During Umojafest last weekend, a small group brought a big message.
"The issue today is that we need more than just a museum to bring this community together," chanted Geneiva Arunga, 17 who took the stage at Judkins Park on Friday, Aug. 3, displaying her unique blend of hip-hop and debate. "We need [schools] to teach [students] the curriculum they don't get."
The Seattle Debate Foundation's Hip Hop Debate crew took stage for most of the late afternoon, bringing to light major issues affecting the young African American community. African drums and trumpets sounded off as debaters cited excessive crime, drugs and drop-out rates as major issues without solutions.
The majority of their energy that afternoon, however, was focused on the lack of a community hub for urban youth to congregate. While the Northwest African American Museum plans to open the doors to its 17,000 square-foot, newly renovated facility in the Coleman School next March, the group begged the question: why not more?
"We need opportunities to have a center to congregate," said Jen Johnson, Seattle Debate Foundation's executive director. "We need to start a dialogue here. People have been attending too many funerals. Why can't [the Coleman School] be used for a world class cultural center for the youth of Seattle?"
YOUTH RISE UP
With sites focused upon Alameda County's Youth Uprising center in California, the group presented arguments for the assembly of a center where area youth could gather to develop their artistic talents. In Oakland, where YU opened its doors in 2005, a diverse list of programs is offered to Bay Area youth. Courses including Youth Leadership and Community Building classes, music production, web design, dance, modeling and fashion, art, health and academic courses are offered along with community service opportunities for citizens re-entering civilian life after incarceration and students needing to fulfill credit requirements.
"It's important to have people here so that the inner city has a voice," said D Labrie, a Bay Area artist who works directly with the Seattle Debate Foundation in his work with Hip Hop Congress - a national grassroots networking community for hip-hop artists. "I'm happy to see this going on [in Seattle]."
With urban debate programs at a number of Seattle high schools - including Rainier Beach, Franklin and Garfield high schools - Johnson believes that blending hip-hop and conventional education practices, more youth will inevitably learn to express themselves positively.
"People connect to [hip-hop]," Johnson said. "It's creative and engaging. With sophisticated thoughts and arguments everywhere within, it really gives a voice to everyone."
In Alameda County, YU, a non-profit organization, came as a result of similar efforts by concerned urban youth in the late 1990s. The $7 million, 25,000 square-foot facility now serves as a youth center sharing one all-encompassing vision: community transformation.
FATE OF COLEMAN SCHOOL
"It wasn't a linear project," said YU Executive Director Olis Simmons. "The young people really organized. They distributed surveys, held press conferences and met with local and national politicians. They took on the belief of a transformed community."
Simmons noted crime rates and elevated black-on-black homicide cases as some of the driving forces behind the youth.
"It was hard finding people who shared the vision," said Simmons. "But now, we're overwhelmingly looked at as the answer - a bright light in a bleak time. People are surprised that a public system seeded a revolutionary non-profit organization."
Johnson and others believe the Coleman School could be that answer. However, the fate of the turn-of-the-century building looks to be sealed, as the building will offer low-income housing on its top two floors.
"The [Coleman School] is really going to enhance the community," said Carver C. Gayton, the Northwest African American Museum's director. "We're trying to market the rental units to the arts and academics community. It will be extremely important for the whole community."
In fact, without the two floors of low-income rentals, the museum might not have been possible. Just over $7 million of the $19.1 million project's funding was made available through public housing tax credits.
"Its great that [citizens] are talking about the project," said Gayton. "But we wouldn't be able to have the museum without the rentals. And because of those, the museum will be here for many, many years."
Still, the voices of the debaters are calling to action.
"We ask, 'Who's culture is not being supported?'" pondered Johnson. "Each death in our community is the death of our city."
Central Area writer Josh Sabrowsky may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.
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