Inspired by a similar video created by the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at the University of Illinois, “Suit and Tie in the 217,” features junior and senior males from Central and Centennial high schools in East Central Illinois donning just that, suits and ties. Their intent: to challenge the stereotypes of young, African American men.
“When people see a Black person, they don’t really think he can be smart,” said Central High School Senior Feli Keti. “All they see is like fight, gangster, rapping. I mean some people got that talent, but it’s not just in a bad way,” Keti told WICD.
Keti, along with several other students, feel the need to highlight success and leadership in order to improve the narrative of the African American male. The video shows young men of diverse backgrounds walking through the school halls, studying and playing sports along with captions like “We Are Employees and Volunteers” and “We Are Scholars.” It has gained over 8,000 views on YouTube and has even reached the Governor’s Office. Central High School Social Worker Tiffany Gholson believes the video is about empowerment.
“It’s (sic) a counternarrative that you can write your own story and don’t let anyone else — the media, other people – tell your story; tell it for yourself,” Gholson said. “The negative stories told daily in the media and in our culture about our young African-American men tend to ignore their successes and don’t tell the full story about how young black men are becoming leaders within our community schools.”
However, Take Part writer, Liz Dwyer, offers the argument of why a video of this nature is still necessary.
“Indeed, if we’ve learned anything from Martin’s murder, the Jordan Davis case, or the Twitter feed that tweets all of New York City’s stop-and-frisk incidents, it’s that changing a black man’s clothing won’t make America less racist. A black man in a business suit can still be seen as “suspicious,” or as not the “right cultural fit” for a job,” she writes. “As nice as it is to see these young men looking sharp, they shouldn’t have to prove anything. Their clothing isn’t the problem. What is, is that they had to make this video at all.”
Watch the video below and read more from ABC NewsChannel 15.
[youtube id=”D7vNEl4Br0w”]
BMWK–What are your thoughts on the video and their reason for making it? Do you agree with Liz Dwyer?
Inspiring indeed. I’ll have to work this video into my classes. My school does dress for success on Tuesdays, which really should be an every day occurrence.
great comment. i agree young people should be attired in success clothing each day as they interview; for both black and white employers. it should and must be practiced, that black radio annoucers who play these hip hop or fast moving music that black youth are in tuned too. they should be more involved in the positive
motivation of young black males: oppose to making jokes of all serious issues. U have a great page.
assimilate or die. How about something more Afrocentric vs European?
why not just say the word African: not assume where is afrocentric?
it is not a style it is a culture.
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