Memphis teens. – Memphis Flyer

Greg Cravens

About Kevin Lipe’s post “Next Day Notes: Grizzlies 93, Pelicans 81” …

Tayshaun’s swagger was turned up to 11. It was amazing and terrifying to watch #TheTaykeover.

Youngblook_901

About Toby Sells’ story, “Study Says Bicycling Boom Could Bring Gentrification” …

I would refer the authors of the study to Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs.” If people are worried about how to pay their rent or feed their families, they won’t benefit as much from quality of life amenities as someone whose basic needs have been met. Gentrification can never be a bad thing. It rebuilds decaying neighborhoods.

Jenna S’ais Quoi

Jenna: “Gentrification can never be a bad thing.” I assume you’re talking about Memphis and not those cities like NYC and San Francisco where natives are forced out in droves.

Mia S. Kite

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor, “Talking Heads” …

The flip side is that artists now have fewer barriers to reach an audience. If you make good music, you can get discovered without having to go through a record label and without having to have some record exec agree to promote your music. You can record it at home, post it online, and create your own following, which you can then use to generate profits.

I know everyone hates him, but Justin Bieber is a prime example. He got famous due to YouTube videos, and he was discovered and channeled to make it big. Before, he would’ve had to go to numerous record labels and just hope someone felt he was worth their time.

The term “starving artist” exists for a reason. Only the best of the best (or sometimes the luckiest) make it big. That hasn’t changed, but the barriers between someone and their audience are gone now.

GroveReb84

About Wendi C. Thomas’ column, “Teen Makeover” …

As an African-American male in his 50s, I find this article somewhat perplexing. The behavior of those students at that Kroger indeed was barbaric and savage. It was the worst of an out-of-control mob that gained more and more power from those who were made helpless from the swarm.

The following statement concerns me: “None of the victims’ injuries were severe.” That certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. They didn’t care whether the young man who was being stomped would be injured permanently or not. And of course, your statement does not include emotional damage. I hope that the young boy who was assaulted can recover emotionally. I think his dad is a hero. He has what I do not have, grace. I would not be as patient and understanding as he was. His son had the right to be left alone, and wasn’t.

As a community, specifically the African-American community, in this case, we should make it clear that this type of behavior is unacceptable and barbaric. It is not the behavior of civilized people who were the first to walk on the planet. There should not be any ambivalence in that regard.

Memphomaniac

It is a sad place where many of today’s black youth are. Some people think that this is a new type of violence, but it is not. It has always been around, but smartphones make the world a different, more exposed place.

TruthBeTold

Nice grab there, Bruce and the Flyer. [With Wendi] you brought some real quality journalism to what is generally one of the better alternative newspapers I’ve read.

Smitty1961

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “Sierra Club Proposed Alternatives to Shelby Farms Parkway” …

I live north of Shelby Farms. Farm Road in the current alignment and in the alignment proposed by the Sierra Club is inadequate. The current alignment is a scar across the park. It places those using the amenities of the park in undesired close contact with those using Farm Road as a thruway. Construction of Shelby Farms Parkway, as designed, will separate traffic and provide safer conditions for those using the park. I support construction of Shelby Farms Parkway as designed with the stipulation that it be made a “No Trucks” route. This stipulation has been discussed, endorsed, and will require approval.

Enrico Dagastino

Memphis teens need an image makeover. But in the absence of Olivia Pope, the savvy media manipulator and star of ABC’s Scandal, they’ll have to do the job themselves.

The city’s youth have endured a prolonged public flogging since the violent September 6th attack on three people outside a Kroger store by some of their young peers and other unrelated incidents involving rowdy teens.

None of the victims’ injuries were severe. But, say several youth in the Bridge Builders Change leadership program, the damage to Memphis teens’ collective reputation and psyche remains.

“They make it seem like we’re barbaric,” said Ariel Moore, 16, a junior at Marion High School in Arkansas. “It really tears down youth.”

The program’s media cohort strategy to salvage their image: a YouTube video, BBChange, less than three minutes long. In the same online space where their collective character was dented, the teens want to contrast who the media say they are with who they know themselves to be.

The teens’ video begins with a mash-up of Google searches, audio snippets of news reports, and scrolling Twitter feeds filtered by the words “Memphis” and “teens.”

“Pack of Wild Teens in Memphis caught on video beating man. Civilized People or Animals? America or The 3rd World?” wondered @HouseCracka.

“THIS IS WHY I CARRY A GLOCK 19 EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS,” tweeted @GodGunsGoodTime.

Then, as if they turned the channel, the video fills with static, and then the hashtag #ChangeChallenge appears. One by one, these students tell who they are and what their vision is for their city.

“I am a patient, confident, love-giving leader,” says BrookLynn White, a 16-year-old senior at St. Benedict at Auburndale High School.

“I am a Memphian, and I am ambitious,” says Akin Bruce, a 17-year-old senior at White Station High. “Ambitious, dedicated, and determined to produce success not only for myself but also for my community.”

“I am someone who is not afraid to stand out against the crowd,” says Thomas Wynn, 17, also a White Station senior.

“I envision a future in Memphis where youth especially are involved and given opportunities to rise to a higher standard than the one that is present,” says Mary Allen, 17, a senior at St. Mary’s Episcopal School.

But kids who meet three times a week are no match for four local TV stations and the fear-mongers.

As of early this week, the Bridge Builders Change video had 75 views on YouTube. One of the many YouTube videos of the Kroger attack had more than 555,000 views and, inexplicably, more than 330 thumbs up.

Wynn said when he saw the Kroger video, “I was hurt because I knew the backlash was going to be awful.”

And it was. The comments White saw on Facebook stunned and scared her. Posters assumed all teens in Memphis were out of control. “Should we be carrying guns?” she wondered. “It wasn’t me,” on the Kroger video, White said, “but because of what happened, I’m being seen differently.”

It’s ironic, they say, that they’re taught not to stereotype, but that’s exactly what adults are doing to them, based on the actions of a relatively small number of kids.

Before the extermination comes the dehumanization. It happened in Rwanda when Hutu propagandists deemed the Tutsis cockroaches. It happened in Germany when Nazis called Jews rats. And these teens worry that it’s happening again, when adults call them animals and savages, and other adults leave those assessments unchallenged. When all that politicians and criminal justice officials have in the way of solutions are law enforcement hammers, the teens become nails.

“Being a black teen, a male, everything is on the line 100 percent of the time,” said Regi Worles, 16, a junior at White Station High. “I have dreams. I want my dreams to come true. I don’t want anything to … ” He fished for the word. “Ruin you,” finished Emma Donnelly-Bullington, 17, a senior at Central High School.

The media shapes the perception of adults and sometimes teens themselves.

“A lot of people don’t realize the power the media has,” said Wynn, who worries about a self-fulfilling prophecy. “What they see is ultimately what they believe.”