History-Herstroy: The Resilience of Black Youth is the second part of My Brother’s Keeper Lima Chapter community efforts to promote positive change in teen and preteen boys and girls. Speakers from around the country were brought in to get the kids to think about how they should look at their life and the importance of each decision that they make. For Youth Specialist Marlon Shackelford, he believes the kids should know who they are and where their priorities should lie.
“I think the most constructive answer that we can give young people, is that school is your job. You can’t afford to be fired,” says Marlon Shackelford, Youth Specialist. “Nobody wants a dummy, except the streets, the prison, and the cemetery. You have a responsibility to your community, you have responsibility to the elderly, you have responsibility to yourself, you have responsibility to your mother and your father.”
Organizers hope that these young people learn one important lesson that they will keep with them for life.
“Keep pushing, keep pushing at it. It’s not over the battle is there and stay on the field, keep fighting. Victory is on the other side,” adds Emmanuel Curtis, My Brother’s Keeper Lima Chapter. “If you need an extra push, we are there for you, we are going to help you. Even if you don’t ask, we are going to push to make sure you come out on the other side victorious.”
The first workshop was last May and was geared toward the young men in the community.
