Participants at the Black Male Town Hall Tuesday night, August 16, signed up to focus on key areas aimed at promoting change in Charlottesville’s African-American community. WMRA’s Jordy Yager reports.
About 50 people gathered in downtown Charlottesville Tuesday evening for the second Black Male Town Hall. Charlottesville Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy outlined the objectives of the group, which falls under the umbrella of the local Black Male Achievement organization.
Goal one: further integrate African-American men into the community.
WES BELLAMY: We often times, when kids go shoot jump shots, they throw touchdowns, we cheer, we yell for them, we tell them, hey man that was great, you’re the best. Why don’t we promote academic achievement or encourage academic achievement the same way?
Goal two: become more politically visible and regularly attend city council and school board meetings.
BELLAMY: We can devise a plan as a team to speak to our needs. If we’re not talking about what we want and/or what we need, then they’re just going to bypass us by. Unfortunately I know that first hand.
The third goal is known as My Brother’s Keeper and is aimed at 17 to 29-year olds who may be getting into trouble or facing difficult life circumstances.
BELLAMY: There are a few specific brothers right now who are doing some very serious things, and we need to try and get them involved, because seriously the consequences could be life and death, as we’ve seen as of late.
Bellamy said he plans to connect the group’s young men with Willow Tree Apps, a local leading tech company, to teach them how to code and become web developers. The group plans to meet twice a month at the African-American Heritage Center.