The Brotherhood Spring College Tour 2010
by Alberto Alcantara
On April 1st, 2010, The Brotherhood traveled on a college tour. The two chapters attending were Strive 2 Thrive Cipher and United Warriors. Fifteen young men and their three chapter leaders and facilitators Enmanuel Candelario, DaMond Taylor, and Nando Rodriguez departed early on that Thursday morning in two vans to travel to Washington, D.C. to see four different colleges: American University, Howard University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University.
Each college was different, in terms of the campus, the diversity of people, and the price of tuition. At American University, the campus was pretty big and it wasn’t very diverse, with mostly White students and only a few Black, Latino, and Asian students. At Howard, I was honestly surprised to see that the campus had a few issues with cleanliness, but it was nice to see the large population of Black and Latino students, due to Howard’s status as a historically Black university [HBCU]. Georgetown’s campus was enormous and very heavily populated by White and Asian students. The cost of tuition at Georgetown was almost double that of Howard’s. Finally, George Washington University had a middle-sized campus in the heart of D.C., and seemed to have a good mix of White, Black, Latino, Asian, and other students.
In my opinion, the most interesting schools that we saw were Howard and Georgetown Universities. At Howard University, there were many beautiful young women and the dorms are co-ed. The guys had a positive reaction to the social atmosphere at Howard. At Georgetown, although areas of the campus seemed pretty quiet, and the standard at the college is pretty high. It seemed like a school where you would be expected to stay focused on the task at hand.
During the college tour, The Brotherhood met with Eric Hoover, a journalist for The Chronicle of Higher Education. The publication was interested in doing a feature that focused on young Black and Latino men, and their experiences in higher education. Anthony Keller (from United Warriors) and I (from Strive 2 Thrive Cipher) were interviewed. The journalist asked us what we thought about the schools in Washington D.C., the city itself, and how it differs from the schools and city scenes we know in New York City. To tell the truth, D.C. was very different than we had expected. We all agreed that it seemed much more peaceful in Washington D.C. than it is here in New York, without all of the noise outside. Check out the article here!
Overall, the college tour was a great experience. It was wonderful to be able to get away from New York and be able to see new things and reflect on how different it is in other places. Everyone enjoyed their time over there, and I know I’m not the only who wants to go back to D.C. And although we do get lazy at times, we agreed that everyone from both chapters has to step his game up and make sure we get the grades that we know we are all able to earn. I’d like to say thank you to our chapter leaders Enmanuel, DaMond, and Nando for giving us that experience. I can’t wait for the next college tour.
Alberto Alcantara is a sophomore at Mott Hall High School. He is also a member of The Strive 2 Thrive Cipher and the Media Team.
The Brotherhood Winter Retreat
by Moussa Sidibe
The Brotherhood’s Winter Retreat took place in Pennsylvania on January 29th through January 31st. We were taken to Trout Lake, a beautiful place of wilderness surrounded by a lake. The Brotherhood members stayed in cabins on the campgrounds. Three current Brotherhood chapters went on the retreat: Strive 2 Thrive Cipher, United Warriors, The Brotherhood @ TMA, along with alumni members of older chapters. It was a chilly weekend, but everyone was in the mood for some fun.
We gathered in the boathouse to introduce ourselves. We have a new theme every retreat, along with a convincing and meaningful quote. This retreat theme was “Knowledge Is Power.” The quote was “It always seems impossible until it is done,” stated by Nelson Mandela. I like that quote because it’s really true, depending on how hard you try. We had a lot of activities that had to do with gaining knowledge. Everything we did over the retreat had a focus on the power of knowledge, and we talked about how it is the only thing someone can’t take away from you. Money, cars, fame, and women can be taken from you, but no one can ever take knowledge away, no matter what.
We played “Capture The Flag” on the first night of the retreat. That seems to get everyone hype about the retreat, and it’s funny to say, but everyone loves the beating they get. The game simply is everyone going to an area that is the size of a football field during the night, where all the stars and moon can be seen. We broke up into groups composed of cabin members, and the group on each side of the field must get the group’s “light” without getting tagged. Everyone loves the game and that’s just the first night…
We started doing more educational activities the next day, after all: “Knowledge Is Power!” The first activity of the day was with Nando. There were many papers on the floor. Nando would ask a question and we were supposed to read the packets to find the answer. The choices were to read, or do physical activities, such as push-ups, or running a lap around a long oval area. DaMond led the next activity, where we wrote or drew a timeline about important things that happened to us during our school years. Many people had some sad, crazy, and happy moments during their school years. Our next activity was with Juan and he started off by showing us an excerpt from a Chris Rock comedy show. He also said something that I never noticed. He explained how there are many comedians that are funny, but it’s just a stupid joke. He said that Chris Rock jokes could make you laugh, but also makes you think about political and social issues. Later on, we listened to and read some lyrics from Talib Kweli. It was a rap that makes you want to think. It became a little emotional in the room, but ended up being a good learning experience.
