AAC Kicks off Youth Summit Program
Amistad Arts Collective, Inc, a national non profit organization that last October officially open a chapter in Portland, Maine; Launched its Youth Summit Program last Tuesday, with a joint venture between the MCLU, Amistad America and Amistad Arts Collective, Inc. The mission was to bring a group of local Maine youth to N.Y. City to participate in the, “United Nations Observance In Remembrance Of Slavery Victims”, program. The program which was held on Friday, March 28th, was apart of a week long series of events that kicked off with the opening of the exhibit, “The Middle Passage: White Ships / Black Cargo”. The Amistad Arts Collective delegation of 8 student youth from Bath, Brunswick, Portland, and made up of area high school and University of Southern Maine students accompanied by their Chaperone's, (Brianna Twofoot-MCLU and Hashim A’Allah- AAC) were the first, officially invited, Youth delegates to view the collective exhibit of art work and photos of the Schooner Amistad America’s first Transatlantic sail.
Ms. Brianna Twofoot of the MCLU staff arranged a visit to the ACLU’s home office where the student delegates were greeted by a staff of five paralegals and attorneys that work in the Center for Racial Equality and Justice. The ACLU staff took an hour out of their busy schedule to provide lunch, dialogue and answer questions about U.S. constitutional rights. They ended the visit by providing every student delegate with an ACLU Tee-shirt and a package of civil rights awareness info that included dvds, stickers and a racial profiling survival kit. Social, Civic responsibility and instilling the value of grass roots activism gets no better than this. We at Amistad Arts Collective, Inc thank the staff of the MCLU for providing such an experience for the student delegates.
A day of touring impoverished urban neighborhoods interacting and speaking with adults and youth who inhabit the challenging environments of CT. and N.Y.City, a tour of Yale University’s main campus and the offices of Amistad America provided some background of the Amistad Arts Collective, Inc and what inspired the creation of the National Non Profit organization whose motto is, “Freedom of Expression”. Thursday concluded with the students hanging out at “Horizon Music Studio” and meeting the Queensbridge recording artist, “AZ”, and getting free cds from “Red Coat Records” and discounts on their clothing purchases from “Jimmy’s Hip-Hop Fashions.”
The fact filled trip of discovery concluded with a train ride on Metro North and participation in the Multi National Student Video Conference at the United Nations. Student delegates from classrooms in Sierra Leone, Norway, Saint Lucia, Canada, Cape Verde, and the United Kingdom joined students from Maine, CT, and NY. A simulcast teleconference of open, honest dialogue about how they can make the world a better more inclusive world society of tolerance; Students at the U.N. were able to speak directly with the students participating from the named nations while being able to see them respond to their questions and were asked questions from those students of the other nations. The students from the AAC youth delegation were able to see how students dressed and got a chance to see the inside of classrooms in the nations that participated as well as meet their teachers. The students participated in a photo session with Captain William Pinckney, The first African American to sail solo around the world, and with U.N. officials as well as Amistad America Board of Directors and administrative staff.
The students that participated in the AAC, U.N. event will have the chance to sail aboard the schooner Amistad America and sail with her into the Port of Portland when she arrives for her visit in August. Amistad America will visit the port of Portland, Maine from the 17th to the 24 of August and the Amistad Arts Collective, Inc. Maine youth summit will be held with the multinational youth from the Sankofa program that sail aboard the vessel to discuss how tomorrows future leaders of Maine can evolve our state’s society and communities into one of tolerance and inclusion of the new cultures that are, “From Away”, that live within this great toss salad called, “America”. More about the teleconference and summit can be found at: Unesco, “Breaking the Silence: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project (TST) ."
