Youth Are The Change!

Sagging pants and fouled mouth children…”N” this, “N” that…
Slow walks approaching the school building
Prep to take the belts off…
“Hurry…hurry” a friend yells out to hide their cell phones
Metal detectors…
“Empty your pockets”
beep…beep…
“Go!”
No ‘Good Mornings’
No smiles—

Students of color are criminalized at a young age. They are often judged, given little warmth in the same spaces in which they spend most of their childhood—school. With sagging pants and cuss words spewed frivolously, students of color set in impoverish communities are stifled and boxed into societal perceptions that is perpetuated by others who look like them. What’s behind the cuss words? What’s behind these students that appear to be delinquents? Youth voices! Potentials! Individual stories! NOT a single story! A group of students at the High School for Medical Professions (HSMP) in Canarsie are making this transparent! These students are engaged in something that gives them a creative space, a platform and the opportunity to find as well as shape their voices as Global Kids youth leaders. In partnership with Brooklyn Smoke-Free and NYC artist, Marthalicia Matarrita, students collaborated and prepared to paint a mural in their school that offers a fair warning on the dangers of smoking and a positive message offering a solution on healthy coping mechanisms, reducing stress and inspiring words. On Wednesday, May 7th, students started the mural project at HSMP located in the Canarsie High School campus and completed and unveiled the mural on the 21st of May. The impact that the mural had on the GK youth leaders extended to the entire Canarsie High School campus. Youth are truly the change for a better tomorrow. These GK youth leaders are a small example of young people using their innate abilities to transform the world one school at a time, one block at a time and one uniting voice at a time.

To learn more about Global Kids, visit us at www.globalkids.org or Like us on Facebook.