The current buzz around Urban communities are about schools failing children of color during the pandemic. By now you have heard that there is no other way to say it – this has been devastating for children of color. The interesting thing is that the readings and conversations are lacking solutions. In the city of Mount Vernon, New York we believe that our children in the midst of the pandemic can excel with help from the community. This is the perfect opportunity to be the personification of the quote “it takes a village.
Friday night is usually a night of relaxing and chatting it up with friends and family. However, Friday the 4th of December Teens from Mount Vernon were reading, zooming, chatting, and listening to a discussion with author Marc Lamont Hill. Marc Lamont Hill offered critical insights into the whirlwind of how the pandemic and racism have reaped. “We Still Here” appears at a time of intense study and debate about how we got here-and, not importantly, how we get out.
“We Still Here” Pandemic, Policing, Protest, & Possibility by Marc Lamont Hill is the featured book for the second Mount Vernon Reads event at the Boys & Girls Club of America. This organic conversation was lead by Dr. Traci Alexander.
This dynamic exchange included a hand picked panelist who are the manifestation “We Still Here” pandemic, policing, protest, possibility:
(1) Nesta Felix, Founder & Executive Director of NewFlex Youth Program
(2) David Clarke, Detective at Mount Vernon Police Department
(3) Jennifer Lackard, Mount Vernon Deputy Commissioner of Police
Jen Lackard
(4) Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., Cofounder of Westchester Coalition for Police Reform
(5) Ali Morgan, Director of Diversity Rye Country Day School
STUDENT: Eesha Narain, Rye Country Day School
Thank You to the financial supporters: Cynthia Turnquest-Jones, Tha Brown Urban Mother Partners, Inc., Boys & Girls Club of America, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated Westchester Alumnae Chapter, Mount Vernon Public Library, Nathalie Riobe, For Our Kids NY, Inc., Priscilla Echi, Social Butterfly
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