WeSpeak Community Newsletter

8/6/2019 WeSpeak Community Newsletter

1/8

July 13, 2011Volume 1, Issue 1

Inside ThisIssue

Upcoming Events

UYAC Agenda

Literally Speaking

Youth ArtistShowcase

Freedom Spotlight

Black Business

Individual

Highlights:

UYAC 2

Inside Story 3

Inside Story 4

In memory 5

Classifieds 6

Where Are All the Black Kids At?

We S eak

Surprising question?Maybe not when you thinkof how many parents askthe question, Where is mychild, or how many donot, why then shouldnt aconcerned member of thecommunity, in any of

Austins more

disadvantagedneighborhoods wonderwhat the youth are doing?

Especially when it seemsthe number of violentcrimes committed by andagainst at risk youthcontinues to climb.

A more timid version ofthe question was raised ina resent Statesmanarticle. The article Wherehave urban Austinschildren gone? informsthe reader that Austinscity policy explicitly callsfor a family friendly urban

core, reaffirming oursuspicion that the MuellerSubdivision in East Austinis an insult.

No disrespect intended toMueller residents. We loveyour neighborhood!

Special Thanks to: Texas Touch Photography

The problem here is thatwhen asking the questionthe use of the term urban no way relates to youthfound in lower incomeneighborhoods at thecenter of Austins urbancommunities.

The article seems only torefer to those families withchildren in relativelycomfortable neighborhoodbound by Capital TexasHighway (Loop 360), BenWhite Blvd and US 183.

(Continuedon page 5)

By Tempest RisingEditorial StaffSource: Austin-American Statesman


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We Speak Page 2 of 8

CurrentUYAC Members

JoycelynWashington

Committee Chair

Tiffany WashingtonVice Committee

Chair

Guy Washington Jr.

YouthRepresentative

Jaemes WashingtonYouth

Representative

UPCOMINGEVENTS

Musezik.Literally: A Day ofIntroductions.TBA

Committee meeting Agenda Getting Started &Soliciting membersTBA

Please visit us on Facebookto find out more about our

upcoming events.

Creating capable,

strong, and responsible

youth requires the

involvement of parents,

teachers, religious

advisors, and most

overlooked the

Community

By Tiffany WashingtonUYACViceCommitteeChair

Fresh faces bring a newapproach at gaining youthparticipation in communityservice to Austin city limitsthis summer.

Austins Urban YouthAction Committee wascreated to help supportthe well-being of youth inunder privilegedneighborhoods found

throughout Austin.

The committee seeks toinform and inspire theurbancommunityfocusingon todays youthculture,pleading for thedecrease of violent actscommitted by and againstat risk youth.

AustinUYACs goalsinclude promotinginnovative youth advocacydedicated to socialawareness, throughcultural competency, theunderstanding of onesown culture and beingaware of culturaldifferences.

The committee ispassionate about thepower of acceptance,

change, healing, andnurturing positivebehavior.

By receiving contributionsand making expenditureswithin disadvantagedneighborhoods for thepurpose of influencing

Urban Youth Action Committee - UYAC

youth participation andimplementing youthdevelopment services, weseek to increase thenumber of positive realworld, hands-on learningexperiences of the urbanadolescent.

OurMission

Creating capable, strong,and responsible youthrequires the involvement

of parents, teachers,religious advisors andmost overlooked thecommunity.

Cultural competence andself-awareness within theurban community resultsin the ability for youth to

understand, communicatand effectively interact

with people acrosscultures, allowing theopportunity to achievegoals and feel betterabout life in general.

UYAC challenges Austinurban youth and residento examine the culturalhistory of art, music, andliterature as a means ofindividual self-expression

The committees missionis to reject the negativestereotypes of an everevolving youth culture,supporting instead,creative talent andemphasizing communityservice.

Sisters Joycelyn Washington (left), and Tiffany Washington,(right), hope to bring a powerful new message to Austins

urban community through creative arts.


3/8

We SpeakPage 3 of 8

I m the ghost the system tried to buryunderFBI files deemed "communist".Wanting only to drink from fountainswhere bold letters of COLOREDwere figments of our imagination.

Through my state of mind's eyesI wasn't kneeled down between thorn bushesdragginga thin material bag of hopefilled with cottoneven though

my brown eyes filled with painas my feet shuffled down rows of soil.Cut fingers dripping feared jungle bloodsoaks and stains the very cotton leaving my handsto imprint a legacy on the white man's fabric.

I'm the ghost the system tried to buryFeelingthe warmth of other suns as my people attemptto migrateaway from their life's shamesthe entity of their core, their pride, their joy--gold, mahogany, dark dipped skinthe very essence of making them human,the very thing deeming them UNhumanrunning from themselvesonly to find there's nowhere to run.

