Here’s a story that will renew your faith in humanity.
On Aug. 25, children from a Hartford, Conn., elementary school got an unexpected surprise when they showed up for their first day of class.
Upon entering the building, the kids were greeted by over 100 well-dressed black men who offered cheers, high-fives, and a great deal of encouragement through a new campaign titled “Calling All Brothers.”
The initiative was created Pastor AJ Johnson and DeVaughn Ward in an effort combat racial stereotypes that harm inner-city school children. They wanted to prove that growing up in an underprivileged area doesn’t mean you can’t achieve success.
“In an urban community, people say that black men [aren't] valued or there aren't enough black men doing something," Johnson told A Plus in a phone interview. "I wanted to prove everyone wrong."
So what did Johnson and Ward do? They took to social media to assemble a group of black men who would be willing to go to Martin Luther King Jr. elementary to show their support of education. And they all had to do it while dressed in a suit.
“The way the media portrays us is that we’re thugs,” Johnson told A Plus. “We don’t know how to dress, we don’t have anything. If you leave it up to Fox [News], we’d just be viewed as nothing. For this image to get out of well-dressed men coming together, it’s what the country needs at the moment.“
It’s a pretty simple concept that can have an incredible impact on children’s lives. Let’s hope this project catches on in more cities across the country.
