There was a state of emergency for black youth – black men, in particular – brewing in 1984.
On a Saturday after three senseless murders took place in two days in St. Louis, a spiritual leader and an educational leader took the deaths as a warning to provide African-American boys refuge from the streets.
In the basement of St. Paul AME Church, Bishop C. Garnett Henning (who was pastor of the church) and the late Dr. William J. Harrison of St. Louis Community College came together and opened their hearts and minds and the doors of the church.
“The question was raised, ‘What are we going to do about our boys?’” Bishop Henning said.
Dr. Harrison replied, “If we could just get them together and talk about the things that will help them grow into manhood, that would be a good thing.”
The conversation evolved into weekly meetings with young boys and that blossomed into a mentoring program: St. Paul Saturdays.
On Saturday at Crowne Plaza Hotel, St. Paul Saturdays commemorated its 25th anniversary of making a difference. There were big names in the banquet hall, most notably best-selling author and Princeton University professor Michael Eric Dyson.
“A lot of folk believe that this is a lost generation, that these young people are lost, but really they’ve been left behind,” Dyson said. “They ain’t gonna get it by themselves. They are not going to inherit an internal sense of direction. You’ve got to implant that.”
St. Paul Saturdays mentees of 2010 took turns at the podium to express the impact of the program.
“I learn how to avoid becoming a statistic,” said 10-year-old Abdullah Bernell. “Instead of just telling us to say no to drugs and crime, St. Paul Saturdays gives us something to say yes to.”
They meet every week on Saturday mornings, as well as enjoy a host of activities that range from chats to college campus visits and field trips.
As the boys continued to speak on Saturday, Executive Director Jay Rhodes stood watch like a proud father.
Twenty-five years before, he was a part of the initial meeting that gave birth to the organization. He went on to graduate from Morehouse College (inspired by a campus visit during his time with the program) and eventually joined the program in a leadership role.
Among other accolades since its inception, St. Paul Saturdays boasts a 100 percent high school graduation rate among the hundreds of young men it has served.
“I will graduate this May from high school,” said 17-year-old Dessandrus Cross.
“For some, that means off to college. But for me, it means much more. My father didn’t graduate from high school, nor did his father. For me, graduation will be a day that I will release my family’s legacy and set an example for my two siblings.”
Dyson provided the ultimate illustration of the possible return on investment of time spent shaping young people.
“Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t come out of a vacuum. At Morehouse, he was C student. And he was a ‘playa playa,’” Dyson said.
“He was part of a group called the wrecking crew. Someone asked, ‘Why are you called the wrecking crew?’ and he said, ‘Because we wrecked all of the ladies.’ You never know when you mentor young people who seem to be superficial and shallow what you are creating.”
Dyson, a former teen father, knows all too well how certain perceptions can impede the process of programs like St. Paul Saturdays.
“You’ve got to give them a sense of what they can be, but in order to do that, you’ve got to look beyond the stereotypes yourself,” Dyson said.
“If you lift their vision, their pants will follow. You have to learn from their culture as well – if you listen to some of that stuff, you might event agree with it.”
Thanks to St. Paul Saturdays’ affiliation with legendary journalist George Curry – who was in attendance as well – Dyson also spoke to program participants several years ago.
“What I love about St. Paul Saturdays is that you get to know St. Paul Saturdays for yourself, you begin to hear their dreams and aspirations and give them a sense of what they can do,” Dyson said.
“And when you do that, you pour the future into those frail bodies. They don’t just need vitamin C. They need some truth and some adjustment to reality that can transform their lives.”
It was a fitting perpetuation of St. Paul Saturdays in the eyes of the surviving visionary.
“When these young men walked up here and represented themselves and represented their future their way, it almost brought tears to my eyes,” Bishop Henning said.
“How marvelous it is to have this kind of institution to survive and thrive for 25 years. The need for St. Paul Saturdays is greater today than it’s ever been. And in order for us to continue to say, ‘Yes, we can,’ more people must stand up and say, ‘Yes, I will.’”
For more information on the program, visit www.stpaulsaturdays.org.