Are we not all God's children?Individually scripted for a purpose above the tidesdivided by continents.

All reaching for a relationship with Himso seemingly out of reach.

The heart its own entitywith words yearning to seep.

The Revolution Wont Be TelevisedWritten by Joycelyn Washington

Literally.Speaking. is brought to you byMusezik.Literally.

We currently have three publication writers and

encourage youth ages 11-24 tosend writing, art, andphotos, to:

[email protected].

There is no charge to submit or be published. Allsubmissions will be considered for publication inMusezik.Literally.urban youth print magazine.

I'm the ghost the system tried to bury onthe urban streets of Harlem--aspiring artists, writers, activistsstepping proudlyin renaissance.

Im the ghost the system tried to burytalking amongst Langston Hughes, RichardWright and Fredrick Douglasabout how things used to be be.How things are supposed to be.

When the word fueled usand knowledge motivated us to be the best,Speak the best

A leveled head to the skyInstead of a lowered pants to the pavement

When culture meant picking up every book youcouldto know the theories of the most articulatedressing not to impress but to signify

I am hereto pave the way for the youth oftodaywho believe rapping a catch phraseis the only means to success.

Female silhouettes behind pixels dreamingnaked images are the means toaccomplishment.Check your consciousnessI'm the ghost the system tried to buryI live in you.


4/8

We Speak Page 4 of 8Support AustinsUrban Youth Action

Committee

Please consider making a gift toUYAC today so that we may beable to attend the TexasNetwork of Youth Services 28

th

Annual Conference of Servicesto Youth and Families, August17 19, 2011.

This invaluable trainingconference offers the learning,networking, skills, anddiscussion opportunities neededto better serve you.

As youth workers andconcerned citizens we seek toprovide quality.

To send your gifts by mailplease detach and send to:

AustinUYAC1109 Hatteras Dr.Austin, Texas 78753

My gift is enclosed

I wish to remain anonymous.

Please contact me.I wish to discuss yourorganization and making agift in the near future.

Name

Address

City/State/Zip

Day Telephone

Email

For more information aboutgifting or about Austins Urban

Youth Action Committee pleasevisit us online at:

www.austinurbanculture.com

PLEASE REMEMBER UYACWHEN VISITING YOUR

FACEBOOK.

SUGGEST A FRIEND!

Celebrating a Great Lady: Our Freedom Spotlight

By Joycelyn Washington

UYACCommitteeChair

Almost six years after herpassing, the celebration ofDorothy Turner ignitespassionate feelings anddrives the emotions of herfamily and friends

A deeply rooted passionfor nourishing, supportingand serving hercommunity promptedMama T, as many knewher affectionately, to fightagainst the social injusticesurrounding her daily.

Dorothy Turner wasknown to be anoutspoken, communityactivist. She understoodthe struggles of theunderdog and fought for

them with passion.

Herheadstrongengagements with theCity of Austin centeredaround issuesof equalemployment opportunities,

Any time you file an

innovative complaint, it

has a rippling effect allover the city, even

though its only against

one department. Any

kind of protest should

work that way.

Source: Austin City

Connection

anti-kukluxklan rallies, thedevelopment ofcommunity youth activitiesand most vigorouslyfoughtagainst issues of policebrutality.

Her passion for standingup against themistreatment of blacksstarted as a young womanwhile overhearing thediscussions of her elders,as they told of theirexperiences duringslavery which enraged herwith the cruel realities ofsocial discrimination.

The BeginningUpon noticing thedisproportion in the

advancement and wagesof African Americanemployees versus that oftheir counterparts, Mrs.Turner took legal actionand in the end, the City of

Austin hired the first black

personnel director andfemale assistant citymanager.

Helping to uplift the EastAustin community Mrs.Turner assisted in creating

Austins Jump On It, theMillennium YouthEntertainment Complex,as well as, influence cityresidents through KAZI-FM.

She has paved the wayfor a new generation ofyoung eager activists whoseek training and press forthe promotion of hands oncreative writing, literature,and music education insome of Austins most

overlooked communities.

In Remembrance ofaGreat Ladywho servedwith courage and

dedication.


5/8

We SpeakPage 5 of 8 Youth Artist in theSpotlight:

So where have Austins truly urban children gone?

Where are the urban youth, who because of theiryouthful play on language, it was decided to devote anentire Urban Dictionary to analyzing and understandinghow they communicate amongst themselves.

Where are the urban youth whose family cannot affordto follow the predictable patterns of migrating into themore recently constructed areas of East Austin, with itsbeautiful landscaping and upscale neighborhoodamenities?

Austins Urban Youth Action Committee notes theanswer to the Statesmans headline.

