In April 2020, I was scrolling through the Nextdoor app, and a trending post/picture of a group of young Black males, with the title “Children on University Exit” caught my attention, so I began to read the caption and subsequent comments on the post. The back and forth that ensued in the comment section managed to leave me both appalled and inspired.

I was appalled by the sheer lack of empathy and understanding that many of my neighbors expressed towards our youth in that comment section. Many of the measures they called for to deal with this “problem” at our intersections—such as passing laws that would criminalize certain children for doing the best that they know how with what they have, or making sure they have their guns on them at these intersections—disturbed me to my core. 

This felt especially personal to me, for I am the youth at the intersection. Like them, I started my entrepreneurial journey by selling candy and soft drinks out of my backpack after school. During middle school, I wasn’t too familiar with the term entrepreneur, but I understood what a hustle was, and I was all too aware that there were two types of hustles—legal and illegal. I remember conscientiously making the decision not to get involved with anything illegal. To know that there's young people at these intersections who are making that same decision, and trying to avoid paths of negativity, and yet still being seen and treated like criminals by some in the community is troubling to me. 

Fortunately, there were neighbors in the comment section and in the Community—like Monique Nunnely (founder/director of TeachX), and Great Chapel Baptist Church—who expressed empathy, understanding and support. The responsive insights, questions and unconditional support they expressed for our youth and community inspired me to connect, learn more and do something. MANSACODE is that something.

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-Mar'Konash