S.T.O.P. Program/Straight Talk On Prison
406 33rd Street
Richmond CA 94804

The Gathering of the Tribes

Too many of our children are dropping out of school, killing each other, going to jail, or just going through life not prepared and without skills. [If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know when you get there, which means, you will continue to wander aimlessly through life.] This is not just a Richmond phenomenon, but is prevalent throughout the states.
Therefore, I feel we should get the largest seating establishment in the San Francisco Bay Area and fill it to capacity with middle school and high school students throughout the bay area. I envision a day of honor and celebration of our youth.
Before we remind our students of the violence they are engaged in, or how, if they continue on this path, they will end up in jail or six feet under, we must first let them know how important they are to us. They play a pivotal part in the continuance of society. They are our future doctors; our future lawyers; our future congressmen; presidents; astronauts; scientist; inventors; etc. We need them to carry on, and to take their rightful place, so that the world will be a much better place to live in. Many of our students don’t know who they are, and they don’t realize what they really have on the inside….therefore, we need to remind them. They are extremely talented and gifted… and we are here to celebrate their creativity as well as their diversity. After the saturation of positive regards (and/or an injection of self-esteem), we should make them aware of the negative consequences produced by violent behavior. And like the format of an essay, we want to end our program by reiterating the positive attributes of each and every one of our adolescents.
The goal of the “gathering” is to let each student understand how important an education is. Education leads to knowledge, and knowledge is power.
In terms of venue, I believe we should have entertainment by personalities that the student’s look up to and by students that represents each school district in attendance. Also, between each performance, well known personalities, as well as members of various groups and/or agencies that work with youths, should talk to the students about the importance of education, also what particular services their individual organization provides to youths. My hope is that the students leave with a sense of empowerment that they didn’t have prior to coming.
In terms of resources, I have no idea. However, I would like this to be a very significant event. I would like the mayors, as well as other city officials to be involved. I would like this event to be filmed (with the intent of being televised at a later date), and given mention on the news and in the newspaper. With that said, I believe we will be able to get endorsement from various entities.
My hope is that this event takes place during the week, whereby teachers from each middle school and high school will escort their students (on the bus) to wherever the “gathering of the tribes” is to take place.
Now, you add your input to how you may envision this event, and let’s see who we need to talk with to get the ball rolling.

Thanks for everything

THE GATHERING OF THE TRIBES
AN IDEA
A CELEBRATION OF YOUTH

Let us begin…
This a simple message of vision and celebration. I am reaching out to the parents, the schools, the faith- based and business communities, entertainers and role models, mentors and humanitarians, and most importantly, the youth themselves to raise their voices in a commitment to a new and different way of aspiring and reaching for those things that have been talked to death with no results because of politics, egos, and infighting. I’ve attended many meetings about at-risk youth, and the one thing that is conspicuously missing is the voices of the youth themselves. Who better knows what it is they need to survive in this confusing world filled with noise and no clarity. What keeps us from recognizing the needs of the community and the needs of its youth clearly, simply and powerfully? Empower them and you empower their future, and in unity we can accomplish amazing things. The simple message of pooling our resources and building an army of young warriors, equipped not with weapons or racial division and hate, but with knowledge and hope, that translates into a future of vibrant builders of a new civilization.
We can help them build their own future, give them the tools they need, and we can do it by putting aside our individual egos and unify our gifts of knowledge and resources to create a foundation that provides them with every conceivable building block they need.
There are no politics in delivering this world to them. We are the mothers and fathers of invention, and we can point them in the direction they need to go. They already have the capacity and imagination it takes to build their own future. Help me to help them and we can become the essence of pride and accomplishment.

We must ALL become educators, and as educators the fundamental tasks for educators is to define, communicate, implement concepts, relationships, beliefs, and structures that create a learning environment that leads to world class performance and world class citizens.