We live in the neighborhoods where APD shoots first,then assess how old the suspect appeared to be,says one concerned urban teen.

Not all of us understand how these things go, but Ithink its time we speak for ourselves, tired of myhomies getting shot by the police, says another.

When asked if they knew where the Zilker andHydepark communities mentioned by the Statesmanwhere located, many replied with the same answer.No.

East Austin, for years, has been the center of the blackcommunity. Yet the feeling that not only African

Where Are All the Black Kids At?Continued from front page

American culture, but that of an entire diversecommunity, is being replaced by a playground for thewealthy has caused a small group of urban youth toban together and remind the City of Austin, that urbandevelopment should not outcast any one group ofpeople.

The development of the urban community, the core ofAustins cultural diversity, should include theenvironment of all residents.

Instead the city has allowed urban gentrification, thegathering of property, followed by the redevelopmentof that property, which attracts awealthier classand theredistribution of that property to said class, thusleaving behind and isolating many of Austins childrenwho wonder how the will ever escape, the hood.

The youth you are looking for want to know howbuilding up suburban neighborhoods there are a

number of them scattered throughout Northeast,Central, and East Austin, in the middle of communitieswhose original residents were of color, and making thecost of living virtually unaffordable for their families,has helped them or the advancement of theircommunities in any way.

The question they are asking the City of Austin,Where are our luxury amenities?

Ca

Markos talent for expressing his

individuality is inspiring.

Advertise Your Business Here!

Contact Musezik.Literally.

today for a listing of ouraffordable rates!

512-782-8861

[email protected]


6/8

Page 6 of 8 We Speak

Letter from a concerned black kid:

Dear Urban Community,

Ummm, did somebody forget about me? Im justasking because the eerie feeling of being left Home

Alone has begun to set in. Only for me there arentany concerned parents racing back to save theirdear young Kevin.

For some reason many of you choose to live in aplace you consider to be the Real World. Well Ihave to ask, if your world is real, where the hell am living at?

Someone has decided it is okay to neglect thefuture. As if I have no value, nothing to offer a cityas culturally diverse and filled with creativeopportunity as Austin.

Well you are wrong. I have a voice and deserve tobe heard. But who is listening? I wonder. Are you?

- A concerned black kid

Is graffiti art what you want to see in your neighborhoods?

Beauty or Bad Behavior?

Visit us on Facebookto share your opinion!

See our next issue forthe featured articleBeauty or Bad

Behavior and get theresults of our latest

community poll!


7/8

We SpeakPage 7 of 8

UrbanBusiness DirectoryFind what you are looking for from A to Z

About WeSpeakUrban Business Directory

Using the power of word of mouth and social media,Musezik.Literally. is reinventing offline and online classifieds for theurban business professional.

We provide consumers with a friendly local marketplace to buy, selland trade, enabling local artists and businesses to be a part of ourlocal listings.

Contact us today to submit your ad! Monthly RatesFeatured business ads (5 x 4) $55Business card size ads (3 x 2) $35Classified listing (140 characters) $15

Your

Biz

Ad

Goes

Here!

Your

Biz

Ad

Goes

Here!

Your

Biz Ad

Goes Here

Our Picks

Texas Touch Photos is a professional photography service in centralTexas. We take care of all photography needs like weddings , parties,

portraits, and we even do sports photography. Our goal is to capture your

memories and enhance them with a little Texas Touch.Call us to book aportrait session today. 512-522-9793


8/8

Page 8 of 8 We Speak

"Musezik.Literally.Magazine is for the urban

tween, teen, and youngadult in Austin, Texas,who associates daily with

the creative influences ofhip hop culture. Theseyouth seek a voice, amedium devoted to

Paid for by: Musezik.Literally.

About Our Company

Submit your work by e-mail to:[email protected]

PHONE:(512) 782-8861

Like Us On Facebook

Were on the Web!Visit us at:

www.austinurbanculture.com

URBAN YOUTH ACTION COMMITTEAustin, Texas 78753

URBAN COMMUNITY RESIDENTAustin, Texas

showcasing their talents,and highlighting their likes.The magazine has acommitment to theadvancement of urban

youth and hip hop culturein Austin by emphasizingpositive youthparticipationin community

building events andsupporting theadvancement of urbanbusiness owners.

NoPostageRequired

We encourageYouth

Participation!

The UYAC mission is to createcapable, strong, and

responsible youth byreinforcing self-expression.

We ask that youth ages 11-24submit poetry and short stories

they have worked on for thechance to have their workprinted in our newsletter!

Advertise Your Business Here!

Contact Musezik.Literally.todayfor a listing of our

affordable rates!512-782-8861

[email protected]

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