Because It Matters Honors Black History Month

By Journalist Ms. Jones

MIDDLETOWN – On February 20th Because It Matters celebrated Black History Month with their Second Annual Virtual Open Mic. The Open Mic event was live broadcasted from newly established Black-owned ModaSuite, owned by LaShawn Williams. Many participants read poetry and sang from ModaSuite, while others participated from home. The emcee and President of Because It Matters, Yaa Yaa Whaley-Williams, hosted the event.

“Last year in response to the desire to bring the community together in the midst of a pandemic to acknowledge Black history we held our First Annual Open Mic. After comments of its success and the desire of new community members seeking to participate, we decided to do a repeat hybrid version of the open mic,” said Whaley-Williams who co-founded Because It Matters with her husband Anthony Williams.

This year’s Open Mic participants included City of Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey, Amateur Night at the Apollo Winner Jasmin Bell aka “Jazi B.,” Manuel “Manny” Gonzalez, Kayla Hunter, Middletown High School Principal Lynette Williams, Kailee Brooks, Diane Dalzell, and Kevin Gomez.

“The African-American experience has defined the American experience, that long journey to make our country a more perfect union, one filled with resilience, sacrifice, sustaining faith from the soul and a determination to build a better tomorrow. It is a blessing to be part of that experience and share such precious heritage with all our students and community,” said Gomez, a former teacher who read a poem from his house for the Open Mic.

Gonzalez is a Middletown High School alumnus. He participated in the Open Mic event from his dorm room at StonyBrook University.

“My poem is about the use of one’s voice. So, I saw it as an opportunity to not only share my voice, but also inspire others while doing so. I understand that there are many young men who may be afraid to speak up, but I hope that my involvement in this event can show others that they can in fact speak up and use their voice,” said Gonzalez who shared an original poem titled “Spirit of a Man.”

Not only was Middletown represented, Newburgh was also represented well by none other than the mayor himself, who shared his original poems from his house.

“It’s Black History Month. Anytime I can participate in a program that’s going to promote and celebrate the achievements of African-Americans past and present, it’s very important to me. I’m African American, I’m also a history teacher and as an elected official I think it’s important for us to use our platform as elected officials, as leaders. Civic engagement is important to us. Being engaged with community folk who are of like minds, to celebrate African-Americans who have contributed and done great achievements worldwide and made America and the world a better place. So, [there’s] so many reasons why [it was important for me to participate in this event],” said Harvey who shared poems from his two published books “America, America!” and “Ya Sankofa!” and created a new poem titled “The Purpose: Celebrating Black History” where he asked people to choose their top five heroes dead or alive.

The Open Mic Event was very educational. Whaley-Williams asked Black History Trivia questions for Black History themed prizes, including books and clothing. Prizes were made available through resources from a grant from the NYS Office of Children and Family Services Gun Violence Prevention Program.

The event did not go over without disruption as uninvited visitors drew pictures of male genitals, shouted the “N word,” and wrote “kill all n******” in the chat several times until they were removed from the Zoom call.

“If anyone is doubting if racism still exists, even locally, or even here in [the]Hudson Valley or Orange County, not only is this an example that it’s still present, as progressive and as beautiful as things are, there’s still that element that still exists. And you know, the irony of it is that it gave me a lift experience to channel what my ancestors did on a larger scale. So, we had Shirley Chisholm, Marcus Garvey, all these prominent people presented and being shared, and they had to deal with an interruption like that times 10. So, that’s kind of what kept me calm in the midst of high frustration. That interruption is precisely why the things that we’re trying to do in the community to bring cultural awareness are so deeply needed and they need to happen more than just in February,” said Whaley-Williams.
Because It Matters goal is to spread the importance of community. Their belief is that community is a verb.

“Our mission is to continue to engage the community and strengthen community ties through service, conversation, and celebration. We are also an educational resource to increase awareness of social and racial justice in the community,” said Carina St. Louis, community member and volunteer.

Because It Matters also provides cooking classes to the youth, young women’s empowerment workshops, and basketball workshops for young men. They will be having several upcoming events, including their Second Annual Juneteenth Celebration in collaboration with the City of Middletown on Sunday, June 19th where they will be announcing the winners of their annual youth BIPOC scholarship. For more information, please visit www.becauseitmatters247.com.

Journalist Ms. Jones