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Week 6: Conclusion

As a way to tie everything we have learned in the past 5 weeks up, we decided to show a documentary called Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. The 2006 film was written and directed by Byron Hurt, a former star athlete. The film addresses the influence hip-hop culture has on how African-American males view and treat females.

The film did spark a discussion within the players in relationships to each week’s topic. For example, a majority of the players agreed that being violent is expected of them as they become men, a topic we discussed in the second week. Another group commented how unwarranted touching of a female is not consent, a topic we discussed in the fourth week.

All of the players comments were very insightful, but one comment stood out to me. While we were talking about masculinity in relation to the video, one of the players commented how he learned to handle a previous situation based on our discussion. He shared that he decided to end a relationship he was in with a girl by talking to her in person, rather than through text. He explained that he must own up to his decision and respect her by breaking up with her in person.

This comment confirms how relevant and crucial discussing these topics are to these young football players. For me, it made all of those weeks of planning worthwhile.

As told by Becky’s Fund team member Ti Tran