Mount Vernon Youth Bureau Trip for 120 Youth: “The Hate U Give”
MOUNT VERNON, NY- (October 30, 2018): Today the Mount Vernon Youth Bureau chaperoned 120 youth to attend the movie “The Hate U Give.” Angie Thomas is the acclaimed author who also received the New York Times best-selling book award, the 2018 Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Michael L. Pintz Honor and the Oddysey Award for best book and audiobook for kids and teens. The movie is enthused by the Black Lives Matter movement when police shoot an unarmed black teen. It covers topics that our young generation deal with every day, from wealth disparity, race, interracial dating, police brutality, addiction, political activism and how the media depicts African Americans.
Amanda Stenberg plays a teenager who is between two worlds: her school, rich, fancy and white: and her neighborhood, poor and black. She migrates through these different worlds every day until she becomes an eyewitness in the fatal shooting of her best friend, Khalil, an unarmed black teen. Amanda finds herself amidst of protesters and her friends at school.
Programs such as StepUp, Youth Empowerment, GEM, Youth Employment, CAPP, and Mount Vernon STRONG will have discussions, essay competitions, activities and lesson plans that will evolve around the movie. Directors will be following up on recent and past instances of police shootings, friendship, racism and other issues that are of interest to our youth in the various after school programs offered through the Mount Vernon Youth Bureau. Executive Director Debbie Burrell of the Mount Vernon Youth Bureau said, “The movie was sentimental and touched home for a lot of our City’s youth. The various programs offered through the Mount Vernon Youth Bureau provides an outlet for many of our youth to comprehend and navigate through various topics that were presented in the movie.”
After school programs are generously funded by the City of Mount Vernon; Westchester County Board of Legislator; Westchester County Youth Bureau; Westchester/Putnam Workforce Development Board; NYS Department of Health; Community Development Block Grant; and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
