disputes on college campuses, wondering where the police and fire were, while I had to deal with traffic and a flaming wreck vehicle outside a hospital, chasing potential kidnappers through Fenway during the day and single handedly hunting down perps through dark, rain soaked alleys around Fenway Park with nothing but a flashlight and a badge. Getting paid barely more than $7 per hour at the time to be in the line of fire, like a cop, was ridiculous, so I eventually left being a guard. I think my Barney Fife stance one night, when I had to single handedly face down a car load of drunk hockey players by myself, who were trying to get to a young girl in the buildings I had to oversee, convinced me to change jobs. Little old me against four tall, drunk hockey players wasn’t going to end well for me, but they backed down. I’d had too much of this scenario in much of my life. In another similar situation, I had to rescue my sister from a black gang during an after-party in the ghetto. I can’t remember even a fraction of the little incidents that got me here in life, but it is on to politics, for now. When people ask, I have little to say politically. No mission statement. No grand vision. No eloquent speeches. When you have people in your life, who you trust, like your parents, siblings, coworkers, military brothers/sisters, children, pets, automobile, house, horse or country, there isn’t a grandiose speech, that will make a lick of difference to create “trust”. In my personal opinion, trust has to be earned over time. As a candidate two years ago, I looked into the camera and plainly said that I would not make any elaborate promises. Nothing, zip, nada. I will do my best, figure things out and keep learning. Randomly, people ask whether I’m democrat or republican. While having been raised in a Democratic household, I have long since (early 1980s) abandoned the labels as meaningless to me. From the outside looking in, some people swear I’m a Democrat, while others swear I’m a republican and decide whether to trust me on that criteria alone. Makes me sad, but I can deal with that. Maybe many should see me as a person with my own specific tastes, FESTIVALS | FROM PAGE 1 needing to access Sprague and Park Streets. Other events on the schedule for Saturday’s Summer Festival include a vintage clothing trunk show in the Pleasant Street Parking Lot, multiple mini-escape room challenges and a mini-golf hole challenge along Pleasant Street, a pet pageant on City Hall Plaza from 3 to 4 p.m. and the second pub crawl – Steam Punk Pub Crawl Experience – starting at 5:30 p.m. Reservations are required in advance. Restaurants offering the $18.91 specials are as follows: 110 Grill, All Season’s Table, ideas and free will, that is/are my own and not controlled by “any” party bosses. Sometimes, I will say the right thing. Sometimes, I will say the wrong thing. But I will always try to do the right thing, if everyone will trust me to try as they would trust a friend or family member. Sometimes, us normal people can get lucky and end up doing something good. I will answer direct questions as best I can, but I will avoid spilling anything of a confidential nature. And if there is not an answer, I will likely just stop talking, especially if the answer is of a legal or confidential matter. Unlike some politicians, who you will come across, I will not chatter just to hear the sound of my own voice, unless I accidentally forgot that I had already said something and explain it again. And in all things going forward, I will always try to be practical, which does not mean being all things to everyone or being on all sides of any issue. There will be times when I unavoidably have to take sides on committee votes. And that will either help or harm some people at different times. Being practical will not mean robotic party line decisions will be made. As usual, sometimes I may zig or zag depending on what seems best in the moment and do my best. I am a black, Christian, male, moderate, heterosexual, middle aged, veteran, immigrant, computer nerd, etc. I self-identify as an American of Caribbean descent. My hope is that this snapshot overview addresses a lot of questions concerning the current Ward 6 School Committee candidate, Joe Gray. Sincerely, Joseph Gray 295R Lebanon street Malden, MA 02148 781-248-7354 maldentalks@outlook.com Dockside Restaurant & Bar, El Potro Mexican Bar and Grill, Evviva Trattoria, Exchange Street Bistro, Hugh O’Neill’s Restaurant & Pub, Mystic Station, and Pearl Street Station Restaurant. There is free parking at the CBD Garage (170 Centre St.) and the Jackson Street Garage (7 Jackson St.) for persons attending the Summer Festival and “1891 Night.” For more information about these events, visit https://www. maldenchamber.org/site/celebrate-the-chambers-130th-on1891-night-7-24-21/ or https:// www.cityofmalden.org/summerfestivals.
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