A Drive-By Entry

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I've been so wrapped up in work I haven't had a chance to piece together enough decent blogs. I'm doing a drive-by today, telling you quickly about an event our magazine (actually our events planner and publisher put together) a youth forum for teenage boys to meet men who have done great and good things for the community and the world in general. The four men this year were Louis Gossett Jr., Byron Lewis, the founder, in 1969, of Uniworld Group Inc., a media planning company targeting the black and Latino markets; Ohio Congressman Louis Stokes, who served 15-consecutive and highly productive terms in office (during which he helped cofound the Congressional Black Caucus); and Percy Sutton, Jr., elder statesman of Harlem, and lawyer for Malcolm X, among many other things. Because I'm just quickly dropping in, I've provided the links (just click on the names for the bios) and a photo of the men with students, and at an awards ceremony we held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Suffice it to say these are four phenomenal gentlemen who have overcome every type of adversity to serve their fellow people.

We had a captive audience of the young men who were brought to the forum by their teachers, but we have a hard time getting boys to sit still long enough to listen to something besides the nonsense that they are bombarded with every day. I can see how an NBA star or a hip-hop mogul might seem like more attractive potential mentors, I just want them to realize the wider choices they have in following their bliss. If you have any ideas how to reach our young black men in an effective way, I'd love to hear them. Someone already suggested that we make sure Legacy magazine gets into the hands of juveniles in detention; I'm working on that idea for 2008.

Photos: At the very top: Congressman Louis Stokes, Byron Lewis, and Louis Gossett, Jr. with members of the youth forum. Above, left to right: NBC Anchorman David Ushery, Congressman Stokes, Percy Sutton, American Legacy Publisher Rodney J. Reynolds, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Byron Lewis. Both photographs by Barry Mason

Comments

Foxessa said…
Just waving to busy you.

Alas I wasn't there, but Vaquero was!

Love, C.
December 9, 2007 at 12:20 PM
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