Youth, Justice, and Incarceration

Session 3B - Youth, Justice, and Incarceration
Chair: Elizabeth A. Green

1. Hip-Hop Pedagogy from Higher Education to Youth Incarceration, Hasan Stephens (Save the Kids)
Hasan, I will have to be a little racist and say, is black. If I were to stereotype, I would say that he definitely looks like any guy with dark skin that you would find in New York City and does not look like a professor. Those that are more stereotypical and racist than I am might even go as far as to say that they would be weary of him. However, he is one of the people on the front line of trying to right kids' lives after being sent to jail.
A lot of people would probably agree with me when I say that for most people, life after being sentenced to jail is not life at all. Your life has basically ended, because, especially those that are young, they probably haven't finished their education and they won't be able to find a decent job because everyone looks at them like a criminal. Then there's also the "Prison Industrial Complex," a system where businesses uses privately owned prisons as a source of cheap, or free, labor (maybe 12 cents an hour).

He starts off with this spiffy presentation. (Update: The presentation didn't load for me, but I hope it does for you, because I thought it was laid-out very well.)
He told us about how New York is one of only two states that allows youths to be charges as adult at 16; New York is about the be the only state, since the other state (Mississippi) is changing their laws. Also, that most of these youths are just kids about 10-16 years old.

As well as working with Save the Kids, he teaches "Hip-Hop Culture" at SUNY Cortland (in the Bronx).
He teaches his student about the misconception and truth about Hip-Hop. The misconception is that it is "vulgar," all about drugs and violence, corruption, is anti-education and "interferes with learning," and it is the reason for poor performance.
The truth is that it is very ANTI - violence/drug/gang. He points to a song: "The Method" as an example. However, though I scoured YouTube, I couldn't find a copy of the song. The closest thing I could find was this, even then I'm not even sure if it's the right song, because he never told us the singer's name. Heck, I don't even know if it's a singer, rapper, or a band/group.

Through Save the Kids, he works with those that have been to jail, are unenthusiastic about learning, and/or have given up on life. He uses hip-hop as a tool to educate them. From DJ-ing to emcee-ing, to Breakin', to Graffiti, it's all an art form (with a horrendous reputation). He teaches:
* Sense of Pride
* "Cool" to learn (A lot of rappers and hip-hop artists have a college education eg. a Master's Degree in English)
* Life Skills
* Entrepreneurial skills (fashion, music, alcohol)
* Personal Voice (A rap is like a poem set to music,  just as much as a song is - one of the students under the Save the Kids program wrote an amazing and inspiring poem titled, "My Spirit Lives")
* Anti-violence (Dance Battling is an alternative to actual, physical fighting.)
He also asserts that he doesn't just do this as something to do. He is inspired by the kids that he helps: "A real teacher doesn't just teach. They learn."


2. Youths in the Adult System: New York's Juvenile Offender Law and Why it is Broken, James Czarniak (Director Juvenile Justice, Onondaga County)
James was not able to attend.

3. Nothing About Me, Without Me: Giving Youth in the Juvenile Justice System a Real Voice, Christopher Petilli (Director of Re-Entry and Mentoring, Save the Kids)
Since Hasan covered most of the material about Save the Kids and how they work, Chris just talked mostly about how gangs work. He says that there is about 37 gangs in Syracuse and in the last year 27 youths have been shot or stabbed to death.
When questioned about why kids would join gangs and whether or not they can withdraw from a gang, he answered as such: The gang becomes their communal family. Most kids in gangs are in gangs because they don't have a perfect, or even decent, household or their family doesn't have a lot of income. The gang members depend on each other for support and they provide food and protection for each other.

This post was written by: Korean Lovers

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