At this week's Round Table, Emily, Heba, and Ruby spoke with Michael Partis, Executive Director of the Redhook Initiative, a Brooklyn-based organization facilitating social change through education, youth development, and local hiring. His current role builds on his experience running the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative; the Bronx Brotherhood Project, a college success and mentorship program for Black and Latino teens at the New Settlement College Access Center; and South Bronx Rising Together (SBRT), a “cradle-to-career” initiative, along with his experience as a researcher at Fordham University’s Bronx African American History Project and a professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and Department of Anthropology at Brooklyn College. Yes, be impressed, be very impressed.
Michael is very focused on how to create generational wealth in black communities and the intersection with educational equity—as are we! We spoke about how the US economy was historically based on coerced labor and people working without compensation—part of a continuing legacy of social policy with negative economic impact and the grounds for race-based reparations today. We acknowledged that the implementation and distribution of reparations is complicated—as all systems are—but that the principle is worthwhile and logical and should be pursued.
A Society is deeply driven by values and relationships and problems happen when we don’t value people different from ourselves and dominate or control people based on that. This can then bleed into politics and become racism, with a dominant ethnic group distributing resources inequitably. Michael works in education in order to influence redistribution and equity, balancing social vs political efforts for change.
Understanding the history of how things were formed and how things are organized is critical because when you know how something was built, you have better insight into why things are as they are. The present disparities we experience —and the history of black people being underrepresented —starts with a history of being seen as inferior carried over with a compounding effect today.
This of course makes the case for teaching African American Studies—and Michael shared that teaching about and through hip hop is a powerful way to do so—particularly as we celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. He also recommends you check out the Bronx African American History Project oral history archives here. We closed with Michael’s words of inspiration and empowerment to youth which you won’t want to miss. Thank you for listening!