Later in the retreat, we had our traditional campfire. During the campfire, it is complete seriousness and you can share anything you want inside the circle. You hear something new every campfire: things that are sad or funny; issues currently happening; memories from the past, and many other things are shared in that cipher.
On the last day, Khary decided to test everyone to see if they had everything that was handed out to them. Most of us didn’t have it, and he explained to us how important it is to be organized. He gave a small treat to each person who had everything. Many complained, but later understood how irresponsible they were. At the end of the retreat, we took pictures and reflected on everything we learned on the retreat. On Sunday afternoon, we returned to Harlem on the bus and in a peaceful mood. We brothers all went our separate ways home, but in all our minds, the same phrase remained in all of our minds: “Knowledge Is Power!”
Moussa Sidibe is a sophomore at Mott Hall High School. He is also a member of The Strive 2 Thrive Cipher, Liberation Program, and the Media Team.
Human Trafficking
by Moussa Sidibe | originally posted on Jan 31, 2010
I had no choice.
I didn’t want to do it.
I didn’t want to do it.
But I had no choice.
That’s it, I thought.
I’ve changed,
I’m a different person.
Human trafficking is the practice of people being tricked or forced into prostitution with little to no pay. Human trafficking is a big international problem, happening in countries around the world, including Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Kuwait, North Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Venezuela, and the United States. It has many features of slavery which is mostly illegal in countries, but nothing is being done. Things such as prostitution, forced labor, and selling children are done. It is terrible and it’s even more shocking that it hasn’t been stopped.
You might be surprised by the last country I mentioned, but it’s true. Many people in this country, especially women, are affected by trafficking, and it’s amazing that many people don’t know that it is happening. Every morning, a large number of women across the United States wake up knowing that she will be forced into sex. You may think to yourself “These women are stupid. Why don’t they just resist, or tell the cops, or something.” It’s harder than you think. One reason why it’s hard for them to resist, or run away and report it, is because they are dependent on and often under the control of someone else, and are often drugged. They never know the person they’re having sex with. It’s always an anonymous customer. Afterward, they rarely see the person again. The victims never know the name of the person they’re having sex with, or any other information. The person just pays to have sex with them and they will never see them again.
Before last month, I never knew anything about human trafficking. I never even knew that the term existed. When I first heard it, I thought it had to do with cars. On November 10, 2009, I, along with the members of the Strive to Thrive chapter at Mott Hall High School, visited the Journey exhibit with our chapter leader Enmanuel Candelario. The Journey exhibit was on display for just five days, from November 10th through November 15th in New York City, in Washington Square Park. It was created by Emma Thompson, an Academy Award-winning British actress. As a community activist, she decided to focus her awareness campaign on human trafficking, because she wanted people to know about it and how wrong it is. In an interview about the exhibit, she made a good point that stood out to me. She said human trafficking is a much easier crime to commit than dealing with drugs or weapons: “You can make $150,000 from one girl in a year, because moving people around the place is easier than moving guns around.” It’s true and makes the situation even more difficult to change and the criminals harder to catch.
Visiting the Journey exhibit was an amazing and disturbing experience. It made you feel like you were in that person’s shoes. It was told like a story. First, you walk in and see images from the person’s childhood. There are words on top of a keyhole and when you look through the keyhole, you can see dolls describing the words. Then, you enter a room where there was a very dirty bed with condoms all around the place. There were pills, lipsticks, and other dirty things. There was also this room that had a very bad smell. The smell was the mixture of vomit, semen, and other types of things. It impacted me in a big way because it was shocking and interesting at the same time. I had never heard of trafficking before, and now I understand so much.
An organization involved in fighting against human trafficking is Covenant House, which is a large private funded childcare agency in the United States providing shelter and services to homeless and runaway youth. Another organization is Safe Horizon, which assists survivors of human trafficking with shelter, access to public benefits, and many other things. City Bar Justice created a project to assist women and children of abusive parents and victims of human trafficking. Find out more about what these organizations are doing to fight against trafficking by visiting http://www.humantrafficking.org.
Moussa Sidibe is a sophomore at Bread and Roses High School. He is also a member of The Strive 2 Thrive Cipher, Liberation Program, and the Media Team.
Bro/Sis Photo@Random
