I received several emails and heard many of the news reports publicizing the violence in and the overall death rates in Chicago. I believe last weekend it was reported that over 54 people were shot. As I work & partner with many groups and organizations it pains us all to hear about our children dying but we keep pressing on.
One of my goals and even my recent status on FB was to stop wasting time trying to STOP VIOLENCE we can use our time to CREATE PEACE!! If we continue to focus on the shootings, the murders, and the violence overall we will continue to get violence! Anything you focus or give attention to can easily become a reality. So I continue to focus on PEACE, LOVE, EDUCATION, HAPPINESS, etc...which is becoming the reality of my world and others who interact with me.
This is the reason I am in awe with the So Fresh Saturday Project. These youth driven events are captures the essence of PEACE, EDUCATION, ART while embracing & teaching our youth! I couldn't ask for a better opportunity to CREATE PEACE then to host a event at the PEACE Center. The PEACE Center is a safe haven in Englewood located at the 6455 S. Peoria. The people who run the center are dedicated to providing our youth a "safe space" in the root of a crime ridden community. I was honor to host Docs & Dialogue here to showcase the Willie Lynch Letter & another powerful film, "A War for your Soul".
During this event we surprisingly had many young black males which was perfect for the topic. We open with a creative young poet LS (photo left) and dive right in a discussion lead by Social Justice professor of KKC, Fred Douglass Dixon (photo above) who wasted no time speaking about the social injustices that faced the our young black males which is directly related to our past experiences.
By the end of the second short film, our young leaders spoke one by one about how the film made them feel empowered and destined to break the Willie Lynch curse. Honestly, hearing these comments almost brought tears to my eyes! We always say if we can touch 1 or 2 of the kids who attend Docs & Dialogue we are content! I can proudly say this was accomplished!!
Our guests included several African American adult males who offer the young males their contact info in order to keep in touch as a mentor or just another point of contact if the boys needed it. One resident of Englewood is a well known filmmaker & producer (photo below) offer his services to any one who is interested in pursuing a career in the film industry. This is what I am talking about!!
Our next Docs & Dialogue is July 24th, due to feedback from our youth we will showcase a documentary that exposing the music industry. What are all these symbols, signs, and references to demonic entities...Is this a trend or is there any truth to these conspiracies theory??? We will see....
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