Panelists Alejandro Negron, Stan Richards and Faith Holmes participate in the First Baptist Church of Glenarden’s “Beyond the Color of Our Skin” discussion. (Photo by Courtney Jacobs)
In honor of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., First Baptist Church of Glenarden hosted a panel discussion on diversity and racial tolerance. The “Beyond the Color of Our Skin” discussion featured a youth and adult panel that analyzed racism inside schools, recent marches and protests and Selma.
Youth panelists, varying in ethnic and cultural backgrounds, included Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science student Busayo Maubela; Key School student and son of the church’s senior pastor, John Jenkins Jr.; Bowie High School student Devyn Johnson; and Henson Middle School students Cole Smith and Ethan Martinez.
“It’s a conversation that hasn’t been really been discussed until Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown,” said Johnson, the only female panelist. “I don’t want people to tell me that I’m doing good in school for a Black girl. I want them to say I’m doing good in school as a student.”
Martinez felt that everyone should speak up for themselves. “The smallest person could have biggest voice,” Martinez said. “I don’t care if you’re the captain of the basketball team or coming off of the bench, everybody has a voice that should be heard.”
When asked about culture, Jenkins said, “Hate for another culture is something that is taught.”
The next topic was on the marches and protests that are occurring around the world. “I feel like there is a lot of talk and no action,” said Maubela, the grandson of Dick Gregory. “People go to these protests with their signs, but once they get home it’s like what’s on Cartoon Network.”
Maubela spoke about how he attended the ‘Black Lives Matter’ March in D.C. “I saw a girl from Ferguson that wanted to speak to the crowd, but they wouldn’t let her,” he said. “Instead, guess who was on the front line, Rev. Al Sharpton. How are you getting a check to talk about something that you weren’t even there for? We need more young leaders, but their revolution went untelevised.”
When asked why students don’t speak up in school, Smith said, “The youth in this country don’t want to talk because they’re afraid of being stereotyped or bullied for speaking out.”
The adult panel followed the youth panel. Panelists included the Rev. Jim Eaton, pastor at Mosiac Church in Frederick, Md.; Mo Ivory, WHUR personality and CNN commentator; Alejandro Negron, WJLA News 8 and Telemundo commentator; Stan Richards Sr., author and entrepreneur; Dr. Bobby Manning, pastor of First Baptist Church of District Heights; Dr. E. Faye Williams, chair of the National Congress of Black Women; and Faith Holmes, owner of Faithfully Sweet.
“Love cannot dwell in a heart possessed by fear,” Holmes said. She said she is encouraging people, around the world, to see the new movie ‘Selma,’ which commemorates King’s life.
During the panel discussion, Ivory brought up the fact that reality shows that come on television are “killing the Black woman’s identity,” stating that when she travels to certain states, she is identified or viewed as women off of reality shows.
Richards, who owns his own company, The Richard Group Foundation, used to not want to be Black growing up. “Growing up, I was the racist,” Richards said. “I wanted to be White at one point in my life because I thought they were more privileged.”
