New Haven Independent

Amanda Demayo, a junior at Platt Tech in Milford, performed her a cappella rhymes as part of a Youth Rights Media-sponsored “‘Unite 4 Change” event Thursday night. Using street theater, rhymes, T-shirts, comic books, and murals, teen activists spoke out on several youth issues on Thursday evening. Click the Play Arrow to hear Amanda and others perform.

Youth Rights Media (YRM) is a New Haven organization that works with teenagers. Using video and other forms of expression, participants explore various issues facing youth in New Haven. This summer, 21 teenagers joined on to work as paid interns at the Youth Rights Media Summer Institute. Their projects this summer dealt with three topics: a lack of youth resources in New Haven, teen dropouts, and the incarceration of female youth.

Occupying the lot at the corner of Orange and Chapel, the young people gathered to celebrate and display the fruits of their summer labor. In addition to Amanda’s performance, there were other spoken word acts, a skit, comic books about youth dropouts, a large mural, and a T-shirt-making station.

These activities are a departure from YRM’s trademark medium of video. (See their videos made for the Independent here.) “We’re switchin’ it all up,” Amanda explained. “People expect us to do videos. People might listen to us now.”

Asked about her rap, Amanda said, “It’s called ‘Insane.’ It’s about how there aren’t enough youth resources in Connecticut.”

She said that she’d like to see a teen center in New Haven. A place where kids can go to “Get off the streets,” as the chorus of “Insane” goes.

Brent Bailey (pictured), a sophomore at Career High, was using a different medium to send out a similar message. He led passersby through a visual interpretation of the three-panel mural that he’d painted with five other youth interns.

“This is how things are now,” he said indicating the somber image on the left. Brent pointed out the young people lurking near a sidewalk memorial, the chalk outline in the road, and the pregnant teenage girl standing sadly in the corner.

“And this is change,” Brent continued. “See the sky is going from grey to blue.” He pointed out the scales of justice balancing, the leaders coming forward, and the teenagers planting a garden.

“And this is how things might look if we’re able to get a youth center,” Brent concluded, showing off the last panel. The skies were blue, there was a brand new youth center, and teens involved in healthy things like sports and computers. Even the teenage mother was taken care of.

Asked where in New Haven he’d like to see a new youth center, Brent replied, “Any of the hoods. Like the Trey or the Hill.” Brent was referring to the two troubled neighborhoods that recently struck a truce.

Brent and his team spent three weeks making the murals. They worked with visiting artist, Tess Korobkin, a Yale graduate now living in Brooklyn.

Nearby, Bobby Demayo (Amanda’s younger brother, pictured) was handing out copies of the comic book that he helped make at YRM. Bobby explained that the comic book, entitled “Push in, Don’t Push Out!”, is meant to educate teens about their rights as students so that they don’t get “pushed out” by school principals. Bobby said that school administrators often force problematic students to transfer in order to keep their graduation rates high.

Using a feedback-prone sound system and competing with a noisy generator nearby, Bobby’s group gave a presentation on the topic of “push outs.” Amanda’s group followed with a couple of spoken word pieces, including “Insane.” Then the youth interns performed a play based on the life of a girl named “Tabitha B.”

The story was a parable about what happens when teenage girls enter the system of state care. Tabitha, unhappy at home and molested by her stepfather, enters foster care. She gets into trouble when two girls pick a fight with her, one thing leads to another, and pretty soon she’s been sent out of state because Connecticut doesn’t have facilities for her.

Whitney Murphy (at right in picture, and at left above with Bobby), junior at West Haven High, played the starring role in the drama. “It’s about a girl who thought the system was going to help her,” she explained after the performance. Instead Tabitha ends up worse off than she started.

Whitney said that her group had found Tabitha’s story online when they were looking for information about what happens to female teenagers that get incarcerated. They found out that Connecticut doesn’t have the same resources for girls that it does for boys, and girls end up getting shipped to other states, far from home.

“When we get locked up we don’t have anywhere to go,” Whitney explained.

Whitney’s T-shirt, like all the YRM interns, read “Punishment or Support, Why Don’t You Care?” with a picture of a heart and a female symbol behind bars.

Whitney was very pleased with her experience as an intern with YRM. “I love it so much,” she said. “This is the best job ever.”

Thirteen of the 21 youth intern positions are funded by New Haven’s Youth at Work program. The other eight are paid by YRM.

After the YRM performances, there was an open mic. Local singer/MC Darrin Winfrey (pictured) was quick to jump on, performing two originals, “Makin’ Money” and “Take You Home.” (See him perform: last clip on the video above.) His album is coming out soon.

Darrin wore two “Rest In Peace” buttons on his shirt. One for a relative who was killed two years ago. The other for Cornell/ Quinell Payne, the teenager who recently died in a dirt-bike/van collision.