& THE 411
Recently I had an opportunity to speak at a Youth Teen Summit program sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey. This summit occurred not long after several black youth had been executed on the streets of Newark.
During this rare glimpse inside the minds and lives of these 15 and 16 year
old teenagers, one fact became glaringly apparent, at least to me it did. We
need more forums in which to speak to our children and see what is on their
minds. My deepest respect goes out to Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New
Jersey for their insight and sponsoring of this program in their city.
As some of you know, I’m an author. My novel, Out “A” Order, was selected as
required reading for this group of teens with a discussion regarding the
things they had learned from the novel to follow at the end of the program.
If I’ve ever been thankful for being a novelist, I want you to know it was on
this day, as I looked into the faces of these young men and women. I realized
I had been given a rare gift, a genuine opportunity to affect their vision of
their world, and the world at large, through the writing of my novel, Out “A” Order.
I asked the question of how they felt about their neighborhoods, and the
things that they saw happening in them. As long as I live I’ll never forget
the answer or the look on one young lady’s face, age fifteen I believe, as she
said, “I feel tired of what I see. I’m just really tired.”
The children who attended the forum on that day, and their administrators, may
not know it but that single answer started a weeping in my soul which is still
going on as I write this piece, “Looking through the Stained Glass Window.”
It is a window that reflects back a lot of pain, from generation to
generation.
How could a fifteen year-old child be tired? She hasn’t lived long enough to
be tired of anything. Her life is just beginning. But, tired she
was, and so am I to the point that I’ve decided to lend my voice in this arena
to the plight of our children, your children, my children, and God’s children.
They are all our children, and we need to talk and listen to them.
It is my hope that we will see forums of this type rise up in cities around
the country, discussion groups, a chance to hear, read, talk, see, and then
act. How could I not feel that after my visit to Newark? How could I not feel
that after several young black youth had been executed on the street? How
could I not feel that after all of the headline stories regarding the deaths
of many of the young black youth?
I grew up in the same type of neighborhood that is reflective of our
neighborhoods all around the country. I went to school in the neighborhood. I
graduated from high school in the neighborhood. I attended church, and Sunday
school in the neighborhood.
My husband, James Rhodes, grew up on the streets of the neighborhood as a
misguided youth, then spent many of his adult years traveling, producing, and
promoting works that could help enhance others' lives, and perhaps steer them
away from decisions that lead to non-productive lives. Both of our children
were born in the neighborhood. Every African-American neighborhood in the
country is reflective of the neighborhood, so to speak.
My upcoming novel in October 2007, The Forgotten Spirit (A Christmas Tale), is
set in the neighborhood. It is reflective of my childhood memories, and even
in a story as inspiring as The Forgotten Spirit you will see in the story line
the plight of violence affecting our youth.
Gazing through the window panes of contemporary times at the “State of the
Black Youth” forum has guided me to the metaphor, “looking through the stained glass
window.”
In explanation, looking through colored glass in many cases gives us a
distorted view of prisms of light fragmented through the dimension through
which we are peering. In my opinion such is the state of our children. Their
lives are fragmented, a reflection of society’s value systems.
I look at the word, “stained.” To be stained is to be "marked" or "flawed." And I
ask the question, “are the spirits of our children stained? Are our own
spirits stained? Have the impressionable minds of our children been stained?
If so, who shall wipe away the stain? Who shall reach out beyond that which we
can see to merely touch the stain? Who shall ask how the stain occurred, and
what can we do to cleanse it?
And my heart sings, “I will.” And my heart asks, “Who can help carry the
cross?”
Will we take a moment to look into their eyes, and to see their spirits, the
ones that hides behind the abuse, hurt, and pain? Can one take a moment to
inspire, or to free the caged spirit giving it a chance to roam free? Maya
Angelou wrote, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and I say to you, “I know why
the caged spirit needs to go free.”
“I feel tired of what I see. I’m just really tired.” The refrain of that
child’s words echoes through the chambers of my mind like a broken record,
repeating itself, and I can’t stop hearing them.
Looking Through The Stained Glass Window. It’s your window and mine. Your
children, and mine. Your world, and mine.
Once someone asked me how I felt in regards to construction that was going on
in a city. And I answered, “I think that is fine, but I am more interested in
building the spirit of people.” That thought holds true for me both today and
tomorrow.
The state of the Black youth is our responsibility. When the discussion ended
at the Teen Summit I had young men and women tell me what they had received
from the summit, and from the reading of my novel, Out “A” Order.
Many of them said they felt empowered. They felt they had choices, which they
didn’t believe they had at the start. They felt they could stand stronger in
regards to peer pressure. Some of them even felt they could go on to be better
role models and make significant contributions to their neighborhoods, their
world, and in their lives, even to the point of influencing their friends.
All of this because someone brought these children together to discuss the
issues and to listen to what they had to say. The organizers presented them with the
opportunity to read Out “A” Order,that encouraged literacy, but it also dealt
with the world they were living in. It was a story that gave them a mirror to
look in, and when they were done looking in the mirror they realized they had
the power to change.
Looking Through The Stained Glass Window. The power to change. What do you
see?
This is part 1 of a 4 part series on The State of the Black Youth.
Evie Rhodes is the acclaimed author of the supernatural thrillers Expired,
Criss Cross, and Out “A” Order. She can be reached at author@evierhodes.com
Books > THLReader Books for Youth & The 411
Looking through the Stained Glass Window
(The State of the Black Youth)
A commentary by Evie Rhodes