Yonkers My Brother's Keeper explores the 'masks' young men of color wear and project

Students at Roosevelt High School Early College Studies recently participated in a program called, “The Masks We Wear."

The students first met to identify words associated with how they feel on the inside, and how they would like the world to see them on the outside. During the second part of the program, the young men made plaster masks of their own faces and wrote their words on the masks.

One mask shows words they project to the outside world. Another shows the true feelings they're masking. The program encourages young men to take a closer look at the masks they wear and to understand why they wear them.

“We’re making our masks today, and those are supposed to represent the way we want people to see us and the way we see ourselves and how we feel inside," said Lenny Toribio, a junior at the school.

According to Gregory Joyner, the former program coordinator for the school district, some of the emotions they explored were, “I'm caring, I'm loving, I got it all together. I'm athletic, I'm charming, I'm charismatic. Meanwhile, the real feelings that they're masking is that they're angry, they're upset, depressed, they have true feelings that they're masking not being able to be vulnerable to themselves and people around them.”

The Yonkers Public Schools joined the My Brother’s Keeper program in 2017. The program was launched by President Barack Obama in February 2014, in response to the death of Trayvon Martin. According to the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance website, “The program sought to address the persistent opportunity gaps boys and young men of color face and to ensure all young people can reach their full potential.”