Once again, we had over forty members from the Newburgh community come to join us for our third session of the knowledge of self series. Among our guests were: activists from the Center 4 Hope, Mayor Judy Kennedy, Councilwoman Karen Mejia, Phil Howard, the President of the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, teachers, students, as well as our every day hard-working citizens community members.
The film, Hidden Colors 3, did a great job of covering the rules of racism/white supremacy and many of the injustices African-Americans have faced on US soil. A really interesting fact that we all were surprised to learn was that African slaves were shipped into Brooklyn, marched down what is now known as Wall Street and were sold as the first stock on the New York Stock Exchange… “What a mind-f**k!” –SES Fifth
We had several students talk about how they were never taught about the impact George Washington Carver had on many industries outside of just “peanuts”. We learned that GWC was the genius and catalyst to Henry Ford’s automobile production success, and the conceiver of assembly line manufacturing. As always, our post-film discussion very eye-opening.
An important point that made was that although we must pursue a scholastic education, KNOWLEDGE OF SELF is equally as important. Information about African people’s contributions have a profound impact of African-American students self-confidence and interest in learning. Knowledge of Self is paramount!
Reporting from Albany, NY: a group of some of our favorite poets, hip hop artists, and visual artists attended our Albany showing of Hidden Colors III. The film was immediately followed by an intimate discussion on today’s racial climate in America and then more specifically, in the Albany community.
“As we fed our brains, we we fed our bodies with organic popcorn, fresh fruit, and some pastelitos de carne from our local bodega”, says Jamel Mosley who lead what was surely a reflective and constructive discussion on one of society’s most divisive topics.
We thank everyone who was able to attend and we look forward to hosting another successful showing in the very near future. Special thank to Newburgh’s Muncy Williams for helping with the set-up/clean-up, and Bliss Kitchen for providing the tasty brain food. Until next time, keep It TRUSIC!
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